Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-three
Blaine
The door slams. I look over the back of the couch as Matt strides through. He looks like a storm cloud. This should be fun. “This isn’t a Goddamn romper room, pick up after yourself,” he growls at me as he passes. “You’re a fucking slob.”
I am, but that’s beside the point.
“Good day?” I quip.
Usually, my scattered clothing or empty dish... okay, and maybe some leftovers laying around don’t get this reaction, just huffy stomping around as he cleans it up. “Who pissed you off?”
He continues up the stairs without answering me. Fine. I go back to watching the documentary on children who murder their families. Eden went upstairs to nap after a heated morning on the couch with me. I found a new spot on her hip that curls her toes.
Hutton slunk out of here at dawn and I pretended not to notice. The sooner he leaves, the better. I’m not convinced he’s anything but a cold-blooded killer.
Eden comes downstairs wrapped in her fuzzy blanket asking, “Did you two get into another fight?” She snuggles her face into the blanket, looking reproachful and adorable. Matt and I have been on a constant bicker since I’ve been here. It seems to be our default setting.
“Don’t blame me this time. He came home this way. Not it.” I turn the television off, opening my arms, hoping she’ll sit on my lap. She obliges, laying back against my chest. I cradle her close, getting a lungful of her flowery shampoo.
“Huh. Are you sure? It’s a mess down here again.” She looks around at the shit I have all over the place. Empty packages, a couple of shirts, a pair of shorts, and a few empty energy drink cans.
I need to try a little harder.
Matt jogs down the stairs having changed into a T-shirt and shorts. He looks like he’s ready to tear into someone. “Hey, Eden, could Blaine and I have a second to talk?”
She gets up, giving me a ‘told you so’ look and kisses Matt in passing.
“It’ll just be a few minutes, sweetheart.” He gives her a squeeze.
Once he hears her door close as he stands at the bottom of the stairs, he heads my way. I cross my arms, narrowing my eyes at him. “A little dramatic. You already made yourself clear about my housekeeping skills.”
“Shut up, for a minute.”
Whoa. He better tread lightly or we will be fighting.
“Excuse me?” I lean forward on the couch. “Someone obviously ticked you off. Don’t turn that shit on me.”
He takes a big breath before he falls into the recliner. “We need to tell Eden about Keir. Soon.”
Oh, hell no. I kept the secret for her wellbeing, and I want no part of this ‘we.’
“Okay, perfect. Tell her.” I smirk at him. It was his idea to hold off telling her about his condition to begin with.
He squeezes his mouth with one hand while his nose flairs with tightly bridled anger. “Things just got a bit more complicated.”
“Oh? Well, that tends to happen when you tell lies and keep secrets.” Fuckface. I don’t know why in a moment of weakness I went along with keeping this from her. I’m still angry about his secrets when we met him.
“Nice. Can you please stop trying to make me suffer for that? I couldn’t tell you the truth.” The way he looks at me makes my insides clench.
Am I trying to punish him or hold off the way I’m feeling about him? Until I figure that out, we’re at an impasse.
“What’s the complication?” Lord knows that anything to do with Keir is going to be touchy territory. When I heard about his condition, I knew what it could do to him and Eden.
“Your friend, Jolie. The big-breasted brunette?”
I cut him off, “Oh… she’s no friend of mine or Eden’s… what’s she got to do with anything?” Then I remember the coincidence of her being at the hospital and I know. I know what he’s going to say, “She’s wormed her way in… hasn’t she?”
“She convinced him she’s his friend and he was asking for her after we told him the truth about the situation. We have to tell Eden…”
Fuck that. I don’t want to break her heart this way.
“She’s going to be crushed.” He leans back in the chair, closing his eyes. “Chances are she’s going to be furious with us, too.”
Fucking moron. Of course, she’s going to blame us for allowing Jolie the space to ingratiate herself to him.
“You should start preparing your apologies.” I start picking up my clothes and Matt grabs my arm as I pass.
“I’m not taking the heat for all of this. We agreed it was in her best interest to keep it to ourselves. Hoping that his memories would come back.”
I pick his fingers off me before snapping back, “It’s been nice knowing you… sort of.”
He can fuck right off. It was his idea, and it backfired.
My lip curls and I shrug. “You seem a little in over your head. Hutton’s on a secret mission, Keir’s involved with Satan incarnate, you’re keeping secrets from Eden, Caleb won’t move here, and I’m just fed up with your bullshit.”
I’m caught off guard when he jumps up and with a hand on the back of my head pulls me towards him.
We’re a fraction of an inch from each other, I can almost taste the cinnamon on his breath as he says in a husky whisper, “Why do you need to push me?”
I open my mouth to reply but his mouth smashes against mine. I moan into it.
Fucking hell.
It’s hard to be objective when his tongue is fucking my mouth. I press myself against him as his hard length rubs across mine and I’m almost delirious with want. I’m a fucking horny bastard on any occasion but knowing what I do douses some of the flame. Gasping, I pull back.
“I push because I need to. I may want to fuck the ever-loving hell out of you right now, but the woman I love more than life itself is about to get some bad fucking news. That’s a buzzkill.”
His breath labored, he nods.
“What do you mean Hutton is on a secret mission? Where is he?” He presses his hard on down before straightening up.
“Damndest thing. He’s not under watch anymore. How the hell should I know, FBI Agent Scholl?” I smile to myself. I can’t actually fuck him right now, so I’ll settle on fucking with him.
Several minutes later, Eden makes her way back downstairs. “All clear?” Her face tense, she abandoned her blanket, putting on an oversized Belmont shirt and a pair of nylon running shorts. I have to restrain the urge to wrap myself around her.
“We’re good.” I wink at her. “Turns out that good ole Matt doesn’t like living in a garbage can, who knew?”
Matt gives me an appreciative glance. We’ll have to formulate a plan to tell her. In the meantime, I’m going to become fucking Jolie’s worst enemy. She has no idea how loyal I am to my best friend.
Eden wordlessly starts hand-washing the dishes, humming as she cleans. I pass by squeezing her side. “I could do that.”
“Umm, you could, but you haven’t… sooo…” She laughs at me.
Matt clears his throat and then adds, “I’m heading to Pennsylvania and then New York the day after tomorrow. Eden, do you want to join me? You said you don’t have sessions on Thursday or Friday, it shouldn’t interfere with the study.”
The dick never mentioned that when we talked.
She looks at me, like my permission is needed and I look away.
Her voice is tentative, “I’m not sure about leaving Blaine, Caleb, Keir, or… even Hutton here alone.”
Does she think she can protect any of us?
There’s no doubt in my mind, she’d fight anyone to the death for us, but whoever we’re up against has already drugged her and shot her.
Matt leans back against the table folding his arms over his chest. “Keir is safe in the hospital. I could ask the rest if they want to join us?”
He doesn’t sound happy about a whole entourage, but it’s Eden and she has a way about her that makes us never want to say no.
She nods to herself. “I’ll go, if they do.”
Behind her back, Matt slips me a note.
Town square fountain. Noon tomorrow. We make a plan.
Super.
More secrets. It must be trained into his psyche as a government agent.
Once the house meets Eden and Matt’s standard of cleanliness, we settle on the couch to watch a comedy, Eden nestled between the two of us. My heart beats a happier pattern having her close and content.
I steal a look at her, relaxing. I should be the one to tell her about Keir.
I mouth over her head to Matt, “Today. We meet later today.”
Matt says during a lull in the movie, “Blaine, Caleb, and I are meeting up this afternoon.” If she notices him biting the inside of his cheek, she doesn’t say a word.
I trace my hand over her cheek before playfully squeezing her cute face. There’s no reason to tell her my news yet. It’s been a hot minute since I pissed her off and I want to savor it.
“What’s your plans with your new friends today?” Her sweet smirk lights me up inside.
“Well, it’s top secret, but I can tell you. We’re going to make a circle of salt, light candles, and kill the lights, then chant maniacally to the good weather gods, sacrifice a baby chicken, and then do it all again, because the weather here is crazy.”
Every other day there is a new severe weather warning. She laughs as she grabs my hand and Matt’s.
This feels right. The three of us, but also explosive.
The movie fades into background noise… I’m plotting the demise of Jolie Reynolds.
Not actual death.
Just the end of her in the graduate program and our lives. I’ve never been more sure of what a waste of a person she is. I’ll hit her where she’ll feel it the most.
First step: cut her from the documentary.
I can’t wait to see her overly done face when she realizes someone is coming for her.