- Chapter 13
ABBY
He took money from Sandra too! I just couldn’t figure out what was going on. I wasn’t angry with Theo, I was just totally and utterly confused by what I was seeing. It was one thing to have a strange woman show up at the hotel door and hand him money or an envelope, I could have ignored it if it had only happened once. But seeing Sandra hand him a similar envelope which looked like it was full of money, I just couldn’t think of a logical reason why she did that.
I had calmed down by the morning, though, because I really had no idea what was in the envelopes. Perhaps it was my imagination that they were filled with money. Maybe there was an entirely logical reason that he was being handed envelopes?
Sandra was Theo’s friend. Why would she need to hand him an envelope full of money? It was weird and wrong, and I just didn’t know what to do about it. I liked Theo; I probably liked him more than I had liked anyone in my past. But if he was a drug dealer or something like that, I didn’t want to have anything to do with him. My parents had been into all of that stuff, and I wouldn’t put myself in a situation to be around anyone who was in that sort of lifestyle.
I could deal with a lot of things from a guy, but I couldn’t deal with drugs. Drugs were what got my parents put in jail, and I always hated anything and everything that had to do with them. But the more I thought about it, the less I thought Theo could have anything to do with drugs.
At dinner, he ordered an organic salad. What kind of drug dealer worried if they were eating well or not? When I got up for breakfast the next morning, I noticed he had ordered an egg white omelet. Again, I realized that it wasn’t at all what I would expect if Theo was into drugs or something like that. Drug dealers didn’t care about their cholesterol. At breakfast, I decided I had to give him the benefit of the doubt. I didn’t know what the envelopes were for and couldn’t actually speculate. Perhaps part of his business dealings were done in cash and that was the only way to get the money to him? I didn’t know, but I did know Theo seemed like a really nice guy and couldn’t throw that away without more proof.
Plus, there was the overwhelmingly obvious reason I needed to keep things going with Theo; I didn’t have a place to live. Theo’s house was much more comfortable than trying to get to stay with some random guy. Plus, I actually liked Theo; so that made things even better.
The trick was going to be navigating my feelings for him without seeming too eager to be his girlfriend in real life. His explanation about the girlfriend statement at dinner had both put me at ease but also made me worry about what it was he wanted from whatever was going on between us.
Did he want a girlfriend or did he just want someone cool to hang out with? It was much easier for me to consider the latter idea. I wasn’t really into the notion of being anyone’s girlfriend. No matter how much I liked them, girlfriend status scared me. I also wouldn’t want to date a guy with as many secrets as Theo apparently had. His secret envelopes from people were fine if he was just some guy I was trying to stay with; I didn’t care at all what they did with their time. But something between Theo and I was much more, and I did care about what he did and who he was.
As I sat down to lunch with Isabella, I tried to figure out just how much information I was going to share with her. We normally told each other absolutely everything, so it was going to be really hard for me not to spill my guts to her.
“I’m in love,” Isabella said with her arms in the air as she spun around in a circle.
She certainly looked like a woman in love. She had a radiant smile that flashed across her face, and I could have sworn she had a glow about her too. It was great to see. Isabella was normally all about using guys to get what she wanted. One of the things I always admired about her was her ability to stay distant from the men she was around. It was something I struggled with all the time. But Isabella could be nice to them just long enough to get what she wanted, then she was mean and threw them to the curb. I couldn’t do that. I often found myself continuing to answer calls from guys months after I had spent an evening with them. I just didn’t want them to feel bad.
“Okay, so tell me about him. What on earth has he done that has you totally in love already?”
“Well, first of all, he took me shopping yesterday. And I don’t mean shopping for groceries. He took me to a designer store and let me pick out my favorite dress and shoes. He had to of spent well over $10,000! Abby, I mean seriously. He spent more in one afternoon than I have spent on clothes in the last two years!”
Her store sounded painfully similar to what had happened between Theo and me, and I felt my stomach double over at the idea we were both being played. I didn’t know what the end game was, but there was no coincidence that Theo and his best friend Jack both did the same thing with the women they picked up. Suddenly my entire last two days with Theo seemed like a shame, but I wasn’t about to say a thing to Isabella. She was in la la land and so happy.
“Wow, that’s friggin insane!”
“It’s not just that. He didn’t even want to sleep with me the first night. He just wanted to get to know each other. I mean really! What kind of guy does that in today’s world? I’m totally in love. He’s got a spare bedroom and offered me to stay with him for free. No strings attached, you could share it with me if you wanted.”
It was possible that Theo and Jack were just best friends, and they had found a good way of convincing women to live with them. But they were both handsome guys; it seemed to be overkill that they were spending so much money on us. Surely they could have convinced Isabella and me to live with them by simply asking us; we would have said yes. It was in my nature to question things when I got something for nothing. That wasn’t how the world worked, and I knew that. People always wanted something, and I would much rather have them come out and tell me what they wanted, instead of trying to trick me into getting it.
“I’m so happy for you, Isabella. This is really exciting. Is there a catch at all to him asking you to stay with him?”
“You are always thinking the worst of people Abby. Why can’t you just be happy for me?”
“I am. You know I am. I just can’t figure out why he would spend so much money on someone he just met. Did you sleep with him?”
Isabella was right about one thing; I did always think the worst of people. It was a flaw that I knew I had, but eventually, people lived up to what I thought of them, so I always justified my negative feelings.
I hated that I thought so negatively of people and secretly I wished I could be more like Isabella and see the good in people. She always seemed so damn happy, and I couldn’t imagine going through life feeling that happy.
“Abby! Seriously! I didn’t get paid to sleep with him if that is what you’re suggesting.”
“No, I’m sorry Isabella, that’s not what I meant. I just thought maybe he was really appreciative of your fantastic moves.”
We both laughed. Isabella did rave about her skills in the bedroom on a pretty consistent basis. It was commonplace for a guy to buy here things, just not such expensive things.
“That’s how I get them addicted,” she said through her laughter.
I decided it was probably best to leave the conversation alone for the time being. I really had no proof that anything weird was going on at all. Perhaps Theo and Jack were just rich playboys who liked to throw their money around to impress women. It certainly could be as simple as that.
“Let’s order, I’m starving!” I said as we looked through the breakfast menu.
“I am too,” Isabella said as she winked at me.
“Oh, you definitely slept with him.”
We talked and made plans for the future like we had never really done before. The idea of having a little financial security was fun. Isabella talked about buying her own apartment and letting me stay with her. I discussed inviting my sisters to come stay with us from Kansas. It was fun to imagine what life would be like with the four of us together.
“So tell me about your guy,” Isabella finally got around to asking.
I certainly wasn’t going to tell her everything that had happened. My last few days were remarkably similar to hers, and I didn’t want to make her worry about Jack and his intentions toward her.
“He was really sweet. I’m actually going to dinner with him again tonight. So I’ll probably stay over,” I said with a wink.
“You’re a dirty girl Abigail Tessaro. I love it!”
“I’m not a dirty girl. I’m a good girl who likes to do dirty things,” I said as we both laughed.
In our relationship, I was by far the good girl, but that was why we got along so well. I could pull Isabella back in when she got too wild, and she could pull me out when I tried to isolate myself. It was the perfect Yin and Yang for our lifestyle.
The one thing I had never imagined, though, was what would happen when one of us met a man they wanted to stay with. Would the other keep going out to the clubs alone? That wasn’t very safe. Or would we stay with the other at their new boyfriend’s house? It had never even been a question on my radar until we met Theo and Jack. But there was a new possibility; what if we both met a guy and became happy all at the same time? That was surely the best possible result I could hope for.
“You have fun with Theo. From what Jack tells me, Theo is a really good guy, and you’ll be lucky to land him. Jack says Theo has been looking to settle down in life. Maybe even get married and have babies. Wouldn’t that be amazing if you found a nice, good-looking, rich guy to marry? Talk about Cinderella story.”
“He was really nice. But you know I don’t mix well with relationships.”
“Abby, you can’t be a jerk to this guy and push him away. Don’t start making stories up in your head and reasons why you think he’s not right for you. Promise me you will, at least, give him a real chance. Promise you will not pick a fight with him and break things off over something that hasn’t even happened yet.”
Isabella knew me so well. The last guy I had started to get close to was big on Wall Street. He was a sweet guy. Totally attentive to me and never asked for anything in return. I had stayed with him a couple weeks, and it was the closest I had to a real relationship in a long time. But when he officially invited me to live with him, I couldn’t handle it. I started a fight with him about how he just wanted a woman who would be barefoot and pregnant in his kitchen when he came home from working 80 hours a week.
It wasn’t the truth, and I knew it. The guy did want to have a family and did work a lot, but he had never made such misogynistic comments. He was a kind-hearted man and much too good for me. It was probably better for him that I had left. Now, he would be free to find a woman who could really love him.
“I’ll do my best,” I told Isabella as we prepared to say goodbye.
“I’m only a call away. Let’s take a couple days and see what might come of our two new guys. Call me if you need to crash at Jack’s house. It will be no problem at all.”
“Thanks. I’ll call you for sure.”
“Remember to give Theo a chance, though. Don’t push him away. Try just going with things for a little bit and see how they turn out.”
“I promise to give him a chance.”
I decided to walk back to Theo’s apartment as I tried to process everything that was running through my head. It was entirely possible that I was pushing him away because I was afraid. Theo was a really nice guy, and he hadn’t done anything to make me suspicious of him. The facts were simply that I had seen some envelopes passed to him. I didn’t know for sure what was in them and certainly didn’t know if he was selling drugs or something else.
My active imagination had all kinds of ways for explaining the envelopes that Theo had taken, but I hadn’t thought about actually asking him what was in the envelopes. Perhaps before I blew things too far out of proportion, I should talk to Theo.
When I got to his apartment, I knocked and waited to see if someone came to the door. Kimberly answered, and she looked much better than the last time I saw her.
“Oh, hey, I heard you would be stopping by,” Kimberly said as she opened the door to let me in. “Sorry, I look so horrible.”
“You look good. How are you feeling?”
“Like I got ran over by a truck.”
“Well, you look like you’re on the mend, at least.”
“I was just about to lay down for a nap. I hope you don’t mind, but the medications I’m taking make me so tired. I promise we can talk more when I get up.”
“Oh, yes. Go take a nap. I can keep myself amused just fine.”
Kimberly returned to her bedroom, and I found a spot on the couch and flipped the television on. It had been a long time since I was alone in a living room with a television. I hardly remembered how great it was just to relax and enjoy some mind-numbing court dramas.
Theo’s apartment was impeccably styled, and it made me wish I had the ability to design things. Unfortunately, I wasn’t the best at pairing objects together and making things match. I was much better at the eclectic style. Even my daily outfits were picked more based on what I had that was clean than on any particular style.
Just as I had started to get comfortable, there was a knock on the door. I looked toward Kimberly’s room expecting she would come out and get it, but then I decided it was up to me. I hustled to the door and looked through the peephole to see another stunningly beautiful woman. It was starting to bug me just a little bit how many stunningly beautiful women hung around Theo on a regular basis.
“Hi, Kimberly?” The woman asked as she handed me an envelope before I could refute that I was Kimberly. “Tell Theo that I’d love to see that guy again anytime.”
The woman turned and started to walk away.
“What was your name?” I said as my voice cracked. “So I can tell Theo.”
“It’s Paula,” she hollered back at me while she continued walking down the hall.
Paula had on a very expensive looking dress and a pair of heels that I wouldn’t even dare try to walk in. She looked like she was a rich socialite. Her long brown hair was close to my length, and she had her makeup done to perfection.
The envelope wasn’t sealed or anything so I flipped the top of it open and looked inside. There was a very large stack of $100 bills in there. I didn’t bother to count them. Did it really matter how many thousands of dollars the woman was bringing to Theo? No, the real question had to be why so many gorgeous women liked to hand Theo envelopes full of money. I placed the white envelope on the kitchen counter and went back to watching television while I waited for Theo.
I had to figure out just why these women were so willing to give up thousands and thousands of dollars to Theo. Of course, my mind was working a million miles a minute as I tried to figure out the mystery. I had probably watched one too many crime dramas though because each thought that came into my head had to do with drugs, crime, and murder. I really couldn’t think of any other reason for that much cash to be changing hands.
Somewhere between watching television and playing out my own crime drama in my head, I fell asleep. When I woke up, Theo was sitting next to me on the couch and watching the crime show I had on the TV.
“Women who watch crime shows always scare me. I feel like they are learning tips to murder someone without being caught.”
“Oh, yeah. I could totally make you disappear,” I teased him.
There were so many questions in my mind, but as Theo sat there next to me, I didn’t want to ruin it. The words of Isabella played over and over in my mind, and I didn’t want to push him away just because of my suspicions. I did my best to bite my tongue and not make a comment about what I saw inside the envelope that Paula had dropped off.
“I’ll try to behave myself so you don’t want to get rid of me,” Theo said as he leaned down and gently let his lips touch mine.
His gentle lips made my body tingle all over. Theo’s hand wrapped around me as he leaned over me and continued to press his lips against mine. Our tongues thrust into each other’s mouths and what had started as a sweet little kiss quickly turned into something much more erotic.
“There’s an envelope on the counter from a girl named Paula,” I said, pulling away from his kiss.
I will never quite know why I always felt the need to ruin a good thing. What was going on between Theo and I was so beautiful, yet all I wanted to do was ruin it. It was like I didn’t want my own happiness at all.
“Oh, great,” Theo said as he tried to go right back to kissing me.
I should have just gone with it. My head told me not to say anything. I normally listened to my head. I normally didn’t let my heart control what I did, but in a moment of weakness, I felt my heart pounding and demanding to know why Theo was getting envelopes full of money from beautiful women.
Just keep quiet Abby.
Unfortunately, the words came out of my mouth before my brain could stop them. It was a common problem I had and one that I had always struggled with.
“Why do you keep getting envelopes full of cash?”
Theo sat up and right away, and I could tell the mood had totally changed. I regretted even bringing it up, but the words were out already, and there wasn’t anything I could do.
“What do you mean by ‘keep getting’?” Theo asked.
“I saw that woman give you an envelope in Vegas and then when we went to dinner also. Now someone is dropping off an envelope full of cash here. Are you a drug dealer?”
Instead of being angry with me, Theo started to laugh. Something that I had said was amusing to him; I just didn’t know exactly what it was that had made him laugh.
“No, Abigail, I’m not a drug dealer.”
“Okay, then what?”
“What am I?”
“Yes, normal people don’t have beautiful women handing them stacks of cash.”
Theo jumped from the couch, grabbed the envelope and then handed it to me. I sat up on the couch and looked at him in utter bewilderment. Why was he giving me the money? What did he want me to do with it?
“Here, you take it. Use it to help your sisters.”
“No. I don’t want your drug money,” I said as I handed it back to him.
“See there, right there. A beautiful woman just handed me a stack of cash. That didn’t seem all that unusual now did it?”
“Are you saying those women were just giving you your own money back?”
“No, what I’m saying is in my world cash gets handed around like nothing at all. Someday, we can talk more about it. But I just don’t want you to worry about it. I can promise you one thing for sure; I am not a drug dealer.”
Theo leaned down and gently kissed me again. This time, I decided to go with it. He hadn’t gotten angry at me for asking about the money, and he didn’t seem defensive about it at all. Perhaps Isabella was right. Perhaps I did like to just make my relationships into disasters. I didn’t really understand the restaurant or gym business; perhaps there was a lot of cash involved.