Authors: K Carr
Matt didn’t care one way or the other, he simply wanted to get to Greenwich as quickly as possible. “Yes, yes, let’s go.”
The three of them hurried out of the restaurant. Matt’s worry was full-blown. He never should have agreed to stay away from her these past few days. What was he thinking? It was obvious from what she’d said this was an emotional time for her. And he had left her to it. Deserted her. Bloody hell. What sort of man was he?
They decided to leave as they’d arrived, Nathan and Matt together and Bella following in her sleek Bentley.
“Who are you texting?” Nathan asked as they began the battle of traffic through Central London. “Is it Madison? You seem concerned, Matt. Is she all right?”
Matt finished typing the text and raised his head to glance at his friend. “It’s Natalia.”
“Your niece?” Nathan looked confused as they hit lights and he checked his rear view mirror to make sure Bella was behind them. “Why?”
“Madi said I was cray-cray and, for the life of me, I have no idea what it means,” he explained.
Nathan shrugged and offered his take on it. “Maybe it’s something to do with crayfish?”
“Highly unlikely. God. Can’t you drive faster, Nathan? An old age pensioner can walk faster than this snail’s pace we’re going at.”
Nathan didn’t bother replying.
“Crazy,” Matt muttered in a frustrated voice.
“I beg your pardon?” Nathan grumbled, insulted at Matt’s dig.
Matt looked at him. Seeing his friend’s offended demeanour, he explained, “It means crazy. The urban definition of cray-cray means crazy.”
Nathan arched a blonde eyebrow at him and chuckled. “It’s scary that your girlfriend uses slang understood by your seventeen-year-old niece, Matt.”
“Tell me about it,” Matt mumbled, rubbing his temples slowly. “It’s moments like these I realize I’m not as young as I think I am.”
Nathan snorted in agreement before speeding up. The traffic was easing. They should be there soon. At least he hoped so.
Almost an hour later Nathan parked across the street from Madison’s terrace. Matt was simultaneously filled with aching eagerness to see her, yet anxious over the state she would be in. He jumped out the car and strode over the street before Bella had parked behind Nathan.
“Wait up, Matt,” Nathan yelled as he hurried over to get Bella.
Matt let out an irritated grunt, wishing he’d come on his own. When they all finally walked toward her front door, he could feel the beginnings of dread stirring inside his gut. How inebriated was she?
Matt pulled his keys out and opened the door, striding in seconds later.
“The hell?” A bare-chested white man yelled in surprise, jumping to his feet with clenched hands as he stared at Matt, Nathan and Bella.
“Chill out, Bret,” Dante immediately called from his side, peering at Matt as he jerked his head in his direction, a form of hello. “That’s Madi’s boyfriend.”
The Bret fellow glanced from Matt to Dante, still looking suspicious as he said, “Dude waltzes in like he owns the place?”
Dante shrugged and brought a bottle of beer to his lips. “Seems so.”
Matt’s eyes took in the scene before him. It looked like they’d been partying hard, empty beer bottles strewn everywhere. His jaw tightened.
“Where’s Madison?” he asked tersely, gesturing Bella and Nathan forward before shutting the front door harder than necessary.
“MSG,” Bret called. “Your man’s here.”
Matt heard laughter coming from the kitchen and forced himself not to make his way there. He couldn’t leave Bella and Nathan, even if he wanted to. He could see their uneasiness as they stood together.
“MSG,” Bret hollered. “You’ve got guests.” He regarded Matt. “Damn man, you’re bigger than I expected.”
Matt eyed the man closely. Slender framed, with skinny arms and a few tattoos on his arms and upper chest, and brown locks in wild disarray around his narrow face.
“How’s it hanging, man?” Dante drawled, eyes on the TV.
“Fine.” Matt could only assume Dante was asking how he was, and his reply was a polite one. “And yourself?”
“I’m cool. Hey, Bret, sit down man, you’re missing the start of the game.”
Bret slumped on the couch, feet up on the coffee table as he picked up a beer and mumbled while tugging a t-shirt on. “Dude walked right on in. People get popped for shit like that.”
“Yup,” Dante responded dryly, before twisting in the couch and calling in a raised voice, “Sweet cheeks. Come in here for a second.”
Matt was about to head for the kitchen—Nathan and Bella would have to fend for themselves—when he saw Madi and another woman coming down the hallway giggling to themselves.
“Why are you guys yelling? MSG and I are cooking,” the woman groused as she held an arm around Madi’s waist.
His poppet’s head was down and Matt’s gaze slid over her clothing, or lack thereof. Both women sported extremely short shorts and boob tubes. The striped, knee-high socks were a strange addition.
“Poppet,” he called, and her head snapped up.
<><><>
“Matt.” My eyes widened in surprise as I leaned against Marie-Sol in the hallway. They almost popped out their sockets as I noticed Nathan and Bella behind him. “Wha—why—what are you doing here?”
I jerked away from Marie-Sol and hurried towards my living room fuming, or trying to…I was high and drunk.
Matt gave me an incredulous stare before running an agitated hand across his handsome face. Wow. He looked good in a suit.
“You asked me to come, poppet. We spoke on the phone,” he prompted with an expectant look. “About an hour ago. Remember?”
“We didn’t,” I said with surety, then paused. “Did we?”
Matt nodded slowly, eyes darting from me and Marie-Sol to Dante and Bret. “Yes, we did.”
Marie-Sol came up behind me, wrapping her arms around my waist and saying in a not-so-quiet voice, “MSG, he’s hot.”
“Hey.” Bret’s head snapped around. “I heard that, Sol.”
She laughed and sauntered over to the couch where she ruffled Bret’s hair. “I know you did, sweetie. Just trying to keep you on your toes.”
I squirmed in embarrassment and ran a hand over my wild hair. Oh shit. I looked a fine mess, and Matt was here with Bella and Nathan, who were staring at me as if my body had been inhabited by an alien life form.
“Happy birthday, Madi,” Matt said softly as he closed the distance between us. I flinched, unable to meet his eyes when he stopped in front of me. Oh God. Had I really invited him over? Damned alcohol and happy brownies.
“Thanks,” I muttered, eyes downcast as I eased past him towards the couch and my friends. “Uh, guys, this is Matt.” I gestured in his direction, then pointed at my other unexpected guests. “And they’re his friends, Bella and Nathan. They’re engaged by the way.”
Nathan and Bella smiled a nervous hello at my friends.
I fiddled with the back of the couch. “You guys already know, Dante.”
Bella nodded her head and Dante sent a distracted wave in her direction. She waved back.
“And this is Sol.” I nudged my friend. “Marie-Sol and her boyfriend, Bret. They will be engaged soon.”
“Hey,” Bret piped up. “Stop sweating me, MSG.”
Everyone murmured hello to each other, and I fidgeted next to Marie-Sol. She picked up on my unease immediately and tapped Dante on his shoulder, who, in turn, nudged his knee against Bret’s.
“MSG, how’s the food coming along? A brother be starving out here,” he said. I laughed, knowing full well he was trying to distract me. They’d being doing that all day. Anytime the echo of a frown graced my lips, either Dante, Bret or Sol would say something to make me smile.
“About an hour left, Bret. Can you last until then?”
He snorted, then rose up to yank Sol over the back of the couch and into his lap. She let out a little yelp, and I laughed harder as Bret began to tickle her while chastising her for saying Matt was hot.
I gave not-quite-lucid eyes to the hot man in discussion. “Would you guys like something to drink?”
I could see Matt was about to decline when Nathan said, “Yes, please. Happy birthday, by the way.”
Nathan ushered Bella forward. I think he was unnerved by my friends’ antics and wanted to escape the confines of my living room. Bella came over to wish me happy birthday, while Matt observed me silently, clinical and searching grey eyes fixated on my face. I nervously ran a hand over my curls.
“Follow me,” I mumbled before heading back to the kitchen with the three of them on my heels. I could hear Sol’s shrieks as Dante seemed to join in on the tickle fest. I wished I was out there with them, instead of in my kitchen putting on the kettle to make tea for my guests.
“Why do they call you MSG?” Matt asked in the awkward silence building throughout my kitchen as he leaned against the counter.
I glanced at him before averting my eyes. Could he tell I was high right now?
“Because her name is Madison,” Bret supplied. Damn, he was quiet. I hadn’t heard him coming after us. “And she’s square like a garden,” he joked. It was a private joke that the others wouldn’t get.
Matt exchanged a blank look with Nathan, who had pulled out chairs for himself and Bella and was sitting at the table.
“It’s short for Madison Square Gardens, Matt. MSG,” I explained, taking mugs from the cupboards. Should I offer them something stronger than tea? I turned to give them a choice, and yelled at Bella, “Don’t eat that!”
She froze, hand paused mid-air, with a sizeable piece of brownie between her well-manicured fingers. She looked uncertain, as did Matt and Nathan. The plate of chocolate brownies sat innocently in the middle of the table and smelling of a natural high heaven.
Shit.
How to explain?
“It’s—um—those brownies are—”
Bret was chuckling as he opened my fridge. I shot him a glare and scuffed my sock-covered toes over the floor. “They’re not fit for consumption.”
“Why not, poppet?” Matt asked in confusion.
Bret shut my fridge, not finding whatever he was looking for, and sauntered over to the table where he plucked up a brownie and popped it into his mouth with an obvious wink in my direction. Oh, man.
Bella still had the brownie between her fingers and, when she’d observed Bret scoffing one down, it resumed its journey to her lips. Oh no.
“They’re pot brownies,” I cried in dismay, then smacked a hand over my mouth in shame as Matt gave me a thunderous look and Nathan snatched the goodie out of Bella’s grip.
Bret popped one more in his mouth and wandered back over to the fridge as I chewed my lower lip under Matt’s observation.
“Damned good ones, too,” Bret said, opening the fridge again.
I turned away from Matt’s stare. Was that disgust on his face? Disappointment? Embarrassment?
Then,
thwack
. I yelped, jumping out my skin as the leather belt wielded by Bret connected nicely.
“Jesus Christ, Bret!” I spun around, ass pressed against the lower cupboards. The sneaky bastard had hidden the belt in the fridge?
“Twenty-two,” he shouted towards the kitchen door, and a cheer went up in the living room.
In the ten seconds it had taken for that to transpire, Matt had closed the small distance between him and Bret. Before I could blink, he had Bret around the neck and looked like he was about to throttle him.
“Are you out of your bloody mind?” he dragged out in a menacing tone. “Hit her again and I’ll kill you.”
“Matt,” I shouted, grabbing his arm and trying to yank him away from my friend, who was staring at him from goggled eyes, while his face started turning pink from lack of air. “It’s a game. It’s just a game. Matt. Let him go.”
I don’t think Matt heard me. I had never seen him look so angry. Forget the thousands of pounds suit he wore and his slicked-back hair, Matt looked like he was about to throw down. And poor Bret was the person marked for an ass whopping.
“Matt.” I slipped my hand in his hair and tugged. Hard. That finally got his attention. “Let him the fuck go.”
Matt inhaled deeply, grey eyes flashing with barely contained rage, danger about ready to spill out and unleash a fury that I’d never witnessed before. Then I remembered the night we’d met. Shit. I shoved him away and slipped between them, back pressed against Bret’s heaving chest as I went into protective mode. Well, drunk protective mode.
“Are you insane? You can’t jack my friend up like that. Why are you here? I said Friday, Matt. Friday, not Monday.”
Sol walked into the kitchen with Dante right behind her. “
Que paso
?”
“
El loco novio de MSG, trato de matarme
,” Bret explained.
Matt’s eyebrows lowered. “I did not try to kill you. I threatened to kill you if you ever hit Madison again.”
My mouth fell open. “You speak Spanish, too?”
Matt shot me an unhappy scowl. “Yes.”
“I don’t like him, MSG,” Bret groused as he encircled my bare stomach with his arms.