Page 51 of Open To Negotiation

“My secret. I don’t sleep much at night but for some reason I couldn’t leave my bed. I was a few minutes from waking you up anyway.”

“Oh…” Was he about to kick me out? Of course, he probably had things to do. I should probably make an exit before things got awkward. “Yeah, I’ve got a lot of things to do today anyway. I can get myself home—”

Theo put his hand over my mouth. I hadn’t even noticed him move toward me since I was looking anywhere but him.

“Quinn. Can you stop overthinking for a second?” I glared but nodded my head. He held my gaze for a moment, trying to make sure I was telling him the truth before he removed his hand. “I was going to wake you up because we have a few errands we need to run before everyone gets here at eleven. They’re animals and I have no food.”

“We? What if I had plans for the day?”

“Cancel them.” He leaned over, dropped a kiss on my head and then pulled himself out of bed with a groan.

I pulled my skirt on but kept his T-shirt, claiming it was more comfortable than my top. Which, to be fair, was true. We then brushed our teeth in the bathroom together before getting in his truck. It was all very domestic, feeling strangely natural, like we’d been moving around each other for years.

The second we were in the car and I looked at my phone, I had a bunch of missed calls and texts from Aubrey. She answered on the first ring, then fumed about the stupidity of Lucas and demanded to know how I was. I spent a good ten minutes reassuring her that I was fine, that although I’d been upset last night, I was okay now that Theo was taking care of me. She didn’t believe me and demanded to speak to him.

When I put it on speaker, Theo told her about how bad the bruises looked on my arms but also reassured her that I was doing okay. Only then did she believe me. She let me go after I promised to text her regular updates on how I was.

We spent the next hour and a half running errands in a way that felt really normal, like this was our weekend routine. We first stopped for coffee and then went to the grocery store where Theo ended up pushing the cart as I grabbed food. He refused to let me pay, which I grumbled about as he made a run into the liquor store. We chatted the whole time about nothing of importance and I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face.

Being around him in public seemed to turn my normally overthinking brain off and just allowed me to enjoy the moment. He took over the job of paying attention to the world and creating plans so I could just follow along. It was new to me, my brain wasn’t sure what to do about it, but I think it was refreshing.

He made a stop at my apartment, where after assuring me it was a very casual hang out, I went upstairs to change. I folded his shirt on my pillow, hoping that his scent would keep me company tonight and changed into leggings and a cropped white T-shirt.

The sleeves were longer so it mostly covered the nasty bruises that had formed on my arms but if I moved you could still see them. It was too warm today to wear a long sleeve so it would have to do.

Once we were back at his place, I quickly snooped around the kitchen as Theo brought all the bags in and started unpacking and placing things on the counter as I requested. It was odd how comfortable we were together. I had never felt so at ease with a man, especially so early on in the… whatever this was.

“How much time do I have?” I bit my lip thinking about my options.

“I told you that you don’t have to cook us anything,” Theo said over his shoulder as he got the coffee brewing. “But they’ll be here in forty-five minutes.”

“What do the guys normally bring when they come?” I asked as I moved to tackle the egg muffins I was planning on making first.

“I don’t know, beer.” I threw him a look over my shoulder as I took a pause from cracking eggs into a bowl. He was leaning on the counter in the corner, smirking at me. “They also bring crisps, crackers. Sometimes someone will bring fruit but not often.” I shook my head.

“How are you all not malnourished?”

“It’s the beer.”

Rolling my eyes, I moved him out of the way while I put the bacon in the microwave. “If you had given me more warning I could have cooked actual bacon and made more stuff,” I grumbled as Theo watched me.

I could feel his eyes on me as I spent the next thirty minutes making the egg muffins with bacon and cheese. He’d passed me a cup of coffee at some point, dropped a kiss on my neck and then moved back to leaning on the counter, watching me and listening to me chat. While those were cooking, I made French toast sticks since they were easy and finger food. I’d just finished the sticks when the doorbell rang.

“I’ll get it,” Theo said as he pushed away from his perch and kissed my head again on the way by. It seemed to be his new favorite thing, and he would get no complaints from me.

I checked the timer and saw there were still a few minutes left. That meant I had enough time to follow Theo to the entry instead of hiding in the kitchen.

“I have no fucking clue why you don’t have us here always, asshole.” I heard Noah say as I came toward them. Theo was rolling his eyes and pushing the door closed.

“You rode together?” I heard the surprise in Theo’s voice.

“Fuck no, we arrived at the same time. Noah was on his death trap,” Oli replied.

“Don’t insult my baby!” Noah shoved Oli in the shoulder as Will joined the group. Given Noah’s golden boy looks and attitude, I was surprised he had a motorcycle.

Oli sniffed the air as he slipped off his shoes. “Why does it smell like food in here?”

“Are you cooking for me?” Noah asked as he came toward where I was standing at the back of the entryway, carrying a large case of beer. He pulled me into a one-armed hug before I could respond.