Fated To Three, And I Broke Them All

Gigi:

When I reached Ragnar’s table, I sat down, but my eyes lingered on her.

She was shaking, but she had to force a smile.

Seeing her go through so many emotions and not be able to find comfort somehow made me feel like the Moon Goddess was on my side.

She always put down people who tried to demean me or hurt me.

First Justin, then Verity, and now her.

But if Verity tried to do something again, I guessed the Moon Goddess would punish her even harder this time.

And speaking of the devil, she walked out of the kitchen, looking all red.

I rolled my eyes, thinking she really had told Mrs. Bundy to go ask Ragnar for help.

Well, little did she know, that was not going to happen.

I was happy in my own mind until my eyes moved to the side and I saw Theodore come out of the kitchen.

When did he go into the kitchen?

I was in the kitchen with Ragnar, and I hadn’t seen Theodore there.

It was just Verity.

And I remembered it very clearly. Even after I left, I was pretty sure I would have seen Theodore walk into the kitchen.

But I hadn’t.

Then it struck me, and I felt like my heart stopped for a moment.

The confidence that had built inside me after putting Jenna down withered away.

I watched Verity move around in her big gown like a fucking boss bitch.

It seemed like taking her down would be a lot harder than taking down someone like Jenna.

And even acknowledging it filled me with so much unease.

My eyes remained fixed on her. I watched her go from table to table, asking everyone if everything was okay.

At the same time, my eyes lingered on Theodore.

He was sneaking glances at her.

And it wasn’t even subtle anymore.

He looked way too interested in her.

When it was time for dinner, we decided to sit together while eating. Jenna, Verity, and Mr. and Mrs. Bundy all sat together at one table.

Jaguar and Theodore were silent.

Theodore was way too silent.

Ragnar did make a little conversation here and there, but my eyes remained on Theodore.

He would look up at me and then smile like he’d been caught thinking about something.

"Theodore, how was your night? Did you like the event?" I finally mustered the courage to speak with him directly, one-on-one.

Jaguar slowed down on his food, looking at Theodore and waiting for an answer.

"Yeah, it was amazing," Theodore responded, although he stuttered just a little bit.

"I didn’t see you looking around at the women, you know. You need to interact to find a mate." I pouted, watching Ragnar smile at me.

He always did whenever I showed that I cared for his brothers.

"They’re not really my cup of tea," Theodore responded, quickly shoving a piece of steak into his mouth, as if he were buying himself time before responding to me.

That was my first clue.

He hadn’t even looked at the women around us.

Was it because of me?

No, it couldn’t be, because he hadn’t looked at me either.

There was only one person his eyes kept moving to.

"Oh, you know, that’s the crazy thing," Jaguar added, swallowing the bite he’d been chewing for a while.

"What do you mean?" I asked him, smiling and trying to be playful.

"The other night, we were staying at a hotel, and there was this gorgeous woman who kept hitting on him. She seemed like she was from some high rank as well, but Theodore completely blocked her out. He didn’t even speak with her. He didn’t want anything to do with her."

Jaguar narrated the story vaguely, laughing with his brothers.

Even Ragnar looked shocked that Theodore hadn’t tried to go after the woman.

But then it hit me.

Not only was there some bitch out there trying to steal him from me, but it also made me painfully aware that I couldn’t be with Theodore twenty-four-seven.

And he hadn’t told me that story either.

Usually, they used to tell me everything. Every single thing.

Maybe I was just noticing it too much.

But the fact that he had changed made me wonder if it was the sacrifice working.

It had to be.

There was no way his few glances at Verity could be the reason.

"What were you doing in the kitchen, Theodore?"

I didn’t know why, but that question just slipped out of my mouth.

And he immediately choked on his water.

"Careful, don’t swallow too hard," Ragnar said to him in a rather weird voice, like he’d noticed something too.

"What do you mean, what was I doing in the kitchen?" Theodore asked after he’d managed to calm himself down.

"Oh, I thought Verity was fixing her dress in there. But then I saw you come out of the kitchen. When did you get in there?" I acted completely clueless, pouting as if it were nothing.

Something very shady was setting off alarm bells in my head.

Ragnar tilted his head and then raised an eyebrow as he stared at Theodore.

I noticed it. The little twitch of Ragnar’s finger meant he was picking up on something.

But my attention shifted to Jaguar, who had the wildest reaction.

He had stopped eating, his hands planted on the table as he watched Theodore like a hawk, waiting for an answer.

"I went in there to ask for salt, but she had already fixed her dress. I didn’t even know that was a thing," Theodore said, swallowing a little too hard as he came up with an answer.

"Hm but when did you—," But as I tried to speak again, Mrs. Bundy arrived.

Of course she did.

She dragged a chair between Jaguar and me and sat down.

"Sorry, it was getting too crowded over there, so I decided to come and sit with you guys," she said, smiling at Jaguar as he tried to fill her plate with food.

Theodore did the same.

And he did it because he was trying to avoid communicating with me.

I also knew why she had come over here.

Like I’d already noticed, she would never let me sit with the brothers. Only with Ragnar.

She was gatekeeping them, and it was angering me.

They didn’t belong to her for her to gatekeep.

They were mine.

I could do whatever the fuck I wanted to do with them.

Then, finally, it was time to leave.

Verity had cut the event short. She had kind of requested that everyone stay only until 11:30.

And I could already tell why.

She was helping Jenna.

So Jenna had come to me to ask me for something, and then she went to Verity. And well, Verity, being a people pleaser like always, helped her.

There was no other explanation for it.