Page 34 of Awaiting the Storm
How wrong it looked when she was in his.
“Boy, you’ve got it bad.”
I turn my head to find Charli leaning beside me, a sly grin stretching across her face. Shelby’s beside her, arms crossed, smirking like she knows exactly what kind of tornado just hit me.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I say too quickly, too loudly.
“Mmhmm,” Charli says. “You’ve been staring at Sissy like a starving man and she’s your next meal.”
I glance toward the table again. Matty’s laughing at something Cabe said. Her smile looks easy, but I see the tension in her shoulders, the way she keeps her hands wrapped tightly around her glass.
“I just don’t like the guy,” I mutter.
“Who, Carl?” Shelby snorts. “Join the club.”
Charli leans in, bumping my shoulder with hers. “He’s a walking cautionary tale. He left her high and dry without so much as a goodbye, and now he’s back with his tail between his legs and pretty words on his lips. Thinking he can worm his way back into her life—and into her bed—just like that.” She snaps her fingers for effect.
The last sentence lingers in the air.
“He looked ready to take a swing at me,” I note.
“Probably was.” She shrugs. “Man’s been gone a year and still thinks he has a claim on her. Asshole.”
Shelby lowers her voice. “Matty may be tough as nails and an island unto herself on the outside, but on the inside, she’s just like everybody else. We just don’t want her to fall for his shit again.”
“She won’t,” I say before I can stop myself.
Both girls glance at me, their eyes filled with a mix of curiosity and amusement.
“And how do you know that?” Shelby asks.
I rub the back of my neck. “I just do.”
The truth is, I don’t. Not really. But I feel it. In the way she melted into me during that dance. In the way she didn’t melt into him.
Cabe raises his empty bottle, and when none of us makes a move, he stands, leaves Elise at the table with Matty, and walks over to us. “What’s up? What are you guys whispering about over here?”
“Carl and Matty,” Charli admits.
Cabe blows out a breath. “Carl screwed up, yeah. But I don’t know, you guys … maybe he’s trying. We should cut him some slack.”
Charli rolls her eyes. “You would say that. You’re too nice for your own good.”
“He was a decent dude back in the day. And Matty was different when she was with him.”
“Yeah, because she thought she had someone who loved her. Someone she could count on,” Shelby fires off. “And then he upped and quit on her. Professionally and personally.”
I don’t jump in. I don’t need to. The Storm sisters have already rendered their verdict. And Carl Teague is guilty as far as they are concerned.
Their Matty’s not a woman you quit on.
And Carl’s going to learn that the hard way.
“We need to get back over there before she gets out of her head and realizes we’re over here, talking about her,” Shelby mutters, and they agree.
The four of us head back toward the table. Matty looks up as I pull my empty chair closer to her. She doesn’t smile, doesn’t flinch. Just lifts her chin a notch.
“You’re still here?” she asks, voice dry.
