Total pages in book: 37
Estimated words: 35498 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 177(@200wpm)___ 142(@250wpm)___ 118(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 35498 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 177(@200wpm)___ 142(@250wpm)___ 118(@300wpm)
He couldn’t lie. It felt good.
Until he noticed the Garcia family staring at him with varying levels of concern and anger.
Until he saw Oliver trying to stop an even larger man around his age from attacking.
“You Ruben?” Matthew asked, stopping the duo’s forward momentum.
“Do I know you?”
“No.” He felt a twinge at that. “But I know you care about your cousin. I’d like to think if you knew he’d been scared enough to borrow your car and go to the other side of town to learn how to defend himself, you might rethink inviting that asshole over for supper.”
An older version of Ruben stepped closer and joined the conversation. “Are you drunk, Irish? Oliver would have let us know if Emilio was bothering him. Tell him, Ollie.”
Oliver looked pale and shaken, but his silence made the two men scowl down suspiciously at their stirring friend.
Matthew ached, knowing he was crossing a line he couldn’t come back from but unwilling to keep silent. “How could he tell you this guy you admired was harassing him? Trying to take what he didn’t want to give? He knows how you feel about that. Even if a man he cared about loved him and wanted to spend the rest of his life with him, he wouldn’t let himself have that. Wouldn’t even tell you he existed.” His voice cracked at that. “That’s how important his family is to him. That’s how far he’ll go to make sure you’re all happy. You should know that about him.”
After that, he turned away rubbing his jaw. He couldn’t look at Oliver again. Didn’t want to see the rejection there after he’d done the one thing he knew Oliver wouldn’t be okay with. Confronting his family like that. Questioning their beliefs and putting the spotlight on him.
Rory, Rig and David were standing by the door, waiting for him. For once Rory didn’t say a word, just dug into Matthew’s pocket for his keys and tossed them to Rig. He and David guided them to their car and drove him home in silence.
Matthew was grateful for that, at least. There was really nothing left to say.
Chapter Four
“Kate Finn?” Robert called from the doorway of the small office. “Did you hang up on the nice businessman I was negotiating with again?”
After making sure his last class member had left, Matthew shook his head at his sister. Would she never grow up?
She winked at him before looking at Robert. “He deserved it. He called me sweetie and told me to find you or the owner because, and I quote, the adults needed to have a conversation.”
Bronte made an outraged sound that startled the baby sleeping in the carrier beside her. “Oh no. We don’t do business with misogynistic assholes, Robert. I hope he calls again so I can hang up on him.”
Her brother leaned his forehead against the wall. “I haven’t met a rich man who wasn’t an asshole, Bronte. But we need them, and all our narrow-minded suppliers, especially if we’re going to succeed in this market. Do you know how many gyms there are in this city alone? So you all need to stop hanging up on them.”
Matthew felt sorry for Robert. Not much, but a little. “Cut him some slack, Calamity. He’s the reason for our stylish new t-shirts and all those successful men in suits coming in for team-building training sessions. You know you like them. William might have imagined owning a simple boxing gym, but Nora is building him an empire.”
Bronte rolled her eyes but sent Matthew the same gentle smile she’d worn since he came back to work. They’d all been careful around him. “He’s already got my husband talking about franchises. And for the record, Robert? Bellamy is nice. Jen’s husband, Declan, is nice, too.”
“William doesn’t want to rely solely on family, Bronte.”
She shook her head. “Fine. The point remains. You can be rich and not be an asshole.”
“And this is my beautiful bride.”
Matthew turned toward his brother’s amused voice and froze at the sight of Ruben Garcia walking in beside him. What was Oliver’s cousin doing here?
It had been six days of silence. Matthew hadn’t turned on his phone, had barely spoken to anyone but William, Rory and Kate, because they’d refused to leave him alone to wallow. He’d come to the gym after they’d reminded him of all the people who needed his class. People who needed protection from bullies like Emilio.
And then there was Ken Tanaka, who kept hinting at an upcoming job and sending him one coded challenge after another. He was thankful for that. He hadn’t been sleeping and he’d needed something to keep his mind occupied.
He might feel like he was too shattered to go on, but life and his nosy, interfering family kept trying to stick those pieces back together. Maybe he wouldn’t be as happy as he could have been with Oliver. But he’d survive.