As I’m walking back up the stairs to my door, I hear Matt say to Gwen, “I’ll be right back, honey. Don’t worry, okay? I’m going to take proper care of you and your sister.”
I roll my eyes at the saccharine tone in his voice. I’ve barely managed to step in and grip the smallest suitcase when Matt enters and slams the door behind him. He stands tall, trying to look imposing, but he doesn’t scare me.
I straighten up and release the suitcase, turning to face him directly.
“You should have called my mother if yours wasn’t available,” he spits out. “I can’t believe you’d be this irresponsible with our kids, Sophie.”
“Irresponsible? You’re the one who didn’t answer the phone. And I’ll be damned if I call your mother.” The woman never liked me. Even when I treated her son like a king. I think she would have preferred if her son chose a domestic woman who’d stay home with the kids instead of running her own business.
Matt gets closer. I don’t back up. “Like I said, I got held up. And it is not your place to bring Will around the girls.”
“Not my place?” I scoff and point to myself. “I’m their mother. And Will finally woke up and realized how much of an asshole you are, which gives me even more reason to have him around.”
“So is that it?” Spittle flies around his mouth. He leans even closer, our chests touching, his eyes fiery. “You’re trying to get back at me?”
Suddenly, the door swings open behind Matt. Will stands in the doorway, eyes wild like I’ve never seen them before. All of a sudden, he looks so much more imposing. There’s an aura about him that I can’t quite pinpoint, but if I were the one he was staring at, I’d want to shrink back into myself.
But it just so happens that it’s Matt he’s looking at, not me.
Matt swings his head to look at Will. Their eyes meet, and for a moment, there’s a tight silence. Something in the air is about to snap. Matt isn’t shrinking back; on the contrary, he puffs up his chest and makes a slight move to get closer.
“You don’t belong here,” Matt says, breaking the tension first. “What do you think you’re doing, hanging aroundmygirls?”
Will narrows his eyes. Then, he shuts the door with his foot without facing away from Matt and me. “It’s none of yourbusiness what I’m doing here,” he replies with a steady voice, but there’s an edge to it I’ve never heard before.
Matt stays still for a moment, then chuckles once before craning his neck toward me. His eyes look me up and down with vitriol. “So that’s it, then, huh?” He glances back at Will with another chuckle. “I always knewyouwanted to fuck her.” Then he turns back to me. “But to think you’d stoop so low as to whoring yourself out to him just to piss me off?—”
Will is so fast I don’t even see his fist move, but the gut-wrenching crunch echoes through my entire body when it meets the side of Matt’s jaw. Time stops; Matt veers sideways with anoomph, stumbling closer to me. My eyes keep shifting from Matt to Will, and I can’t choose where to focus; that fire I saw in Will’s eyes earlier is ablaze, threatening to consume him.
“You fucking prick,” Matt spits out as he straightens back up. As he’s about to swing, I jump to him and grab both of his arms to hold him back.
Matt may be stronger than me, but not by that much. I’m heavy with a strong enough grip to keep him in place while Will moves aside; even though I can’t see it, I can guess that Matt is foaming at the mouth from the snarls that are escaping him.
“That’s enough,” I say firmly through clenched teeth, doing my best not to scream. I tighten my grip against Matt’s arms until my nails are digging into his skin, and he gets the message; he stops struggling. “Get out.”
He turns to face me again, his face wild with rage. One hand moves to cup his jaw, which is now painted an angry red. “You know what, you both deserve each other,” he spits out, his eyes on Will, who’s now further away by the kitchen table. “You get that one for free. But touch me again and you’re dead.”
“Speak to Sophie like that again, and you’ll wish you were dead,” Will responds, his voice still steady. How he’s keeping himself this calm, I can’t fathom.
Me? I’m anything but that. I should be frightened, but instead, every nerve in my body is lit up brighter than the sun. I’m alive with primal want.
Matt looks like he’s about to utter a rebuttal, but I grab his shoulder and start pushing him toward the door. “Out. I’ll be back for the girls tomorrow morning; have them ready by seven.” Still pissed, he lets me push him outside, and I slam the door in his face.
I turn and lean against the door, the nerves suddenly catching up to me. My nausea is back, and I can’t tell if it’s from the flu or from everything that’s just happened finally catching up to my body. Cold prickles spread through me as my heart hammers against my chest. The flames of desire are stoked for now.
I raise my head and meet Will’s gaze. He doesn’t waste a second and closes the space between us in two long strides. His hands cup the side of my arms in a soft touch. “Are you okay?” he asks, and for the first time since he’s come back, his voice is unsteady. Gone is the wild flame in his gaze, leaving space instead for deep, warm concern.
Andthe want is back.
As I look up at him, a deep urge sweeps my entire body; all I want to do in that moment is close the small gap between our lips. Seeing him swept up in this moment, going from fiercely protective to so caring, is lighting up my core in a way it hasn’t in a long, long time.
I blink once, twice, then sweep this ridiculous desire to the back of my mind, where I hope it goes to wither and die. I already told myself I’m not pursuing this. “I’m fine.” I look down at his right hand on my left tricep. “Never mind me, are you okay?”
Will looks down at his hand, then seemingly catches up with himself and winces. He lets me go, taking one step back, andmy skin screams for his touch on my now cold arms. “Shit.” His knuckles are red with one patch of skin ripped away from the impact. He opens and closes his fingers once, then looks back at me. “Sophie, I’m so sorry.”
“Sorry?” I can’t fathom what he could be sorry for. That was the most epic thing I’ve ever seen. Seeing Matthew reeling from the impact after running his mouth satisfied a year-long itch. “I should be thanking you.”
“That was inappropriate,” he says with a shaky voice as he cups his injured hand with his left one. “And that could have escalated everything and put you in danger.”
