Chapter 3
CHAPTER THREE
Matt
Hiding, avoiding…such rude words to describe my behavior. Was I embarrassed? No…maybe. I just didn’t feel like dealing with it. Nick wasn’t anything to me. My focus was JJ, and it wasn’t like I’d spat in Nick’s face and had been mean to him. Okay, maybe I wasn’t sunshine and rainbows.
I huffed from the bathroom that I didn’t run to but calmly walked to after Nick’s attention had been diverted elsewhere. My reflection screamed that I was a liar, but I ignored it.
I didn’t owe Nick anything. Maybe a thank-you for getting me home, and the pills, and water—okay, and the food. But who was to say the guy I was gonna get lucky with—Steve, I thought his name was?—wouldn’t have done the same.
I splashed water on my face, took a deep breath, and counted to three. “I just have to go out there, tell JJ we need to talk about his new PT schedule, and then I can go back to my room.”
Once I’d dried my face, I stepped out and walked to the kitchen. And of course, everyone was there. JJ smiled and waved for me to join him.
“Shep’s icing the cake; come have a slice.”
“Actually, JJ. I was hoping we could talk about your PT schedule. You’ve made incredible process, and I don’t think you need a live-in therapist anymore.”
His brows crinkled. “Oh, really?”
“Yeah, think we can go in the other room?”
Shep waved for JJ to go. “It’s going to take a few minutes, anyway. Go on.”
It wasn’t intentional, but my eyes found Nick, who was leaning against the fridge with a glass of water in his hand. His face was pinched, and he was staring right at me. It was unnerving.
“Sure.” JJ stood and slowly, but with a lot of confidence, walked over to me. “Living room okay?”
“That’s fine.”
In the living room, I waited until JJ was settled. I noticed how easily he sat; he wasn’t breaking into a sweat or breathing hard. And while he winced here and there, he had improved beyond my expectations.
“So.” I smiled. “I feel that we can move to me being here three times a week, and by next month twice, if you’re getting better—which I think you will be. Then once, and hopefully I’ll be able to sign off on you shortly after that. Isn’t that amazing?”
JJ’s mouth opened wide. “Oh my God, for real?”
“Yeah, I’m insanely impressed with you, JJ. The trauma your body took was severe. You’ve managed to go above and beyond.”
“I can’t believe it. I’m thrilled…a little scared, though.”
I nodded. “I understand. But you’ll have daily exercises to do when I’m not here. Shepard can assist you on walks, or anyone here can, actually. I don’t think you should be wandering off on your own yet. You’ll tire if you do too much too fast on your own, and we really don’t need you taking a tumble.”
“This is…I can’t thank you enough, Matt.”
I snorted. “You’re the one that did all the work.”
“So does that mean you’ll be leaving?”
“Yes. We will schedule you Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. That way I’ll see you at the beginning of the week, middle, and right before the weekend.”
He bit his lip. “Something about you being here made me less nervous. I knew if I had an issue, you’d come running from your room.”
I chuckled. “Which has never happened. You’re going to be fine. You’ll be completely independent again soon, and I’ll be here three days a week. If at any time one of us feels you need more, we can reevaluate, but, JJ?” I squeezed his hand. “You got this.”
He hummed. “Okay.”
“Tomorrow is Saturday, so I’ll pack up and head out in the morning, but I’ll see you first thing Monday morning.”
He got up and I followed but he engulfed me in a hug. “I know you say I did all the work, but I couldn’t have done it without you, Matt.”
My chest warmed, and I hugged him back. “We are a great team.”
“Yes, now please come have cake?”
I didn’t want to face Nick, but the puppy-dog eyes JJ was giving me were impossible to resist.
“One piece.”
He fist-pumped. “Great, let’s go.”
Trepidatiously, I entered the kitchen behind JJ. The cake was on the table, iced, and even decorated. Scrawled over the top was, “You did it, my vicious viper.”
“Aww, my Viking.” JJ turned toward Shepard, where they started hugging, which turned into kissing and then, yeah, I moved to a seat far from them.
“Oh, fucking stop!” Angel bellowed and slammed a cake slicer on the table. “Can we do this? I gotta go see Two at the facility.”
I cocked my head to the side. I wasn’t very familiar with Two but I knew Four, and I had so many questions. Why were their names numbers? Were those nicknames? Why was Two in a facility and Four in this house?
“Two is getting the help he needs after being brainwashed to kill people for his whole life. He’s been getting therapy and such,” Nick said, which earned him a smack to the back of his head from Angel.
“Maybe shut the fuck up, Chatty Cathy. What the hell?” Angel jerked his chin in my direction. “He has no idea the shit that’s gone down. You open your mouth, and we’re all gonna get arrested.”
Okay, that was eye-opening. I’d suspected there was something up with these brothers, but I’d thought maybe it was just a minor thing. Judging by Angel’s reaction, I had to reassess that.
“Now who’s the moron?” Gabe snorted. “You spilled more than Nick did with your big-boss attitude.”
Everyone turned to look at me. I had a fork in my hand and an empty plate waiting for my cake so I could get out of here.
“What?”
“What do you mean, what?” Angel glared.
“Oh, would you lay off?” JJ sighed and came to sit next to me. “Matt’s good people.”
“I literally have no idea what any of you are talking about. JJ asked me to have cake; after that I’m packing my stuff up, and I’ll be heading home tomorrow.”
“What!” Nick’s head shot up at the same time Shep said, “You’re quitting?”
JJ chuckled. “Wow. No. I’m doing so well, Matt only needs to come in three times a week. I don’t need live-in care anymore, so he can finally be at his own place more often.”
“That’s great.” Mason beamed from across the table.
“He’s really done remarkably well. He can’t go walking on his own yet, so I hope you’ll all rally to help with that. But I will be here Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for the next month—then we will see where he’s at.”
Everyone was thrilled for JJ; there was so much love at this table. Yet when I locked eyes with Nick, he had a small frown on his face. You’d think he’d be happy I was leaving…I sure was going to be glad I didn’t have to hide…err…I mean…oh, fuck it, I was hiding from him.
I ate the delicious cake, and the whole time Nick’s gaze burned a hole in the side of my head. By the time I got to my room, I breathed a sigh of relief.
I definitely needed to get away from Nick Saint.