Claudia nodded. “Then how?”
Matt leaned back in his chair and scratched his chin. This had to be the most uncomfortable situation Karl had ever put him in.
“He asks about you, wants to make sure you’re fine and have everything you need.”
“Does he?”
Her voice sounded incredulous, and Matt sighed. What was he supposed to do? Leave her with her doubts, or tell her the truth? His Alpha would kill him.
“Yeah, yeah he does.” A small pause. “He… cares about you.”
“Huh.” Claudia leaned over the table to look him straight in the eyes. “I don’t believe you, Matt. I know what you’re trying to do, and I understand why you’re doing it, but lying to me to make me feel better is not going to work. Karl doesn’t care about me. If he did, he would have called. He would have at least picked up the phone when I called him.”
Matt ran both his hands through his messy red hair. “Man, if I do this, I’m dead,” he thought, but reached for his smartphone anyway.
“Look, I’ll show you.”
“Show me what?”
He browsed through his texts, then placed the phone in front of her.
“But you have to promise me you will never, under any circumstance, ever tell Karl I did this. Okay? He’ll cut my balls off, and Lord knows I need them to score a couple more dragon girls.”
“Okay…” Claudia’s attention was drawn to the long string of texts Matt and Karl had exchanged over the past week. “What’s this?”
“Go on, read all of them. I, for one, have nothing to hide.”
Claudia took his phone and started scrolling down, then went back up to read each and every message carefully. Apparently, Karl had sent most of them, sometimes sending two or three before Matt cared to reply.
Karl: “How’s my wife doing? Is she having fun?”
Matt: “Yeah, man. All the fun in the world.”
Karl: “I’m serious…”
Matt: “I’m serious too. Chill.”
Karl: “What was for dinner tonight?”
Matt: “…”
Karl: “…?”
Matt: “Fried chicken and baked potatoes.”
Karl: “Is she eating well?”
Matt: “LOL”
Karl: “Is she?”
Matt: “Yes.”
Karl: “How’s Claudia?”
Karl: “Matt?”
Karl: “Is she okay? Has something happened?”