Mancave (Wild Men 3)

But living in the present, surrounded with love, that is worth the pain.

It’s worth everything.

Chapter Ten

Octavia

“God, I’m sorry,” Matt is saying, hugging me to his chest, and I’m still trying to breathe through the fear of seeing him down on the ground, Jasper’s—my father’s—men raining blows down on him. “Sorry I worried you. I just couldn’t stand the thought of him coming anywhere near you, torturing you like he’s doing to Evan. Of implying I didn’t want my kids, that raising them is a hardship, that having kids is a burden. Just because he is an asshole who can’t appreciate a good thing when he has it…”

“I know,” I whisper, my heart slowing its frantic beating.

“I wouldn’t want you for a second to think I’m not proud and happy to be a dad, that our baby—”

“I know.” I pull back, lift my hand to his face, wincing at the bruise spreading there. His eyes are still stormy. “I told you he’d hurt you if you let him. I didn’t think he’d send his thugs to punch you, but he hurt you where it matters the most, made you think I’d doubt you. Well, I don’t. Ever.”

His gaze softens. “Good. That’s good.”

And even with a blackening eye and swelling jaw, the look on his face is like the calm after the storm. I give him a weak smile, because crap, I’m still reeling from the shot of fear.

“Kiss me,” I whisper, and he leans down, slamming his mouth on mine, crushing me to him, swallowing the bitterness of my worry, wiping my mind clean.

When he breaks the kiss, straightening, it takes me a moment to catch my breath, my whole body thrumming with desire.

This guy… my guy. So sexy.

But he doesn’t seem as affected as I feel. Rather, he’s frowning, dark eyes scanning the garden. “Where’s Evan?” he mutters. “And Melissa?”

I draw away and turn around to look. The garden is empty. The door to the house is half-open. “They must have gone inside.”

He tugs me to his side. “Let’s go check on them.”

The way he says it twists my stomach again. Does he think Evan isn’t doing all right? Swallowing down bile, I let him lead me back to the house.

* * *

Evan is sitting at the kitchen table, his head in his good hand, eyes closed. I hurry around to his side, while Matt stares at him from the door.

“Where’s Melissa?” he asks, and Evan lifts his gaze.

“Evan?” I put a hand on his shoulder, and I’m not sure he even feels it, or sees me. “What happened?”

“He can’t keep me here,” he says, and looks haunted. “He thinks he knows my secrets, that he can hold them over my head, but he can’t. I have nothing to hide, don’t regret any of it, and I don’t care if Melissa finds out. I’m done.”

I share a confused look with Matt over Evan’s head. What is he talking about?

“What is Jasper holding over your head?” Matt asks, his voice low and measured. He drags a chair back and sits down across from us. “Talk.”

I open my mouth to say something, soften the question. Sometimes Matt reverts back to the caveman he was when I first met him, particularly when he gets stressed, and right now tension is radiating from every line of his strong body.

But Evan doesn’t seem to be put off by the commanding tone. “He found out about Melissa once, when her mom called me at the garage. To this day, I don’t know how Abby got her hands on that number, but she told Jasper the whole sob story, about how supposedly I had kidnapped her daughter and won’t let her see Melissa.”

“Sounds like a load of bullshit,” Matt mutters.

Evan nods. “It is. I got custody of Melissa after Abby left for the fifth time in a row, back when Melissa was a baby, with her drug-dealing boyfriend. Abby signed the papers.”

“I don’t understand,” I whisper, more confused than ever. “Is Abby still doing drugs? Why do you let the girl live with her at all if you have custody?”

“Yeah, what’s the deal with her?” Matt growls.