Diving Deep (UK Crush #2)

Chapter 54

We were sitting like that when we heard Teddy's voice.

"I smell coffee. What's going on, mate, you're not a coffee drinker. I might have a little myself, my head's aching fit to fucking split--" He came around the corner and saw us, or saw me, rather, and stopped in his tracks.

He'd obviously just showered, because his hair was still wet, and for just a split second, I thought I saw unadulterated joy flash across his face, but if I did, it was replaced almost immediately by the animosity slash courtesy version of Teddy.

"What are you doing here? And how did you get here?"

"I came because Geth called me, and I got here in a car that he sent for me," I responded evenly, deciding that the straight truth was probably the easiest way to go.

He turned to Gethin.

"I don't remember much about yesterday, but I'm pretty sure the first thing I asked of you was to not contact her," he said curtly.

"Yeah, I know, mate, but once I found out what was going on, I realized that was something I couldn't do, I'm sorry," Geth said reasonably.

"Don't 'I know, mate' me, Geth, it was the one thing I asked, and you fucking didn't do it!" His voice rose with his temper, echoing through the large house, and I flinched on the last word. Geth rubbed my arm comfortingly, a gesture which wasn't lost on Teddy.

I stood and moved from Gethin's lap, returning to where I'd been sitting before.

"There's no need for shouting, is there?" Gethin asked. "Can't we just talk? Let's get you some coffee, and maybe something stronger for your headache, and we can talk, yeah?"

He stood and poured Teddy a cup of coffee and got him some aspirin from a cupboard. When he approached him, however, I wasn't sure if Teddy was going to accept it or hit it out of his hand; in the end, he accepted both with a very quiet "Thanks," and he downed the aspirin with a mouthful of coffee, grimacing at the taste.

"I don't really see what there is to talk about," he said mutinously.

Gethin gestured at a chair at the table, and Teddy sat, crossing his arms and looking from one to the other of us. Now that we were all together, I had no idea how to broach the subject of how I came to know about Teddy's texts, private texts between him and another person.

"Well, how about if I start?" I said. Both of them looked at me. "It seems to me that you and I haven't been talking much lately," I began, looking at Teddy.

"I told you, when I'm writing, I don't have a lot of time," he said with a sigh. "Look, we've covered this topic already.

"And I don't see why he has to be here for something that should just be between us, anyway," he said, gesturing toward Gethin.

"Look, you're the one who showed up at my house and drank yourself to oblivion, mate," said Geth, again, very reasonably, I thought. "How about if you just think of me as an objective arbitrator, all right?"

"Yeah, objective, that's a laugh," said Teddy.

"What's that mean, then?" Asked Geth, getting his hackles up for the first time.

"You think I haven't noticed how you look at her? How you touch her? There's a word for that, mate, and it isn't objective." Teddy sat back in his chair, taking another drink of his coffee.

Fuck.

"I think you've got me confused with Matthew," Gethin said.

"Nope. Matthew's feelings for her are defined by love, as in romantic. Your feelings, my friend, are a little bit baser in nature. You've been coveting my girlfriend in a physical way; to wit, you've been lusting after her, haven't you?