“You’re certainly nothing like your brother.” The kissing started and I had to wait until they were through sucking each other’s faces off for her to expound on that statement.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I mean that this one didn’t wait for an invitation, he just forced his way in.”
“I’m a gentleman, your husband didn’t get that particular gene at birth.”
“Kill the shit Matthew I know you remember? Patti might’ve knocked you off kilter for a minute but there’s no way my brother is out of the game. You just need to let go of that shit and do what you have to do Steele style.” The fucker grinned at me like an idiot. He was right though, I had to get my head out of my ass soon. Patti was the past, I’d fucked up there yes, but it wasn’t like me to just lay down and die. If she’d only fucked me over I might’ve handled things different. But she’d gone after my little brother, my heart.
I couldn’t get him to understand what that shit did to me without sounding like a bitch so I held my peace. “The next woman I get myself tangled up with is going to be the last guys. I can’t just rush into this shit, we all know what happened the last time I did that.” As I said the words I knew them to be true. I liked what I saw when I looked at my brother and his wife, that permanence.
In a world where divorce was prevalent and people took love for granted I’ve always known that I’m the settling down type. That’s why I’d stayed with that viper for so long, it’s just not in me to do the running around thing. Maybe that’s why I could understand Joshua’s rush into marriage at his age. He’d seen his forever and taken it. Now I won’t settle for less, but neither will I be too hasty. “I’m not as twisted up as I was a week ago so you guys can stop worrying okay. I just need some time before…”
“That’s good Matt.” Josh gave me a high five as I kept my attention on the asshole at the table across from us who was still busy clocking her with his eyes. I had the strong urge to punch the fucker in the face but that was just crazy. I had yet to even have a real conversation with her. Maybe it was time I remedied that shit and moved on from this limbo that was making me nuts. What was I afraid of anyway? It’s not like I was going to ask her to marry me in the next second or some shit. But something about her scared the fuck out of me, which made no sense whatsoever. Maybe I had lost my mind after all.
Chapter 9
MATT
The douche bag and his friends left not long after and I breathed a sigh of relief when all he said to her was bye. I felt a little less tense when she looked in my direction and kept her distance from him, waving him off from her place behind the counter. Once again Carrie excused herself, this time to go to the restroom and I watched as she stopped to have words with Kadyn, again. I had no idea what they were talking about but from here it looked as if Carrie was trying to talk her into something with all the head shaking and hand wringing that was going on. Whatever it was she finally smiled and nodded before lil sis headed for the bathrooms in back.
“What’s your wife up to bro?” Josh looked over at where the girls had been standing together and then turned back to me with the fakest look of innocence I’d ever seen since he was six. He shrugged his shoulders and changed the subject to sports.
“Since when do you give a fuck about baseball stats Joshua?” Oh yeah they were up to something alright, nosy fucks.
“You wound me bro, you know I’m into all that happy shit, in fact I’m thinking of picking up the game.” I just glared at him and left him alone with his secrets, I guess I’ll figure out what it was soon enough since everyone seemed to be on a fix Matthew kick this week.
When Carrie came back she grinned at her husband and I really knew then the two of them were up to some shit. “Let’s go.” I stood from the table ready to go. I had some shit to think about and I needed to be alone to do it. Things were moving kind of fast. It had only been a short time since I’d first laid eyes on her and already in that time she’d wormed her way into my every thought. Not a day went by that I wasn’t thinking about her or some shit. And lets not talk about the days that I didn’t get a glimpse of her on one of my rides around town. Then I felt like I’d lost something. All this shit had to be dealt with. I might want to take my time but time wasn’t waiting for my ass it seemed.