Chapter 30
CHAPTER THIRTY
Matt
I thought it would be weird walking into the kitchen the next day, but it wasn’t. It was as if I’d never left and was still staying there. Shep offered me coffee, and Noel and JJ were making breakfast. I sat at the table with Mason and Four and listened to them talking about scenarios where pushing a pressure point in a person could kill them verses just putting them to sleep… Bizarre .
His hair still damp from his shower, Nick entered a few minutes later, grabbed his own coffee, and sat beside me.
“What’s on the agenda today?” I asked.
“Well, why don’t you come to Saintly Sweets with me?” He sipped his coffee.
“I did promise JJ I would and while I said next week, I have no plans today.”
“Perfect.” He turned toward Shep and JJ, who were placing bacon on a plate while Noel was perfecting his eggs. “I’m going to take Matt to Saintly Sweets.”
Shep nodded. “I’ll be by later. I want to work on a few things since I’m busy a few days next week.”
“I’ll come,” Four said quite eagerly.
“Sure, you can hitch a ride with me and Matt.”
“I’ll be down later as well.” Mason sipped his coffee.
“I’m doing more of the social media shit.” Noel placed a huge plate of scrambled eggs on the table.
“Yeah, I’m hoping I get some of that info I asked for from some people later.” I wasn’t sure what Nick was digging for, but I figured he’d let me know.
“Gabe and Angel are actually a lot of help with the social media stuff.”
“You say that in a way I feel I should be offended.” Gabe walked into the kitchen and glared at Noel.
“Just sayin’.” He shrugged and sat.
Breakfast was loud. Everyone talked, except for Four. He tended to watch everything and while it terrified me, I also always found myself curious as to what went on in his head.
After everything was put away, Nick, Four, and I made our way to Saintly Sweets.
“I can’t believe you’ve never been here,” Nick said as he pulled open the front door with gusto.
“Belle’s Beanery is so close to me, and it is really good.”
He shook his head. “You’ve been deprived.” He walked up to the counter, where two women were putting muffins in the trays. One had dark curly hair and was wearing bright-blue glasses and overalls with the Saintly Sweets logo on them. The other had her hair in a fluffy bun, had an orange dress on with— I think? —hippos dancing and an apron with the same logo.
“Hello, ladies. This is Matt. He’s never been here before, and he thinks Belle’s Beanery is the best. I’ll be needing you to change his mind.”
I gasped at him. “Oh, my word. You make me sound like a traitor.”
“Hi, I’m Darby.” The blond smiled. “This is Lizzy.” She waved her hand at the other woman.
“Nice to meet you both. Now, what would you suggest I try as a new patron?”
Lizzy tapped her chin, and I noticed Four staring at her with what could only be described as awe. “I’d say if you’re a chocolate fan, go with the butter brownie choc-chip cookie with mint chocolate chip coffee.”
“That sounds amazing, I’ll give it a go.”
Once I had my goodies, Nick showed me to a booth in the back. I loved how there were so many windows, making people-watching easy. Nick had only gotten a regular coffee but he seemed to love watching me take a bite of this heavenly morsel of chocolate.
“Oh wow, this is incredible.”
Nick slapped the table. “I told you.”
I sipped the coffee, humming at the perfection of it. Matched with the cookie, it was a lethal combo.
“I swear, I’m gonna get diabetes just from this alone.”
Nick cackled, clearly enjoying himself. I was beaming one minute and the next, it was as if something cold had been thrown in my face.
Directly over Nick’s shoulder, across the street was a red-and-black bike; I swore it was like the one on the cameras. There wasn’t anyone near it.
“Nick?”
“ Hmm? ” His smile fell when he peered up at me from his coffee. “What’s wrong?”
I tilted my chin forward. “Behind you, is that the bike you’ve seen on camera?”
Nick grabbed a napkin, bunched it up, and dropped it on the ground. He reached to pick it up off the floor, discreetly glancing out the window.
“Yeah, looks like it. I don’t see anyone, do you?”
I shook my head. “They could be inside the store there.”
“Stay right here.” Nick stood.
“Where are you going?”
“Matt, stay, please.” He turned toward the counter. “Four.”
Four looked at Nick, and like someone hit a switch, he went from happy at Lizzy to serious.
“What?”
“Watch Matt. Nothing happens to him.”
With that, Nick was out the door and making his way across the street.
“What the hell is he doing?”
Lizzy snorted. “Something dumb, I’m sure.” She walked over to the booth. “You in some trouble?”
“Sort of.”
She hummed. “That’s what these Saint boys do.”
“Dumb things?”
She chuckled. “Protect what they love…and dumb things, yes.”
I thought love was a bit much, but I didn’t correct her. Four was sitting at the table closest to the door, watching.
The grip I had on my coffee was threatening the integrity of the porcelain. I didn’t like Nick going in there alone. What if something happened inside and none of us knew? He could get hurt.
A few minutes later he came out and walked to where the bike was. He circled it a few times, then nodded. He removed a piece of paper from one pocket, a receipt maybe, and a pen from his other. He wrote something and then somehow attached it to the bike. When he jogged back over, I sighed.
“Was that the bike? What happened?”
“I went into the shop, didn’t see anyone other than some girls and their mom. I asked the owner if he knew who owned the bike outside. He told me that the bike had been there since the day before. I went to check it out and sure enough, the license plate is the same. Left a note.”
“Why’d you do that?”
He shrugged. “They want to think they have the upper hand—it’s nice to make them realize they don’t.”
“What did you write?”
Nick busied himself with his coffee. Sipping it…not answering me.
“Nick?”
“Nothing you need to worry about.”
Four got up from the table and followed Lizzy to the counter. I narrowed my eyes at Nick.
“Nicholas!”
“Oh.” His eyes widened. “You’re full-naming me now.”
“What. Did. You. Write?”
He made an expression like he didn’t want to tell me but also like he was bracing himself. “I simply said that they were wrong.”
“About?”
“That you weren’t theirs…youweremine.” He rushed the last part out so fast, I barely caught it.
“I was…you antagonized a stalker?”
“No.”
I rolled my eyes. “Nick, why’d you do that?”
His phone buzzed, and he was all too happy to answer it. “Hey, brother.” He held up a finger. Yeah, he could have a minute, and then I’d be returning to this conversation.
“Okay, sure, I’ll be home soon.”
When he disconnected I lifted a brow. “So?”
“Seems I got some hits on info I needed. I have to go to the house as soon as Mason or Shep arrive.”
“The note, Nick. Go take it off.”
“No can do, Mattie. Sorry.”
“I swear if you keep calling me that, I’ll never have sex with you again.”
“Hate it that much?”
“Yes, if I ever refer to myself by that name, kill me.”
He chuckled. “Dramatic.”
“Seriously, Nick, why antagonize them?”
He sighed, his gaze softening. “Because if they focus on me, maybe they’ll leave you alone.”
That was the dumbest thing I’d ever heard, and I was going to say as much, but I could see how much protecting me meant to Nick.
“Thank you for wanting to be my guard dog. But maybe don’t antagonize them anymore?”
He reluctantly promised.
We waited until Shep arrived. No one showed up for the bike, and I wanted so badly to run across the street and rip the note off, but I refrained.
Four stayed at the shop with Shep while Nick and I drove to his house to see what news he’d gathered.