CHAPTER 20
Matthew
It could be said that things didn't go exactly as planned.
"Oh my god.” Stryker breathed, running a hand through his hair, eyes wide as he stared at the burning mansion, the once not burning mansion that the dogs had guided them to.
“That isn’t…oh god. I knew it. I knew it, god, I knew it…”
“It was an accident.” Octavia, who had prayed to come along with the excuse of keeping an eye on Stryker, whispered “they were supposed to get out, they did get out but then-“
“They are dead.” I snapped, the fear that had been climbing up my throat exploding from my mouth in a burst of uncharacteristic fury, jaw locked, hands clenching and unclenching into fists.
“They are dead, you absolute fucking moron. Accident my ass-" my voice climbed an octave with every word.
Theo put a hand on my arm. He was still looking at Stryker, who was standing with a bloodhound by his feet and had full body shakes wracking his frame; I looked at him, he squeezed my arm but didn’t speak to me. Somehow, the touch aided in grounding me.
“Hotshot?” He asked tentatively.
“I’m okay.” Stryker whispered.
“What happened?”
Me and Theo hadn't arrived straight away. We’d been told to hang back, but when the rest of the group had been gone an hour longer than expected I had started to get anxious so we’d left and tracked them down.
“They couldn’t…the dogs…and- and …we went in to save them and…and it exploded.”
“How are you…?”
Stryker’s hand tightened around Honey’s collar “I got out before it exploded.”
“What about Jack?” I asked urgently, suddenly noticing his absence “is he-“
“Fine.” Stryker swallowed hard “he left to give the families their kids back. They- they were alright, mostly. Two of them had been beaten but- but they were okay.” His voice sounded strained.
I nodded once.
“They’re dead.” Stryker blinked twice.
“How stupid can you be?” Theo snapped eventually, turning to Octavia “what- what the hell did you do, huh? Set the place on fire for what?”
I was asking myself the same thing.
“Nick suggested it.” Octavia said weakly “to burn the place and burn the men inside. He said he’d make sure everyone got out and sent me to do it-“
“Nick.” Stryker laughed, but it wasn’t a nice laugh at all “he made sure he announced that the house was gonna go up in flames and ran. We got outside and realised that the dogs weren’t and the house was already in flames. Me and Andy went inside to look but I could only find Honey.”
“Stryker, I think you need to eat something.” I observed cautiously as I took in the pallor of his skin “you look like you’re gonna faint.”
“He’s in shock.” Octavia whispered “it’s bad for hypoglycaemia, he-“
“Here.” I murmured, taking Stryker’s arm “sit down.”
Stryker did, on a tree stump. Honey licked his hand and whined.
“Two dogs and Andy.”
Theo swallowed hard.
“Johnathan’s going to-“
“I don’t care, Octavia, this is a little more serious that how Johnathan’s going to react, and since this is on you we’re gonna leave the explaining to you.” I snapped incredulously. John. All she was worried about was John? Seriously?
“What the fuck happened to the house?” Jack’s voice shouted. As one we turned to see him jogging over to us, eyes wide and confused.
“Octavia burnt it down.” Theo muttered.
Jack had already crouched beside Stryker “S? You okay?”
Stryker bent over to hug him, hiding his face in Jack’s shoulder “Andy, Sandy and Storm are dead.” He mumbled “in the fire.”
Jack stilled for a moment, but didn’t pull away from Stryker.
“We got any food on us?” He asked Octavia quietly.
“No.”
“He needs some sugar.” Jack murmured “is...is everyone else out?"
"Yes." Octavia replied in a small voice.
"Okay," he swallowed hard. Theo shifted closer to me, and I had to resist the urge to look at him when I rested my hand on the small of his back, meaning it to be a comforting gesture. He didn’t pull away.
"We- we should head back." Jack announced.
"And you can explain to Johnathan why Andy's dead." I added harshly, glaring at Octavia. She nodded once, tears beginning to gather in her eyes.
I jumped when, suddenly, Theo disappeared from beside me, knocked to the ground by a set of heavy looking paws that were currently pressed into his chest. I watched his knee twist on his way down, heard the “shit” that followed, but Stryker got there first, crouching beside him and muttering for the others to back away when he got a good look at his face.
“No…no.” Theo breathed, shaking his head and pinching the bridge of his nose as he reached out to try and touch his knee “I’m okay.”
“Like hell you are.” Stryker grumbled.
I stood by anxiously, wanting to help but knowing that there wasn’t much I could do.
“Fuck off.” He whispered weakly.
Stryker frowned, opening his mouth to snap but Theo waved his hand in his face “not you. Him.”
My nervous expression morphed into a scowl. Of course. “Jesus. Sorry for giving a shit.”
Theo didn’t reply, he just lowered his head to rest on his hand and let out a shaky breath.
I could feel Stryker’s gaze on me- studying, sharp- but when he spoke it still startled me.
“I don’t think he meant it like that.” He stated,“he’s embarrassed. Give us a minute, yeah?”
It made sense. I just didn’t like it. He shouldn’t be embarrassed with me. He should be embarrassed with Stryker, not me.
Nonetheless, I backed away and sat a few steps away from the others, watching them from a distance.
He almost stumbled right into me when he got to his feet a short while later.
“Jesus.”
“Not Jesus. Just me.” I smiled tightly, “you okay?”
“No.” Theo replied shortly “but I’ll live.”
We stood in front of each other awkwardly. I was staring down at him, brow furrowed, not knowing why he was being so hostile all of the sudden.
“I…know I’m nothing but a warm mouth to you.” I said, words coming out through clenched teeth despite knowing that we’d technically moved on from that.
Theo cringed, composure wavering slightly.
“But you’re not just a warm mouth to me.” I continued, shifting my weight from one foot to the other as my eyes bore into his beautiful blue ones “so I give a shit. I want you to be okay.”
“I’m okay.” Theo mumbled, tearing his gaze away “and you’re not...I thought we cleared that up.”
“Theo.” I pressed, noting that my own voice sounded pained, which was ironic because Theo seemed to be in a lot of fucking pain right now.
Stryker stepped forward, eyes sweeping over us in silent assessment.
“I think he’s sprained his ACL.” Stryker said eventually “Needs some ice but he’ll be okay. Can we go home now?”
“Yeah. Jack’s just there, S. Waiting for you.”
He nodded, giving us one last look.
Theo hesitated, eyeing me “what?”
“Are you sure we’re good? After our talk?”
“We’re good.” He sighed “I get snappy when I’m in pain. It’s my third knee injury so it’s…worse.”
I nodded slowly.
“I promise we’re okay.”
“Okay.” I whispered back, swallowing thickly, feeling something loosen in my chest “okay.”
Theo
“What the hell happened?”
Johnathan’s thunderous voice awoke me from where I was dozing, head on Matthew’s chest and limbs tangled together, ice strapped to my knee.
I picked up on the change in his breathing, attention flickering up towards his face as his eyes fluttered open. He immediately straightened, panic taking hold of his features.
“Fuck.”
“Let Jack deal with it.” I croaked, exhaustion weighing me down, eyelids feeling heavy “we don’t know what happened.”
“Theo-“
I wrapped my arms around his waist to keep him pinned into place, closing my eyes again.
I could hear Johnathan yelling, voice progressively raising, and Jack yelling right back; as a result, Matthew remained tense, but his hand found his way into my hair and began combing through it.
“Relax.” I mumbled, tilting my head up and pressing a kiss to Matthew’s jaw. I could do that- the others had shut themselves in their rooms, running from Johnathan’s fury.
Matt grunted.
My brain felt hazy and I tugged his shirt again “we weren’t there.” I repeated.
“Jack wasn’t either.” Matt pointed out, and I could just about imagine how his face looked in that moment- biting his lip, anxious, guilty.
“Shhh. Sleep.”
Matthew groaned “can’t. Woke me up now. You want dinner soon?”
“No. Not hungry.”
“Well, I’m on dinner duty-“
“That’s a thing?” I asked, interest lacing my tone.
“I’m good at cooking, so I offered.” He explained softly “and it’s my turn, so…you better eat or I’ll get offended.” His voice didn’t carry even a hint of the firmness that it was intended to.
“So?” I sniggered, patting his chest with my hand.
He huffed, nudging me to straighten “I’ve got your painkillers.”
“Oh.” I blinked a few times, lifting my head. Matthew handed me a glass of water and two pills from the coffee table with a soft smile, kissing the top of my head before ruffling my hair and muttering “bottoms up.”
I rolled my eyes fondly, knocking the pills back with a huff before settling back down.
I dozed again, the warmth of Matthew’s body and the motion of his hand in my hair lulling me to sleep. My brain even managed to block out Johnathan’s shouting.
“Hey.” Matthew kissed my forehead “I need to get cooking, lovely.”
I hummed to indicate I’d heard him.
“Which means you need to get off me.” He chuckled.
I groaned “fuck you. You’re warm and I’m comfy-“
“Theo-“
“Matt.” I begged.
“I can’t let the others go hungry.” He whispered, kissing my forehead again, fingers tracing patterns where they rested on my arm, tickling my skin. He seemed to be doing it absentmindedly. I didn’t want him to stop.
“But then I’ll be cold.” I whined.
Stryker came wobbling down the stairs, resembling a baby deer except a lot paler.
“Hey.” Matthew greeted “shouldn’t you be in bed?”
“Can’t sleep because of megavoice over there.” He grunted, indicating the other room with a limp movement of his hand. He surveyed us, analysing as always, before meeting my gaze. “We gonna call it Kevin, then?”
“Huh?” I mumbled, confused.
“You and Matthew’s son.”
We looked at each other and burst out laughing.
Mistake on our part, because Johnathan came storming in like a man on a mission. Which…he probably was.
I slunk back further into Matthew’s hold- on reflection, I should have moved away from him. Thankfully, he seemed too pissed off to notice.
“You.” He pointed towards Matthew “are supposed to be making DINNER!”
I cringed at his loud voice and at the anger he emanated.
“And you in BED! Is it so hard to follow orders around here! GOD DAMN IT!”
Stryker flinched next, still looking unsteady where he stood “I, uh…it was too loud to-“
“And you.” He pointed at me “I have no idea what you’re supposed to be doing but for the love of god do SOMETHING!”
“My…knee…” I trailed off helplessly.
He seemed seconds away from turning into a ferocious, spitting bear- the type that roars at you and a load of slobber flies out of its mouth and drips off its fangs whilst their little beady eyes keep getting angrier.
“Did I not tell you the dogs were a bad idea? Huh?”
“Octavia was a bad idea.” Stryker growled.
“Don’t-“
“It’s true.” Matthew said darkly, subtly running a hand down my back, a little like what he’d done earlier to help me relax, “they were late coming back so me and Theo went looking for them and when we got there the whole place was on fire and Octavia basically admitted it was all her fault.”
Johnathan groaned loudly “two dogs and a soldier. For a simple kidnapping case. How useless can you get? Seriously? All this for WHAT?”
It went on for a while. We figured it was best to let him blow off steam. He finished with another warning to Stryker and an order to Matthew to start cooking, so, reluctantly, I let him get up.
“Need anything?” He asked me gently “more ice for your knee?”
“It’s okay.” I promised him, collapsing along the whole length of the sofa “go cook. I’ll sleep.”
He rolled his eyes fondly.