Chapter 12 A Matty/Jordan Refresher #2
“Then why choose this school?” Thomas asked, examining Matty with a calculated look that made him feel like a science project, like he was…studying him.
Matty went to answer, but was temporarily distracted by the stirrers tipping over and sweeping across the table. Thomas quickly cleaned them up, but while he did, the baby started grabbing handfuls of napkins and stuffing them into his mouth.
Matty buried a smile behind his hand as two grown men attempted to wrestle a toddler…and were losing. Kids were so funny. They were like sticky little hairless raccoons, always trying to get their grubby little mitts on everything and eat it.
When they finally returned their attention to him, he said, “Because my mother said if I chose any other school she wouldn’t cover my expenses and while my tuition was covered by my scholarships, she refused to pay for anything else if I left the state.”
“If she wanted you to stay home, why allow you to apply to so many schools?” Aiden asked, frowning.
“That’s a question for her, but by now, she’s passed out by the pool.
” Thomas and Aiden exchanged another look, concerned this time.Matthew rolled his eyes.
“I’m not being abused or whatever. I’m an adult.
I just can’t afford my apartment and food and stuff without her help.
Even with a part-time job. She hates me, so I have no idea why she wants me close, other than to just ruin my college experience.
She could easily pay someone to scrape her off the floor and toss her into her bed at two in the morning if it was that important. ”
“Is your mom an alcoholic?” Thomas asked.
“Of course not,” Matty said, putting on an affected tone. “She’s simply a ‘brunch enthusiast with a taste for artisan gin.’”
Aiden’s brows went up. Maybe Matty wasn’t being fair to his mother but it’s not like she’d made any effort to shield him. So why did he have to show any loyalty to her? The answer was, he didn’t. And he wouldn’t. Fuck her.
Why do you provoke him, Matthew?
He’s under a lot of pressure, Matthew.
Just do what you’re told, for once, Matthew.
“How would you like to attend a private college so elite they don’t even advertise? They recruit you,” Thomas asked.
“What?” Matthew asked dumbly.
Thomas met his gaze, his blue eyes almost hypnotic. “I’ve managed to pull some strings. If you’d like, I can get you into the school where my son teaches. It would open a lot of doors.”
Matty snorted. “Well, if one of those doors isn’t a bank vault, it’s not really helpful. Like I said, my mom will only pay for me if I stay here and I’m on an academic scholarship.”
“What if I said I’d cover all your expenses?” Thomas asked. “Rent, food, clothing, books. Whatever you needed until graduation.”
Matty sat back, folding his arms across his chest. “I’d ask what the catch was.”
Thomas shook his head. “No catch. We just want to get to know you better. We want you to be part of our family.”
“You get that you sound like you’re trying to recruit me into a cult, right?” Matty asked, looking back and forth between them, uncertain whether to trust them or not. None of this made any sense. At all.
“Being a Mulvaney feels a lot like a cult,” Aiden said. “But you have a huge family waiting for you if you want it.”
Matty felt this pull in his chest, hating how much the idea appealed to him. But it was probably a trap. Besides, he had family. Jordan. He was as close to a sibling as he’d ever get.
“What if you decide you don’t like me and bail? Then I’m stuck with no school, no home, no clothes, no nothing. And I’ve burned a bridge with my mother. Who would take that risk?”
“The financial help isn’t conditional,” Aiden said.
“Everything is conditional,” Matthew asked.
“We’ll help you regardless of whether you stay here or come to live closer to us,” Aiden said.
“And I’m just supposed to—what?—trust you?” Matty asked.
“Trust goes both ways,” Thomas said. “Being a Mulvaney comes with a lot of strings attached, and some of those strings have knives on the other side. As for the financial part, we’ll put it in writing. That way you’ll know you’re covered no matter what.”
Once more he felt that tug. It sounded too good to be true and it probably was. Why try to get to know these people when they’ll likely find the real him as abrasive as the rest of the world. Letting his guard down would only lead to misery.
“I can’t,” Matty finally said.
“Why?” Aiden asked, seeming genuinely confused. “What’s stopping you?”
Because I have trust issues and I know that you’re part of some weird government conspiracy that trains vigilante-superheroes like X-Men.
Matty shrugged. “My friend, Jordan. I can’t leave him behind.”
“Friend?” Aiden asked, arching a brow. “Like boyfriend?”
“Ew, God, no.”
They all looked up to see Jordan standing there with a disgusted look on his face.
“We’re gay, but not for each other.” He gave a full body shudder like someone had asked him to eat a roach.
“Who are you people? And why do you look so familiar? And why are people pointing cameras at you? Are you guys famous or something? Is this a reality show? Is this—”
“If you stop talking for two seconds, I’ll tell you,” Matty interrupted.
Jordan fell silent, falling into the booth beside him, head was on a swivel, taking in the cameras Matty hadn’t even noticed. He knew that Jordan was gonna sulk about being on camera when he wasn’t ‘camera-ready.’ He’d come dressed for comfort.
He wore ripped jeans, a tight white tank top that made his golden skin glow, and an oversized pink cardigan with teddy bears on it.
The baby pink and blue sweater was in direct contrast with the many other details that made him look menacing in the right light.
He had tattoos scattered along his chest and forearms, his wild dark hair was too long, his whiskey brown eyes were too calculating, and—per Jordan’s abuela—his snake bite piercings accenting his full lower lip made him look like a pin cushion.
“Jordan, this is Thomas—”
“Mulvaney. Oh, my God,” Jordan practically shouted. “You’re Thomas and Aiden Mulvaney.” He looked at Matty accusingly. “Why are you sitting in a coffee shop with billionaires?”
Matty rolled his eyes. “Aiden is apparently my brother.”
Jordan’s mouth fell open as he looked from Matty to Aiden and back again. “You had a rich, hot older brother this whole time?” he gasped. “The whole time?!”
Matty’s eyes went wide, gaze darting in every direction to see who’d heard him. “Just announce it to the whole world, asshole. Shush, damn.”
Jordan winced. “Sorry, but this is kind of front page news, literally, so why am I only just now hearing about it? I thought we were best friends,” he sulked.
“Reminds me of Adam,” Thomas murmured to Aiden, looking at Jordan.
“But he dresses like Felix,” Aiden said.
Thomas snickered, “Yeah, but with less crazy in the eyes.”
If they only knew. When Jordan was on stage, he looked like he was two seconds away from committing a felony.
People often talked about how he embodied that ‘bad boy’ look.
It made Matty laugh every time. He’d once seen Jordan—the bad boy criminal wannabe—sobbing over a paint commercial.
Conversely, people thought Matty was a typical prep-school nerd, but they’d be wrong. Dead wrong.
“Seriously, why didn’t you tell me you had a brother?” Jordan asked, continuing to pout.
“Because I only found out five minutes ago, dumbass,” Matty admitted, exasperated. “Chill.”
The baby—Theo, not Jordan—started to make grabby hands in Matty’s direction. His eyes went wide, looking to Jordan, who shook his head. “Don’t look at me, man. He’s your nephew.”
Nephew. Matty had a nephew. He glanced at Thomas to try and gauge his feelings about the idea of Matty holding the baby.
When he found nothing alarming, he held out his hands.
He grunted when the baby’s weight settled.
He was heavier than he looked. Matty set his diapered butt on top of his closed laptop so he could look him in the eye.
He had big blue eyes and soft, silky baby hair that was neither blonde, nor brown. His cheeks were huge, like he was storing food for the winter and he chewed on his fingers like he was the one studying for finals.
“He’s kind of cute for something that produces more slobber than a St. Bernard,” Matty admitted begrudgingly.
As if to prove his point, Theo slapped his face with his spit soaked baby hand, making Jordan laugh, which in turn made Theo laugh, which made his parents very happy.
“Theo is an excellent judge of character,” Thomas said.
Aiden nodded. “It’s true.” To Matty, he asked, “So, what do you think?”
“Of your baby? I just said he’s cute,” Matthew said. “Like I don’t have any babies to compare him to, but I’d say he’s in my list of top five babies I’ve met in my life.”
“He dresses better than you, too,” Jordan noted, taking in the baby’s denim shorts, Fendi emblazoned t-shirt and sneakers so ugly they had to be couture.
“I meant about our offer?” Aiden asked.
“What offer?” Jordan asked, leaning in like he was somehow about to negotiate on Matty’s behalf.
“We invited Matty to attend a private school closer to us,” Thomas volunteered. “All expenses paid.”
Jordan’s face fell, somehow looking both excited and betrayed at the same time. “Did you say yes?”
“Actually, he said he wasn’t going anywhere without you,” Aiden volunteered. Matty smirked when Jordan seemed to come alive once more under this newfound knowledge.
“Do you also attend school with Matty?” Thomas asked.
Matty narrowed his eyes. Thomas asked the question like he had no idea who Jordan was, but there was a recognition in his face, a slight uptick in his voice that told Matty he was lying.
“You investigated me. Didn’t you?” he asked, tilting his head, watching his brother and Thomas carefully.
His brother. He had a brother. One that was still breathing. What the fuck?
“More like…kept tabs on,” Thomas hedged. “We wanted to make sure you were alright.”
Matty almost relaxed, then he noticed Jordan’s startled expression and wide eyes. Fuck, Jordan was right. How much did they know? How long had they been watching them? “Do I seem alright to you?” he snapped.
Aiden shrugged. “Well, you probably have enough trauma to put a therapist’s kids through their own ivy league college, but you aren’t perched on a rooftop with a sniper rifle, so…”
“Wow, the bar is in hell,” Jordan muttered. “Who knew the Mulvaneys had such low standards?”
“If you’ve been following me, then you know Jordan and I don’t go to school together. He’s a musician,” Matty said, crossing his eyes and sticking out his tongue at the tiniest Mulvaney at the table, earning a giggle and a tongue in return. “I’m still not going without him.”
“Aw, thanks, buddy,” Jordan said, patting Matty on the head like a child. “So, where is it we’re maybe going, exactly?”
“I know this is a big deal,” Aiden said, pulling a stack of papers from his bag. “If you want to do this, here’s all the details. My cell phone is there, too. Just hit me up and we’ll come collect you.”
“In your private jet?” Jordan asked, putting on a posh British accent.
“Yes,” Thomas said. “If it’s more convenient. If not, business class at the very least. And, yes, Jordan is invited too. We had a feeling you wouldn’t leave without him.”
Aiden stood, reaching across the table to take Theo back. Matty briefly mourned the loss. Thomas stood as well, both of them staring down at him with enigmatic expressions. “We really hope you’ll consider the move. There’s lots of people your age in the family.”
Jordan frowned. “I thought all of you were old like him,” he said, pointing to Aiden.
Aiden snorted. “Watch it, kid. I’ve got a pen in my pocket and I can scratch your name out of those papers anytime I like,” he threatened, but there was no heat to it.
Jordan, however, didn’t seem willing to risk it. “Sorry, I meant older…and hot…very hot. Like, super hot if I’m being honest,” he looked Aiden up and down salaciously.
“Ew, stop that,” Matty muttered, nudging him with his elbow hard enough to make him flinch. “That’s my brother, you weirdo.”
Thomas chuckled at the two, shaking his head. “Alright, we’ll leave you be. Good luck on your exams.”
“Bye,” Jordan called, waving like a maniac. “Make good choices.”
The moment they were gone, Matty turned in his seat to look at Jordan. “They’ve been watching me. Us. Do you think they know?”
“They can’t know. Right?” he asked, his own doubts bleeding into his tone. “I mean, why would they make the offer if they knew? What is the offer, by the way?”
Matty looked down at the papers, scanning them quickly. “Our own swanky apartment, a car service, full tuition, a ten-thousand-dollar-a-month allowance. Internships. Who are these people?”
“They’re your new family,” Jordan quipped. “Correction, they’re our new family.”
“But what about everything we do here? Are we just going to abandon our…project?”
“We’ll start a new project,” Jordan said like it was nothing. “When someone hands you a deal like this, you take it.”
“Yeah, and you end up paying with your soul,” Matty countered.
Jordan made a dismissive sound. “According to my parents, we’re both going to hell anyway. Might as well get there in style? No?”
“Are we really considering this?” Matty asked.
“Considering? Considered. I’m in. I wonder if they’ll take me if you bail?” he pondered.
Matty smacked his arm. “Asshole. I wasn’t going to go without you.”
“Yeah, but you come from money,” Jordan pointed out.
Matty rolled his eyes. “So do you, dumbass.”
“No, my parents are new money. We could be poor again from just one bad investment. Your dad’s family is loaded,” Jordan said. “Even if they hate you.”
“Wow, thanks.”
“What? My family hates me, too. That’s why we’re friends.
Let's go kick it with the Mulvaneys for a while. You can go to your fancy school. I can pick up a few gigs or maybe even try to join a music program. No matter how scandalous the Mulvaneys are, they can’t be worse than our parents. Can they?”
“Don’t forget Project Watchtower only exists because my father and Thomas Mulvaney had something to do with it. So, yeah. They might just be worse than our parents.”
“But we’re still gonna go, right?” Jordan pushed. “Like, just to be sure?”
Matty closed his eyes and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “Yeah, I guess we are.”