A fractured fairytale

71

I grabbed my own and made my way to the bathroom to shower before shoving the jeans and sweater on, shoving my feet into my sneakers and grabbing my bag. I didn't bother to wash my hair so ran a comb through it before leaving the apartment. I dashed past a drug deal happening on the second floor, keeping my head down so I didn't get a look at either party. I didn't need any trouble with my neighbours on top of everything.

I fled out of the building, looking over my shoulder to make sure they weren't following me, and ran smack into Matt's huge body. "Woah!" he laughed, arms coming around me, "you okay?"

I smiled, forgetting all about the dealers when I looked up at him. "Yeah, sorry about that." I tried to step out of his arms but his hold only tightened.

"Not a problem," he muttered before leaning towards me, his lips brushing mine. "Not in the slightest." I smiled against his mouth, kissing him back.

He made me melt.

When he pulled back, his own lips spread into a wide, dazzling smile. It completely knocked the breath of out my lungs. "Happy birthday."

The grin dropped off my face and I scrunched my nose. "How did you know?"

He only laughed, hand gliding up to tuck my hair behind my ear. I felt my cheeks burn. "Baby, you don't think I did my research on you?"

My frown grew. "You can't do that."

"Can and did," he teased, pecking the end of my nose. "Sorry." I wanted to question it, however, I shouldn't really have been surprised. I'd imagine anyone his family gets involved with is thoroughly checked out. "Why didn't you tell me it was your birthday today?"

"You can't just change the subject from you stalking me and invading my privacy," I grumbled. It was hypocritical since it was precisely what I was doing but I didn't want to talk about my birthday.

"Okay. I'm sorry I invaded your privacy. My dad has his men investigate anyone who gets involved with our family, just in case," he explained, reaching for my hands. His were warm enclosed around my own. "They obviously didn't find anything about you but the search included a lot of basic information like date of birth, address, etcetera." His thumb brushed back and forward over my knuckles. "I didn't think it was a big deal for me to know that stuff since I figured I'd found out sooner or later. I'm sorry if you're not happy about it."

He closed the space between us and I couldn't care less about his stalking when he kissed me. All I cared about was that he never stopped. But he did, and then he made my stomach twist. "You can't change the subject from why you kept your birthday a secret," he said, throwing my words back at me.

I sighed and shrugged. "I just don't like my birthday."

His head started to shake. "Not good enough. Come on."

He tugged my arm and dragged me towards the car while I groaned. "Matt, I don't want today to be any different to every other day, okay?"

I went ignored. He pulled me after him until we reached the car and he dropped my hand to yank the door open. "In you get," he said, stepping aside and grinning widely at me. I narrowed my eyes, knowing his smile well enough to know this one wasn't his normal, carefree one.

But I did as he said, hoping to veer the topic of conversation away from me. However, when he shut my door, rounded the car and slid into his seat behind the wheel, the smile remained. He didn't start the car. Instead, he twisted towards me and then reached over the back of my seat.

I felt a little sick.

"Here," he said, pulling back and revealing a stack of wrapped boxes.

"Matt!"