Page 9 of Eddie

Matthias took a deep breath. This was almost over. As little as he wanted to deal with it, he had to grab Jenna, her stuff, and get her into the truck. Once that was done, they could leave this place. Unfortunately for Matthias, he wasn’t sure how long it would take him to stuff everything she owned into the truck. Probably way too long, especially with her ex hovering in the background.

He opened the truck door and climbed out. Jenna glanced at him, but her attention returned almost instantly to her ex. “Tommy, please. I don’t understand how you could do this to me,” she said, sounding like she was about to start crying again. “I thought this was it. I thought it would be us against the world forever.”

Tommy snorted. “We’ve known each other for three weeks, Jenna. I didn’t even want you to move in.”

That was the first Matthias had heard anything about that. He glanced at his sister, but her attention was fully on Tommy. “Yes, you did. You said it.”

“I said it because I didn’t think I’d ever see you again when I left. We live hours away from each other. I didn’t expect to find you on my doorstep.”

Jenna screeched and moved toward Tommy. Matthias knew her well enough to have seen some of the damage she could do when she was enraged, and Tommy had said exactly the right words to anger her. They were probably true, but that didn’t matter to Jenna. She wouldn’t have wanted Matthias or anyone else to know about it.

Matthias rushed forward and hooked an arm around his sister’s waist, holding her back. She fought him, trying to get to Tommy, but he didn’t budge. Tommy looked relieved.

Matthias wasn’t surprised that there was a story behind the move. Honestly, it made more sense than Tommy and Jenna deciding she should move in with him after only three weeks. Matthias wouldn’t have put it past Jenna, but unless Tommy was a complete idiot, he should’ve known better.

It looked like he had. In fact, it looked like, for him, Jenna had been nothing more than a fling, and he’d expected things to die out once he came home. Instead, Jenna had followed him here.

“She’s crazy, man,” Tommy told Matthias.

Matthias wondered if Tommy knew who he was. He might agree with the guy, but that didn’t mean he was going to be open about it. “Watch how you talk about my sister,” he snapped.

Tommy’s eyes widened, and he took a step back. “Look, I never wanted her to move in. She just appeared one day with her stuff, and she’s been making my life hell since. If you’re here to take her back, please do. Her stuff is still in the house. I’m gonna go out for a few hours. I don’t want to see anything of hers left when I come back.”

“I’ll take care of it,” Matthias told him.

Jenna screeched and tried to reach her ex-boyfriend again, but Matthias had expected it. He still didn’t let go, allowing Jenna to fight against his hold. Tommy looked freaked out enough that it wasn’t a surprise when he didn’t waste time. He briefly went back inside the house, coming out with his keys in his hand. This time, instead of trying to hit him, Jenna started crying. “Please, Tommy,” she said. “I know we can make things work.”

Tommy didn’t stick around to find out how she was planning on doing that. He climbed into his car parked on the driveway and quickly left, which was when Matthias finally let go of his sister. She couldn’t attack Tommy anymore.

But apparently, she could attack Tommy’s stuff, because she kicked a flowerpot. Luckily for the flowers, they’d died a long time ago, and only dried-up leaves were left. The pot hit another pot and shattered.

“I fucking hate him,” Jenna screamed.

Matthias looked around. The neighbors were still watching. “Why don’t we go inside? We can start grabbing your stuff,” he offered.

Jenna’s eyes were blazing when she turned to him. “You don’t get it. When’s the last time you had a boyfriend?”

“It’s been a while.” Mostly because Matthias didn’t want to bring anyone around his family and he didn’t really have a lot of time to dedicate to dating, considering he was taking care of them day in and day out. If he told Jenna that, though, she’d get angry, and the last thing Matthias needed was an even angrier Jenna.

He had to get back to Eddie to tell him that they were mates. He’d thought about it since he left Green Hill, and even though he was hesitant, he knew it was the only way to go about it. He had to be honest so that Eddie could decide what he wanted once he had all the information in hand. Matthias might be terrified that Eddie wouldn’t want him, but there was no way out of it.

“So you don’t get it,” Jenna said as she stepped toward the open front door. “I thought he loved me.”

So they were going to ignore what Tommy had said earlier. That was fine with Matthias. He didn’t care why his sister was here or why she’d thought it was a good idea to move in with Tommy. He just wanted to get her into the truck and drive away.

Unfortunately for him, her stuff was spread out all over the house, as if she’d truly made herself at home since she’d arrived. Knowing her, she probably had, and since she didn’t look like she was willing to help pack, he started on his own. One way or another, her stuff was going to end up in his truck.

“It took you a long time to get here,” Jenna complained as she flopped down on the couch. “I thought you never would.”

“I drove almost without stopping since you called me.”

“You said that you did stop.”

“I had to eat and use the bathroom, Jenna. I had some coffee. I’m sorry that doesn’t feel fast enough for you, but it’s all I could do.”

She huffed. “Fine. I want to go home, Matt.”

She was still whining, but there was an echo of the baby sister Matthias had grown up with in her voice that broke his heart. Of course she wanted to go home. She was looking for love and finding it in the wrong places. It had to hurt.