Page 17 of Eddie

“How can you say that?” his mother asked, louder than before. It was enough to make Eddie wince. He was pretty sure that half of the people around them were listening in on the conversation.

“It’s not the first time,” Matthias said. “And I’m sure it unfortunately won’t be the last. Maybe leaving him in jail for one night will teach him a lesson for once.”

“I can’t leave my baby boy in jail.”

“Then you should try to get him out. Unfortunately for him, I can’t do anything from where I am, and I’m not coming back until tomorrow. He’s going to have to deal with it, or you will. I don’t know, and right now, I don’t care. I just want to have a nice dinner and go to bed.”

“Matthias!”

“Look, Mom, I love you, but I’m not doing this. I’m going to hang up now, and I’ll turn off my phone. If you need anything urgent, you can call Jenna, but otherwise, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Matthias’s mother was still spluttering when Matthias hung up the phone. True to his word, he turned it off, then stared at it as if it was a bomb about to explode. Considering the conversation he’d just had, it didn’t feel far off.

“So that was my mother,” Matthias said. “I hope you won’t have to meet her anytime soon.”

“Well, I can’t say that I’m eager to meet her after the conversation I just heard, but she is your mother. I’ll meet her eventually.”

Matthias finally looked up at Eddie. “I suppose you will.”

“Unless you want to keep me completely separate from them.”

“You know, I’m tempted to do just that, but it has nothing to do with you. I’d be proud to introduce you to my family. It’s my family that I don’t want to introduce to you. You already saw Jenna, and you heard my mother. We’re a mess.”

“You are,” Eddie agreed. “But you’re my mess.”

That made Matthias smile, and Eddie loved it. There wasn’t much he could do about it, but he could make Matthias smile.

“I guess I am your mess,” Matthias agreed. “But my family isn’t. You shouldn’t have to deal with them.”

“But like you just said, they’re your family. You have to deal with them, and if you allow me to, I’ll deal with them, too. They’re part of your life, and you’re part of mine.” They were dancing around the issue. They hadn’t said the words, and while Eddie wanted to, he was afraid. He was human. Even though Matthias had pretty much confirmed that he was right to think they were mates, he really wanted to hear the words coming from the man’s mouth instead of from his own mind.

Matthias stared at Eddie. Eddie prayed that whatever was going on in his mind, it wouldn’t push them apart. They barely knew each other, but Matthias already felt like he was part of Eddie’s life, and Eddie didn’t want to lose that. He wasn’t looking forward to dealing with Matthias’s family, but if he had to in order to have Matthias, he would, and he’d do so with a smile on his face.

Hell, he’d always been told that mates met when they needed it the most. Right now, his life was pretty much perfect, so he didn’t think he’d needed to meet his mate, but the same couldn’t be said about Matthias. It was clear he was struggling, and maybe meeting Eddie was the push he needed to finally set boundaries with his family. Eddie couldn’t do it for him, but he hoped that Matthias would. Having a family that was as demanding as his couldn’t be good for him. He looked tired, even though he should’ve been able to sleep last night, but it was more than a sleepless night. He looked weary down to his bones, and Eddie was ready to bet it had everything to do with his family. He couldn’t be a hundred percent sure, but he wasn’t against asking questions to find out. He just needed Matthias to answer them.

MATTHIAS SET HIS PHONE down on the table between them. He didn’t put it away because if he did, there was a chance he’d forget where he’d put it, and he was trying not to do things like that lately. He’d left his keys in a gas station bathroom two weeks ago and spent forty minutes backtracking before he found them. He blamed his family for that, too.

“You know,” Eddie said, “the offer still stands. If you need to go...”

“I don’t.”

“Matthias.”

“I mean it.” He looked up and found Eddie watching him with a careful expression he was starting to recognize. It was like he was waiting to see what Matthias would do before he decided what to do himself. He was cautious, which made sense considering the situation. “This isn’t the first time my brother’s ended up in jail, and it won’t be the last. My mother knows that. She just thinks if she calls me, I’ll drop everything and come fix it, because that’s what I do.”

“But tonight you’re not.”

“Tonight I’m not.” He picked up the menu, mostly to give his hands something to do. “I’ve spent the better part of ten years putting out fires I didn’t start. My brother makes bad decisions, and I clean them up. Jenna makes worse decisions, and I drive for hours to collect her. My mother calls me first for everything because she knows I’ll answer.” He paused. “I do so every single time.”

“Until tonight.”

“Yeah.” He put the menu down. There wasn’t much point pretending to read it. “I know it sounds like I’m making a big deal out of nothing. It’s just dinner.”

“It doesn’t sound like nothing,” Eddie said. “It sounds like the first time in a while you’ve done something because you wanted to.”

Matthias looked at him. He was disarming in a way Matthias hadn’t expected and wasn’t entirely sure how to handle. He’d never felt this way toward anyone, but then, Eddie wasn’t just anyone, was he?

Someone cleared their throat, and Matthias became aware that people were looking at them. They weren’t as obvious as staring, but he could feel eyes on him. A woman two booths over had glanced their way three times since they’d sat down. The man with the mustache at the counter had turned on his stool at one point during the phone call Matthias had with his mother, and he’d probably still be staring if one of the waitresses hadn’t elbowed him as she walked by.