Page 79 of Perfect
He rolls his eyes. “That’sinsane. You’re so lucky I like to cook, especially for you.”
“I guess so,” I say, smiling up at him. His smile becomes more vulnerable as he snakes an arm around my waist and pulls me close, leaning down to kiss me. I don’t fully lean into him, but I rest my hands against the hard plane of his stomach and kiss him back. I don’t usually return affection outside of sex, and he notices instantly, grinning at me like he’s won something.
I’ve been working all morning to see how hard it is to get his guard down if I'm sweet to him, and he’s shockingly easy for me to manipulate.
This isperfect.
“Holy shit, Ted? Ted Anderson?”
Theo’s demeanor changes so fast it’s scary. One second, he’s slouched against the wall of the restaurant, relaxed and leaning in to kiss me again, and the next he’s tense, standing to his full height, his face stony. I turn around and see a short, thick man with stringy blonde hair walking towards us, waving at Theo. Theo steps between me and the man, his arm passing across my body and his hand snaking back and resting on the outside of my hip as he shoves me behind him.
He’s so obviously upset that I want to rub his back in reassurance, but I quash the urge.
That’s too much affection.
“Adam.” Theo’s voice is lower and completely flat, and something about this is making me nervous.
“Damn, man, I thought that was you! It’s been forever, how are you?” Adam reaches out as if he’ll hug Theo, who doesn’t move at all. Adam puts his arms down awkwardly and sees me looking out from behind Theo and smiles. “Hey, is this your girl?It’s Ashley, right?” He shoves his hand out towards me. “I’m Adam.”
I reach out to shake his hand, but Theo holds me back slightly. I lean forward and shake Adam’s hand anyway, looking up at Theo as he grips my hip and levels me with a scary, warning expression.
Who’s Ashley? I’veneverheard Theo talk about an ex.
Did he stalk her?
Did hekillher?
I look back at Adam and force a smile as I catch his eyes flitting down my body in a way that makes me uneasy.
“Um, hi. I’m Alex.” Adam’s face goes from confusion to embarrassment.
“Oh, sorry about that.”
“It’s fine,” I say, keeping my voice friendly. “How do you two know each other?”
“Theo and Iroomedtogether for a while,” he says pointedly.
“In college?” I shoot Theo another look and see his jaw tense, a muscle in his neck twitching as he glares at Adam. I look between them, confused, and something in Adam’s expression changes as he glances back at Theo.
“New girlfriend?”
“Oh, I’m n-” Theo’s hand grips me tightly, his thumb pressing into my hip bone so hard I think I might bruise, so I nod, digging my nails into Theo’s wrist. “His girlfriend,” I finish, and Theo’s grip on me relaxes, his thumb stroking over my skin in quiet approval.
“It’snew,” Theo says with a weird, tense emphasis on the word. Adam’s mouth twitches up at the corners.
“So, she doesn’t -”
“No,” Theo says in a low, harsh tone of voice before clearing his throat. “Excuse us,” he says, his voice cold and forcibly polite. “Sweetheart, let’s go.” Theo wraps a tense arm aroundmy shoulders and starts pushing me away from the restaurant, keeping his body between me and Adam. I let him steer me up the street as I look back at Adam, who looks at me with narrowed eyes, his flat expression making my skin crawl. When I look up at Theo, he looks furious.
“Who’s he?”
“Stop asking questions for ten fucking seconds andwalk,” he hisses. I don’t like this situation or the way he’s speaking to me, so I stop dead. He almost pushes me over from how hard he’s trying to make me move, and he's so tense he's shaking.
I need to get him to calm down.
“Theo, what’s happening? You’re scaring me,” I say, keeping my voice soft as I gently pull his arm off me. He stops, his whole body rigid as he looks up at the sky and exhales harshly through his teeth. He turns towards me slowly, angrier than I’ve ever seen him as he grabs my shoulders and bends down to get his face closer to my eye level.
“Alexandria,sweetie, I need you to get in the fucking car, okay?” His eyes are wide and he’s speaking slowly through clenched teeth, and I can tell he’s trying to manage his anger, but it actually makes him scarier. I want to be anywhere other than near him right now, but he doesn’t wait for me to respond before he places his arm around my shoulders again and drags me up the street.
