I stare at his profile for a beat, wondering why he’s so fucking interested all of a sudden when he hasn’t said a word to me before now.
Feeling my attention, he glances over.
“Just making conversation,” he mutters, answering my unspoken question.
“I don’t have a mom. She died when I was a baby.”
“That sucks.”
“It is what it is. Can’t miss something you never had, right?” I ask, resting back and staring out of the window as a very wet London passes us by.
“You’d be surprised.”
Part of me wants to demand he explain, but the other part doesn’t want him to know I care in any way about what he’s got to say.
“So, what’s the deal with you lot? In some fucked-up gang or something?”
He laughs, and I can’t help but want to smile at the amusement in it.
“Or something, Princess.”
“Care to explain?”
“No, not really. I’m sure you’ve heard the gossip,” he says cryptically.
“Do I look like the kind of girl who falls for that kind of bullshit?”
“Fair enough. You’re right. It’s probably best you don’t believe everything you hear.”
“Your friends included?”
“You’re not stupid, Stella. I’m sure you can work it out.”
“What’s Seb’s deal with me?” I ask, noticing that we’re beginning to get closer to home.
“Seb is… complicated.”
I can’t help but snort a laugh. “He seems pretty simple to me. Privileged douchebag who can’t handle when he doesn’t get what he wants.”
“While that might be partly true, there’s much more to him than meets the eye.”
“Like?”
Theo stops at a red light and lifts one hand to push his hair back from his brow as he considers how to answer my question.
“Let’s just say you’re not the only one to lose a parent young.”
“And that makes him a cruel fuck toward me because?”
“Look, I can sit here making excuses for him all night if you want me to. But if you really want answers, I’m not the person you should be talking to.”
“Yet you were the one who randomly decided to give me a lift.”
“You’d have preferred it if I were Seb?”
“He let me play with his knife. He was more fun,” I deadpan.
“You know he’s going to want that back, right?”