Unspoken Memories (Unspoken Series)

by Gabbie S. Duran

  I dig around in my purse and find a pair of big oval glasses, put them on, and pull my hair out of its ponytail to cover the rest up. Even though it’s cloudy outside, at least they cover my eyes.

  I’M ONCE AGAIN standing at the same front door as yesterday, waiting for an answer. I didn’t call, because I really didn’t want to have to explain why I was on my way here over the phone, in case someone around me was listening. So instead I grabbed a cab from the train station, and headed straight here praying I wouldn’t be turned away.

  It’s dark now, so upon exiting the cab, I took off the sunglasses I was wearing, and now I’m waiting for a savior to open the door. Then he does. Matt is shocked to see me standing there, but the minute I see him I start to shed the tears I’ve been holding for the past four and a half hours.

  He opens his arms without hesitation and I walk straight up to him. He takes me into his arms, and holds me while I bawl my eyes out. I don’t know how long we stood there in the doorway, but when I pulled away, I felt so much better.

  Matt steps back so we can enter together, closing the door behind us. I was so lost in my world of crying that I didn’t even notice the noise coming from inside the house.

  I take a peek from the doorway into the living room and notice the large group of people gathered there. I see Trey walking up to us, and the horrified look on his face makes me shed another tear. He’s holding a bottled beer in his hand, and his knuckles starts to turn white from the force that he’s squeezing it with. He looks rigid and his breathing is now becoming heavy. Just looking at him I’m starting to get a bit frightened again, but Matt reminds me that he’s still standing next to me when he pulls me protectively against his body. Trey nods his head, in a silent understanding to Matt, and turns back around towards the living room.

  “Alright fuckers, party’s over! Everyone out. Now!” Trey yells at the room. The tone in his voice obviously dares anybody to challenge him, but I doubt they will.

  I feel Matt tug me towards the hallway leading to the bedrooms and I follow, with my head hung low, thankful that my hair is covering my face. He leads me to the very end of the hallway, and upon entering I already know it’s Matt’s room. It’s the kind of room I imagined him having.

  The floor is done in a dark hardwood. The furniture is also dark wood, almost matching the flooring, not masculine, but modern. There is an open door off to the right, which looks to lead to a bathroom. The bed is rumpled with dark coverings, and there are clothes lightly scattered around the room.

  Matt leads me over to sit on the bed. “Here, sit down, you look exhausted,” he says before he starts picking up the clothing on the floor, in an attempt to tidy the room. I sit there watching him, admiring him, wondering what the hell I’m supposed to do now.

  He finally finishes, and stands a couple of feet in front of me. He crosses his arms in front of his chest and his eyes on me, as if waiting for me to say something.

  “I walked in on him fucking her,” I tell him.

  He stays silent, simply staring down at me, expressionless.

  Taking a deep breath, I keep going, “So I started packing some clothes, ready to leave, but he didn’t take it so well. He stated that I needed him. That he was the one who made me who I was and I was nothing without him, especially since I have no family. He threatened to ruin my career,” I say, shaking my head. “At this point I don’t really care anymore.”

  “You don’t need him, Abigail.”

  “I know, but I hate how he’s right. I don’t have any family, and if he keeps his word about my career, it will be over. What am I supposed to do? I had nowhere to go, I panicked, and came here.” I bury my face in my hands and begin to sob again.

  Matt kneels in front of me, pulling my hands from my face into his. When he looks deeply into my eyes, the sobs stop, just from seeing the comfort in his eyes. He lightly brushes the side of my hair near my injured eye behind my ear, wanting to see more of my face.

  He hesitantly touches the tender spot of my eye with his fingertips, making me quickly flinch. Then he gently starts rubbing my chin with his thumb while his eyes stay on mine. I lean my face into his hand, wanting to feel the warmth of it, needing the comfort.

  “You were right to come here, and you don’t need him for a career. You’re a beautiful girl, and could get any job you wanted, if you work hard enough for it.” His response makes me smile. “You’re not alone anymore. Trey and I are your family now.”

  The way he says it, I want to believe him, and the look in Matt’s eyes seems to indicate sincerity. With everything going on in my life right now, there’s nothing I can do but take his word.

  I sniffle and nod my head as he pulls me into his body, hugging me, and wrapping his lean arms around my waist. He starts to rub my back and I bury my face in the crook of his neck, taking in the unique scent that is him.

  We stay like that for a couple of minutes, and then we hear a knock at the door, pulling us apart to look towards it. Trey walks in, still looking pissed.

  “Everyone’s gone,” he immediately says. “Care to tell me what the fuck happened to your face?” Trey growls at me.

  Matt scowls at him. “Leave her alone for now Trey, she’s obviously had a rough night,” he says to him very sternly.

  I stand up now looking back and forth between the two of them, not wanting them to fight. “When I tried leaving, he grabbed my arm so I spit in his face, and he hit me.”

  “What!” they both say at the same time with fury. I flinch from how loud they say it. But it’s Matt who says, “I’m going to kill him!” With Trey saying after him, “Not if I kill that fucker first.”

  Hearing them say that makes me smile, knowing that I have two guys willing to hurt someone for me. I barely know these two, but they’d be willing to defend my honor in a heartbeat. I tell them what happened, and how I was able to escape Bill. They’re both surprised at how I was able to take Bill, but proud of me.

  “Damn, supermodel. I’ll make sure not to piss you off,” Trey says in a mocking tone while taking a sip of his beer.

  I silently laugh. Even if he were to piss me off, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to take him out. He’s too big. At that moment my stomach starts to rumble very loudly, and it makes us all laugh.

  Trey throws his arm around my shoulders, and says to me. “Come on kung-fu supermodel, we need to feed your skinny ass.”

  It makes me smile while I walk out of the room with him towards the kitchen, Matt following close behind us.

  I’m finally able to take in the whole scene and you can tell that there was a party going on in here. I try to ignore the mess as best as I can, since I’m already getting the urge to tidy up, but my stomach is protesting to be fed, which is exactly what I intend to do at this point.

  The smell of the pizza hits me when we enter the kitchen and my mouth starts to water as Matt hands me a slice of pizza loaded with all kinds of veggies and meat. As I take a bite, I moan, because this pizza is delicious.

  Matt eyes me with a smile. “Good, huh? It’s the best pizza in town, but they don’t deliver so we only get it when one of us is willing to drive for it.”

  The boxes on the counter say Flying Pie Pizza on them. Shoot, I’ll drive from now on just to get this mouth-watering sin.

  We eat in silence, standing against the counter in the kitchen and I can tell by the looks on both their faces that they are anxious to start asking questions, but they don’t. Which, I’m grateful for. After eating a second slice I feel like my stomach is going to explode, but I am completely satisfied.

  Looking back into the living room, I can’t take it any longer and finally start to tidy up the place. This time though Matt helps me. He’s quiet the whole time he’s helping. I can tell he’s thinking really hard, but he still won’t say anything.

  Once we’re done, I go and sit on the couch. Finally feeling like I can relax, I take off my shoes, and curl my feet under my legs. Matt sits on the recliner that I had sat
on yesterday, elbows on his knees, staring me.

  “What?” I say to him.

  He merely smirks. “You took my advice and went for a run.”

  I look down at my clothes and realize that I still have my running clothes on, including the light jacket that I had worn.

  I nod. “You were right, it really did help. At least it helped before the shit hit the fan,” I state.

  “Are those the only ones you have?” Matt points at my clothes.

  Now that I realize it, they are. The new stuff I had bought was in the guest bedroom I was staying in, so I didn’t get a chance to pack them in the bag. Good thing I had the shoes on, or else I would have cried all over again.

  I nod. “Well then, we’ll have to get those washed tonight because we’re both going to need a run tomorrow morning.”

  Trey comes up and sits on the other end of the couch, beer in hand, staring at the flat screen that’s tuned to the sports channel. As I’m sitting there, the exhaustion of the day is catching up to me, and my eyes start to grow heavy. Matt notices and stands up, extending his arm and hand to me.

  “You look exhausted, let’s get you in a bed so you can get your rest,” Matt says quietly. “You can crash in my room in the meantime, it’s cleaner, and that bed actually has sheets on it. I’m taking the extra room until we get this whole situation settled.”

  I’m so tired right now that I’m not going to argue with him. Grabbing his hand he pulls me up, and walks with me back down the hallway to his room.

  “You want to shower?” he says, looking at me with concern.

  “That sounds good,” I tell him.

  Crap, I didn’t even think to pack anything to sleep in. I was too focused on clothes to wear. “I forgot to pack something to sleep in.”

  He heads over to a dresser and grabs a shirt and some boxer briefs, then hands them to me.

  “You can wear those for now, tomorrow we can go online for whatever else you need. Remember, I have your money in my account, it’s yours to spend however you want.”

  “Matt,” I whisper to him, “I want to say… thank you… for everything. I really didn’t mean to impose on you.” I pause, taking a deep breath. “I guess I was just scared, and this was the first place I thought of going when I left,” I finish, staring down at the floor, feeling embarrassed.

  Matt comes over to me, taking me in his arms in a tight embrace. “Look, I don’t know what’s going on in that beautiful head of yours, but whatever it is, it brought you to me, which makes you mine now, and I always protect what’s mine, Abigail.”

  From the way he says it, the emotion strong with every word, I know he’s telling me the truth and I begin to cry. I cry because I know I’ve finally found someone who cares, someone who I can finally trust, and I don’t want to let go.

  He pushes us apart so he can look down into my eyes. “Don’t cry, beautiful. We’ll figure this out. There has to be a reason why all this is happening, we just have to figure it out. Okay?” He has a calming look, and those damn eyes with long lashes are mesmerizing at this moment, which make you believe anything he says.

  I nod my head at him, wiping my nose with the back of my hand. He leaves me, pointing to his bathroom, telling me that the hanging towels are clean.

  After showering and dressing in the clothes Matt gave me I climb into bed and fall asleep the instant my head hits the pillow.

  I KNOW I’M sleeping, but somehow it feels like I’m wide-awake. I sit up feeling strange and sensing someone else in the room. It’s still dark, but since there’s a full moon tonight, there is plenty of moonlight shining through the window. It’s casting enough light for me to notice the other person I’m sensing sitting at the edge of the bed.

  At first, I become frightened, but a feeling of calm takes over my body almost immediately. I don’t recognize the person right away, but her face has a familiarity that I’ve seen before. Then it occurs to me that she is the woman in the picture that Matt showed me yesterday, the one with him at his graduation.

  “I see you two are getting along well,” she says, smiling.

  “Who are you?”

  “Abigail, I’m pretty sure you already know the answer to that question.”

  I know I do, but I’m in denial that I’m sitting here staring at a dead person. I must be going out of my mind. Or maybe this is a side effect of losing my mind completely.

  “I can reassure you, you’re perfectly fine. I chose you because I thought you needed each other. He’s right you know, he will protect you at all costs, so be careful what you ask from him.”

  Is she talking about Matt?

  “Yes, I’m speaking of my brother. It has always been one of his strongest characteristics to protect those he loves. Once he’s promised something he makes sure to keep that promise, so I really hope you’ll do the same in return.”

  It takes me a moment to absorb what she’s told me and I feel like I should say something in response, but what is there to say?

  “I can’t explain to you why you’re having these memories of mine, but I hope they will help you understand him better. Cherish them as I once cherished making them. Promise me, Abigail. Promise you’ll be there for him, just as he’s promised to be there for you,” she pleads.

  I know I really shouldn’t make such a commitment, but deep down inside my heart is telling me I should.

  “I promise,” I almost whisper it to her.

  As soon as I’m done promising, she begins to fade away, with a smile on her face, leaving me there alone.

  I sit there with the moonlight at the edge of the bed where she was a moment ago, thinking to myself about the conversation that barely took place. What was it supposed to mean? I lie back down and stare up at the ceiling, hoping the darkness will drag me to sleep as it usually does.

  I realize, I might not know anything about my past, but I do know that I have a future, and if it involves Matt in my life, then so be it.

  “HEY BEAUTIFUL, YOU awake yet?”

  I hear Matt walking into the room, but I ignore him, refusing to wake up. I’m still tired from not being able to sleep very well after his sister appeared in my sleep. At least I want to believe I was sleeping. I really doubt that if I were to repeat anything from last night to anyone, they wouldn’t believe I wasn’t dreaming.

  Still ignoring the fact that Matt is trying to wake me up, I stay lying on my stomach with my face buried to the side of the pillow. I start to hear the scraping of the dresser drawers opening and closing. A moment later, I hear light footsteps walking towards the closet causing me to crack my eyelids a bit, curious as to what Matt is doing. What I see next makes me catch my breath and open my eyes wide wanting to take in a better view.

  He’s removing the only stitch of clothing he has on, which happens to be boxer briefs, baring his naked ass in my direction. A fine ass it is.

  I start to rake my eyes up and down his body, observing every muscle that is facing me needing to get a better view. His back is rigidly toned, his legs have calves that are obviously built from the running he must do, and his arms are perfectly sculpted.

  As he bends over to put on his running shorts, I continue staring. Now there’s an ass that would give Adonis a run for his money, perfectly round and lifted to perfection, nary a sign of cellulite in sight.

  I see him start to turn his body as he begins to put his shirt on and I automatically shut my eyes, not wanting him to catch me ogling. Hopefully, he won’t notice the drool that is probably leaking from my mouth at this very moment.

  Suddenly I feel the blanket that was lying on top of my body suddenly disappear, leaving me with a bitter cold to replace the warmth that was once there. As I slightly turn my head to see what has happened, I see Matt silently observing my ass, right before he quickly brings his hand down making contact with it.

  If I wasn’t awake before, I am now.

  “What the fuck!” I yell as I turn my body to face him, shocked and confused. Why the fuck did he just d
o that?

  The sting is rippling through my body, sending an unexpected tingle as I rub my sore bottom with my hand. He didn’t slap it hard, but just enough to give my body a message. One I’m still confused about. I don’t know whether to be upset or turned on. Right now my body is leaning towards the latter, but I’m not going to announce that to him.

  “I thought that’d get you up. Come on, the sooner we leave the sooner we get back to eat a real breakfast,” he says, walking back towards the closet to grab some shoes. “I washed the clothes you were wearing last night, they’re on the bed,” he says before exiting the room, closing the door behind him.

  Where the hell is he referring to when he said we’re leaving? He didn’t mention anything before I went to bed about going anywhere this morning and I’m still confused, trying to make sense of what happened just now.

  Why in the world would he be staring at my ass one moment and then slapping it the next? The curious side of me is wondering: does he want me like I’ve wanted him? If he wanted to touch my ass, all he had to do was ask. I would have been more than happy to let him.

  Uhh, there I go again, thinking with my sex-craved mind when it comes to Matt. Okay, I need to get my sore ass up and dressed before he comes in here wanting to do that all over again. Because I guarantee you, this time I would make sure I got more than just a slap on the ass.

  “ARE YOU SURE you weren’t a runner before this week?” Matt asks me.

  We’re sitting on the grass in the park, done with our run from this morning. Legs stretched out in front us, crossed at the ankles. With our arms stretched up behind us supporting our bodies. Even though I just put my body through a much faster pace than I normally had before, I feel relaxed and much better than I have for the last couple of days.

  Matt is all sweaty and his running shirt is soaked from perspiration, outlining the chiseled washboard muscles lining his stomach. He looks so sexy right now, and all I want to do is run my tongue down his neck to lick the remaining sweat beads. I’m pretty sure he’d taste really salty, but it’d be worth the tangy taste.