I roll my eyes again. Really not loving how quickly our little Matty is getting comfortable around me. “I’m just as surprised as you are, Matt. Didn’t know you had a twenty-one-point word in you.”
Oliver snorts and sprays wine on the table.Huh. I’d only ever seen that in movies before. Matt’s eyes go wide, and his mouth hangs open. That makes Oliver laugh harder. But he quickly gathers himself when Matt gives him a betrayed look.
Then Matt smirks. “I know I’m hot, El. But I can be smart, too. Jokes about pretty people being dumb are even older than you,” he says.
I narrow my eyes. “Oh, I wasn’t going with the stereotype. The comment was very specific to you as a person,Matt,” I explain.
Oliver watches us with a restrained laugh.
“Well, I’m flattered,” Matt bats his eyes. “But my brother won’t be happy if he knew you were complimenting me so hard,” he adds casually.
Wrong time to take a smug sip of wine. It goes down the wrong pipe, and I break into loud coughs. Nothing to do with the image of the said brother that he sprung on me. Just a normal reaction to someone trying to out-snark me.
Oliver gets up to pat my back. Good, I’ll risk him over Matt damaging my spine with his hands the size of a saucepan.
When the cough fit finally subsides, I take another sip, andOliver sits back down. A glance at Matt confirms he’s still smirking, announcing himself the clear winner of this round.
But then his smug face turns into a frown. A distinctly guilty-looking frown. “Fuck,” he murmurs.
I narrow my eyes.
Just then, the doorbell rings, and a bark from the door makes my eyes go wide.
Oliver turns to Matt. “You told him, didn’t you?”
My heartbeat picks up without my permission. I suddenly feel cornered. I didn’t know Matt wasthatmean. This is straight-up savage. Because mentioning the brother was one thing, but sneakily springing the living, breathing man on me is pure cruelty.
Chapter Thirteen
Uninvited Guests and Unexpected Reactions
Nick
This is peak stalker behavior, not that I wasn’t already steadily climbing towards it. But that was in the privacy of my own car, no one knew. Other than Matt, but he doesn’t count. The guy already knows too much about me to be surprised.
But this was definitely a step forward to the insanity that was my new mission. What could I do, though? It was this or taking Mickey to Elliot’s clinic again. That would have been worse because it would have been too transparent. Well, not exactly transparent because Elliot didn’t know why I was seeking him out.
Here, I could easily pretend I was visiting my lovely brother and his fiancé. I even have theperfectsurprised face that I practiced for the surprise birthday party my friends tried to throw me, even though they were the most obvious bunch of people on the planet. I mean, who accidentally emails the e-vite to thesurprisee? You hadonetask, Sloan.
It's too late now. I take another breath and hit the bell again.
Matt opens the door with a scowl on his face that melts into a smile when he spots Mickey, but comes right back on when our eyes meet. “C’mon, dude,” he sighs.
“What, were you busy or something?” I pretend to be confused.
He rolls his eyes. Mickey tugs on the leash, and I drop it. He runs inside, forcing Matt to open the door, and jumps on Elliot, who’s sitting on the couch. He yanks his wine glass out of the way just before he’s trampled.
Elliot smiles widely, scratching Mickey.
“What are you doing here?” he asks the big guy. Elliot is above cooing. But his voice is the warmest I’ve ever heard. His eyes sparkle with affection, and that smile makes him look young, almost hiding the tired look in his face. His eyebrows, which are typically bunched in a frown, are free and relaxed. He looks especially mouthwatering in his black trousers and salmon T-shirt that—
Matt clears his throat loudly. “Were you planning to come in or…” He’s clearly laughing at me, but at least he has the courtesy to keep it inside.
I shove his shoulder lightly on my way inside. Elliot looks up from where he now has a Large-Completely-Unaware-Of-His-Size-Mickey on his lap. “Nicholas,” he nods at me, his face completely neutral.
“Elliot,” I nod back instead of whining ‘why didn’t you answer my text’ at his face like I wanted to.
Oliver clears his throat.
