Page 146 of Make Me Mean It

“Find another whore to experiment with.”

For a second, I don’t understand what he’s said.

The word sounds wrong coming from him. Ugly in a way Theo never is about this shit, and that makes it hit even harder because I know he’s not really saying it about himself.

He’s telling me what I just made him feel like.

“Theo, you aren’t—”

He turns away before I can finish, shutting me out so completely that frustration surges through the guilt already twisting inside me.

“Would you just fucking listen to me for a second?” I snap.

Theo starts to move away and I go after him, catching his wrist before he gets more than a step. My fingers close around it, holding on when he tries to pull free.

“I said something fucking shitty. I know that. But you don’t get to decide what I meant by it and then walk away before I can—”

The door swings open, both of us jerking toward it.

My hand drops from Theo’s wrist so fast it’s almost instinctive, and I stumble back a step, my heart slamming straight into my throat as Marcus walks into the room without so much as knocking.

“I thought that was you.”

His eyes land on me first.

Then Theo.

Then the space I’ve just put between us.

Marcus’s brows pull together as he looks between us, and I can practically see him taking inventory. Me in Theo’s clothes. Theo standing there looking like he wants to put his fist through something. The tension in the room thick enough that even Marcus couldn’t miss it.

“What’s going on here?”

“Connor was just leaving.”

I look at Theo.

His voice is completely flat.

Cold.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard him talk to me like that before, and I fucking hate it.

My teeth grind together as I stare at him, willing him to look at me properly. To give me another minute. Anything.

“No,” I say firmly. “I really wasn’t.”

Marcus’s gaze flicks between us again, but I barely register him anymore.

Theo’s jaw flexes.

For a second, I think he’s going to argue. His tongue presses into the inside of his cheek, his eyes flicking from me to Marcus and back again, frustration tightening every line of his face.

Then he gives one stiff nod.

And walks out.

I stare after him.