Heartbreak Me by T.L. Smith Page 0,29
hear her footsteps as I give it another firm knock. She pauses, there are no words or movement beyond the door in front of me.
“I should warn you, I have very low patience,” I say, knowing she’s on the other side.
“I could be sleeping.”
“You aren’t, so open the door.”
She goes silent, but I don’t hear her walking away. “Theadora,” I say, my patience growing thinner with each passing second.
Finally, she pulls open the door with a scowl sitting on her pretty pink lips. “What is it you do exactly that gives you so much free time to annoy me?” Her eyes pin me with a glare. “Seriously, what do you do?”
“I dabble in a lot of things, but my first love is my casino. I grew it from backyard gambling, and now I am the richest person in this town thanks to it.”
“So, you’re a dirty casino owner?” she says with venom.
“It didn’t start off that way, but yes. How I make a lot of my money is dirty, and Theadora…” I step up closer to her, “… I will do anything to keep my business safe and operating.”
“So, why are you here? Why are you annoying me?”
“What did you tell her?” I ask, and her eyes go wide. She shakes her head slowly from side to side.
“Don’t you dare threaten Tina. Don’t you dare.” Her bottom lip quivers.
“What. Did. You. Tell. Her?”
“That we went painting. She thinks it’s paint.”
“Good.” I believe her. She’s proving to be nothing like her sister, Lucy.
It’s then she looks me up and down and squints. “Why are you dressed like that?” She’s staring at my gray track pants and black shirt. She’s dressed in a shirt that comes down to her knees, and she has fuzzy socks covering her feet.
I look back outside, then turn to face her. “You run. I run. We are going to run together. Now.”
Her face is shocked as she stares at me. “You want to run with me?” she asks in disbelief.
“Did I stutter and not make sense?”
She bites her lip and looks down. “You don’t even like me. Why would you want to run with me?”
“We are going to get to know one another. So that starts with me running with you today.” My eyes scan her body. “Now, hurry up and get dressed.” I turn and start my stretching routine. When I don’t hear her move, I turn around, and she’s still standing there staring at me as if I have grown a second head. “Theadora.” My voice seems to snap her out of her trance, and she turns, running to her room. She doesn’t keep me waiting too long, and soon she’s out, dressed in tights and a long-sleeved shirt and joggers. Her hair is up in a messy ponytail with AirPods in her ears.
“I don’t talk when I run, so keep up and shut up,” she tells me. I smirk at her as she starts to stretch. She bends over in front of me, and it takes everything in me not to reach out and touch her ass. When she stands, she stretches one arm and looks behind her, at me.
“Can you keep up?” she asks.
“The question is… can you?” I take off, and it doesn’t take her long to catch up. Theadora runs next to me, never once slowing her pace. She’s fast. I knew she liked to run, but I didn’t expect her to be this quick. When we get to a crossing, I come to a stop, but she stays jogging on the spot, and before I can say a word, the light changes, and she’s off again. I never expected I would have to keep up with her, but somehow, I do. When we reach the end of her trail, she slows down and jogs on the spot while removing one AirPod, and she isn’t even out of breath.
“Did you run track?” I ask.
“Yes.” She looks at me, waiting for me to keep talking.
I damn well didn’t expect to be outrun, but she has great stamina. “Go. I’ll catch up.”
She eyes me suspiciously and does just that, starts running back in the direction we came.
Theadora is sitting out the front of her house with two bottles of water in her hands when I get back. She passes me one as I sit next to her.
“No one keeps up with me, don’t be ashamed.” Her voice is playful. But what she doesn’t know is that I succeed in almost everything I do.