Page 9 of Chasing After You
“Um, no thanks.” Matti starts backing up toward the door again. “I just thought I’d say hi. Last thing I want to do is intrude. Especially since this is a couple’s thing. Ex-husbands make for terrible third wheels and all.”
“You’re never an intrusion, Matti,” Tori chimes in. I can’t tell if she’s being sincere or is simply thrilled at the prospect of further torturing us all.
“You’re family,” Anna adds. And Anna is all sweetness, so that one was entirely genuine.
“I appreciate that,” Matti smiles at her, notably skipping over Tori. Clearly, he wasn’t sure about her intentions either. “But I better get going. I’m the first one here from my group, so it’s up to me to make sure everything is ready by the time the rest of the crew arrives.”
“Which will be?” I ask, walking with him until we reach the front step.
“Tomorrow.” He seems to still be thinking about it even as he says it. Then, apparently, he likes the sound of his answer because he repeats it. “Yeah, they’ll be here tomorrow.”
CHAPTER TWO
MATTI
“We have a problem.”
“Is it a real problem this time?” Knox doesn’t sound convinced.
“Yes!” I yank the door to the ranch’s main lodge open and march inside. “It’s a real fucking problem.” That came out louder than I intended, but one look around the lobby, and I’m relieved to find it’s pretty much abandoned for the moment. Not counting the people working the front desk, of course, but the lobby is on the grander scale of things, so it’s entirely possible they’re still out of earshot and missed my whiny, and not at all appealing for a grown-ass man, outburst.
“You’re serious.” Knox’s tone changes the second he understands I’m not messing around and calling to complain about horses again. “What’s up?”
“This dude ranch disaster just keeps getting worse.”
“How so?”
“It’s not a fucking sisters trip.” It’s always a sisters trip.Always. For ten years, it’s always been just the four of them. Until now. “It’s couples.”
“Couples?”
I don’t answer Knox. Just let him sort out what it means. Doesn’t take him long to get there. “Shit.”
“Shit is right.”
“Nessa is there with a dude?”
“Yeah. A dude I already had the pleasure of meeting. A dude she plans to tell the kids about when she gets home.” A dude I didn’t even hate, even if he did gawk at me like I was a freaking alien the entire time. “And that’s just half of it. The other half is Vale.” I look around the lobby just to make sure I don’tsuddenly see someone I recognize. A thing I’ll be wise to do for the duration of the trip given the number of people here I know. “Vale is here.” In a million years, I never would have pegged him for someone interested in a couples vacation. Family vacations for his kids? Sure, he suffered through those, but couples hanging out for the sake of enjoying each other’s company? No way. Except he’s the one who answered the door to their cabin. And then invited me inside.
He’s definitely here.
“So?” Knox isn’t moved by this revelation like he ought to be. “Vale is always around. What’s another dude at this point? At least this one isn’t your competition.”
Maybe not. But he may as well be. “Vale hates me,” I remind Knox of a fact he’s well aware of. “Vale hasalwayshated me. He may not be any sort of competition but he’s certainly not going to be any sort of cheerleader rooting for me to win back Ness either.” Which made it all the weirder when he asked me to come in.
“Probably not.” At least he’s genuine this time when he agrees with me. “Maybe you can use this to your advantage.”
“How?”
“Vale hates everyone. This poor new dude has no idea what he’s in for. You, on the other hand,
are used to it.”
I suppose there may be something to that. Maybe Vale already hates the new guy more than he hated me. Maybe that’s why he tried to get me to stick around just now. “I guess you’re right. I mean, if I didn’t let Vale’s death threats keep me away when I was fourteen and he towered over me and I was undoubtedly scared for my life, I’m obviously not going to backdown now. And if I just keep my head down, maybe Vale will keep all his focus on the new guy. Hell, he may get rid of him before the trip is even over.” I sigh. “Unless of course, by some miracle, he’s a fan of the new guy.” In which case he was only inviting me in so he could rub it in my face. “Then I’ll be Vale’s only target. Especially since I’ve already hurt Nessa once.”
Knox makes a sound that’s a lot like a mixture of disgust and disbelief. “Listen to me, no matter what Vale thinks, no one has taken better care or been more protective of Nessa’s heart than you have. And under all of Vale’s macho big brother bullshit, he knows that too.”
“I still think he might punch me if he finds out I’m here to win her back,” I mutter dryly. “And it won’t be like when we were kids. The man’s a personal trainer now. He bulks up for a living. And if he swings at me with his bodybuilder’s arm, that shit’s gonna hurt.” I rub at my jawbone, right around where it was busted. When I was sixteen. And Vale punched me the first time. All because he got his sisters’ boyfriends confused.
