CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO: CHLOE

I turned around and thumped Theo on the top of his head. “This is not keeping it a secret, you bastard!”

“But look at his face. It’s worth it.” He grinned, staring at Harvey.

All right.

It was kind of funny.

Harvey looked somewhat like he’d just been punched in the face and the balls simultaneously, but the pain hadn’t quite hit yet, so he was hovering somewhere in the shock phase.

“What… What the fuck is that?” He gripped the arms of the chair and pushed himself up. “Let go of her right now!”

“A sentiment I wholeheartedly agree with,” I said, reaching for the mouse. “But in my experience, he won’t.”

Harvey stomped over to us. “What is this?”

I leant to the side. “Just mind my face when you punch him.”

“Hey!” Theo spun the chair, putting me between him and Harvey. “Why are you all right with him punching me?”

I peeked back at him. “I just punched you,” I pointed out.

“You’re allowed to punch me.”

“Can I hit you with a box file?”

“If you really want to.”

“I’ll keep it in mind.”

“Are you two… flirting… right now?” Harvey took a step back, wrinkling his face up. “Wait, Chlo… Is this why you weren’t interested in Alex at Mum’s party?”

Theo’s fingers twitched against my hip.

“Shh,” I said to my cousin, putting a finger to my lip. “That name upsets him.”

Harvey squinted. “Nothing explains what the fuck is going on.”

I sighed. “Harvey. You’re a smart man. What do you think is going on?”

“It looks like you’re in a relationship, but the Theo I know is a heartless prick, and the Chloe I know complains about that at least ten times a day.” He pointed between us. “So, what the fuck is this?”

“What it is, is supposed to be a secret,” I said dryly, pinching the back of Theo’s hand.

“Ouch!” He flinched. “I deserve that. He’s the fourth person I’ve accidentally told today.”

“Acciden—fourth?” I turned on his lap, planted my hands against his chest, and glared at him. “What do you mean, he’s the fourth person you’ve told today?”

Theo peered over at Harvey. “Help me.”

My cousin shook his head, holding up his hands in defeat. “Absolutely not. You’re on your own, pal.”

“You.” I gripped Theo’s shoulder tightly. “Explain. Now.”

“It was Gramps’ fault!” he said quickly. “He and Dad coerced me into telling the truth, and Cassidy overheard.”

Hmph.

That wasn’t his fault, but it did mean my conversation with the duke at the end of the week just became a thousand times more awkward.

“Don’t worry. She’s going to make sure they don’t tell anyone,” Theo added.

“Why would I be worried about them? We’re four hours into our first day back, and you’ve already spilled the beans to four different people. All within the same hour. It’s you I’m worried about.” I flicked his forehead, then turned and located the file. “That’s the file you need. Now, let me go, so I can go back to work. I have too much to do for your games, sir.”

“Fine.” Theo reluctantly let go of me, and I got up, adjusting my skirt so it wasn’t crumpled. “Can you send that report over to PR?”

“Who do you want it to?” I asked Harvey.

He cocked his head. “Send it to Louie.”

“Not him,” Theo grumbled. “He was in here earlier flirting with you.”

I stopped at the door and looked over my shoulder. “Get over it. Sir.”

“Adding ‘sir’ on the end still doesn’t make it nice, Chlo.”

“It was never supposed to.” I grinned and opened the door, throwing my hand up in a goodbye. “I’ll send it over now.”

I closed the door behind me and walked back to my desk, slumping down in my chair. I sank my fingers into my hair and groaned as I dropped my forehead to the desk.

That idiot.

That absolute idiot.

I should have known his grandfather would find out—that man could get blood out of a stone and was the kind of person you’d want interrogating a criminal. If he wanted to find something out, there was nothing he wouldn’t do to achieve that goal, and his family were particularly weak to it.

I should have known that total secrecy was impossible the moment Theo left to meet his grandfather and father.

And then he’d just done that in his office in front of Harvey.

I was never, ever going to hear the end of this.

Harvey going on at me about this relationship was the last thing I needed, in all honesty. My mind was completely jumbled—I’d managed to use the board meeting as an excuse to delay my final decision about my resignation, but it didn’t mean I was actually any closer to doing that.

I had no idea what I wanted to do anymore.

The last six weeks had changed everything. I’d never hated working here. I’d never hated my job. I’d just hated working for Theo, but even that was different now.

I didn’t want to admit it out loud, but I was wondering if it was impossible to imagine not working with him.

I was so used to being with him every second of the day, and that was almost literal over the past two weeks. Ever since we’d returned to Buckley Heath from our flying visit home for Aunt Fizz’s party, we’d been practically inseparable.

His bedroom had become our room. The evenings that had once been spent quietly apart doing our own thing had become quality chill time together where he’d catch pixel fish and I’d pet pixel chickens.

Never had I ever imagined I’d have nightly cosy gaming sessions with Theo, but the whole evolution of our relationship had been strange to me, so it was just one of those things.

I’d also never imagined that I’d be figuring out what the fuck to do with my life at my age.

I’d always thought I’d have it planned out, but didn’t everyone? It wasn’t like I was about to have an identity crisis, but everything I’d been planning for the last God only knew how long was going up in smoke all because of my heart.

Because I didn’t know if I really wanted to leave Theo at all.

“Chloe. Chlooooeeeeee,” Harvey sang from somewhere remarkably close to me.

I raised my head up and saw his face mere inches from mine.

“Hi.” He grinned. “Are you taking a nap?”

“I’m having an existential crisis,” I replied.

“Sounds about right. Wanna have one over lunch instead?”

“Can’t. I’m the only one here.”

“The boss said to turn on the answering machine and go.” He cocked his thumb towards Theo’s office. “I told him I’d bring something back for him.”

I glanced at his office door. “Are you sure?”

“I’m not about to lie to you, am I? He’d cut off my head if I lied to you before, never mind now.”

That was true.

“You’re going to ask me a hundred questions, aren’t you?” I asked, sitting up straight.

“Don’t worry.” He reached over and patted my head. “I’ll be much nicer to you than I was to him.”

***

“So, you were together the whole time?” Harvey raised his eyebrows. “That’s surprisingly.”

“Not the whole time,” I replied. “Things sort of happened before I came back for Aunt Fizz’s party, but for the last two weeks… yeah, it’s a bit like that.”

He narrowed his eyes. “That means it only took three weeks for you to go from his number one hater to his lover. That’s a twist I didn’t expect.”

“Do you have to use the word ‘lover?’ It makes it sound like we’re doing something illicit.”

“Some people might think so.” He paused. “Did he tell you?”

“About his ex?” I nodded. “It’s one of the reasons we’re keeping it secret. Well, I’m keeping it a secret.”

“I don’t think me, Alastair, Charles, and Cassidy count.”

“They count. It all happened without my consent.” I sniffed, propping my chin up on my hand. “I knew it would happen, but still. It’s just all a bit of a mess right now.”

“A mess? What do you mean?”

“What did he tell you?” I curled my pinkie finger down to the corner of my mouth and gently bit down on my nail. “Like… About our relationship.”

Harvey eyed me sceptically. “Shouldn’t you be asking him that?”

“Well, things are a mess in my head, and you’re his best friend. He’ll tell you different things than me, right? Just like I’d talk differently to Heidi.”

“Chloe.” He sighed. “Let me ask you this: are you going to resign still?”

I looked away, turning my attention to the people walking past outside. It was a grey, gloomy day befitting the early British summertime, and the weather only served to match my mood.

Grey.

Gloomy.

A little bit hopeless.

“That’s what you need to figure out first,” Harvey said quietly. “Because you both need to be on the same page. For what it’s worth, I don’t think it’ll matter either way to Theo, nor would he ever ask you resign just for the sake of a relationship.”

“That… isn’t what I’m worried about.”

“You think he’ll end things because of his anxieties?”

“Maybe. I wouldn’t blame him if he did. I can’t imagine how difficult it was to go through what he went through at the other company. I wouldn’t want him to do anything that would subject himself to rumours.”

“I think him ending things with you is the least likely possibility. Do you genuinely not know that he’s head over heels for you?”

I looked back at Harvey. “I think that’s an exaggeration.”

“All right, you really don’t know.” He snorted. “I think he’d rather date you in secret for the rest of his life than end things.”

“That…” I paused. “You might actually be right. He’s surprisingly soft.”

“Soft? Theo?”

“Yeah. Like a marshmallow. He’s soft and squishy.” I made little squeezing motions with my hands. “It surprised me at first, too, but he’s a total teddy bear.”

“I’m equal parts intrigued and terrified by what you just said.”

I understood that.

I’d felt the exact same way at first.

“Either way, you need to tell him how you’re feeling. If you’re in a relationship, you’ll find it much easier if you do this thing called communication.”

“Yes, thank you, Jeremy Kyle,” I muttered. “I know that. I guess I’m just a bit scared to bring it up, knowing how he feels. I don’t want him to think that I… Ugh. That I was leaving for a job where I could be more successful and now am only staying because we’re starting something.”

Harvey leant forwards on the table. “He won’t. He knows you better than that, Chlo. You’re not that kind of person. And if he accuses you of it, I’ll break his kneecaps.”

“I can do that by myself.”

“We’ll take one each.” He grinned. “Look, you two will figure it out. I can’t say I ever pictured you in a relationship with one another, but somehow, it makes sense.”

“Really? Even I think it’s ridiculous.”

“Oh, it’s ridiculous, but it makes sense.” Harvey laughed, knocking his foot against mine under the table. “And think of it this way: you know you can make any kind of relationship work, because you’ve both worked and lived together already. You’ve even worked from home while living together.”

He had a point. We’d already cleared a hurdle that would usually come years down the line for most couples and lived to tell the tale.

“You’re right. We just need to talk. I mean, I’m sitting here talking about a relationship, but we never actually said it. What if I’m just here thinking that he’s my boyfriend but he’s actually not?”

Harvey blinked at me. “You’re stupid. Both of you. A stupid, stupid couple.”

“I’m going to tell Aunt Fizz you’re being mean to me.” I sniffed. “Fine. I’ll sit him down and talk to him tonight.”

“Why don’t you invite him over?”

I made a little cross with my fingers. “I live in the company building. I’m trying to keep what’s going on between us a secret, not broadcast it to everyone who works at Black Ink.”

“I didn’t think about that.” He tapped his hand against the table. “Then you’ll have to go to his place.”

“Good idea.” I pulled my phone out of my bag and tapped out a message to him. “Done.”

“Wait, what did you do?”

“I told him we need to talk so I’m going to his place after work.”

Harvey stared at me, then pressed his hands to his face. “You said you need to talk. After work. At his place.”

“Yes. What’s wrong with that? It’s the truth.”

“Oh, Chloe. My dear, dear, Chloe.” He reached over and took my hand, still keeping one of his over his eyes. “You are so smart. So talented. So capable. But such a complete idiot when it comes to relationships.”

I looked from our hands to my phone screen and reread my message to Theo. “Oh.”

“Yes, oh. He’s going to be losing his mind in the office right now.”

“Hold on.” I took back my hand and quickly tapped out a message, but he’d already replied.

THE BASTARD: CHLOE????

THE BASTARD: What do you mean we need to talk????

THE BASTARD: TAKE IT BACK RIGHT NOW.

Ah.

Yeah.

There was the losing his mind part.

ME: I DIDN’T MEAN IT LIKE THAT.

ME: I WASN’T THINKING.

ME: DON’T PANIC.

THE BASTARD: It seems like you’re the one panicking right now.

ME: I didn’t think about how you’d take what I was saying until Harvey pointed it out.

THE BASTARD: Jesus. How much are you telling him?

ME: Just enough that I still have something to blackmail you with.

ME: Don’t worry, I haven’t told him about your sock collection yet.

THE BASTARD: He knows. He buys me a pair every Christmas.

ME: Damn it.

THE BASTARD: As long as it’s nothing bad. But are you sure you want to come all the way to mine?

ME: Yeah. I don’t want anyone to see you at mine.

THE BASTARD: Ah. Of course.

THE BASTARD: I’m warning you, though. If you walk into my place, you’re not leaving until tomorrow morning.

ME: I guess I’ll swing by my place first and get some clothes.

THE BASTARD: Good girl.

My cheeks flushed at those two magic words, and I quickly shoved my phone in my bag before Harvey could see it.

“Gross,” he muttered.

Never mind.“That’s your fault for peeking, you nosy git.”

“Why do you still have him saved as The Bastard in your phone?”

I smiled. “Nostalgia.”

“You keep forgetting to change it, don’t you?”

“That, and there’s every chance I’d not realise it was him if I changed it to his actual name. I’m somewhat conditioned to answer his calls under The Bastard.”

Harvey blinked. “Just let me know if you ever need me to help you escape his clutches.”

“You say it like he’s laid a meticulously planned trap to ensnare me and make me fall for him.”

“He might have. We don’t know that.”

“I’d like to think he’d have been a bit nicer and more respectful of my free time if he was trying to seduce me all this time.”

He nodded. “Good point.”