Honey Whiskey (A Bastards MC Novel) (11 page)

She smiled as she set a pot of water on to
boil and then pulled out a skillet. "Nope. Cooking is how I unwind
after a long day." She popped open a bottle of beer, taking a long
sip. "I'd love some company, though."

I pulled out a stool and sat, watching her,
not sure what to say. She moved around the kitchen with ease,
proving that she'd been here many times before and that she knew it
a hell of a lot better than I did. I wondered if she was here to
cook for me or my roommate. "Rocker isn't here."

She looked up, surprised. Her eyes moved over
my face and then she smiled sweetly. "I know. He called and asked
me to come by. He was worried about you being alone all day. I
thought it'd be a good chance to get to know you."

I sat up a little straighter,
suddenly worried. Was Matt the man she planned on going after next?
My voice was cold when I asked, "Accessing the
competition?"

She stared at me for a moment, and
then burst out laughing. "If you had asked me that last night, I'd
have said yes. I didn't know what to think about a woman I'd never
heard of suddenly not only moving in, but also disappearing from
the party like you did. But, today Rob called me the same time
Mateo called his ol’ lady. I'm gonna wager that was you on the
other end of the phone, L.K. Or, should I call you
Joey?"

I smiled at that. "Jo is
fine."

She dumped a box of rigatoni into
the water, stirring it. "You're different than I thought you'd be.
I'm not saying that's a bad thing, I'm just surprised. I thought
he'd end up with someone like..." she chuckled, "Well, something
different. He needs a woman that will keep him on his toes. I've
heard the stories, and have no doubt you can do it." She met my
eyes. "You and me? We're gonna be great friends." I paid close
attention, trying to see any evidence that she wasn't being
genuinely nice. There wasn't any. This woman was completely
sincere.

"Stories, huh? Should I be worried?" She shook
her head, obviously not willing to share what she had heard. I
picked at the counter in front of me. "I'm not his old lady. I'm
not sure what we are, but we definitely aren't married."

Her mouth fell open as she stared at me, shock
evident. I wasn't sure what I had said that was that surprising and
shifted uncomfortably. She recovered, offering me a small smile.
"Dean told me how civilian you were, that you didn't know a thing
about us, but I just assumed, since it was Dean, that it was a bit
exaggerated." She took out a package of hamburger, breaking it into
the skillet. "It doesn't matter what you label it. No matter how
you look at it, that man is head over heels in love with
you."

I smiled. "I hope so, 'cause I'm
crazy about him, too." I sighed. "He and I seem to be worlds apart,
though. I can't guarantee what tomorrow will bring." She'd hit the
nail right on the head when she said I didn't know a thing about
them. Once again, I felt like I was an outsider looking
in.

"Jo," she said sympathetically, as
if she could read my thoughts, "do you know why they call him
Mateo?" I shook my head. "It means 'God's gift.' As in God's gift
to women. They've been calling him that for as long as I can
remember—at least eighteen years. He used to be horrible, with a
different fuck every night." I stiffened. If she was trying to
help, she was failing.

"That all changed about ten years
ago—he suddenly wasn't interested in the club girls. He'd talk to
everyone, act like the Mateo we all knew, but it was obvious that
he was taken. Everyone knew he was unobtainable and it just turned
'em on even more. He became the ultimate challenge. Who could get
his attention away from this mystery girl he was wrapped up
in?"

Seriously not helping. The burger sizzled as
it fried, and she took turns scrambling it and swirling a spoon
around the pasta.

"Then he came back one weekend
with a wedding ring. There were plenty of broken hearts, a lot of
shattered dreams. After a few months, though, we realized he wasn't
bringing the wife around. She was a separate life for him. That
meant he was still fair game."

It was my turn to be shocked.
"What? He was married. How does that make him an option?" The look
she gave me made me immediately want to eat my words. Of course she
would know that I'd slept with Matty while I was still married.
"Yeah." I held a hand to my chest. "Kettle, meet Pot.”

She laughed again, grinning.
Becky, Matty's ex-wife, was amazing, and I prayed Jessie wasn't
going to tell me that he'd cheated. As hypocritical as it would be,
I didn't know how I'd feel about him if he’d done that to sweet
Bex. "The Bastards don't typically do it, but it isn't unheard of
for a man to have a wife outside the club as well as an ol' lady
inside the club. He had no interest. A few years later, when the
ring disappeared, the girls got excited thinking the old Mateo was
back and they'd have a shot." She carried the pot to the sink,
draining it.

"What none of us realized was that it was
never his wife that had stolen him away. It was you." Adding pasta
sauce and the meat to the pot, she mixed it all in. "You may not
realize you're his ol' lady. Hell, he might not have even said the
words out loud yet. But, I can promise you, there isn't a single
man in this club that doesn't know. Soon, the women will,
too."

Opening one of the cupboards, she
pulled out two pasta bowls and came back to the stove to fill them.
"You're not competition, Jo. Even if I wanted Matty, which I don't,
I couldn't begin to compare to you in his eyes." Grabbing forks,
she came around the island and sat with me. "You're one lucky
bitch. I'd kill for someone to love me that much.”

After a few bites she continued.
“You're always going to have problems, whether you're with Mateo or
someone that lives in your world. None of us know what's coming
tomorrow. He loves you. Enjoy it."

The chop suey was delicious. We
made small talk while we ate, and I told her about my kids. I was
surprised when she told me she was thirty-three. She seemed so much
older than I was, but looked so much younger. She'd said she'd
known Matty for eighteen years, which meant that she'd known him
since she was a young teenager. I couldn't help but wonder how long
she'd known Cris. They were the same age—had they been
friends?

After we finished our dinner, we
sat on the couch and talked more, not touching on any serious
topic. Jessie was funny and sweet, and as much as I felt like I was
betraying Cris, I could totally see she and Rocker together.
Talking to her was like catching up with an old friend. I was a
little sad when she told me she had to go, but she offered me a hug
and promised that she'd check on me later in the week.

I called my kids, listening to
them on speakerphone tell me how much fun they'd had with their
grandparents. After we said goodnight, I cleaned up what I could,
leaving on the lights in case Rob came home tonight, and took the
stairs down to Matty's room. I hoped he would call me soon, because
I needed to tell him that Jessie was right. I was ready to start
over.

Chapter 11

Jo

Two days. Forty-eight hours.
Well, forty-seven hours and thirty-nine minutes I’d been waiting
for it. But, the call never came. I had gotten a text message from
an unknown number that said,
I’m so
sorry!
I assumed it was from Matty,
that his phone had died sometime over the last few days and he’d
borrowed one to send a text to me. But, maybe that was wishful
thinking and it was actually a
wrong
number. Maybe someone out there was wondering why their loved one
never apologized. Or there was a groveling husband wondering why
his beloved wife never responded after he apologized. Maybe by not
writing back, I’d broken up a nice, innocent
couple.

Or, maybe my imagination was
running wild because I’d been alone for two days. Cris and Jessie
had taken turns visiting me, trying to keep me entertained. Neither
of them had heard anything either, but apparently that was nothing
new. The Bastards, Jessie explained, were known to take off for
days at a time at a moment’s notice. I honestly couldn’t figure out
how Matty had been able to do that with work. Sam had been sick a
lot over the years, and it always seemed like Matty or Bex would
catch it right after, making Matt miss another day of work. Now I
wondered if any of them were actually sick. One more question to
add to the pile, and one more answer I hoped I would have one
day.

I talked to Teagan every day, but
hadn't filled her in yet. I tried to keep things generic, wanting
to wait until I had something definite to tell. Her stories were a
great distraction, and made me a little homesick. My Boston friends
called me every night, but they both worked, so I was on my own
during the day. If I wouldn’t have had class, I’d probably have
gone crazy. I missed my car. I’d taken a cab to school, walked to
the grocery store, and had food delivered. If I’d had my car,
though, I could have gone exploring. It was nice getting
reacquainted with the city I used to love. So much had changed in
such a short time.

I was beyond lonely though. I
shook my head at the realization. Obviously my original plan of
finding an apartment by myself would never have worked. I would
have gone mad in within the first week. Hell, if the boys didn’t
come home soon, I might still go crazy. I pulled my casserole out
of the oven before checking the time once again. Forty-seven hours
and fifty-two minutes.

“Somethin’
smells delicious.” Startled, I almost dropped the pan, and then I
paused, not sure if maybe I’d moved onto the next level of
loneliness and was now hallucinating. I turned slowly, just in case
he wasn’t real.

He looked like shit. He was
wearing the same clothes he’d worn on Saturday night, except now
they were filthy and covered in road grime. His beard had grown in
even more. It was the most hair I’d ever seen on his face and it
gave him a sketchy, mountain man look. Worst of all was the pure
exhaustion that couldn’t be hidden. I wasn’t sure if he’d slept at
all in the last few days, but if he had, it wasn’t for long periods
of time. All that mattered to me right now, though, was that Matty
was here. Right in front of me.

I ran across the room and jumped onto him, not
caring how dirty he was. I just wanted him in my arms. He smiled,
leaning down to kiss me. “Christ, it’s good to see you!” Pulling me
into him, he held me tight, arms locked behind me. I could feel the
tension flowing off his body. Something was wrong, very wrong. I
tried to pull away, but he was too strong. “Just let me hold you a
minute, please Joes?” I stopped struggling, but my mind whirled in
a thousand different directions. Was it Rob? One of the others? Did
someone get hurt?

Matt sighed, but I couldn't tell
if it was in annoyance or frustration. “Jesus, Joes, I can
practically hear you thinking.” He grabbed my shoulders, holding me
at arm’s length from him so he could look in my eyes, and then he
sighed again, sadly this time. “I can’t stay long, but I needed to
see you.”

Of course he couldn’t stay long.
It was early evening, but he was still three hours from home. He
didn’t look up for the drive, though, and I was tempted to ask him
to stay with me. After missing the last two days of work, I was
sure he couldn’t miss a third, but I couldn’t let him leave this
tired. Wracking my brain to think of something that might wake him
up before he left, I smiled. “Do you have time for a shower with
me?”

His entire face perked up and he
smirked. “I’ll make time.” I grabbed his hand, yanking him down the
stairs, determined to make the most of however long we had
together.

As soon as I was through the
bedroom door, I started to strip. My shirt was over my head in
seconds, and I started to wiggle out of my jeans before it hit the
floor. By the time I’d made it to the bathroom door, I was as naked
as the day I was born and a trail of clothes was laid out like a
treasure map that lead Matty right to me. He hadn’t followed me,
though. Instead, he was leaning back against the closed door, one
foot propped up behind him, biting the knuckle on his index finger
as he watched me.

Before I could ask what he was waiting for, he
groaned. “I’ve had dreams like this,” he pushed himself off the
door and swaggered towards me, “where you come here, take off all
your clothes, and tease me. I always wake up before I get to touch
you.” He reached out a hand, running fingers along my collarbone
lightly, as if to make sure I was real. The fingers trailed down my
chest, between my breasts, over my stomach, and onto my
hip.

He stood so close that I could
feel his breath on my face while he looked over every inch of me,
and I fought the instinct to cover myself and hide. There was a lot
more meat on my body than there had been last summer. I’d let the
irritation of the divorce and the stress of losing Matty get to me,
and I’d packed on an extra fifteen-ish pounds. I was curvier than
I’d been in a long time, and a lot more woman than I was sure he
was used to.

His eyes met mine, watching me
carefully for a few minutes. “You are so fuckin’ beautiful and you
don’t even know it, do you?” His voice was low, practically a
whisper. He reached out his other hand, and following the same
trail slowly, ended up on my other hip. “Joes?” he bit his bottom
lip as his eyes met mine again, and I knew he was asking if I was
sure I wanted this. I nodded.