Page 24 of Eddie

She waited until Jenna disappeared inside the house to turn back to Matthias, hands on her hips. Matthias recognized the stance. He’d had to deal with it plenty of times.

“Your brother had a party last night. Maybe he drank a little too much, but it definitely wasn’t too much to drive.”

The bottom of Matthias’s stomach dropped. “Please tell me he didn’t drive drunk.” Had Noah managed to hurt someone this time? Usually, he was the only victim of his stunts, but Matthias wouldn’t be surprised if one day, that changed. Was that what happened last night?

“Of course he didn’t,” his mother said, managing to sound scandalized by Matthias’s suggestion. “He was headed to his car to grab some things, and the police stopped him.”

Matthias leaned back against his truck. It still wasn’t great, but it was better than what he’d imagined. “So what, they got him in for disorderly conduct? Being drunk in public? Something else?” Anything was possible with him.

“When I tried to get him out, they said he was going to have to stay until he could walk in a straight line.”

“Did they even arrest him? Or is he there for his own safety?”

“His own safety? If they wanted him to be safe, they would’ve allowed me to take him home. They don’t care about his safety.”

Matthias was sure his mother didn’t, either. If she did, she’d want Noah to stop drinking and definitely to stop trying to drive while he was drunk. Matthias wasn’t surprised that he’d tried. He just wasn’t sure what to do about it.

Noah was an adult. Matthias had tried talking to him, warning him, even pleading, but Noah just did what he wanted, and their parents enabled him. Matthias had tried taking a step back, but then something happened, and he was pulled right back in, just like now. Noah wasn’t hurt. He was sitting in a cell somewhere, sobering up. There was no drama to this, no reason to freak out. Like always, their mother was making a mountain out of a molehill. She was outraged that someone had dared touch her baby boy, but she wouldn’t hold Noah responsible for any of it. He was just a baby in her eyes. He didn’t know what he was doing, and none of this was his fault.

And she wouldn’t stop hounding Matthias until he went and got his brother. That was one thing Matthias was sure of.

“All right,” he said. “Tell me where he is, and I’ll go pick him up.”

“And make sure to tell those police officers what we think about the way they’ve treated your brother. I don’t want that to happen ever again. Your brother’s place is here at home, not in a cell.”

“Maybe he shouldn’t drink and try to drive, then,” Matthias muttered. He was sure his mother had heard him because she narrowed her eyes, but thankfully, she didn’t say anything. Matthias didn’t have it in him to fight with her, go to the station, collect his brother, and drive him back only to fight with her again. Hopefully, she’d keep the fighting until he returned.

He took Jenna’s stuff out of the truck as quickly as possible, leaving everything on the porch even though his mother complained that Jenna would have to take everything inside, and that poor girl had just gotten home. Matthias pointed out that his father was home, too, then climbed into his truck to head out to pick up Noah. Before he turned the engine on, he texted Eddie, telling him that he was home, safe and sound, and that his brother would probably be home soon, too. Eddie had been curious and worried, and Matthias didn’t want him to be. There was nothing to be worried about when it came to Noah.

Matthias thought as he drove. He knew that he was responsible for a lot of this mess. He’d allowed his parents, especially his mother, to take advantage of him way too many times. His siblings had done the same because why wouldn’t they? Matthias always came running. He always helped. They were always his priority.

But they couldn’t be anymore. Matthias’s priority needed to be Eddie. How was Matthias going to deal with his family once they found out about him? They wouldn’t be happy, but he didn’t really care about keeping them happy. He cared more about keeping them away from Eddie. That was why he didn’t want to involve his mate in this, even though his mother would ask what was going on and why he’d changed.

It wasn’t something he needed to think about right now, though. No, unfortunately for him, he had other things to think about, including his brother.

He really wished their relationship was normal, but he knew that as long as he allowed his family to treat him the way they were treating him, that wouldn’t happen. Hell, he was pretty sure it was too late to have any kind of normal relationship with them.

After everything, they would always only see him as being convenient. He was sure that if he stopped coming to the rescue, they’d go no-contact to punish him.

Maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad thing.

Chapter Five

MATTHIAS SHOULD HAVE been back by now. Initially, he’d talked about coming back to Eddie after a few days so they could talk more in depth about their relationship and their bond. Eddie hadn’t had too much hope for that after finding out that Matthias’s brother was in jail, but once Matthias had told him that Noah hadn’t actually been arrested but had been kept there so he could sober up, Eddie had thought everything would be okay. He’d expected Matthias to take a few days to settle his family down and pack some clothes, then come back.

He hadn’t.

Eddie was trying hard not to worry too much. After all, he didn’t know anything about Matthias’s life. No matter what Matthias told him, he still couldn’t know exactly what was going on. He did know that Matthias’s family was more complicated than most and that it would be hard for Matthias to get away from them, but still. Was it too much to ask for a better update? To maybe get a date?

So far, he had none of that, and he hadn’t seen his mate in over a week. Even though he wasn’t a shifter, he felt Matthias’s absence. He wasn’t sure what to do about it. Part of him wanted to go find his mate, but another part knew it would be a bad idea. There was no way to know how Matthias’s family would react to his presence. Eddie wasn’t even sure Matthias had told them about him.

He wasn’t offended by that. He didn’t know Matthias’s family, and Matthias knew how to handle them. Eddie didn’t. It wasn’t like Eddie was screaming from rooftops that he’d met his mate, either. The people at work knew, obviously, and he’d told his best friends and his family, but he had nothing to show for it. They were all excited for him and couldn’t wait to meet Matthias.

They couldn’t, because Matthias wasn’t here.

“You’ve been nursing that same beer for an hour,” Dennis said as he bumped his shoulder against Eddie’s.

Eddie blinked and looked around the table. Every one of his friends was watching him. It made him feel self-conscious, but maybe he shouldn’t be. These were the people who knew him best in the world, more than his mate did right now. Hell, Matthias barely knew anything about Eddie. He definitely didn’t know that Eddie was torturing himself with questions most of the time.