Page 29 of Hearts Adrift (A Texas Beach Town Romance #4)

There Theo stands in the flesh.

In El Amado’s storage room, standing next to a stack of boxes full of decorations from last weekend’s Leather Daddy club night, a riding crop poking out of the top.

Theo looks like such a far cry from who he was when we were together.

We used to look exactly the same. Like twins, people would tease us, with the two tiny exceptions of his eyebrow and lip rings.

But now his whole vibe is like a rebellion against what we once were.

Unshaven face and messy hair with a mixture of bleached and hot pink tips.

Loose mesh tank top, ripped-up black shorts, and a chain hanging from the pocket.

Maybe I was holding him back when he was with me. This could be the real Theo standing before me, desperate over all these years to be set free.

But he’s proven himself to be such a chameleon, who can say this is even his true self?

I keep my voice low. “What do you want, Theo?”

He leans against the stack of boxes like it’s the only thing holding him up. “I needed to make sure you’re okay.”

“I thought you were gone. Out of town. Couldn’t care less about me.”

He can barely look me in the eye. “I was. But I had to come back because … I hate that this is happening to you.”

“Was it you?” I ask him, cutting right to the chase. “Is my ‘super illicit affair’ all over the internet because of you and your inability to let the fuck go of me?”

“No.” He rubs at his jaw, as if trying to scrub the guilt off. “Not … not exactly.”

I fold my arms over my chest. “For fuck’s sake, Theo, what did you do?”

“It wasn’t me. It was my stupid f-fucking boyfriend.”

I laugh, sharp and humorless. “Your boyfriend?”

“Ex,” he corrects with a bite. “As of this morning. And yeah, I didn’t know what he’d done until it was too late.

He must’ve been stalking you, I don’t know for how long.

” He slowly starts pacing. “I thought he was just letting me vent about you. I’ll admit, I …

had a difficult time getting over our breakup.

I was a mess. I know I didn’t seem that way when we last spoke, but …

but I kept it in. He let me vent to him every night, hours at a time.

I … just didn’t know he was keeping tabs. ” He stops. “On you.”

“So that’s your big revelation?” I ask. It’s difficult to keep my voice down. My blood pressure rises so quickly in his presence—not for the fun reasons. “You got yourself a psycho minion for a boyfriend?”

“ Ex .”

“And he wandered here to Dreamwood on his own and snapped shots of me leaving my family’s bungalow?

Then later in Cottonwood Cove? Did he snap any other shots of me I should be worried about, climbing up to my bedroom window while I’m asleep?

I don’t sleep naked anymore, by the way, so his shots would be depressingly PG … ”

“No. I took his phone away. Deleted everything, every last pic.” He’s suddenly on the verge of tears.

“He told me he wanted to see ‘the guy I wouldn’t shut up about’.

I had no idea what he was doing until this morning when he …

he bragged that he helped ‘us’ get even.

” He chokes. “I … I ended it. Immediately. But I should’ve seen it coming.

I am not blameless. I didn’t realize I’d been talking about you so much.

I thought I was just moving on. Processing it all.

But … guess I was keeping you alive in his head, too. ”

I can’t take another second. “How do you expect me to believe this isn’t one of your own schemes?” I fire back at him. “Blaming some imaginary pretend ex-boyfriend when in fact it was you who took the pics, spooking me, toying with me, then selling them to the media for a buck?”

“I can’t prove it to you. I don’t expect you to believe me, either, and honestly, it doesn’t matter whether you do or not. I’m not here to … to win you back, Finn.” His face tightens, holding back his tears. “I’m here to do whatever I can to make this right.”

“It can’t be ‘made right’, Theo. Do you realize that my family is now dragged into this? The Hopewell Harbor and Fair? And just when we were on the fucking edge of going under—”

“Wait, going under??”

“—now this shit has been dumped on us, staining our reputation forever. And you don’t even know the full truth about River and what he’s been going through.

And now? No one will care. All they see him as is a horn-dog who ran off to an island to fuck some easy, unsuspecting idiot on a beach.

Me,” I say, jabbing a finger into my chest. “I am the idiot. You made me the world’s biggest fucking idiot. ”

“F-Finn,” whimpers Theo, trying not to break down.

I get away from him, unable to be in this cramped-as-fuck space a second longer.

I push out of the storage room into the back hallway of the club itself.

Though ironically I haven’t come here as a customer since the days of Theo—not really the club-goer—I know my way around.

At this hour, no one’s here except for the owner Luke and one or two workers preparing for tonight.

Despite the doors being unlocked, I know this venue is safe from the mobs outside.

“What’re you looking for?” asks Theo after following me to the back of the bar.

“Charger.” I rummage underneath the counter where I know stuff gets shoved away. “Need to call Brooke.”

“Use my phone.”

“Like hell.” I’m being petty and I know it. “I need to make sure she’s okay. Heather and my dad probably know everything by now. All the shit is hitting every fan and I hate that I’m not there with my sister to address it.”

“I can call her.” He already has his phone out. “Let me call her and—”

I come right up to him. “You aren’t part of our family anymore,” I snap. “Stop pretending like you are. You and me are over .”

“I know. I’m not trying to pull anything.

Finn, I really mean it, I was just …” I’ve already gone back to searching behind the bar.

Theo stands there at the other end, watching me.

“I should’ve been more responsible with my feelings.

I was lost after we broke up, but … I never once thought we should get back together.

I knew we weren’t working. And I know it even more now.

I kept trying to be someone I was not, for years and years.

Wanting to impress you. And your sisters. And your dad.”

“Well, Heather’s still your #1 fan, so there’s that.”

“I know. And I don’t deserve it.” He really lays on the self-deprecation thick, doesn’t he? “I should’ve just been myself around you. I just … I just never figured out what exactly that was.” He sighs. “Maybe I still haven’t.”

“Plenty of time to figure it out,” I say reassuringly. “As in, the rest of your life. Which I won’t be a part of.”

“I know. I get it now. We’re better apart.”

“That begs the question why you’re still fucking here.”

He grows still. “My whole identity was always ‘Finn’s boyfriend’ since I can remember, nothing else … I wasn’t even me, not even Theo, just Finn’s other half. Never knew who I was outside of us … I felt like … like a planet … adrift in space … nothing to orbit … just … adrift …”

“Forgive me if I’m not dripping in sympathy for you.”

“I want to fix this. Just … J-Just tell me what to do.”

I give up searching behind the bar and grip the counter with a sigh. “You can start by sashaying your way out of town and taking that circus outside with you.”

“Finn …”

“Or maybe you can just admit this isn’t about me and my family’s safety. This is about you and your guilt .”

He flinches like I hit him. “I’m not asking forgiveness. Just a chance to clean up this mess I made.”

“Maybe I don’t want you to be the one to clean it up.” I come out from behind the bar, shoving my way past him. “I bet Luke has a charger in the front podium.”

“Then I’ll help from a distance,” decides Theo through a choked and desperate laugh. “I don’t care how much you hate me right now. I’m not gonna let you and your family suffer for the mistakes I made in my weakness.”

I stop at the front podium to tell him where exactly he can shove the shattered remains of his so-called heart.

But then I see someone at the door.

Eyes I know by heart. Unmistakable runway model cheekbones. Leather jacket. Hat and shades hanging from his grip, just taken off.

“R-River,” I choke out.

He’s windswept and flushed from the heat, his eyes on me from across the dim, narrow lobby of the nightclub.

I have no idea how he found me—and only a handful of seconds to wonder before Theo is at my side, his eyes upon River. “Oh, wow,” he breathes, completely caught by surprise. Maybe a bit star struck, too. Theo was the more enthusiastic movie-watcher between us, after all.

River reads the tension in the room like a script. “Am I interrupting you two?” Theo says, “Yep,” at the same time I say, “Nope.” River frowns. “Glad to clear that up.” Then he crosses the room and stops in front of me. “You okay?”

“Are you ?” I bring my hands to his arms, which seems to surprise him. “It’s totally fucking nuts out there. How did you even get here?”

He studies my hands for a second, as if grateful they’re there. “Snuck outta the bungalow—yep, it’s surrounded by news crews, as is your house—and after a call from Brooke who got a call from some other dude—Skippy, I think?—I was told where you might be and came as fast as I could.”

“What is it with this jacket, hat, and shades outfit?” I ask in disbelief. “Who are you? Clark Kent? Seriously, no one recognized you?”

“I feel terrible.” He gently strokes the bangs off of my forehead. “This is my fault. I brought this down on you and your family. I—”

“Don’t go taking all the blame just yet,” I tell him, then twist my sharpened eyes onto Theo behind us, standing at the doorway to the club picking at his fingernails.

Rage fills River’s eyes. “You did this?” I feel his arms tightening beneath my grip. “You fucking did this, Theo?”

I blink. “You knew who this was?”