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 withteddy 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?”
