Unspoken Memories (Unspoken Series)

by Gabbie S. Duran

  With every spoonful that goes into my mouth, I keep staring at him, unable to control myself. Already knowing what he looks like half-naked doesn’t help either. The desire running through me right now from looking at him is burning high. It sends a current of electricity coursing through my veins, that I want him to extinguish with his body.

  Thinking about last night and wondering what would have happened if I’d pulled Matt into bed with me doesn’t help. Would he have stayed and satisfied both our lust? Or is that why he’d walked away? I know I wasn’t over the limit drunk, but I had enough alcohol in me to give me the encouragement I needed to follow through with the act.

  No, I can’t think like that. Tipsy or not, Matt knew exactly how much he could have taken advantage of me and he didn’t. Which only proved that he had no intentions of ever doing so. He didn’t see me that way, and to be honest, I don’t think he ever will.

  As if sensing that I’m thinking about him, he looks up in my direction for a split second, and stares right back at me. He flashes me one of his wicked grins.

  This is exactly what causes me to have these illicit thoughts, his sexy eyes and wicked grins that leave nothing for the imagination.

  Knowing that he’s purposely trying to bait me again, I turn my body around and proceed to rinse out my bowl. As soon as I’m done, I feel a presence behind me and my body goes stiff, not knowing who it is. I quickly glance over my shoulder and relax as soon as I see Matt standing behind to me.

  “Sorry about the guys. Trey invited them over without telling me, or else I wouldn’t have them stay,” he says, nodding his head in the direction of the rowdy crowd filling the living room.

  I look at him. “It’s okay. It’s his house too, I’d already said you shouldn’t have to change your life because of me, but you keep doing it anyways,” I say as I lean against the counter, trying to put as much distance between us as it allows.

  By the reaction on his face, I can tell he isn’t happy with my response, but he just nods his head. “Okay. Well, heads up, now that practice is starting up soon, a lot of guys might be coming over afterwards. If you ever feel overwhelmed, all you have to do is let me know and I’ll take care of it.”

  I shrug my shoulders at him. “I mean it beautiful, if you ever feel unsafe or uncomfortable just let me know.” As I’m looking into his face, my hands are twitching from wanting to touch him. I don’t know what is going on with me, but I have to try to get myself under control.

  I simply nod my head again and thank him before I walk back in the direction of my room. At least there I won’t be torturing myself looking at Matt.

  KNOWING THAT I needed to get out of the house more often, I set up a shopping date with Kelly for the next day. My hope is that keeping a distance between Matt and me will help get these crazy feelings under control.

  When she arrives the next morning, to say that I’m excited is an understatement. I finally get to get out of the house without Matt and with a girl, someone I can relate to. As we’re in one of the stores, preparing to pay for our items, I begin to hear singing coming from somewhere around me. It’s Big Poppa blaring near me, the ringtone is softened, but relatively close.

  “Who would have that annoying ring tone?” I say, scrunching my nose to Kelly. I start looking around the store trying to find where it’s coming from.

  Kelly’s face makes a frown at me as I look back at her. “Umm, Abi. I think it’s your phone,” she says, pointing at my purse.

  Oh crap, it is my phone.

  The ringtone stops, and then within a few seconds starts up again. I frantically start digging in my purse looking for my phone, wanting to shut it up. Once I’ve found it I look at the screen and see Matt’s smiling face staring back at me.

  That fucker.

  I’m going to kick his ass when I get home.

  I quickly answer the phone in an effort to shut the ringtone up. “Matthew Garcia, you are in big trouble,” I say quietly, scowling into the receiver.

  He’s laughing on the other end of the line, knowing exactly how pissed I would be when I heard it. “Love my new ringtone, beautiful?” he mocks me.

  Oh hell no, this shit is getting changed as soon as I can find a song to describe him, maybe something about being a heartbreaker or a tease. “What do you want Matt?” I snap at him in irritation.

  I know I shouldn’t be snapping at him, but I can’t help it. He always manages to do these things and get away with them when it comes to me. Wait ‘til I get my hands on his phone, he’s going to regret it.

  “I’m out running errands, I just wanted to make sure everything was okay. Do you have enough cash or do you need me to bring you my card?” he asks me.

  I’m done shopping. I’m pretty much wiped out. “No, I’m fine, I think we’re done for the day,” I say, looking over at Kelly and she nods her head in agreement as she’s paying the cashier.

  “Alright, sounds good. If you need anything just give me a call. I should be out and about for the next couple of hours.”

  “Thanks, I’ll let you know,” I tell him.

  He whispers into the phone right before he hangs up, “Bye beautiful,” which makes my irritation fly completely out of the window like it usually does.

  He always knows how to do that. One minute I’m pissed at him, the next I’m melting at his feet, even if it’s over the phone. Today’s shopping trip was so I could avoid turning to mush with him around, and he’s managed to do it over the phone. I need to grow a backbone and fast. Wanting to distract my lovesick mind, Kelly and I keep shopping.

  We hit another store with no incident. It’s when we decide to take a casual stroll of window-shopping that the chaos begins. People begin to recognize me and begin to approach. I try to be nice, wave, and smile while I continue going about my day. But as more and more people keep approaching me, Kelly and I agree that our shopping expedition is over and decide to leave. Then the crowd starts to grow, and they even begin to follow me, not leaving me alone. I panic, not knowing what to do, as they start trying to pull me in different directions demanding autographs, or pictures. When I to cover my face from the flashes they get angry. Kelly sees the panic in my eyes, but as she tries to ward people off me they start to get aggressive with her.

  “Back off bitch!” one girl yells at Kelly while trying to shove a pen and paper in my hands. “It’s just a signature!” the girl says.

  Another person moves up next to me asking, “Can I take a picture with you?” and then proceeds to take the self-pic of us without me giving her an answer. I move away, feeling like I need my space. “What, too good for a picture?” she says when she sees me scowling at her.

  I can’t believe how rude some of these people can be. I hear everyone shouting at this point as I’m pushed in different directions and surrounded by flashes. A couple of security guards show up and usher me into one of the stores, where they shut the doors, and try to calm people down as they yell through the windows.

  A lady inside ushers me towards the back of the store out of view of the crowds. She ends up being the owner of the boutique and asks, “Are you ok?”

  I see the concern in her eyes as she’s wringing her hands and looks back and forth between the front doors and me.

  I can hear Kelly talking into her phone, “Yes, they just started attacking us. It really scared the crap out of me, David. Yes, she’s okay. What do I do?” she asks into the phone, nodding her head at the same time. After telling him which store we’re taking refuge in she hangs up and walks over to me.

  Looking really agitated and worried at the same time she throws her arms around me to calm me down and asks, “Are you okay?”

  The only thing I can do is nod my head and keep the tears at bay. The last thing I want is to give these rabid fans the satisfaction of knowing that I cried.

  Rubbing my arm with her hand to comfort me, she says, “Had I known this was going to happen Abigail, I wouldn’t have suggested we come.”

  Now I feel g
uilty because she looks like she’s blaming herself for this whole ordeal.

  “No, it’s not your fault. I never thought this would happen either,” I say. “This never happened when I was at a race or the Market with Matt.”

  We sit there hoping that the crowd will eventually grow bored and leave. Less than ten minutes later, I hear banging on the door and a guy shouting, demanding to be let in. I automatically tense up and Kelly and I both look over to the doors. We see Matt trying to resist being pulled away from the doors by the mall cops, so Kelly and I both walk over to the doors asking the owner to let him in.

  She rushes to unlock the door. I notice that there are still a few people standing outside, as if they are waiting for me to come out. The security guards finally let go of Matt when Kelly lies to them, stating that he is my brother here to pick me up.

  As soon as Matt clears the door, he rushes to me and immediately takes me in his arms and I start crying. The tears I have been holding begin to come out like a dam that has been broken.

  “Shh, shh. It okay, I’m here now,” he says, rubbing my back to calm me down.

  Matt looks back at the crowd still waiting outside and then at the storeowner. “Don’t you guys usually have a back exit or something?”

  She nods her head, then leads us to the back of the store, into what looks to be an office. Once we’re all inside she points to a door that is against the back wall and has an exit sign above it. Matt nods his head at her then faces me.

  “Stay here, I’ll be right back,” he says right before he turns to leave. As I’m about to follow him, I notice that he is jogging to the front of the store, exiting it.

  I’m left confused why he would leave me here. I’m still scared and I want to go home.

  After what feels like forever, but in reality must have only been maybe five minutes, I hear pounding on the door that is against the wall under the exit sign. I jump in fear, thinking that the crazy people have found me again and are now trying to get in through the back door.

  “Kelly, it’s me, Matt. Open the door,” we hear Matt shouting as he’s banging once again on the door.

  I calm down, relieved that it’s only him. Kelly and I both head to the door and when she opens it I couldn’t be happier to see Matt. Even though he said he’d be back, I still felt hurt that he left. I get even happier when I see his car behind him in what looks to be an alleyway. Matt looks slightly out of breath, like he usually does when he’s done running, and he has a couple of drops of sweat on his forehead. He must have run all the way to the car since he was only gone a couple of minutes.

  He comes into the office, grabbing me by the waist with his arm, leading me back outside into the car. Kelly is slowly following behind us and climbs into the car, leaving me to sit in the middle of the front seat, between her and Matt.

  As soon as Matt is in the driver’s seat, he puts the car into drive, and we take Kelly to her parked car. As Kelly exits Matt’s car, I’m about to scoot over into the passenger seat, but Matt grabs onto my thigh, shaking his head. I don’t need any words to know that he wants me to stay sitting next to him, and I really don’t want to move either. After we make sure Kelly is safely in her car, we drive off, and finally head home.

  The whole time I am sitting next to Matt I have my head on his shoulder, staring out of the windshield, happy that I am finally out of the nightmare that just happened.

  Matt’s hand is still on my left thigh. He didn’t move it after Kelly got out, but had started rubbing his thumb back and forth on it, sending a calming sensation.

  When we finally arrive home Matt reaches to grab my hand. He exits the car, pulling me out of the driver’s side with him, heading straight into the house, and leads us to the couch. The minute we both sit down, the events of the day finally catch up to me, and I start crying all over again. I drop my head into my hands, but Matt grabs me by the waist, and pulls into his lap. He’s embracing me tightly, letting me cry into his shoulder. The entire time his hand is rubbing my back as he’s shushing me, trying to get me to calm down.

  I can’t believe that Bill was right when he said this would happen. I had always thought that he wanted me to take a security guard so he could keep tabs on me. I was just the ignorant one who refused to believe that this could happen. It’s easy to do, since I didn’t know anything about my old life. I had no clue what to expect, and I still don’t sometimes. I finally run out of tears and I begin to calm down. I lift my head and notice that Matt’s shirt is soaked with tears.

  “I’m so sorry. I’ve cried all over your shirt,” I tell him.

  “It’s okay, I’ll just have you do my laundry this week,” he says with a light chuckle. I really doubt he would make me do his laundry, but I’m relieved that he’s trying to make a joke out of it.

  “When David called me and told me what was happening, I was scared out of my mind. I felt like I couldn’t get there fast enough. I think I must have broken at least ten different laws just to get there.”

  I feel him sigh and he keeps my head tucked against his shoulder, running his hand down my head and into the strands of my hair. “Please promise me you won’t leave this house without me or Trey to protect you. I don’t know how I would handle something happening to you.”

  I can’t believe how I am feeling at this moment. My emotions are all over the place, but the only thing I can say is, “I promise.”

  I know I am taking the biggest risk ever by asking the next question, but I do. “Matt, why are you being so nice and protective of me? I’m nothing to you.” I brace myself for his response.

  As he pulls us apart, he stares at me with eyes hurt by my question. He sighs and runs his hands through his hair. He has a frown on his lips as he starts to talk.

  “The reason why I feel like I have to be so protective over you is because I’m scared of losing you.” He looks out to the backyard, taking another deep breath, he continues. “When I lost my sister, I felt like I lost a reason to live, I had no one to protect anymore. She was everything to me, but when you came to me that day claiming to have her memories, for a moment I thought I was getting her back. As crazy as that sounds.”

  I place my hand on his shoulder, saying. “It doesn’t sound crazy, it sounds kind of sweet,” I tell him smiling.

  Right then, I hear Trey, David, and Kelly walk in the door, making me jump off Matt’s lap to stand. As they walk into the living room they go straight to reflecting on how out of control my life was, leaving me reassured that they didn’t see anything.

  I once again had to promise, this time to Kelly, that I wouldn’t go anywhere without someone to champion and protect me. David had offered to put the football team on rotation duty, two at a time, against their will if needed. Which makes Kelly and me laugh when she mentions that they wouldn’t see it as a burden to protect me. This earned him a muttered curse from Trey, stating that he wasn’t going to let half of them near me since they were a pack of horny college guys anyways.

  When Trey suggested that we have a couple of drinks, saying we all deserved them after the day I had, I knew it wouldn’t be a good idea. I finally ended up passing out from the four beers and God only knows how shots of Patrón. The last thing I remember is putting my head on Matt’s shoulder saying I was only going to rest my eyes for a moment.

  The next morning I wake up with a pounding in my head and the worst feeling of retching coming from my stomach. I barely manage to stand up and make it to the bathroom before I’m dry heaving in the toilet. Once that is done, I somehow, manage to shower and get dressed. Even that feels like an obstacle.

  From the way I’m feeling this morning, I know to never allow myself to get that drunk ever again. Unless it was for a good reason.

  THE NEXT EVENING I’m sitting outside, taking in the view of the clear bright sky full of stars, watching the full moon as it illuminates the sky. It’s so relaxing just sitting here, but before I let my mind wander off into a world of endless daydreams, I see Matt come out of t
he house.

  He takes a seat in the lounge chair next to me. Instead of lying down like I’m doing he sits there, placing his elbows on his knees, just staring at me, making me feel a bit uneasy.

  “I’ve been thinking a lot lately since the 10k.” Yeah, the one where I clearly lost to you, I think to myself. “Since you were able to keep up with me I think you should run the half with me next weekend.”

  I turn my head to stare at him, like he’s said the craziest thing in the world.

  “What?” He’s still looking at me. “I’m just saying. You can already run ten miles with me, what are three more? And I planned on running fifteen this weekend, if you can do that, which I’m pretty sure you can, then you can easily run thirteen,” he casually says, like no big deal, as he always does.

  What is up with him throwing these races at me?

  I think about what he’s said. “Can I even still run it? Isn’t it full or something by now?” I ask, hoping he’ll say it is.

  “Actually I checked. It wasn’t, so I signed you up,” he responds, shrugging one of his shoulders.

  “What!” I exclaim at him, while sitting straight up in my chair.

  He gets a worried look and pleads. “Look, I have to run fifteen anyways this weekend. At least run them with me so I don’t have to do it by myself. If you can’t handle it, then I won’t force you to run the half with me.”

  As much as I would love to refuse, with the pleading look that he is giving me, I can’t. I take a moment to ponder it and think to myself, why not? “Okay, but if I can’t hang I’m stopping to walk the rest while you keep running.”

  Matt nods his head. “Deal.”

  I’m hoping that I don’t end up regretting this. The things I do for you Matthew Garcia.

  I SURVIVED MATT’S preparation run of fifteen miles, proving that I can easily handle thirteen miles. I was now preparing myself to run the actual half-marathon that Matt had involuntarily signed me up for.