Page 218 of Creep

“And away from here, huh?” I asked, smiling. “I can never do that to you.”

He didn’t say anything to that. I laughed and patted him on the shoulder, and he let out a small sigh. “I think I might need help.”

“You have help,” I said, pointing my thumb at myself.

He shot me a look. “You’re not helping at all. You’re more like an annoyance. Retirement seems to bring that out of you.”

I laughed. “And you’ll be stuck with me for the next hour until Lia gets home.”

He mumbled something under his breath, drawing my amusement.

God, he was fun to fuck around with.

Things had been tense since the day he had driven me to the hospital. He took a risk moving me after the fall, considering I could have broken something major that would have lasting damage, but fortunately, that wasn’t the case.

The doctors said it was a miracle that things weren’t worse.

I knew better. I had my lucky charm by my side. And she was currently leaving me to my own devices while taking a fucking pottery class.

I shook my head.

I was fucking jealous of a class.

Whatever.

I swirled around in my chair, holding back a grin when Theo stared at me from across the room.

He let out a small sigh, put his foot out, and stopped me mid-spin. “Go away. You’re annoying me.”

“And you need help.”

“Not from you,” he said.

I nodded my head in agreement. Not from me, but he needed an extra set of hands around here, considering he had taken on the job of helping… people get rid of things they didn’t want. I might have retired from the profession, but Theo seemed to be going ahead at full steam as if he were afraid there would be nothing else for him to do.

Having this business didn’t seem to keep him busy.

“Are you okay?” I asked. I could see him tensing from where he sat in front of the desktop.

“Yes,” he answered tonelessly, sounding like he had rehearsed the answer for hours in the mirror to appear as unaffected as possible.

Now it was my turn to sigh. “Listen, if something is wrong?—”

“Nothing is wrong. Why would you think that?”

I shrugged. “You just seem… different.”

“And you are projecting. You think I feel different because youaredifferent. How long until Lia is due?”

“Any day now,” I answered with a small smile. Lia was supposed to be due within the next week, but with how grumpy my girl had been in the last couple of days, I knew she wanted him out.

I was having a boy.

A precious little boy who would never have to go through the same pain I’d gone through. A precious little boy I would protect with everything in me.

“Being a dad changes you,” Theo commented.

I shot him a look. “And just how would you know that?”

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