There was something in Shay's voice that had him on edge, wondering what exactly was going on on the other side of the phone. He'd never heard her like this before. Sure, he'd seen her exasperated, bemused, and every shade of pissed-off in the book, but never... concerned. Never wary.
And by the sound of it, she was more than just a little wary.
"I don't want to talk about this right now." Her voice cracked through the air again, and Matt got up from his bed, determined to leave the room and give her some privacy. Creeping away, he tried to tune out the rest of her speech, but it was difficult not to hear the quavering of her voice as she said, "I guess we'll just have to see what the future holds."
In all, it had been a vague conversation. Besides her mom and someone named Steven, he had basically no facts about their conversation. Still, he felt for her. Knew how hard it was to tackle something you weren't ready to deal with and have people force it on you time and again. If her tone was any indication, that was exactly what was happening.
Sidling to the fridge, Matt grabbed a beer out of the crisper drawer, and when he clicked it closed again, he was greeted by the snap of another door at the end of the hall.
Shay.
He straightened, trying to act casual, and popped the top off his bottle.
"Hey," she said when she rounded the corner into the kitchen. "Fancy finding you here."
"Fancy that."
He sipped the cool, crisp liquid, but barely tasted it. In truth, he wasn't much in the mood for a drink, but it was something to do. Something to distract him.
"Is midnight your prime drinking hour?" She cocked an eyebrow.
"Only on Tuesdays," he offered back. "I made an exception for tonight."
"Good to know." If he didn't know better, he might have thought she smiled.
Skirting past him, she opened the fridge and got her own beer—one of the orange-flavored shandies Logan had picked up for the girls on their way from the airport. She took a slug and then set it on the counter, swirling the bottle in a tiny circle with her hand.
"Ah, a co-conspirator," he said, and then clinked his glass with hers.
"Unfortunately. Sometimes you just need one." She rolled her eyes and then took another healthy gulp.
"Any reason in particular?" he asked.
He shouldn't have. He knew that. It was an invasion, after all. Like baiting a bear in their very own cave. But she looked so distraught and so in need of someone to talk to, he couldn't help himself. He wanted to help.
“My mother is impossible.” She sighed, and her gaze was far away for a long moment until she finally seemed to find his eyes again. “I should really be used to it, but.” She shrugged. “Family.”
“Family.” He clinked his beer to her’s again and sipped, debating whether or not to ask her more. It was, after all, the closest thing to a normal conversation they’d ever had. Why ruin it by reminding her of the fact that she hated him?
Luckily, she saved him from coming up with something to say when she said, “Do you ever wish you could just live a life without consequences the way some people do?”
“And what, like, rob a bank?” He laughed.
“No, I mean just…” She bit her bottom lip. “Some people can do anything they want and nothing bad ever happens to them. They just flit from one thing to the next. If I could do that…” She shook her head. “I don’t even know what I’d do.”
“Sure you do. Think about it.”
“I’d…I don’t know. I’d swim naked.” She smiled and sipped her beer.
“I’m not going to stop you from doing that.” It was all he could do not to rake his gaze over her, imagining what she’d look like with droplets of water coating her exposed skin.
“Ha ha.” She rolled her eyes. “Fat chance.”
“Stranger things have happened.” He shrugged.
“Oh yeah? What would you do if nothing bad could happen? If there were no consequences?”
He thought about that for a long moment. He’d call up the league and tell them to go fuck themselves for putting him in the minors. He’d buy a big house beside the ocean. He’d…