Before December

Chapter 11

“Well, I was not expecting that, Lyd,” Grace chuckled as I dropped back into my chair, still feeling slightly dazed by what had just happened. “Won’t that make things awkward around the house now?”

“Yeah. Very awkward,” James muttered beside her.

I turned towards him.

A minute ago, he had been laughing along with everyone else, but something had shifted. The ease had vanished from his face, and instead of looking at me, he was staring somewhere over my shoulder as though whatever was happening behind me had suddenly become far more interesting. I couldn’t understand why something so stupid had bothered him so much. It wasn’t as though I had planned it. Theo had volunteered himself because apparently even kissing me could be turned into another opportunity for him to act smug.

“Hey, it was just a kiss. It was a dare,” I said, glancing between James and Grace. “It was better than choosing a complete weirdo, right?”

James gave a quiet scoff and looked away. “Out of everyone here, you had to pick Theo?”

I frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing.”

“That didn’t sound like nothing.”

He pushed his chair back with more force than necessary, the legs scraping harshly against the paving stones. “Forget it.”

Before I could ask what his problem was, he stood and disappeared into the crowd.

I stared after him. “What does it matter who I kiss?”

Grace gave a small shrug, although something about the way she avoided my eyes made me suspect she knew more than she intended to tell me. Before I could question her, a raised voice cut through the garden.

“Theo, man, what’s your problem?”

I turned towards the sound. Theo stood several feet away near the edge of the patio, facing Jake. Whatever casual amusement he’d been wearing earlier had disappeared completely. Jake was saying something to him, but between the music, laughter and overlapping conversations, I couldn’t make out the words.

Grace sighed beside me. “Here we go.”

I glanced at her. “What?”

“Jake and Theo.”

The way she said their names made it sound like an explanation in itself, as though whatever was happening between them was old news to everyone except me.

“Shut the f**k up,” Theo snapped.

Jake said something else, quieter this time.

Theo shoved him.

Hard.

The people nearest them immediately moved back, creating space without anyone needing to be told.

“Just stay away from her.”

I frowned.

Her?

Jake gave him a mocking look. “Or what?”

Theo stepped closer. “Try me.”

For a second, neither of them moved. The tension between them seemed to pull everything around them tighter, even though the music continued pounding through the garden.

Then Jake swung first.

Theo stumbled sideways from the impact, and several people shouted at once. Before I had properly registered what had happened, he was moving towards Jake again. The two of them collided, knocking into one of the chairs as people scrambled backwards to avoid getting caught between them.

A plastic cup hit the ground and rolled beneath a table.

Someone shouted Theo’s name.

Sean and James appeared almost immediately, approaching from opposite directions and pulling Theo backwards before the situation could get any worse. Theo resisted them at first, still glaring past them towards Jake.

“Get the f**k off me.”

“Theo, leave it,” Sean warned.

Jake wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and laughed. “Still f*****g predictable.”

Any restraint Theo had left disappeared instantly.

“You want to go again?”

“Theo,” Sean said more firmly.

James caught hold of his arm when he tried to move forward again. For a second, I thought Theo might wrench himself free, but eventually he shoved Sean’s hand away and stepped back.

“f**k this.”

He turned towards the house, briefly touching his fingers to his lip as he walked. His eyes found mine as he passed, and for a moment I forgot about the noise surrounding us.

There was anger there, obviously, but something else sat underneath it—something I couldn’t quite read before he looked away and disappeared inside.

I turned towards Grace. “Who was he talking about?”

She shrugged. “Could be Amber.”

“Amber?”

“The girl he’s been hooking up with.”

I looked towards the house. “Girlfriend?”

Grace gave a short laugh. “Not according to Theo.”

“That sounds complicated.”

“It is.”

Of course it was. Nothing involving Theodore Henderson seemed capable of being simple.

I glanced towards the doorway again, half expecting him to come storming back outside, but there was no sign of him. Around us, the party was already beginning to repair itself. Someone righted the chair that had been knocked aside, another person retrieved the cup from beneath the table, and conversations gradually started again as though two people hadn’t just tried to tear into each other in the middle of the garden.

Apparently, this sort of thing wasn’t unusual.

That probably should have concerned me more than it did.

“Lydia, right?”

I looked up.

Jake stood in front of me.

Up close, there was something about him I immediately disliked. Maybe it was the smugness in his expression or the fact he seemed completely unfazed by what had just happened. Either way, the way his attention settled on me made me instinctively sit a little straighter.

“You need another drink?” he asked.

“She’s fine,” Grace answered before I could.

Jake didn’t even look at her. “I was asking Lydia.”

“I’m good, thanks.”

His gaze lingered a little too long. “Well, if you change your mind, I’m Jake.”

“I gathered.”

The corner of his mouth lifted as though he found that amusing, and then he walked away.

Grace watched him until he disappeared back into the crowd. “Stay away from him.”

“Was planning on it.”

“Good.”

I watched Jake disappear into the crowd and finally understood why Theo had been so insistent earlier. At the time, I’d assumed he simply knew Jake well enough to know he was bad news. Now, after the way Jake had looked at me and the way he’d deliberately pushed Theo until he snapped, his warning made a little more sense.

Trust me, Wild. Bad choice.

For once, Theo might actually have known what he was talking about.

I looked towards the house again, but Theo still hadn’t returned. Around me, the party had already moved on. Apparently, two boys attempting to knock each other senseless barely qualified as enough drama to ruin the evening. I wasn’t sure whether that was reassuring or concerning. Probably both.

James returned a few minutes later and dropped back into the chair he had abandoned earlier. He barely looked at me.

Great.

Now both Henderson twins were acting strange.

One because I’d kissed his brother.

The other because—

Actually, I had absolutely no idea what Theo’s problem was.

I looked towards the house again, replaying the argument in my head. Jake had clearly known exactly what to say to provoke him. Theo had gone from tense to furious in seconds, and everyone else had reacted with the tired familiarity of people who had witnessed the same pattern before. There was history there. A lot of it, judging by Grace’s reaction.

I picked up my drink and took a small sip, my attention still fixed on the doorway. When I’d first arrived, Theo had seemed easy enough to understand: arrogant, hostile and apparently determined to make my life as difficult as possible. Now I wasn’t quite so sure.

For the first time, I found myself wondering whether Theodore Henderson was far more complicated than I had given him credit for, and whether Jake knew exactly which parts of him to unravel.