Society Girls: Matisse (4 page)

Kendrick

I close the door and lean
my head against it, letting out a string of curses. Matisse isn’t
the other woman, she’s the
only
woman. The only one I’ve wanted more than a few
hours with, and the only one I was willing to risk myself for. I
can’t risk Waverly, though, and I know that’s why she was in my
shirt when she opened the door. She wanted to make sure I
remembered when all I wanted to do was forget.

“I’m sorry,” Waverly says, letting her
African accent out. She makes sure to sound American when we’re
around other people, keeping up the illusion that we met when I
moved to the U.S. for medical school.

“There’s no emergency, is there?” I ask,
trying to control the rage I’m feeling now. She’s been my best
friend since we were eleven, and no matter what, she’ll always hold
that place in my life.

“No. I was just hanging out, waiting for you
to be done studying. I figured you’d need a friend after spending
time with Matisse. You never bring her here, so when I heard the
door rattling, I thought you had your hands full or something.”

“I
did
have my hands full,” I
practically growl at her.

“I know, and again, I’m
sorry. I heard you when I reached the door, and I…I was scared.
Scared you’d forget to be careful. You were in the
hallway
,
Kendrick.”

“Dammit, Waverly. I made you a promise, and
I’ll never break it, but I like her. I like her more than I ever
planned on liking a woman. My life is too messed up to fall in
love, but I could fall in love with Matisse. And to clarify, we
were in the hallway of one of the most secure buildings on the
planet. I sold my house and moved in here so I could ask Reina and
Matt to let you do the same. You know that.”

“You could fall in love with her?” she asks,
ignoring everything else I said.

I can understand why—we’ve both always been
scared to find love. If we love, we might also have to trust, and
up until I became the doctor for the Society, I didn’t trust anyone
but Waverly. She still doesn’t trust anyone else, but I do. It’s
been the source of many fights, with neither one of us winning any.
Pretty soon, we’ll have to agree to trust Reina Corrigan, but that
time hasn’t come yet.

“Yes. I could love her. I’m already on my
way there,” I admit, rubbing the back of my neck as I pick up my
jacket off the floor and head into my kitchen. I pull out a beer,
because God knows I need it right now, and take a swig as I study
Waverly.

“You won’t leave me? What if she asks you
to?”

“I would never leave you, and she wouldn’t
be someone I could fall in love with if she asked me to stop being
friends with you. She’s hurt and pissed right now, and I don’t
think she’ll want to see me again, so it doesn’t matter
anyway.”

“I’ll talk to her.”

“And say what?”

“Whatever I need to. You’ve always been
there for me, and now it’s my turn to be there for you.”

“I don’t expect anything from you but your
friendship.”

“Well, I let you down on that front tonight,
didn’t I?”

We don’t lie to each other, so I tell her
the truth. “Yeah, you did.”

“I’m going to talk to her tomorrow and
explain.”

“Explain what?”

“That I made things look like something
they’re not, and something they never will be. You’re like a
brother to me. Nothing more.”

“You’re in one of my shirts. Are you going
to pass that off as something my ‘sister’ would do?”

“If she had nothing else to wear, sure.”

“You live next door.”

“I’ll think of something. I’ll throw myself
under a hundred buses, and even sing if she needs me to.”

“Don’t sing. You know you can’t sing.”

“Which is why I’ll do it. Embarrassing
myself for you is the least I can do.”

“I don’t want you to embarrass yourself,
Wave. I just want you to let me see if I can love Matisse. It won’t
change anything for us.”

“It will,” she says, holding up a hand when
I try to protest. “I’m gonna need to knock or call ahead before
coming through that door from now on.”

“Oh, well, with any luck you definitely
will.”

“I love you, Kenny.”

“Love you too, Wave. Now please go put your
clothes on.”

She laughs, kissing my
cheek before disappearing into my guest room. I don’t know if
she’ll be able to convince Matisse that nothing’s going on with us,
but I’ll let her try. There
are
things going on with us, but nothing romantic, and
if she can’t convince Matisse of that, then I’ll have to pull out
every stop I can think of to win her back. Good thing I have
friends who have all groveled a time or two, because that front row
seat I had to most of it has given me a wealth of knowledge. And if
all else fails, I’m not too proud to beg.

* * *

Matisse

“Matisse, I need to speak to you,” Audrey
says as I try to escape the lab.

I know I fucked up on my Periodic Table
test. I had the answers down, even without Kendrick’s help. I made
flashcards and passed them out among my friends here, and the guys
at the shop. They flash the cards at me randomly, and I answer
correctly most of the time. Not now, of course, because why would
anything go right for me after last night?

Well, I look good, so there’s that. My cute
pink dress that is A-line in the front, but drapes in the back to
wrap forward, paired with my shark flats aren’t going to save me
now, but at least I feel good about something.

“I failed, didn’t I?” I ask Audrey once
everyone else has filed out.

“You did. You’ve been making progress, so
I’m a little confused.”

“My mind wasn’t on it. I know all the
answers, I swear I do,” I say, looking her in the eye before
dropping my gaze to the floor.

“Kendrick?” she asks, and my head whips back
up. “I thought so.”

“I know you’re going to tell me that no man
should ever distract me from doing what I need to do.”

“Being distracted could get you—or someone
else—killed. And you shouldn’t let anyone put you in that position,
not just a man.”

“I won’t. I swear I won’t. Today was a blip,
but it won’t happen again. I’m not going to let it. Being here
means so much to me.”

“Then why did you fail?” Stella asks, coming
in the room, and hopping up on the work station in front of me. She
picks up a beaker of liquid, but Audrey smacks her hand and takes
it from her. “I know, I know. No touchy.”

“You’re a menace in here.”

“But I passed, Aud. Maybe not with flying
colors, but a pass is a pass.”

“I can pass. I
can
. Please don’t kick me
out.”

Stella and Audrey share a confused look. “No
one’s kicking you out, Teesy. Reina told you there’s no time limit
for all of this. We just need to make sure you’re okay.”

“Oh. I’m not really okay, but I will be.
I’ll re-take the test whenever you want.”

“How about now?” Stella asks, a challenge in
her eyes.

“Okay,” I tell her.

“Good,” Audrey says. “One thing we need you
to understand is that all of us have made mistakes, and in some
cases, let our personal lives distract us. It’s how you handle
things when you mess up that defines you within this organization.
That’s not to say you should go out and put lives in danger, but
for something like a test, knowing you can immediately bounce back
from failure is definitely a plus.”

“I’m going to pass. Do I take the same
test?”

“Let’s do an oral exam,” she says, smiling
at me.

Ten minutes later, I walk out the door after
acing the oral test. I got hugs from Stella, and Audrey, and did an
actual fist pump. I’m heading to the cafeteria to join my friends
when I see the second to last person I want to see right now
sitting in the Foundation lobby. Waverly.

I lengthen my stride, but she steps in front
of me. “Can I talk to you, Matisse?”

“No.”

“Please.”

“I didn’t know he was yours, Waverly. I
asked him point blank if you were his girlfriend, or his fuck
buddy, and he said you weren’t. I wouldn’t have gone after him if I
thought he was taken.”

“He’s not mine. I mean, he is, but not in a
romantic way. He’s my brother in every way except blood. Nothing
more.”

“You opened the door in his shirt.”

She looks down at her feet, and then glances
to mine, laughing when she sees the sharks. “Nice shoes.”

“Nice evasion.”

“I wasn’t evading. Delaying yes, but not
evading. Admitting I was a bitch isn’t easy for me, but that’s what
I was last night. I was so scared of losing Kendrick, and I can’t
lose him. I really, really can’t lose him.”

“I wasn’t trying to take him from you. I
respect how close you are.”

“I know you weren’t. It was my own
insecurities and fears that made me act the way I did. Kenny has
been my world for so long, and I didn’t want to share.”

“You said you’re not together, but it sounds
like you are.”

She shakes her head. “I’m
explaining this all wrong. We are not now, haven’t been in the
past, and never will be, romantically involved. It’s not something
I even consider, and I know he doesn’t, either. He’s the most
important person in my life, and I want him to be happy.
You
are the first person
I’ve ever met who can make him happy. I know, he knows, and you’ll
hopefully know it soon, if you don’t already.”

“I don’t know if I believe you, and like I
said last night, I won’t be the other woman in this scenario.”

“There’s only you. I promise.”

“Thanks for coming to see me, Waverly. I-I
need to think about all of this. It’s obvious to the world that I’m
totally into Kendrick, but while I knew the two of you were a
package deal, I’m not sure how I feel about you having an
all-access pass to his apartment.”

“I’ve already told him I’ll be knocking or
calling ahead before going over there from now on.”

“Are you going to stop wearing his
clothes?”

“That was to get you to leave,” she says,
looking me in the eye. “I’ve worn a t-shirt of his here and there
over the years, usually because I’ve spilled something on myself,
but I’ve never done what I did last night. He’s never been as angry
at me, either.”

“He didn’t look mad when I
left,” I say, trying to hold onto my hurt and anger, but failing in
the face of raw honesty she’s showing me on
her
face.

Her stunningly gorgeous
face. Waverly literally looks like she walked out of a painting by
Raphael. She’s sturdy, but sexy at the same time—she needs to be
strong to be a physical therapist, and her curves could put even
Stella’s to shame. Her grey eyes change from innocent to stormy in
seconds when she’s angry, and her lush red curls make everyone
jealous. She’s hot,
scorching
hot, and I don’t know any woman who wouldn’t be
worried about her being so close to the man they want. Her
insistence that they aren’t ever going to be hitting the sheets
isn’t ringing false, and I desperately want to believe
her.

“He thought something was wrong. Kendrick
will always protect me, and yeah, I guess you need to accept that,
but that’s all it is; him being protective of me.”

“I want to trust what you’re saying is true,
but like I said, I need to think about it.”

I walk past her, but she calls out to me.
“Will you at least call him? Or just text? He’s a mess.”

I stop at the elevator, and close my eyes. I
should not be asking what I’m about to ask, but here I go. “Is he
in his office?”

“Yes,” she says rushing to my side. “He
checked Faith out after her mission earlier today, but it’s quiet
down there right now.”

“Okay. I’ll go see him.”

She pulls me into a hug, which surprises me.
My friends and I have invited her out with us, but I’d never
classify her as a “hugger.” I hug her back, because not doing it
would be weird, but also because I’m honestly a little freaked
out.

Kendrick

This day is too quiet. Being the doctor for
a bunch of injury-prone spies and their husbands should make me
glad for the quiet, but today I’m feeling the silence. The quiet
gives me way too much time to keep seeing the look on Matisse’s
face when she saw Waverly standing there in my shirt. I should’ve
gone after her. If it happened again…I wouldn’t go after her right
away. Despite everything, I would stay and make sure Waverly was
okay first—and then I would go. Which is what I should’ve done last
night instead of moping through an action movie and drinking a few
more beers.

I run my hands over my closely shorn hair
and then down the scruff I didn’t shave off this morning, before
leaning back and covering my face with them. Why did I ever think I
could find happiness? I have too many responsibilities—to myself,
and to Waverly—for happiness to be a part of my life right now.

“Hi,” I hear from my doorway and nearly fall
out of my chair when I see Matisse standing there. She’s got on a
short pink sleeveless dress that allows me to see a hint of her
breasts at the sides, and I have to hold onto my chair so I don’t
jump up and grab her.

“What are you doing here?” I blurt out, and
she takes a step back. “No. I mean, I want you here, but I didn’t
think you’d give me another chance.”

“Waverly says you’re not going to ever be
together. At least not romantically.”

“Never,” I agree without hesitation.

“I’m not sure how I feel about coming second
to her. I’ve never been first to anyone but my brother, and I
wanted to be first when I fell in love.”