“Aaron!” she snapped. “What is the deal with his father?” Her heart began to beat wildly in her chest. Maybe she shouldn’t be asking her brother about this, but she had a feeling she wasn’t going to get it out of Matt. She certainly wanted to help Matt in any way she could, and the only way to do that was to know exactly what she was dealing with.
“Look,” she began, a little calmer now, “I know he and his dad had a lot of issues when he was growing up. I remember hearing something about it. But why is this still such a big deal?”
On the other end, she heard Aaron sigh.
“Please,” she softly begged.
“I didn’t meet Matt until we were in middle school,” Aaron began. “By that time, his mom was gone, and it was just him and his dad. At that age, you don’t notice a whole lot about people’s home lives, but it didn’t take long for me to realize Matt never invited anyone over to his house, and he was always anxious to do anything but go home.”
Matt’s words from their first night together came to mind. The old man didn’t want anything to do with me. He blamed me for all that was wrong in his life.
“It wasn’t until we were a little bit older that I said something to him about it. Looking back I could kick myself. I was like, ‘Hey, maybe it would be nice for the rest of us if we ate at your house.’ You know, stupid stuff kids say.”
She chuckled softly, picturing her brother at that age.
“He looked so damn defeated, but again, it didn’t click. So he invited me to sleep over one night. The house was a filthy mess; there was trash everywhere, and his father… Well, let’s just say his father’s main hobby was drinking.”
Vivienne’s heart broke for Matt having to live like that. Even at their worst, at least her parents were there and gave them a comfortable home environment to live in.
“It was the only time I ever slept over, and after that, I made sure he came home with me as much as he wanted.”
“Was his father…abusive?” she asked cautiously.
“Not physically,” Aaron replied. “But verbally? The man was brutal.” He paused. “When Matt and Riley started playing around with the idea of starting a band, his dad freaked out. He screamed at Matt that he wasn’t going to pay for lessons or for any instruments because he thought Matt was a loser.”
“Oh no!”
“Yeah. The only reason I know about that was because we were all hanging out one day after school and we stopped by Matt’s so he could pick up a change of clothes.”
“So…how did Matt get a guitar, then?”
“It’s not a big deal. He just…he got one.”
“Aaron.”
“I helped him get one,” he said softly. “Viv, you have no idea what it is like to watch one of your best friends get beaten down like that. I knew Matt was talented. He used to play around on Riley’s guitars all the time, and I hated to think of him never getting his chance because his old man was a prick.”
“Wow. I…I never knew.”
“Yeah, well… So he got his guitar and they formed their band. It was a great way for Matt not to have to be at home, and it was the perfect distraction. It wasn’t until about a year later that he found out his dad had been in a band in high school. He’d thought they’d go on to do something but…”
“They didn’t,” Vivienne finished for him.
“Yeah. So when Shaughnessy started to get noticed and they were playing small gigs in the area, his father flipped out. I drove Matt home after a show and his father was waiting for him. We only stopped so Matt could grab his overnight bag. I used to tell him to leave clothes at our house but he didn’t listen.”
“What happened?”
“Matt went in and I stayed in the car. I was waiting and waiting and waiting and then I heard the yelling. Then I heard glass breaking. I jumped out of the car and ran into the house, and I found the two of them on the floor. Matt had his hands around his dad’s throat, and the old man kept telling him he was a no-talent piece of shit. I mean, even as Matt was cutting off his air supply, the old guy was still hurling insults. I stormed across the room, hell-bent on getting Matt out of there. I… It was terrifying.”
Tears rolled down her cheeks as she listened, her hand over her heart. “Oh my God.”
“It was bad. Really bad. I finally pulled Matt off his dad and I told him to go and pack up all of his stuff, that we’d find a place for him to stay no matter what.”
“That was…” she gasped. “That was your senior year of high school! That was why he stayed with us that last month?”
“Yeah. I told Mom and Dad what happened, and they agreed to let Matt stay. He left the day after graduation and hadn’t come back to town since—until I brought him back a few weeks ago.”
“Aaron,” she said, her voice weak and clogged with emotion, “I can’t believe that happened. I had no idea.”
“He didn’t want anyone to know. He was embarrassed.”
Well, yeah, she thought. Who wouldn’t be?
“So where’s his father now? Do we even know if he’s still around?”
“He is,” Aaron said. His voice had a hint of anger to it. “He’s cleaned up and gotten sober, gotten remarried. I’ve run into him a time or two, and he won’t even look me in the eye. So many times, I’ve been tempted to go and knock on his door and give him a piece of my mind, but then…it’s not my place. Not my fight.”
“How can you say that? Matt’s your best friend!”
“We’ve talked about it, and Matt tells me not to waste my time. I’m trying to respect his wishes.”
Vivienne wasn’t so sure she’d do the same thing. She’d be more than willing to unleash a little fury on Matt’s behalf.
“Matt got out of there and did something amazing with his life,” Aaron said, interrupting her thoughts.
“And what about his mom?” she asked, realizing she had no idea. “Why did she leave?”
Aaron stayed silent.
“Does anyone know where she is or what happened to her?”
“She died of breast cancer five years ago,” he said flatly. “Matt had hired private investigators to find her once he was making money, but by that time she was sick. He paid for all her medical bills and made sure she was comfortable. It just about killed him when she died.”
“But—”
Aaron sighed. “At first, he decided to search for her because he was angry—he wanted to know how she could just walk away from him. He needed to know. But once he found her…”
“And she was sick…”
“Yeah. It took some of the fight out of him.”
“Did she ever tell him why?”
“Matt’s dad. She wanted a divorce, to take Matt with her, but the guy was a bully and threatened her with physical violence if she left with Matt.”
“But…why? From everything you’ve said, it isn’t like he cared about Matt.”
Another sigh. “It was just his way of trying to control her. And the fact that she still left just gave the old man more reasons to take stuff out on him.”
She hadn’t been crying before, but she was now. “Poor Matt,” she sobbed. “God, when I think about our parents and compare them to his? It puts things into perspective. Our parents were cold, but they weren’t intentionally cruel.”
“Exactly.”
So now what was she supposed to do? How could she face Matt without telling him she knew all of this information he clearly didn’t want her to know?
“What do I do, Aaron?” she forced herself to ask. “How do I encourage him to start going out when I know his reason for staying in? He’s never going to admit any of it to me, about his father.”
“I honestly don’t know. But I’ll be home by the end of next week and maybe I can work on him—if he’s still there, that is.”
“Wait, what? He’s leavi
ng?”
“Not that I know of, but if he’s feeling antsy and thinks things are back to normal for him, there’s really no reason for him to stay. I can just as easily catch up with him in LA, or wherever he decides to hang his hat for a while.”
Dammit. Vivienne wasn’t ready to think of that yet. Not that she hadn’t—mostly when she was alone or when Matt was asleep beside her—but she just wasn’t ready for it to end yet.
“I suppose,” she murmured. “So you think I should just let it be for now and keep doing what I’m doing, which is not pushing?”
“Probably.”
She nodded even though he couldn’t see her.
“So, listen, I better get going. I’ll call you after I get back from Paris and we’ll talk about my schedule for when I’m coming back. I haven’t booked my flight yet—we left it open-ended in case anything came up.”
“That sounds good. It probably won’t be too hard for me to come and pick you up from the airport—you know, depending on the time.”
“You make your own hours, Viv,” he teased, “remember?”
“That doesn’t mean I can just bail on a conference call or that I want to be parked outside baggage claim at midnight,” she countered. “Either way, we’ll make it work. Maybe Matt will go pick you up. That might be a good outing for him.”
“Hey, that’s a great idea! I’ll mention it to him when I talk to him.”
Just then, Vivienne heard a familiar knock at the door and smiled when she looked up and saw Matt walking in. “Actually,” she said to Aaron as she stood up, “why don’t you talk to him now? He just walked over to help me with dinner.”
“You’ve got Matt cooking with you?” he asked, his voice laced with surprise.
“I’ll let him explain that one to you. It was all his idea.”
“This I’ve got to hear.”
“Hang on.”
Matt walked over, a sexy grin on his face. Vivienne held the phone out to him. “Aaron wants to say hello and you have to tell him all about the deal you made to get free meals.”
Taking the phone from her hand, Matt hit the mute button. “Do I get to tell him all the ways I thank you?” he asked. Then, leaning in, he ran his tongue lightly against her throat until she was almost panting. He pulled back and then kissed her quickly on the lips. “I’ll keep that little bit of information between us.”
“O…okay,” she sighed and then collapsed back on the sofa.
Matt looked down at her and winked before sitting down at the other end. “Hey, buddy! How’s London?”
Chapter 7
Out of the corner of his eye, Matt could see that something was wrong. Vivienne was biting on her bottom lip and seemed lost in her own world. Everything had seemed fine when he came in—she was laughing with Aaron and smiling. But now? Not so much.
He didn’t rush his friend off the phone, but he was certainly glad when Aaron said he had to go. Hanging up the phone, he placed it on the coffee table and shifted so he was facing Vivienne on the sofa. “So he might be back by the end of next week.”
She nodded but didn’t quite meet his gaze.
“And the weekend with your parents? That should be interesting.”
Vivienne shrugged. “I suppose.”
Yeah, something was off. While Matt knew she was entitled to her private thoughts, he couldn’t help his overwhelming urge to take care of her and make her smile.
“And it should be a hoot when he brings them home with him to visit. I told him I’d just move in here with you, and he said that was fine.”
“Uh-huh.”
Okay. Enough. “Viv?” he said a little firmly and waited for her to look up at him. “What’s going on? What did Aaron say to upset you?”
She looked away before coming to her feet and walking to the kitchen. “Nothing. It’s…it’s nothing.” She pulled open the refrigerator and began rummaging around. “We were going to go for that beer-can chicken tonight, right?”
He was beside her in an instant, shutting the refrigerator door and backing her up against it. “I don’t give a damn about dinner right now. I want to know why you’re upset.”
She looked up at him, her big, brown eyes filled with emotion, and he swore that look reached down into his soul and squeezed. What the hell could Aaron possibly have said to her?
“Like I said, it’s nothing. I just…I get this way whenever the topic of my parents comes up.”
For some reason, he didn’t quite believe her. But why would she lie?
“So you’re upset because he’s spending the weekend with them?”
She shook her head. “No,” she sighed. “It’s just…he told me they invited friends over to have dinner with the three of them. They never do that when I visit. When I’m there, it’s just the three of us, sitting in awkward silence. I would kill to have some distractions around them. But for whatever reason, they go out of their way to make Aaron comfortable and in the complete opposite direction with me.”
He could see why she would find that upsetting. Pulling her into his embrace, he held her tight, kissing the top of her head. “What can I do?” he asked softly. “What can I do to make you feel better?”
“You’re already doing it,” she replied softly. “I’ll be fine. It just…it pisses me off.”
“Does Aaron know you feel this way?”
“I’m not mad at him, and I don’t begrudge him his weekend with them. It’s just something that’s always been this way and neither of us can understand why.”
“I’m sorry,” he murmured, wanting more than anything to take away all of her hurts and disappointments.
Vivienne pulled back and smiled up at him. “So, come on. I can’t believe you’ve been standing in the kitchen this long without calculating how long it will be until we eat.”
Turning them around, he led her out of the kitchen and back to the sofa, where he cradled her in his lap as they sat down.
“Um, Matt?”
“Like I said, I don’t give a damn about dinner right now. It’s you I’m concerned about.” He tucked her head onto his shoulder and simply enjoyed the feel of her in his arms. She let out a shuddery sigh, and he still felt like there was more to her mood than she was telling him, but he didn’t want to push. “How about we get takeout tonight? I’m in the mood for Chinese.”
“Oh…that does sound good. But are you sure?”
He nodded. “I’ll even go with you to pick it up.”
Vivienne sat straight up. “Really?”
He nodded again. “I’m not saying I’m ready to go out wearing a ‘Matty Reed’ neon sign or anything, but I think I can deal with going to pick up food without having to be too incognito.”
“You mean you’ll leave your Unabomber getup at home this time?” she teased.
“It wasn’t that bad.”
“Matt? It was more than bad. You wore sunglasses, a hat, and a hood inside a movie theater. It was overkill.”
“Fine. It was a little excessive. This time, I’ll only wear the hat. And maybe the glasses.”
“It’s already getting dark out,” she pointed out.
“Maybe my eyes are light sensitive. Besides, celebrities do that sort of crazy thing all the time. Wearing sunglasses is acceptable at all hours of the day and night.”
“It’s weird.”
“Says you.”
“Damn straight.”
He hugged her close. “Let’s look at the menu and call it in. I don’t think it’s warm enough tonight to eat outside, though.”
She looked at him strangely. “We haven’t eaten outside that much since you’ve been here. I seem to recall us enjoying quite a few meals right here inside my house. And Aaron’s.”
He leaned in close and kissed her. “Yeah, but that first night I was here we ate Chinese food out on the deck. I rememb
er looking at you and thinking how beautiful you were.”
“You did not!” she said with a chuckle.
He nodded. “I did. I totally did. Then all I could think about was how mean you were to me.”
Vivienne elbowed him in the ribs. “That was because I could tell you didn’t remember seeing me two years ago. You looked at me like you hadn’t seen me since I was a kid.”
“I know, and I believe we’ve already established how sorry I am,” he said softly, peppering her cheek with soft kisses. “But I’d be more than willing to make it up to you, repeatedly, if that’s what it takes.”
“Hmm,” she purred. “I may need a little reminding. What did you have in mind?”
“I thought dinner could wait, and I’ll show you right now all the things that raced through my mind when I first saw you.”
“Right here?” she asked breathlessly.
“Right now,” he murmured, his breath hot against her cheek.
“Dinner can wait.”
* * *
It was after nine when Vivienne pulled up in front of the Chinese restaurant. Matt looked straight ahead and sighed.
I can do this.
He’d been chanting that to himself since she’d called in the order.
He wasn’t a coward. He was ready to stop hiding, and this seemed like a safe way to start.
“You don’t have to do this, you know,” Vivienne said from behind him. Her tone was light and sweet, and he knew she was being supportive.
“No one’s even in there,” he said, noticing the lack of other customers. One of the perks of ordering late, he supposed. Turning toward her, he kissed her on the cheek. “I’ll be right out.”
With a deep breath, he climbed from the car and went into the restaurant. The woman behind the counter barely looked at him as she confirmed which order he was picking up. In less than two minutes, he was walking back out to Vivienne’s car. When he was seated beside her, he sighed.
“Well that was pretty anticlimactic,” he murmured.
“And you were so scared,” she cooed.
Matt turned to her and laughed. “Such a smart-ass. Just for that, I get extra dumplings.”
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