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Renzo debated about the stairs, but since it was obvious John wasn’t following them, he pushed the button for the elevator instead. The tension between him and his brother was high, and Matty was practically vibrating with the need to say something, but he waited until they were inside the elevator car and the doors were firmly closed.
“I said a bad word,” Matty whispered.
Renzo blinked, then laughed as he pulled Matty close and wrapped his arms around him. “Yeah, bud. You did. But you get a pass on that one, okay?”
Matty nodded against Renzo’s chest. He was still faintly trembling, so Renzo eased him back and pressed two fingers against his pulse to make sure he wasn’t going tachycardic. Matty shoved him off after a second and marched forward when the doors opened.
“My heart’s feeling fine.”
“Okay,” Renzo said. Matty had been fine for years, but he would always be a little nervous. He waited a beat, then jogged up to his brother and grabbed his shoulder right before they reached the doors. Matty looked up, his expression a little furious, but Renzo just smiled. “Thank you for defending me. I don’t know if that’s ever happened before.”
Matty’s jaw clenched, and then he nodded. “Emil would have. He would have beat him up.”
Renzo laughed again, his chest aching with the need to see Emil right then. “Yeah. I think so too, so it’s a good thing he wasn’t with us because I’d like to spend the New Year together and not waiting to post his bail.”
“Me too,” Matty said, deflating a bit. “I should have beat him up though. He’s a big, ugly jerk, and cops would be nice to me because I’m disabled.”
“Heisa big jerk, but let’s not give in to violence,” Renzo said from behind a sigh. He reached past Matty and opened the door, letting his brother out first. The wind was icy, and he wondered if it was warmer on the other side of the country. “Besides, he doesn’t matter to us anymore. We have a good life and better people in it.”
“Is that why you didn’t fight with him?” Matty asked as he bounced up and down near the front of the car.
Renzo quickly unlocked it with the fob, and they both climbed in. He started the engine, and since they’d only been in the office a few minutes, it only took a second to warm up. “Remember when I took you to see my therapist who was helping me with the divorce?”
Matty nodded. “He was nice. He had Orange Fanta in his fridge.”
Renzo shook his head. “Yeah, yeah. Can’t forget that.” Only because Matty had obsessed about getting his own minifridge for his own drinks, which Renzo had eventually caved and bought him. “Anyway, he taught me this trick. People like John?—”
“There are more people like John?” Matty asked, looking horrified.
Renzo grimaced. “I’m afraid there are quite a few people like him in the world. And they’re very good at getting you to like them before they pull away their mask and show you the kind of people they really are. But there are some ways to beat them at their games.”
Matty’s brows lifted. “How? You have to teach me in case I ever fall in love with someone like him.”
You will over my dead body, Renzo thought to himself, but he shoved the thought aside because there was always a chance Matty would meet the wrong person, and Renzo couldn’t control that.
He leaned back and smiled at his brother. “Your biggest weapon is not showing you’re angry. Or sad. Or hurt. Or even happy. You just give them a very blank face and no emotion when you talk. The one thing they want from you is to know they have power over your emotions, so you take that power away, and they have nothing.”
Matty shrank back. “What I did was bad.”
Renzo reached for his brother’s hand and pulled him close, kissing his forehead. “What you did was the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me.” And he meant that. His sister had only ever berated him for being foolish enough to get into a relationship with John and for not seeing all of his red flags. She never forgave him for not leaving earlier, and she never did understand why he couldn’t just end it.
The only thing he got from friends and family after the divorce was relief John was no longer around and disappointment because he hadn’t been smarter or stronger. It was something he’d always have to live with.
“Thank you,” Renzo whispered. “Thank you for standing up for me.”
“I hate him,” Matty said fiercely when Renzo pulled back.
“Me too. We just can’t ever let him know that.” He put his car in reverse and backed out of his spot. “But he doesn’t matter, okay? Our lives are much better now.”
“Yeah. And Emil is prettier than him. A lot prettier,” Matty said, bouncing happily. “He likes painting mugs with me, and he even drank cocoa out of the one I gave him. And he makes you go all red when he kisses you because he’s good at it, right?”
Renzo flushed.
“Yep. Like that,” Matty said.
“And we’re done with this,” Renzo told him as they took the entrance to the freeway. “Now, be quiet and stop trying to embarrass me so I don’t crash the car.”
“Okay,” Matty said, and Renzo looked over at him, grinning as his chest felt like it was going to burst with joy.
