Page 5 of Crash & Burn

He keeps her completely off-limits to Theo and Silas, due to their roaming eyes and womanizing ways, and I am assuming the same goes for me because he refuses to let her around us unless he’s there too.

Mateo is protective over her; he always has been.

When I met him my freshman year of college, he had just been grantedsole guardianship, and I respected him for taking on the role of her older brotherandparental figure. I know what it’s like to have to step up and take care of the women in your life, so I’ve always kept my distance from Mia, out of respect for him.

I don’t see her as anything besides Mateo’s little sister, and, even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t live long enough to enjoy it.

As we walk into her apartment, the smell of lavender and coconut wash over me. I close the door behind me and try to be a fly on the wall.

Resting my elbows on her kitchen island, I watch Mia as she sits down on her couch and uses one arm to cover herself with a blanket.

“I’m not going to tell you if you’re going to keep yelling at me,” Mia tells Mateo as he gets something to ice her hand, and I can’t help but be a little impressed that she knows how to punch and isn’t afraid to. Otherwise, we probably would have met her at the emergency room with a few broken fingers.

Badass, if you ask me.

“Okay,” Mateo responds as he walks into the living room where Mia is seated. Her blonde hair is in loose curls, displayed along her shoulders and the back of the couch. Her brown eyes look worn and tired, and not just from the night.

When we saw each other in the hallway, I couldn’t help but notice the golden flakes that pepper her dark irises. Her cheeks had a pink to them, and I can’t believe I never noticed how beautiful she is until now.

Whoa, absolutely not.

These thoughts about Mateo’s little sister cannot happen.

Not now.

Notever.

“I won’t, but I’m worried about you, Mia,” I hear Mateo say as he walks over to her. “Ever since Ni—”

“Don’t,” Mia interrupts before he can finish the thought.

I freeze at the iciness in her voice, feeling the tension settle in the air as Mateo stops mid step.

He hit a nerve, and I suddenly feel like I really am a fly on the wall. Something is exchanged between the two of them, unspoken but loud and clear to Mateo, who sits down and places the makeshift ice pack on her hand as Mia closes her eyes. Her chest slowly rises and falls.

After a few moments, Mateo walks back into the kitchen to sit down and asks her to start the story from the beginning. Mia lets out a breath before explaining how she went out to meet a few friends at the bar. Mateo and I listen carefully as she explains that she was already a little on edge because of how crowded it was and how loud the music was.

She doesn’t like loud music and her brother is in a rock band?

An observation I file in my brain for later.

“There was a group of guys about my age standing near us, and I didn’t think much of them, aside from how I wished they would move. I thought they were harmless, just standing too close,” she explains. Her shoulders are tense, and I can hear in her voice that reliving this moment is not a pleasant experience for her.

“Why didn’t you guys move?” Mateo asks.

“There was no other place to go. The place was getting more and more crowded by the minute, plus I was planning on finishing my drink and then leaving,” she tells him.

“Then what? Did one of the guys say something to you?” he asks her.

I feel my fingernails dig into my palms and a slight pressure in my chest as I picture Mia in a bar with a bunch of guys around her making her feel uncomfortable.

She may be Mateo’s little sister, but something about this story is not sitting well with me.

“I tried to ignore the people around us and focus on Becca and Jess.” A shiver runs down her spine. I can see the visceral reaction to the memory. I can almost feel the shiver myself.

“What?” Mateo asks through his teeth, and I think if I were to talk right now, I’d sound the same.

“I felt a hand slide down my lower back and down to my butt, so I sent my elbow back into his chest thinking that would make him stop. But he wouldn’t take his hand off me, and then he squeezed his hand around my ass, and I felt like the room was shrinking in size by the second.” Her voice is calm, but her body language is anything but. She is relaying the story clearly with an even tone, but there’s a bite to her words.

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