Chapter Thirty

Two days and an obscene number of orgasms later, Theo and I pack the last of his stuff into his fancy car. When Theo insists I drive with him and I ask him what I am going to do with my own car, I do not appreciate his mournful sigh and answer of, ‘Just take the handbrake off and let the sea take it; it's given all it can.'

Fortunately, Petty has roped Lil and Serena in to come and sort out the house once we leave, and oversee putting all of her stuff back in place before any holiday guests arrive. I am certain my sisters have agreed to this as a ruse so that they can come and check in on me and Theo, but Lil has offered to drive my car back down to London so I am not about to look that gift horse in the mouth.

‘Nice love bite.' Serena greets me dryly at the door, at a disgustingly early hour of Thursday morning. ‘Tell me again about these purely friendly feelings you have for Theo.'

I flush, pulling at my T-shirt in an effort to cover up the mark next to my collarbone. I'd accused Theo of living out some Blood/Lust fanfic fantasy and he certainly hadn't denied it. And, to be honest, I hadn't really minded.

‘Holy shit, Clemmie,' Lil whispers, awed. ‘You're, like, glowing. Your skin is radiant. I think you're surrounded by some sort of sex mist.'

‘Um, gross.' I wrinkle my nose. ‘Please don't ever say sex mist again, you creep. So, yes, okay, I may have some news…'

Serena stalks past me. ‘Please,' she says. ‘The sexy writing was on the wall when we were here last week.'

‘Are you angry?' I ask nervously, following her through to the now empty living room. I've been sort of dreading Serena's reaction, especially given the very legitimate claim of unprofessionalism she could level at me.

Serena eyes me narrowly. ‘Because of the job? No. Whatever happened here, Theo had some sort of creative breakthrough, so everything worked out. But I did have to hear from David that you were going to his sister's wedding before you texted us asking for help. And now here we are clearly bursting into the middle of your love nest. Not cool, Clem.'

‘Yeah,' Lil chimes in. ‘You're always supposed to tell us these things first. You know we'd have your back. We're your people.'

‘I know,' I sigh. ‘I—'

This is the moment Theo chooses to enter the room, and my sisters spin on him as one furious, intimidating entity, like something out of Greek mythology with two heads and one dark agenda.

‘Theodore,' Serena snaps, pure ice.

‘Hey, S. Hey, Lil,' Theo greets them easily.

‘Don't hey us.' Lil's eyes narrow. ‘We're only going to say this once.'

‘Say what?' Theo glances at me, clearly confused.

This is a feeling I share, but that doesn't last long when Serena steps right up into his personal space, pokes one polished, blood-red nail into his chest. ‘If you hurt our sister, in any way at all, if you cause her to feel the least bit of upset, a tiny quiver of discomfort, you will find yourself with only fond memories of your manhood.'

‘Serena!' I squeak, mortified.

‘No, Clemmie,' Lil says, her voice softly menacing. ‘You've been hurt too many times. We should have done this in the first place.' Then she looks Theo dead in the eye and slowly draws one finger across her throat, her face a terrifying, emotionless mask.

‘Fuck, Lil!' I exclaim. ‘That is the scariest thing I've ever seen. What is the matter with you? You two seriously need to calm down.' I turn to Theo. ‘I did not ask them to do this. I don't even know what this is, except an effort to horribly embarrass me.'

‘Imagine, your sisters embarrassing you in front of your new… whatever the fuck Theo is.' Serena's smile is like a knife. ‘Not so fun when the shoe is on the other foot, is it?'

‘That was totally different,' I mutter. ‘And as far as I remember we didn't threaten to maim your new girlfriend.'

The horrifying expression drops from Lil's face in an instant and she is all smiles again. ‘That's the look I gave Sophie Ritter before our under 16's championship tennis final and she definitely peed her pants a bit.'

Theo doesn't look worried, only amused, and he says, calmly, ‘I would never do anything to hurt Clemmie. Never. She's the most important person in the world to me.'

‘Awwwwww.' Lil clasps her hands together, caving immediately.

‘We'll see' is Serena's answer, backed up by another daggering glare. ‘Anyway,' – she turns back to me – ‘we brought all the stuff you asked for.'

‘Thank you.' I slump in relief, accepting the fancy Louis Vuitton luggage that certainly doesn't belong to me.

‘You can't turn up with your stuff in a carrier bag,' Serena sighs, taking in my expression. ‘This thing is at a very swish hotel, Clemmie.'

‘A nice bookshop tote is not a carrier bag,' I argue. ‘More importantly, did you pack plenty of options?'

‘I did,' Lil chimes in.

‘Thank you. Theo has been very unhelpful about what the vibe is.'

Theo shrugs. ‘I don't know what to say. I'm wearing a suit. Lisa's wearing a big white dress. What other information am I supposed to have? I already told you what I thought you should wear.'

‘I am not meeting your family at your sister's wedding in a gold sequin mini dress that barely covers my crotch.'

Theo's eyes flicker as they skate across my face and down my body. ‘You looked so hot in that dress, and I wasn't allowed to appreciate it at the time.'

Our gazes clash and I feel my pulse tick up, heat pooling in my belly.

‘I'm going to throw up,' Serena says flatly.

‘Sex mist,' Lil whispers, eyes wide again.

‘Just relax,' Theo says, reaching up to rub my back soothingly. ‘Whatever you wear will be fine. You'll look beautiful.'

Serena snorts. ‘Telling Clemmie to relax, that's a good one.' She smirks at me. ‘Remember when Lil tried to get you to meditate?'

I groan.

‘What happened?' Theo asks, eyes lit up.

‘She got even more stressed out.' Lil throws her hands in the air. ‘Who gets more stressed out while meditating?'

‘Okay, you keep saying this, but it was stressful,' I insist. ‘He said we were going to move through relaxing all the different parts of our body but he started with the top of our heads. How do you relax the top of your head? That's not a thing! Do you all have secret muscles I don't know about? I kept trying but it was like the wires weren't connecting, and then by the time I gave up on that he was already down to the knees and I'd missed a lot of crucial relaxation and I didn't know whether to just carry on or try and go back.'

Theo is laughing along with my sisters now, and he presses his face into my neck, the gentle huff of his breath warm against my skin. ‘You're my favourite,' he says.

‘I'm glad you're all amused, but there's nothing strange about being anxious about meeting your…' – I sift through a list of possible word choices and lose confidence – ‘Theo's family for the first time.' The clothes thing probably doesn't seem like a big deal to them, but I want so badly to get everything right. Things with Theo and me are so fragile that the smallest mistake could send everything crashing towards disaster. At least what I wear is something I can control, and that thought feels like a key in my hand.

‘Look, if it's worrying you, we'll sort it out, but I promise that you could turn up in a bin bag and your Theo's family are still going to think that you are the best thing that ever happened,' Theo says firmly. ‘And I've met all your family and they love me!'

‘That's true,' Lil beams.

‘Jury's still out,' Serena mutters, but I'd swear she seems to be softening slightly. When Theo grins at her affectionately she barely glares at him.

‘Anyway,' – Theo slings an arm across my shoulder – ‘we need to get going or we'll be late.'

‘Right, okay,' I agree, feeling the nerves really kicking in now. It's not just meeting Theo's family that's freaking me out, it's that we're leaving our precious bubble. Together. I have no idea what that looks like.

Going into the real world means that, surely, we are going to have to deal with some of the many, many things that I have been trying really hard to ignore. Things like the fact Theo lives on another continent. The fact that he's famous. The fact that millions of people want to know what he ate for breakfast (two Pop Tarts, half a bag of Haribo, and three chocolate Hobnobs, because the past six weeks have created a monster and he wanted ‘a last hurrah before it's all wheatgrass again'). The fact that we haven't actually discussed any of this.

‘I can hear you overthinking,' Theo says, taking the bag from me and heading out to sling it in the car.

I want to ask him if he's thought about this enough, but I bite my tongue. I'm not sure what answer I want.

‘It will be great,' Lil says, pulling me in for a hug. ‘You'll have so much fun.'

‘And if you don't then you can send up the bat signal and we'll come,' Serena adds, wrapping her arms around the two of us.

I feel some of the tension leave my body. They're right; it will be fine. And if it's not fine, then my sisters will be there.

‘Let us know when you arrive,' Lil calls, waving as I climb into the car beside Theo.

‘Okay,' Theo says, slipping his sunglasses on and putting the car into reverse. ‘I have the first episode of that true crime podcast you mentioned, or the next chapter of the audiobook you've been forcing on me. I did not think I would be so invested in regency romance, but here we are. That shit is so buttoned-up, it's sexy.'

I snuggle back in the seat with a smile. ‘I knew it. But maybe we could listen to some music? Something you like?'

‘Really?' He looks at me in surprise, but he sounds pleased.

‘Yeah,' I nod as we drive away from the house that has kept us cocooned and safe for the past six weeks. My stomach lurches but I keep my words steady. ‘Maybe it's time to try something new.'