“What the hell happened here?” Matt sat down across from Liv and Marc.
“It was fine until Sal came over. I can’t believe that. I feel so bad.” Liv’s color had returned to normal but Matt didn’t want her getting upset again.
“It’s not your fault, honey. Tate doesn’t blame you, I know she doesn’t. I just can’t understand all this stuff. Just a few days ago, Ron Moore cornered me in the hardware store about it. Some bunch of bull about Tate’s mom and how I should watch my pockets. I’ve known this guy since third grade! He’s met Tate one time and when I asked him for specifics he said he’d heard it around. Apparently Melanie has been saying stuff all over town.” Matt exhaled sharply. “I didn’t mention it to Tate so I’d appreciate it if none of you did either. Now what’s all this about Tate not liking you?”
Cassie and Polly came inside.
“Tate and I had a very long talk, cleared the air. I’ve been dying that she likes Cassie better than me.”
Cassie laughed.
“I still think she does, hmpf. But she’s been feeling insecure about any comparisons between us and I’ve been feeling a bit, oh I don’t know jealous maybe? Not like that.” She looked quickly at Marc who rolled his eyes, apparently unconcerned. “But you know, you look at her in a way you never looked at me or anyone. It’s hard at first. But she and I got past it and were visiting and laughing but Sal kept on staring. Lots of people stared. They’re curious, Matt. Most of it wasn’t hostile. You came in right after she’d asked about Sal.”
“And you told her?”
“Look, Matt, it’s no damned secret you tasted the nectar of many a flower here in Petal and the tri-state area. Tate’s not stupid. But she wasn’t upset about it either. She didn’t like the attention but she laughed about it and it wasn’t her covering up for being uncomfortable. She and I talked about the big issue for all Chase wives.”
“Ugh, the constant female attention,” Maggie spoke from the chair near the doors.
“Yes. But she’s okay. She gets that Matt isn’t interested in any flower in the garden but her.” Liv shook her head. “But the thing with Sal wasn’t just about her jealousy that Matt had settled down with one woman. This whole oh there’s an outsider in town, quick hide the silver! thing is just weird. I don’t know exactly what to do about this. But I do know we have to make a stand.”
“Yes, we do.” Polly sat down. “Cassie and I have been talking and we thought it would be good to make Homecoming our big exclamation point about Tate being part of our family. That is if Liv hasn’t gone into labor by then.”
“You’ll have to excuse me if I most fervently hope to have given birth by next Tuesday much less two weeks from now.”
They all began to plan.
“I can’t believe that bitch!” Anne exclaimed as they drove away. “Sal has some nerve.”
“Every fucking time I’m with the Chases some kind of drama ensues. It’s downright embarrassing. I hate it.” The fuck habit was back.
“It’s not your fault, Tate. Sal was way, way out of line.” Beth turned to her. “Don’t let it get to you. That’s what she wants. That’s what they want.”
“I’ve been thinking on this a lot. Matt was the last single Chase brother, they all wanted him. But you landed him. They can’t stand it. In truth, they’d find fault with anyone who snatched the last Chase standing,” Anne mused. “So screw them all. They can suck it. Who cares about them, Tate? You’re the important one. You’re the one he loves. You’re better than the Sals of the world.”
“Every time I’m with him in larger social settings I feel totally out of my depth. Beautiful ex-girlfriends every three feet. All his friends don’t trust me and they talk about stuff I don’t know a damned thing about. I’m not one of them and they know it.”
They pulled into Anne’s driveway. “Tate, Matt loves you.” She shrugged. “He wants to be with you. You love him. I’ve never seen you so happy. Who cares about them? His family adores you. We adore him. It’s all good.” She hugged her before getting out. “I’ll see you later. Call me if you need me. Love you.”
Beth scrambled into the front seat and gave her basically the same speech when they arrived at her apartment complex.
She loved her family and she loved Matt but she hated the anxiety and didn’t know what to do about it.
Some half an hour later, Matt walked through her front door, looking very intent. Without taking his eyes from her, he threw the locks and pulled the cord to the front blinds, casting the room into pale light.
“Bend over the couch arm, Tate.”
Frozen, she stood and looked at his face, his features sexy, aggressive. Shivers worked over her at his manner, far more dominant than his normal laid back sexual playfulness.
Eyes still locked on hers, he pulled his belt loose, unbuttoning and unzipping his jeans, freeing his cock. One of his eyebrows slowly rose. “Tate?”
Stifling a nervous giggle, she shrugged and walked around the edge of the couch, bending forward over the arm. She closed her eyes when she heard the condom wrapper and felt the cool air on her bare thighs as he drew her skirt up to her waist and her panties down. She stepped out of them and let him widen her stance.
His fingertips drew a path up her inner thighs, brushing through the folds of her pussy, finding her wet.
“Just what I thought. I’ve been so damned hard since I saw you sitting there in the sun on Shane’s deck, your hair gleaming in the sunshine.”
The head of his cock found her gate and nudged into her body slowly. He made love to her, his hands stroking over her back and thighs, his body pressing deep and withdrawing. Gently at first until the heat between them built and built to scorching and his speed increased along with the intensity of his thrusts.
One hand reached around and he found her clit, ready and slippery. She pushed herself back against his body, rolled her hips, wanting more and he gave it to her.
The fingers on her clit were slow, teasing and he brought her up, built her orgasm like a masterpiece and when it crashed around her, she had to yell into the couch cushion. The sensation was too much to bear, it drove her mindless, pleasure blind as the hand at her hip tightened and she felt the muscles in his abdomen grow taut and his cock harden impossibly.
“Matt, please. I need you to need me.” She didn’t know where the words came from but they came and brought a gasp from him followed very quickly by his orgasm.
Still breathing heavy, he kissed the back of her neck and withdrew, returning in moments, his pants still unzipped.
He looked pleasure wild, slightly feral and holy shit, he was hers.
Dazed, she managed to land herself on the couch and he sprawled alongside her, his head in her lap. Immediately, her fingers sought the softness of his hair as they enjoyed the silence for several minutes.
“What brought that on?”
He heard the amusement in her voice and was relieved he hadn’t pushed too far.
Lazy, his eyes closed as he enjoyed the way she massaged his scalp, he smiled. “Dunno. I’d planned to waltz you into your bedroom and take you nice and slow but when I walked in the door and saw you, I had to have you right then.”
“It was very inspired.”
He laughed. “I’m glad you enjoyed it. I was concerned you’d be upset after the shower.”
She sighed but didn’t tighten up. “It’s a cross I have to bear, Matt. She’s not the first, she won’t be the last.”
“To talk to you like that?” He sat up and faced her, his arm along the back of the couch resting on her shoulders.
“Yes. And I did clean her parents’ house. I did a good job, even though my own house is messy, I work hard.” Her chin jutted out and he kissed it.
“Who cares now? It’s what? Fifteen years ago? Venus, some people live in the past. And I wish you’d tell me when people said things to you.”
“Why, Matt? What could you possibly do except feel bad?”
“Why? So you’re no
t alone in this. Do you think I like it that people treat you this way?”
“Do you think it makes a difference whether you like it or not?”
“Damn it, Tate. Why are you so hard sometimes?”
“Because people I don’t even know stop me on the street to accuse me of trying to steal your money. Because your friend Ron cornered me at the public library to warn me that you’d see past a piece of ass soon enough so not to get comfortable with my newfound position.”
Anger, hot and nearly unmanageable rose in him like bile. “He said what? Ron Moore said that to you?”
“Yes.”
“Who else?”
“Doesn’t matter. None of this matters. He’ll only deny it.”
“I don’t give a fuck what he says. He’s lucky if I don’t knock him into next week for talking to you that way. Tate, I’m sorry this is so ridiculous. I’d say it doesn’t matter but being treated that way does matter. What doesn’t matter is anyone’s opinion but yours, mine and our family’s.”
“I know.”
He smiled. “You do?”
“Yes, I do. I know it’s not easy, but I love you, Matt. I love being with you. If people don’t like that, there’s not much I can do about it but I’m not letting what we have go because people who don’t know me don’t like me.”
“Yeah? Because Tate, let’s move in together.” He’d almost asked her to marry him but he knew it’d be too much for her right then. “I want to be with you every day. I want to wake up with you every morning.”
“I don’t want to leave this house. I love it here. And I’m not giving up Martini Friday with my sisters.”
She was full of surprises, he’d thought they’d have to argue over moving in together. “Like I’m going to complain about a house full of tipsy, beautiful women. Although if we could plan it so you hung out at The Pumphouse first and invited Cassie, Liv and Maggie back here too, I’d like that a lot.”
“I hate The Pumphouse you know. The last time you invited me everyone stared at me. Still, okay. For you. I suppose if we just came and sat with Liv, Cassie and Maggie, people will get used to it eventually.” If Petal was meant to be the place they were to be together, she had to work harder to make it more of a positive place in her head. Let go of the past and build a future.
He kissed her. “Thank you. I love knowing you’re there as I play pool. It’s sort of sucked since we’ve been going out that you’ve been here when I was there. Speaking of that, I love it here too. Thing is, it’s small for two people although my place is even smaller. But I have a suggestion. This is a huge lot. It wouldn’t be hard to add on at all.”
“I’ve been thinking about that for the last year or so. I’d be open to that.”
“Who are you, ma’am, and where did you put my girlfriend?” He leaned in to kiss her again and then once more, licking his lips afterward like she tasted good.
“I had this long talk with Liv and then with my sisters. I fucking hate how people react to this relationship and to me. But to give in and let them chase me off isn’t who I am. I’ve been letting it get to me when there’s nothing I can do to change it. All I can do is live for me. And for you. You say you want something with me. I want that too.” She shrugged.
“Well to start, this dining room needs to be about three times the size it is now so we can have all the Murphys and Chases over no matter the weather. We need another two or three bedrooms and a den I think.” He winked and they planned.
Chapter Eleven
Things began to settle in. That next week, Matt slowly moved his stuff into her house. She hadn’t been too surprised to come home from work on Friday and see several sweaty Chase brothers with sledge hammers taking out a side wall to enlarge the kitchen. William and Tim were out there too.
“You aren’t mad?” Matt asked as he came into the kitchen, freshly showered.
“We talked about this. You had someone come out here Tuesday to check the load bearing walls. You got the permits in next to no time, I’ll have to thank Liv’s connections with the mayor’s office for that one I guess. You promised to do something and you’re doing it. Far from making me mad, it makes me very happy. How long have you all been at it?”
“I got off at noon. Kyle had a half day and came with me. William showed up after he got off at two. Everyone else came as they got off work. We’ll get a solid amount done tomorrow and Sunday too. But for now, it’s time to play pool. Marc called to say Liv hasn’t been feeling well. She’ll probably have the baby any day now. Everyone has their phone on. But I’ll stay away until ten since it’s no boys allowed. In fact, we’re all headed to Nathan’s after pool.”
She smiled. “Really? That’s nice. I like to hear that you’re all doing stuff together. And I know about Liv. I stopped by there on my lunch hour today to bring her a few things.”
It was his turn to smile. “I like to hear that too. You’re a good person, Tate Murphy. Oh and about next week.”
She froze. Homecoming. A shudder of revulsion rode her spine. Tate dreaded it. Hated it with the heat of ten thousand totally clichéd suns. She’d been trying to talk her way out of going with the Chases for weeks but Matt would not let it go.
“So I ran into my momma earlier. She wants to know what we’re bringing to the picnic next Sunday. And don’t forget dinner at my parents’ house after the game on Friday. I’ve already talked to Nathan and Anne, they’re both coming and bringing dates.”
She ground her teeth in frustration. The stress of this damned town event and her father’s increased demands for money weighed on her more and more. He’d come back several times and each time he wanted more money. His behavior had deteriorated and he’d begun to threaten showing up at the kids’ school in the afternoons, saying they should get to know their grandpa.
The thought of the way Tim and William would react to that little kernel kept her paying him. Her family was finally enjoying normalcy and she wanted it to stay that way. And once he found out Matt had moved in, it would get worse.
She’d had to juggle a few bills the week before to wait for payday, not easy when you own the darned business. But she had some money in savings if she needed it, which it looked like she did. And now the expansion of the house. It was a lot at once.
She knew it would get out of control. She knew that moment wasn’t too far away and eventually she’d have to deal with it and tell someone. She couldn’t afford to pay him forever.
But right then, she felt cornered by Matt’s going around her to her siblings. “You did what? I told you I wasn’t going to any of that fucking stuff. You know how I feel about Homecoming.”
“Oh, fucking is it? What crawled up your craw?” He tried to tease his way into her arms but she slapped his hands away and took a step back. His grin slid off his face.
“What crawled up my craw? You went around me to Nathan and Anne to get them to go to this crap so I’d go too. That’s what crawled up my craw. And it’s crawled up your ass, not craw.” She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him.
“I did no such thing!”
She widened her eyes before narrowing them to angry slits. “Yes you did. I told you three weeks ago I wasn’t going. And you acted like you didn’t hear me. I told you two weeks ago, ten days ago, a week ago, three days ago, yesterday. And you thought, oh, let’s be sure Nathan and Anne are there so she can’t say no. Well I’ve got a news flash for you, tightass, I’m not going. You all have a good time.”
“Why are you being like this? It’s a damned picnic and a football game! My family loves to go, we do it every year without fail. You think you’re too good for a football game?”
Hurt welled in her stomach. She put her shoes on and grabbed her purse. “If you think I’m the one who thinks she’s too good for anything you don’t know me at all. Go to your fucking snobby game and your fucking snobby picnic and while you’re at it, try noticing for the first time in your shiny life just who isn’t there. And you tell me it’s them
who feel too good.”
She pulled at the door but he leaned against it, keeping it closed. “This is something you have to tell me, Tate. How can I understand if you don’t tell me?”
“I have told you! I’ve told you six times I don’t want to go. You don’t listen. Now let me leave. I don’t want to be here right now.”
“Too bad because I want you here and I want us to work this through. This is our house now. Why don’t you want to go?” He drew his knuckles down her cheek gently.
“Why do I have to give you an explanation to make it valid for you? Do I ask you for an explanation? When you say you don’t want to do something do I make you? Do I demand you explain why? Do I disregard everything you say and try to manipulate you into it?”
He sighed. “No. You’re right. I just want you to be with me. I won’t go if you don’t. It’s a family thing, I want you at my side. You’re part of that now. I want to show you off, I want to have you part of those memories. Please?”
His voice was so sad she knew she couldn’t hold onto her anger any longer. Knew she didn’t have it in her to refuse. She leaned her forehead on his chest. “All right. I’ll bring baked beans and potato salad. I’m sure your mother is frying eighteen chickens and Maggie is making pies.”
He tipped her chin up so he could see her face. “Your pies are better.”
“I’m not usurping Maggie’s spot. She’s the one who makes pies and cakes and stuff and she’s really good at it. Stop making trouble. You’re very spoiled you know.”
“I do. Thank you for agreeing to come. Will you make that pasta salad too? The kind with the feta cheese in it?” He fluttered his lashes and she sighed.
“Pushing your luck.”
“I know. But I’ll make it worth your while. We’ve got about twenty minutes until we have to go…”
She growled but allowed him to guide her back toward their bedroom.