Page 107 of Exposed

“Thank you.” That was a really nice way of putting it.

She looked over her shoulder at Mason and Matt laughing in the kitchen. “He’s really happy. You did that.”

I smiled. I hoped that was true. I hoped Jacob and I really were enough for Matt. He wanted to keep trying to have kids. And I was worried what would happen after months of negative pregnancy tests. I wondered if it would break him too. But all I could do was hope for the best and believe he’d stay. Believe we were enough.

“It all makes sense now,” Bee said. “The way Matt has been.”

“And how has he been exactly?”

“Destructive. You’re lucky he’s still alive. There were a few times where I thought James might kill him.”

I laughed. “Because of the crush on Penny thing?”

Bee nodded.

“I kind of want an example of one of those times.” I was so curious. The way everyone described Matt when I was gone… It wasn’t the Matt I knew.

“Oh, I have a good one! At Rob and Daphne’s wedding, Penny and Matt were paired up to walk down the aisle together. And they had to enter the reception together too. We were all supposed to do a fun dance on the way in. And Matt went under Penny’s skirt and lifted her over his shoulders…”

“Can we maybe not talk about that?” Matt asked as he handed me a glass of wine. “In my defense…I was drunk.”

“We were all really drunk that night,” Mason said and plopped down between me and Bee.

“No, I want to hear the rest,” I said. I peered around him to see Bee.

Bee laughed. “When it came time for Penny to dismount, Matt got down on his knees and just kept his head under her skirt for like…at least 30 seconds. James grabbed him by his lapels and shoved him. I think he mentioned something about killing him…”

“If I ever see you with your head up my wife’s skirt ever again, you’re dead,” Mason quoted.

“Yup, that was it! I thought they were going to fight in the middle of the dance floor.”

“Not my finest moment,” Matt said. He grabbed my hand. “But nothing happened. I was just messing around.”

“You are such a great friend,” I said. I tried to keep a straight face but I laughed.

“Oh!” Bee said. “And then there was the time Matt drugged James at his bachelor party. Apparently. That was pretty shit.”

“Are you serious?” I glared at him. What happened to the caring guy who’d been worried about James’ addiction problems? Actually, I knew the answer. I broke him. I shook away the thought. “Well…too bad it didn’t somehow stop him from marrying Isabella.”

“Oh no, this was right before James married Penny.”

“Seriously?”Matt. How could you?

“Do you know what we used to do back in high school that was fun?” Mason said, trying to distract us. “When Brooklyn lived with us, sometimes we’d make her play video games. She’s actually pretty good. Much better than you, baby.”

Bee shoved his arm.

“That sounds great,” Matt said. “Let’s do that.”

“I feel like we kind of need to talk about this sabotaging James thing,” I said.

Matt grabbed me and pulled me onto his lap. His lips traced my ear. “I’m sorry. I was fucked up. I was barely breathing without you.”

I knew that. I did. I knew how much he’d been hurting. I melted into him.

“I wasn’t myself. I’m not me without you.”

Oh, Matt.

---