Page 62 of Drive Me Wild
“‘Ello, angel.”
“It’s,” I hold out my phone to look at the time, “two in the morning, Theo.”
“But it’s a Friday night,” he argues. “I thought maybe you’d be out or something.”
I’m too tired to roll my eyes, so I just sigh. Even when I do go out on a Friday night, midnight is my cut off. One a.m. if I’m feeling extra rowdy. “I was out cold, not out at a bar.”
He pauses before saying, “But you’re up now, right?”
“Yes.” Turning on my side, I press the phone against my ear. “What’s going on?”
He makes some sort of grunt-slash-choking noise. “I hate Richard living in my house.”
Any annoyance I have fades. Theo’s discomfort over his mum’s boyfriend moving in with her has come out in full force during this visit home. If anyone saw his texts to me when Richard moved where the spoons go in the kitchen, there’s a slight chance he’d be arrested. “What’d he do?”
“Well, for starters, he’sthere,” Theo says with ahmph. “Which is annoying of him.”
“Absolutely horrible.” I gasp playfully. “How dare he!”
Theo laughs, although it doesn’t have the same depth as his usual one. “The worst part is that Charlotte doesn’t think it’s weird at all that our mum’s nowlivingwith him. He was our dad’s manager, for fuck’s sake. It’s so messed up, yet I’m the only one who cares.”
“Have you tried speaking with Charlotte about it?”
He makes a noise of non-committal. “She says I’m being melodramatic.”
“And your mum?”
“I don’t know what I’d say to her,” he says quietly. “It’s… it’s hard enough, you know? Watching them together.”
My lips curve into a frown. “I’m sorry, babes.”
There’s a long pause. “It’s okay, angel. How were things at Gemini today?”
“Good.” I can’t keep the smile off my face. “Kelsey loved the dog portraits I ordered.”
Theo lets out a long laugh. “I’d be worried if hedidn’tenjoy a Husky dressed as a colonel.”
“Mm-hmm,” I say, fighting back a yawn. “He started interviewing some chefs, too.”
A loudohhfilters through the phone. “Anyone good?”
“Well, I hope they’re all good.” I giggle. “But I’m not really sure who’s in the running.”
“He’s doing something without you?” Theo gasps noisily. “Hell must have frozen over.”
Marketing may be my area of expertise, but I’ve become Kelsey’s right-hand woman. He asks for my opinion on everything from drink names to bar staff uniforms to what kind of lock the bathroom doors should have.
“I’ve got enough on my plate,” I reply. “But I am going to the tasting in a few weeks when he hires someone.”
“Good. You deserve it.” Theo chuckles. He waits a beat before adding, “Am I keeping you up? Do you want to go back to bed?”
“I’m okay,” I admit. “It’s nice talking to you rather than listening to you talk to your twelve million Instagram followers in a live video.”
“You said you didn’t watch any of my content!”
My cheeks heat in the darkness of my room. Of course I watch it. Theo’s a one-man show who doesn’t need any props or co-stars. But he also has an ego bigger than most, and it’s never been my job to feed it.
“Whatever,” I huff. “I want to hear more about Australia. What have you been doing?”
