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“Anything?” Matteo asks.
I shake my head and bite the inside of my cheek to stop the worry from spilling from my mouth. I’m sure they’re just caught up in whatever the fuck happens at the white party. Rafe made it seem like it’d be business as usual for him—and Maddie, I guess. Damn, that reminds me that I still need to get the full story on how they know each other. It’s been one bomb after another lately, and we barely have enough time to recover before the next one drops.
Adding her to the mix makes my life infinitely better.
And more fucking complicated than I ever imagined. There’s a spot inside my chest with her name on it. Indescribable worry and affection wrap around it. With every beat of my heart, more emotion coats it.
I’m still waiting on Matteo to bring shit up with me too. I know he’s put a few things together—and he’s not an idiot. But I’m not too worried. Besides, I have my own questions for him.
“I’m going to assume that no news is good news in this situation.”
“I guess. Speaking of news, what the fuck was that in there?”
His shoulders tense and his fingers tighten around the steering wheel. The leather creaks under the force as he takes us around a bend in the road. “What?”
“Seriously, man? How long have we been friends? You're gonna insult me by acting like I don't know you? Insult us both by acting like your little outburst wasn't the definition of uncharacteristic?” I shake my head in annoyance. “First, you tell Angelo you found a woman to wife up, and now you suggest a double wedding. With your brother.”
Muscles in his jaw flex as he merges onto the highway. Streetlights cast a glow over harsh features, giving me glimpses of the panic on his face. “I don't know, alright?” The words burst out of him, distress coating his voice. “Fuck. I don’t know, man. I panicked. Just something about my fucking brother marrying her—fuck.” He slams his right palm against the steering wheel before blowing out a breath. “I don't know what the fuck Rafe was thinking telling Dad about her.”
“But before you start to spin it in your head, you need to text Rafe and get the facts.”
“Yeah, okay. Like why the fuck he even said he was getting married. I can’t decide if I should be hoping he meant to another girl or not. Dad said he found someone in the city—he didn’t say Madison specifically.”
“Who else could he be talking about but Maddie?” Exasperation slaps me in the face, and I tilt my head to stare at my best friend. I know he’s stressed, but we're all fucking stressed. And in this life, it’d be fucking weird if I had stress-free twenty-four hours.
I can't tell if he's being purposely obtuse or if he really thinks either one of them would claim anyone else but Maddie. Maybe those painkillers are messing him up more than I realized.
He drums his fingers against his leg as he drives with one hand down the highway. “I never know what’s going on inside his head. He’s been gone a long time. Maybe too long.”
I replay Angelo’s words in my head again, something about his phrasing trips me up. “Are we sure he was talking about Rafe?”
“You think Leo called him?” He jerks his head back as if he just got hit. “You think fucking Leo, my eighteen-year-old baby brother who doesn't know jack shit about this life, reached out to our dad and said oh, by the way, Dad, I’m getting married?”
I lift a shoulder up, turning over the possibility. “I don’t think so, but shit’s changing around here, so I can’t be sure he didn’t do something under the guise of stepping up.” I send him a pointed look, using the words he said to Leo not too long ago. “We don't know what really happened, and I think your dad likes to play mind games. So it’s possible that nothing happened.”
His brows slam over his eyes as he grits his teeth. “Nah, that’s the kind of underhanded shit Rafe has always done. Never could stand it that I was older.”
“Sure, when you were kids, maybe. But that was a long time ago.”
He doesn’t acknowledge my words, caught up in whatever paths he sees inside his head. “What’s the angle though? Why the fuck would he tell Dad that he's getting married? It has to be about Madison.”
He’s talking out loud more than talking to me, so I don’t even answer him. I don’t have the answers, anyway.
“Didn't we all just agree to keep her as far away from him as possible? And that motherfucker just calls him up and says oh by the way, I met someone and I'm getting married.”
“We don't know that he said that.”
“You know he's been sneaky as fuck ever since he came back. Maybe he found a better deal. Some place to start a whole new life.”
I run my palm down my face. “Would you listen to yourself, man? The fuck is going on with you?”
He runs his hand through his hair, the move more aggressive than it should be as he stares out the front windshield. He shakes his head, two quick harsh movements.
“I don't fucking know. Something inside me shifted, and now I can’t stop fucking thinking about everything we did—and didn’t do. We never should have left them there, man. We never should have left her there unprotected.”
My gut churns when his anxiety bleeds into the air around us, feeding off of him and pressing against me. “She's not unprotected. She's with your brothers.”
“Exactly. My backstabbing son of a bitch brothers who decided to go to our dad and try to steal my girl.”
