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Piper
I washappy that I stayed in bed long enough to avoid running into Matthew. He was long gone by the time I padded to the bathroom. I made the most out of my morning. I cooked myself a nice breakfast, showered and got the shopping all done before noon, which left me the better part of the afternoon to do whatever I wanted. Naturally, once I had free time I had no idea what to do with it and so I ended up squandering away the hours browsing Facebook and watching stupid cat videos. Once I finally peeled myself away from the laptop, I decided to just go into work early. An hour early, but so what. I was hungry again and I could just grab a bite there before starting my shift.
I sat quietly nibbling at a chili cheese dog with fries on the side while listening to Betty, my fellow waitress, yammer on about Matthew fucking Pierce. I keep glancing at the clock, wishing it would move faster and mentally laughing at being so eager to start work.
“What do you think it was like over there?” Betty asks, leaning against the table, her hazel eyes wide with excitement. “Do you think he killed somebody?”
I just can’t picture it. All I see is the guy I went to high school with, the guy who fucked me not ten feet from where I’m sitting. “I don’t know,” I finally tell her with a shrug. “It doesn’t seem appropriate to ask him that.”
She quirks an eyebrow dubiously at me. “Well aren’t you cute, playing the protective sister,” she teases.
“I’m not his sister. Our parents got married, that’s it,” I correct, perhaps a little bit too quickly.
Betty, however, has already moved on, being far more interested in grilling me for more details to pick up on my defensiveness. “I wonder if he has any scars? I bet if he does they’re super hot! Speaking of, how does he look? It’s a proven fact that men in uniform are ten times sexier… Do you wonder what he looks like when he takes it off?”
I almost lie and tell her that he’s thin and half his face is missing. I don’t know why, but her sudden interest in Matthew makes me want to throw my cup of soda in her face. I have a feeling I know where she’s going with all this, she’s trying to glean information so she can ask him out. Or worse yet, she’ll want me to set her up with him. The thought kills my appetite.
“He’s my stepbrother now.” I take the only direction that feels even remotely safe, no matter how bad the words taste coming off my tongue, “I’m pretty sure I’m not supposed to look at him like that…”
She rolls her eyes, clearly annoyed. “You’re the one that just said you’re not his sister, so why does it matter all of a sudden?”
The urge to throw something at her intensifies, but I remind myself that I’m at work. I might not be on the clock, but there’s still customers around. Which gives me the excuse I’m looking for to end this conversation. “Maybe you should go check on the other tables, Betty.”
“They’re fine,” she insists without even glancing over at them.
It’s not busy, there’s only two other groups of diners in the place. Give it another hour or so and George’s will be packed. Besides, having worked here for five damn years I know for a fact there’s plenty of shit for her to do. Naturally she’s leaving it all to me because she’ll be going home in ten minutes. Bitch.
“Then clean something,” I let her see my irritation, but she blatantly ignores it.
“Oh get the stick out of your ass, Piper,” she says it in a way that gives her plausible deniability, but I know her teasing is not good natured. “Come on, just tell me more about Matthew! It’s not every day a hunky soldier comes back from the dead, especially in this shit hole of a town! He is still hunky right?”
Letting out a sigh, I hold back what I really want to say and answer with a shrug. “I guess he is.” The full truth is that he’s hotter than ever. Just thinking about it makes heat rise between my legs. More than anything I just want to put my hands on his strong, chiseled body and touch every perfect inch of him…
Betty’s voice drags me from the arousing fantasy and sets me firmly in a terrible mood. “So… Do you think you could bring him in so I can seehim?”
Here it is, the question I’ve been dreading. He hasn’t even been in town for a full twenty-four hours and Betty’s ready to start man-hunting. Afraid of what might come out of my mouth, I just shake my head and shrug, hoping that will be enough of an answer for her.
She rolls her eyes, clicking her tongue. “You’re next to useless, Piper.” Rich, coming from the bitch that just spent the last hour of her shift sitting on her ass. “Just give me his number, I’m gonna have to call and ask him myself, I guess.”
Betty has no idea how lucky she is that George walked by at that second. If it weren’t for his usual greeting of “howdy girls” distracting me, I very well would have said or done something that probably would have gotten me fired.
Which is silly… I mean… it’s not like I’ve laid claim to Matthew Pierce. So far, he’s made it perfectly clear he doesn’t want anything to do with me.
I don’t say a word to Betty, I just slide out of the booth, grab my dirty dishes and hurry to catch up with George. I won’t be able to avoid her forever, but at least I have a good excuse for putting some distance between us.
