“Trust me, he’s not. That guy back there? Dying on the inside. Something holds him back from going after you balls-out. No clue what it is; I can only see so far into the situation. But there’s something holding him from going after you like some wild animal stalking its prey.”
Madison absorbed that fact for a minute. “Was I childish, inviting you over?”
“Maybe a little.” Matthew opened his door and grinned at her. “But there’s a bright side to that too. I’m a fantastic pack mule.”
***
Jeremy attacked the furniture project like the hounds of hell were nipping at his feet. Like hell was he going to let that surf bum come back and see him only halfway done with the project and think he was struggling or some shit. No. He wouldn’t be able to get it all done—effing screws and bolts and forty-seven different ways to assemble a bed frame—but he could make a huge dent in the project. And not look like a jackass when the crew returned.
The front door opened and Skye’s voice rang out in the empty apartment. “Jeremy, we’re back!”
“Still back here,” he called back, focusing on the teeny, tiny screw that the instructions swore was critical to the entire construction.
Whatever happened to wood? Real wood, from one tree. Carved out, sanded down, nailed together. Jesus Frankenstein Christ, this thing was a mess and a half. You needed a master’s degree and two doctorates in aeronautical engineering to put the damn thing together.
Skye came in and stepped gingerly around the graveyard of scrap parts. Her eyes ping-ponged between the floor and the mostly constructed bed frame. “Should this much still be left over?”
He glanced around the floor and let his eyes widen. “Oh shit. That’s all still left over?” He laughed when Skye looked horrified. “Yes, they’re all extra parts, in case something happens, so you can replace them. I’m not building Veronica a faulty bed.” God, I hope.
“Oh.” Skye looked relieved. “She’ll be glad to hear it. And she’s extremely grateful.”
“Yeah. I know.” The gratitude that girl put off was almost uncomfortable. As if he was curing cancer in her bedroom or something. But it came from a good place, and he wasn’t about to mock her for it. He just didn’t think he could handle someone as sweet and gentle as Veronica on a daily basis.
“Screw you, McCormick!”
Madison burst into the bedroom, delicate flower that she was. As if the heavens above wanted to provide him with an example of the reverse of sweet and gentle. “See, I told you he’d be more than halfway done.”
Pride bloomed through his chest, even though he mentally realized it was pathetic, as far as compliments went. He—wait.
“Who said I wouldn’t be more than halfway done?”
She grinned. “Matthew thought you’d need a second pair of hands. I bet him you’d be more than halfway done all by yourself, so thanks. He’s buying pizza.”
Pizza. Bet. Yeah, okay then. He nodded and concentrated on the world’s tiniest screw again, trying to get the damn thing to align properly with the—
“Nice work.”
The man’s deep baritone had him clenching his fingers, dropping the screw in the thick carpet. “Fuck.” Just what he needed.
“Uh-oh.” Skye stepped out of his light so he could look closer between the carpet fibers. “I think we might be distracting Jeremy. How about we step out for a bit and order that pizza? If he needs us, he can call.”
“Yeah. Sure. Hey, I bet you’ll be on my side, Skye. Madison here likes all that greasy pepperoni on her pizza. I’m more of a veggie lover myself.”
Skye bounced in place. “Me too!”
Matthew slung an arm around Skye, all buddy-buddy, and they headed out the door. Jeremy wondered what Tim might have to say about that sort of close contact. Not that he thought for a second Skye was tempted by the surfer boy. Skye and Tim were so into each other it was almost embarrassing.
In an enviable sort of way.
Not that he’d ever admit that out loud. Hell no. Matter of pride, that one.
Someone cleared their throat and he glanced back up. Madison gave him a small smile. “Are you sure you don’t want help?”
He wanted things to go back the way they were an hour ago. Madison sitting next to him, joking with him, being his second pair of hands, another set of eyes. Being a friend.
A friend that might just crawl into his lap, snug her ass against his raging erection, loop her arms around his neck, and—
“Jeremy.”
He shook his head and realized he’d been staring at the blank wall by Madison’s arm. “Sorry, what?”
She shook her head and snorted. “Sure you don’t need to take a break? You zoned out there for a bit.”
“No,” he bit off. “I’m good.”
She waited another beat, as if giving him a chance to change his mind. Then she shrugged and walked out the door.
And he zoned out again, only this time watching her fine, heart-shaped ass sway down the short hallway before hooking a right to go to the living room. And he was forced to shift, then give up and crawl to his knees to readjust his shorts around the straining erection tenting the zipper.
He really had to get a grip on this hard-on for his best friend’s sister. Tim asked him to watch over her… and the others. Not think about them naked.
Of course, thinking of Skye and Veronica naked wasn’t even possible. Not even a minor threat. Madison, on the other hand…
God, she’d look fantastic naked. All those toned muscles, slick skin… She’d go all out. He knew it. In bed she’d be an active participant, fighting for dominance all the way. And when she lost, she’d lose without grace, but damn that would be a sweet submission as he—
“Triple meat okay?”
“Jesus!” Jeremy lost hold on the two metal rods of the bed frame—currently rivaling the rod in his pants on a scale of one to fucking hard—and they clattered down in a ringing peal that had him wincing.
Matthew whistled low. “Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you.”
“You didn’t startle me,” he said through gritted teeth, picking up the metal again. What the hell was he doing with this piece, anyway? “You just… whatever. What did you want?”
The other man propped a shoulder against the doorframe, then changed his mind and walked in to sit down on the floor a decent distance away. Smart guy. “Madison said you’d want the triple meat pizza. I was just double-checking for her.”
“Oh. Yeah. She’s right.” He stared at the instructions intently until the words blurred in front of his eyes. Blink. Blink, dammit.
There was a long silence, to the point that Jeremy wondered if the other guy had fallen asleep, or somehow teleported out of the room. But he wasn’t going to look up. Not if it killed him. It was like some silent, unspoken showdown, and he’d be damned if he was going to lose to a gym rat hippie surfer.
“She’s right about a lot of things.”
Okay, so he looked up. Matthew the surf bum was giving him a too-knowing glance that sort of freaked him out. The sort of look he imagined therapists gave their patients right before they called them on their bullshit.
“Who, Madison?” He snorted. “Squirt’s not right about much.”
“I thought only her brother called her that.”
The man knew way more intimate details than he wanted him to. “I’m his best friend. We hang out enough in a group. It all comes out to the same thing.”
It was Matthew’s turn to snort. “I’m going to bet the way you think about her is nothing close to brotherly.”
Who was this guy—Jesus? “Yeah, sorry, but you’re way off. I don’t really have time to think about Madison. She’s a friend, but I don’t spend my downtime thinking about friends.” Lies double-battered in lies then deep-fried in more lies
.
Matthew shrugged. “Fine. Works for me. If she’s free and clear, then it’s not poaching, right?”
Poaching? Like Madison was a fucking animal and he was a weekend safari hunter. A screw dug into Jeremy’s palm, and he realized he’d been clenching his hand too tightly. He loosened his fingers, rubbed at the red mark on his palm, and sighed. “Sure. Whatever.”
Matthew laughed, a big roaring laugh that had Madison poking her head in.
“What’s going on in here?”
Matthew fell to his side, curling up into a semi-fetal position, and laughed harder.
Jeremy waved her off. “It’s fine. Your boyfriend here is just having a mild seizure. Nothing to worry about.”
She glared at him. “He’s not my boyfriend.” Then, as if to prove it, she walked in and kicked Matthew in the thigh, which only had him laughing harder. “Get up, weirdo, and tell me what’s going on.”
He shook his head and rolled the other direction, facing away, still laughing his weirdo head off.
He’s not my boyfriend.
Four words had never sounded more sweet. And that was seriously fucked up. “I think maybe he’s been out in the sun too long or something.”
“Or something,” Madison mumbled, agreeing with him.
Finally the subject of their conversation seemed to calm down enough to sit up and rub at his damp eyes. “Madison, babe, could you run to my car and see if you can find my cell phone? I think it fell out of my pocket in there, but if not then I’ll have to run back to Skye’s townhouse to look.”
She raised an eyebrow at that but shrugged and left the room.
As she left, Matthew’s goofy grin morphed in front of Jeremy’s eyes to a hard, grim line.
“Look, here’s the deal. You want her. You don’t want to want her, but you do all the same.”
“I don’t—”
Matthew cut him off. “Six of one, half-dozen of the other. You’re about to say you don’t want her. Which is half of what I just said, if you were listening.” He reached out and grabbed the knob for a dresser drawer and twirled it in his palm, taking his sweet time getting to the point. “I love Mad.”
And apparently, when the man had a point, he had a big one.
Jeremy’s blood boiled until he saw red. Another reaction he had no right to feel. But feel, he did.
“Yeah,” Matthew smirked, as if reading Jeremy’s mind. “I thought that would be your reaction. You couldn’t look more pissed off if you tried for it. Looks like someone just shot your dog in front of you.”
God dammit. He wasn’t just going to sit here and take shit from this guy because he was Madison’s friend. The muscles in his neck screamed, he was clenched so hard against the urge to throw himself across the room and beat the guy into dust.
He held up a hand. “I love her, as a friend. She’s my best friend. That’s the end of it, lucky her. I would make her a terrible boyfriend.” He smiled, almost to himself, as if enjoying a private joke about something. Though what he could have to smile about when he just admitted he loved her but would never be with her, Jeremy couldn’t say.
The thought of never being with Madison definitely didn’t leave him with a smile.
“So what’s your main excuse?”
Jeremy looked up to see Matt holding out the next piece he needed for the bedpost. He reached out to grab it. “Excuse for what?”
“Not going after the girl. Mine is we’re best friends. Well, among other things,” he added, almost under his breath. “You’re a single guy, I’m sure girls are something you enjoy on a regular basis.” He laughed at Jeremy’s snarl. “Maybe not recently, then. So what is it? Guilt? Misplaced duty? Got a girl on the side nobody knows about? Think she’s not good enough?”
“Of course she’s good enough,” he snapped, then grumbled to himself.
Matthew nodded. “More than good enough, that’s for damn sure. Here’s the thing. I’m not moving in, so you can stop staring at me like you want to rip my arms off and beat me to death with them. But I’m not the only male on this base, in this city, or in this state. And one of these days, someone else will see her, want her, and not just as a friend, like I do.”
Jeremy stared for a moment. Was he really having this conversation? “Anyone tell you you talk too much?”
Matthew laughed, not at all offended. “Madison does, on an almost daily basis. And here she is.” He stood as Madison poked her head back in.
“I do what?” Madison asked, confusion written all over her face.
“Tell me I talk too much,” he replied easily. None of the heavy subject they’d just discussed was evident in his posture or tone. The guy was good.
“Oh. Well, it’s true. Your cell wasn’t in the car. Skye says we can have her key to go run back over and check.”
He gave her a sheepish grin that Jeremy saw right through, then dug in his pocket and held up his phone. “Sorry, babe. I forgot I put it in a different pocket. My bad.”
She blew him a raspberry and disappeared again.
Matthew stood and clapped a hand over Jeremy’s shoulder. Clearly, the past five minutes had done a lot to help out Jeremy’s feeling about the guy because he didn’t immediately want to punch him for it.
“Just think about what I said. I know she’s important to you. But you gotta work your own shit out, it seems, and figure that out on your own.”
And then he walked out of the room, leaving Jeremy to wonder how long he had before another guy just like Matthew walked into her life and didn’t hold back.
***
Madison stretched and rolled her neck to one side. Lord, the crick in her neck was unreal.
“Are you sure glasses should go here?” Skye asked.
“Yes, by the fridge makes the most sense.” Veronica nodded firmly.
“I just think over by the sink would be so much easier for you. Why don’t we—”
“Skye,” Madison murmured.
Skye looked up from collecting glasses and into Veronica’s resolute face. “Whoops. I’m doing it again, aren’t I?” She set the glasses back down and held up her hands. “Your place, your choice.”
Veronica gave her a quick hug. “I know you just want to help. I’m not upset.”
Skye smiled as Veronica went to work shelving the cups. “That’s definitely new. When you moved in here, you didn’t care what I did with your kitchen.”
Madison shrugged and hopped up on the counter. “Long as everything is in here somehow, I don’t really care.” But Veronica did. Which was why she’d asked for permission to rearrange a few things, just to make sure it all fit, she insisted. What Madison knew she was leaving out was the part where the kitchen was a disorganized clusterfuck. But Veronica was way too polite to point that out.
“Is Jeremy still setting up the bed?” Skye asked a moment later. “I thought he would be done by now.”
Madison shrugged, but she didn’t want to admit it made her nervous, how long he and Matthew had been back there together. No sounds of breaking furniture or death screams, so she assumed everyone was still alive. But Matthew had a big mouth. God only knew what he was saying.
Skye reached in a big shopping bag and brought out some sort of appliance and set it on the counter. “And here’s the panini maker you bought. Where should it go?”
Veronica beamed and grabbed the appliance. “I know exactly where.”
“Do we seriously need a panini maker? Isn’t that why God invented Panera and those awesome people who slice your bagels and make the sandwiches?”
Skye and Veronica stared at her like she’d just insisted they all strip off their clothes and go skinny-dipping in the complex pool.
“It’s a panini maker,” Skye said slowly. “They’re delicious.”
“Uh-huh.” If s
he couldn’t put boxed brownie batter in it and bake it, or scramble eggs in it, she didn’t really see the point. But she was saved from admitting so when someone knocked on the door. She hurried over to get it, using the cash Matthew had left her to pay the delivery boy, and brought the pizza back to the kitchen.
At least this was something she could do. Using a pizza cutter—the most well-used item in her kitchen—she separated the slices onto a plate.
“Madison.” Skye sighed. “Paper plates?”
“Putting takeout on real plates is like a crime against nature. Boys!” she called. “Pizza’s here!”
Matthew showed up a moment later, as if already sensing the food was in the general vicinity. Which he likely did. The man ate more than a Holstein heifer and never gained an ounce.
Madison, on the other hand, would be out running tonight to combat the calories. Damn men and their metabolisms.
“Cool.” He grabbed a hot slice from the box before she’d had a chance to cut through it completely and stuffed it in his mouth. Then Madison watched as the pleasure morphed into pain and he grabbed a bottle of water and chugged. “Hot. Fucking hot!”
She shrugged and patted his chest. “If you weren’t such a pig, I’d have told you that before you bit in. But there you went, following your stomach again like Toucan Sam.”
“That’s follow your nose,” he shot back, but with a grin.
“Who is Toucan Sam?” Veronica asked as she brought over plates.
They both stared at her in openmouthed shock. Finally, Madison said, “The bird guy from the Froot Loops commercial when we were kids?”
She blinked a few times like an owl, then laughed. “Oh. Right. The commercial. Of course. I just had one of those…” She snapped her fingers and waved by her head. “You know, where your brain blanks.”
“Brain fart?” Matthew offered helpfully.
She smiled. “That. Only if there’s a less gross version, then that’s what I had.”
Matthew laughed. “You’re a riot.” He leaned over to give her a kiss on the cheek. Veronica danced away easily, keeping the plates between them, eyes focused on the fridge as if she hadn’t noticed him bending over. Anyone else catching the movement out of the corner of their eye wouldn’t have noticed at all. But Madison did. It hadn’t been lost on her that men in general seemed to make her roommate wary, even one as harmless as Matthew. At least until she came to know them better.
Officer Breaks the Rules (Semper Fidelis. Always Faithful.) Page 9