Authors: Lauren Dane
“Seeing each other? Is that what you call it?”
“Get to the point, Melanie, the shrillness of your voice makes my teeth hurt and your fake tan is giving me a headache. Oh and do your www.samhainpublishing.com 91
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roots for cripes’ sake.” Hee! That hit home. Melanie’s pretty face crumpled on even more ire. Tate hoped she got a wrinkle Botox couldn’t clear up.
“You keep your cheap, fat ass on your side of town. Matt Chase isn’t meant for the likes of you.”
Tate raised an eyebrow, a naturally blonde eyebrow. “Ahh, that’s what this is about. Can’t take it that he dumped you and came to me.
Oh, that must sting that shriveled up, black heart of yours. All the money and good shoes in the world can’t lure Matt from my bed to yours.
I may be fat and cheap but I’m the one getting laid by Matt Chase. Guess you’ll have to find some other guy because Matt is taken.” Melanie pushed the cart but Tate was stronger than she was and she pushed back, making Melanie step backward.
“Don’t you push me, Melanie Deeds. You said your piece now get your ass out of the way or I’ll run you over and smile while I do it.”
“We’ll see how funny you think this is when me and my friends boycott your ratty little salon.”
Tate whipped her head around. “Oh no you did not just insult my salon! Look here, you stupid bimbo, you’d better have a salon visit somewhere in your future because your roots are so bad you look like you’d be at home next to my old trailer.” She turned to Kendra who’d been smirking at Melanie’s little tirade. “Although I’m sorry we can’t help you. We don’t do Botox.”
“You slut! Just like your mother. You’re not good enough to be a Chase, you just remember that. Matt Chase will get tired of you soon enough and you’ll run back to your tacky little house and your cheap, buy-one-get-one free life with your cheap shoes and knock off bags.
You’re a nobody, Tate Murphy. A
fat
nobody who doesn’t even know who her dad is.” Melanie’s face was red but Tate was the one who saw red.
“Get. Out. Of. My. Way.” She shoved the cart menacingly and Melanie finally moved aside. “I’m Tate Murphy and I’m better than a thousand of you, Melanie Deeds. You know it too. If money bought worth, I’d still be better than you.”
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She blew past them and managed to finish her shopping instead of running out the doors in tears like they’d wanted her to.
Still, there’d been several cancellations for the rest of the week. It’d cost the shop several hundred dollars. But not her pride. Never, ever her pride.
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Matt chuckled to himself as they approached his parents’ front door.
They were a sight to behold, Tate and Matt along with three of her siblings. His momma would be in hog heaven.
Add to it the bonus of having Tate be more comfortable because her family was with her for that first dinner at the Chase household. And it was a big night, they were celebrating Kyle’s birthday, too. In another three weeks Nicholas would be a year old.
He remembered back to July of the year before, Maggie was heavy with pregnancy and Liv was just about to admit to herself that she loved Marc.
It’d hurt then. Just a bit. To see his brother finding love before he had, and with the woman Matt had been with a few years before that.
But part of the hurt had been Matt’s frustration that he just hadn’t ever loved Liv, even though he’d wanted to. He’d wondered if he’d ever find what his brothers had found and here he was, his arm around the shoulder of the woman who made him whole.
Not that she made it easy. The woman was a pain in the ass. Skittish as hell. Defensive and so damned strong. He loved her so much and he knew she felt deeply about him too, figured it was love even. But she was scared and he couldn’t do much more than ease her into life as his woman.
Thank God for her siblings who’d supported his relationship with her totally.
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The door opened before he could reach the knob and his mother stood there, a great big grin on her face. Rushing onto the porch, she pulled Tate into a hug.
“Hey there, Tate. Don’t you look pretty tonight?” Polly stood back and Matt realized his mother and Tate were roughly the same height. He stifled a laugh but looked up to see his father making the same discovery as he stood in the doorway.
Tate blushed. “Thank you so much for having us, Mrs. Chase. I know it’s a family occasion and all. I told Matt we should come on a different night but he insisted.”
Polly waved a hand at that. “Pshaw. Piffle even. Come on in. Hello, Anne and Beth, it’s nice to see you two. And you’re Nathan, right? We’ve met once at a town hall meeting about the new high school. Come on in!” She shooed everyone into the front hall.
Edward looked at Matt and then down at Tate, his face softening.
Matt wanted to sigh with relief. His father would temper his mother’s enthusiasm and make Tate feel at ease.
“Hello, darlin’. I’m Edward, Matt’s daddy. Welcome to our home.” Edward took her hand and kissed it and damned if Tate didn’t actually emit a girlish giggle.
Edward winked at her and Polly snorted. “Edward, don’t you go trying to trade me in on a younger model.” Edward shook his head at his wife, smiling. “My darling wife, I’d never trade you in. But I do hear Tate’s quite the cook. I was just hedging my bets.”
Tate laughed and Polly grinned at Matt.
Edward introduced himself to her siblings and put Tate’s hand in the crook of his arm, escorting her into the family room where the other Chase boys and their assorted wives were already seated.
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of a brother was so gentle with her. He supposed part of it was Cassie’s doing.
Nicholas saw Tate, squealed in delight and toddled over. She knelt at his level and within moments lay on the carpet, driving cars around.
“My sister is a good person. Kind, smart. She’d do anything for the people she loves.” Nathan stood with Matt as the rest of the group mixed and chatted.
“I love your sister, Nate.”
“I know. She’s afraid of it.”
“Why? I’d never hurt her. She has to know that. I’ve never been violent or even angry with her. I’m always gentle.” It tore him apart that she’d fear him.
Nathan sighed. “Matt, that’s not it entirely. She’s afraid to truly love you and have everything that makes the two of you so different come back to cause her pain. She’s afraid that once you know all of it, everything about our parents, how we came up, you’ll reject her.”
“That’s silly. I don’t care about any of that stuff. Nate, I don’t care where you grew up.”
“You don’t. But others do.”
“Who cares about them?”
“She didn’t tell you.” Nathan hesitated and Matt tore his eyes away from Tate and Maggie playing on the floor with Nicholas to face her brother.
“Tell me what?”
“She’s going to kill me. She needs to tell you herself.”
“Fuck that. Come on, Nathan, you opened the subject up, just tell me.” Matt kept his voice down, not wanting to alert her.
“Melanie and her friends cornered Tate at the market earlier this week. Taunted her. Said she was a gold digger. Called her a whore.
They’re boycotting the salon. She’s lost some business.” Matt blinked, disbelief clouding his brain as he struggled to understand. “What? Why would they do that? Is there some old battle 96
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between them or something? I broke things off with Melanie two months before I walked into the salon for the first time and met Tate. I don’t understand.”
“Matt,” Nathan shook his head, “you’re a good guy but you don’t know what it was like to grow up the way we did. Melanie has
always
been this way about our family. Well, mainly Tate. Always Tate because she’s different. She…” He broke off, pressing his lips together.
“She what? Please, Nathan, she won’t tell me any of this herself. I want to understand her, I want to protect her and I can’t if I don’t know.”
“She’s already going to be pissed I told you this much, Matt. She’s ashamed. We all are but she’s the worst. She protected us all at great risk to herself.”
Sickness roiled through Matt’s gut at the thought of her suffering. Of anyone hurting her, including Melanie. He’d have a few things to tell her when he ran her to ground.
“Dinner! Come on, everyone.” Polly clapped her hands to get attention and Nicholas copied her.
Kyle laughed, scooping his son up and heading toward the dining room.
Matt went to Tate, holding his hand out to help her up, and the smile she gave him as she took it melted any anger he’d had at her for not telling him right away.
Nathan cornered her after the cake, telling her he’d let Matt know about the thing with Melanie.
Humiliation and then a sense of betrayal rushed through her. How dare he? “You did what? How could you do that, Nathan? If I’d wanted him to know I’d have told him myself.”
“He needed to know, Tate. He loves you. He wants to protect you.” She narrowed her eyes. “I don’t need anyone to protect me, Nathan. I can take care of myself.” No one else ever had, she could count on herself, damn it. Melanie was a stupid bitch and Tate had handled her.
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“You don’t need it but you deserve it. I don’t feel bad, honey, so spare me the look. It hasn’t worked on me in ages.”
“It worked on you Thursday, Nathan, when you were arguing with William.”
He tried not to laugh but he couldn’t help it. “Okay, okay, so it still works. Tate, I love you. You don’t know how much. I’ll never be able to put into words how much you mean to me, not in a million years. He wants to be part of your life, why hold him out?”
“What’s going on?” Beth approached and Nathan sighed.
“Nothing.” Tate waved it away. The last thing she wanted was to bring any drama to the Chases’ grand living room.
“I told Matt about what happened with Melanie.” Tate gasped and then growled at him. He had the good sense to look worried.
“Well good. I don’t know why Tate hadn’t before now.”
“I’m not having this discussion. This is
mine
. It happened to me. Not you, not Nathan, not Matt. You don’t own it and it’s mine to share or not.
You don’t get to make my choices for me. No one gets to make my decisions for me but me. You had no right, Nathan, and you’ve made me look like a pathetic fool.” He took something and used it against her.
Matt would feel sorry for her and there was nothing worse than having someone feel sorry for you. Especially when she’d handled it and quite well she thought. Those women didn’t make her feel bad, she meant it when she said she was better than they were. She was.
“Tate, you know I’d never…that’s not what it was. I wanted him to know, to see you, to understand what you face.”
“Damn you, Nathan! I’m not some pathetic little fat chick who needs crumbs from the table of anyone. I trusted you. You’ve humiliated me and I don’t know if I’ll share with you so readily the next time.” Anger burning through her, she hardened herself against the way his face fell at her words. Instead, she spun and walked away, out into the hallway. And straight into Matt. Could the night get any worse?
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“I hear you had quite the little run-in with Melanie earlier this week.
You planning to tell me about it before the picnic day after tomorrow?”
“Don’t start on me, Matt. It’s nothing and it doesn’t concern you.” If he hadn’t been so angry at her for not telling him about Melanie, he’d have been amused at the way her chin jutted out and her eyes narrowed at him.
He grabbed her hand and tugged her outside onto the front porch.
Cassie and Shane sat snuggled on the glider swing on one side so he hustled her to the opposite end, pulling her into the large chaise with him.
“Tell me.”
“Matt, I told you, it was nothing and I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Well that’s not an option. You can’t not share with me. I care about what happens to you. When I track her down I’m giving her a piece of my mind.”
She stood, moving away from him quickly. “You will do no such thing! It’s handled. I handled it. I don’t need anyone to fight my battles for me.”
“You may not need it but I do. I need to help you, to be a part of your life.” He stood and she backed up a step. He exhaled with frustration.
“Don’t do that. I hate when you do that.”
“I need to go.” She darted to the side, toward the steps to the front walk.
“Oh no you don’t, Tate Murphy! You can’t run from me every time I get close.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Matt saw Cassie stand and Shane rose shortly after that. Tate saw it too. Shane’s size worked against them both in that situation.
“You going to stop me?” Tate’s voice trembled a moment but steadied.
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Nathan shoved them both aside until he reached Tate, pulling her into his arms.
“Get her things,” Nathan said calmly to Beth who turned and went to retrieve their stuff. “Come on, honey, let’s get you home. Why don’t you stay at my house tonight? I’ll even let you make me waffles tomorrow morning.”
Cassie’s hand caught Matt’s elbow and pulled him back. When he turned to her, she shook her head hard, pain clear on her face.
“What the blazes is going on? Matthew, what have you done?” Polly came out and Beth moved around her, their stuff in her arms.
Matt hated that Nathan kept his body between him and Tate as he drew her off the porch and down to the sidewalk.
“I wouldn’t have hurt her. I never…” Matt’s voice caught.
“Matt, there’s something so broken inside me. I know you wouldn’t have hurt me but look how I acted. I can’t control it. Just please, can’t you see how wrong we are?” Tate’s voice was thick with tears.
He moved toward her but Nathan shook his head and Cassie’s fingers dug into his arm.
“Why are you holding me back? I can’t let her go like this.” He looked to Cassie, begging her.
“Look at her, Matt. Leave it. Let her get herself together. Let them help her. You can’t fix her just now.” Cassie’s voice was thick with emotion.
Shane put his arm around Cassie and his cheek against her hair.
Polly looked to him and down at Tate. “Honey, please don’t go like this. This was all a silly misunderstanding. Matt wouldn’t hurt anyone, least of all you. He loves you. Let us be your family too.”
“I know he wouldn’t hurt me!” Tate cried. “Can’t you all see? I can’t even have an argument without turning into some kind of freak. There’s something so wrong with me. Just please, leave me alone.” She paused, looking at Matt sadly. Matt felt a sob building in his gut. “Get away while 100
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you can.” She turned and let Nathan guide her down the sidewalk and help her into the car.
“Tate, I love you. You’re not broken, damn it. You’re beautiful and wonderful and I’ll call you tomorrow,” Matt called out.
Anne and Beth got in the car on either side of Tate, both putting their arms around her.
Matt saw her body shake, knowing she wept. He had to lean against the railing to keep his knees from buckling as the car pulled away.
“Why the hell didn’t you tell me she was abused?” Cassie asked softly.
“I don’t even know the whole story! Bits and pieces is all I’ve heard.
The dad is a drunk, the mom ran off a lot. They were poor, neglected. I don’t know the extent of the situation. I know she’s got major issues around eating because of whatever the hell the dad said to her and she took the brunt of a lot of emotional crap because she’s not really his.” Matt shoved a hand through his hair and began to pace. “I shouldn’t have let her go. We could have worked it out.”
“Matt, she was on the verge of losing it. Her family will know what to do.”
“You have to help her, Cassie. Will you help her?” Matt pulled her hands into his.
She nodded. Cassie had been physically and mentally abused for several years by her ex, a man who tried to kill her twice. In the wake of a devastated medical career and no longer able to perform the complicated surgery she used to excel at, she’d become a victim’s advocate.