Matthew had me hide in his closet, because he was sure that Eli wouldn't want to come in his room.
He was wrong.
Their voices floated past and then grew louder and louder in intensity until Eli stormed into his room and I wanted to physically shrivel up and die.
I was in my brother's best friend's home wearing nothing but his t-shirt.
Nothing else.
Seriously, I wasn't even wearing any underwear!
"Oh, well nevermind then," Eli said, voice clear as day. If I crept close enough to the closet door, I could see their silhouettes through the crack in the door where the rising sun cast their shadows against the floor.
"What the fuck did you want to come in here for, man?!"
"I was sure you had a girl over."
"And so you thought you'd barge in and interrupt us?"
Matthew had a point. If Eli was trying to suck up for what he'd done, he was doing quite a shitty job about it.
"Hey, can you blame me for being curious? You never have girls over, ever. It's always you going to their place and leaving immediately after, and it's been months since we've actually gone out and you've gotten laid. You got something to tell me?"
"Something to tell you?"
"Yeah. I mean, I don't care if you're not into girls, I even have some guys I could introduce you to, if you want."
"Bro, I'm not-"
"And if you're not ready to come out yet, I can respect that. Just pretend this conversation never happened."
Matthew sighed heavily, and I could just picture him rubbing the bride of his nose with his pointer finger and thumb in exasperation.
"Yeah, cool, thanks man. Appreciate it."
I almost choked on my laughter where I stood hidden in the closet, and the irony of that wasn't lost on me, either.
Matthew wasn't in the closet--our relationship was.
Wait.
Relationship?
Where had that come from? It was way too early for a 'what are we' conversation, especially considering the fact that I'd only just recently been dumped. I didn't want Matthew thinking he was a rebound, but then again...
He definitely didn't need to know the extent of my true feelings for him, either. Maybe him believing he was only the rebound was good for me, to protect the secret that I've had this whole time--that I had been in love with Matthew since I was just a kid.
"Anyway, I just wanted to come and talk to you about what my publicist told me."
"Alright, lay it on me."
Eli paused, like what he was about to say he didn't like in the slightest but still had to say, regardless.
"A reporter from People Magazine wants to do a cover story with me and my family, especially Elodie. You'd be there, too, of course, because that's part of the story, even if they don't know it yet. It would be about what happened and why I did it."
Matthew was eerily silent, still, unmoving, I doubted he even breathed. He didn't like publicity from what I could gather of his private life devoid of a social media presence, so this was probably his idea of hell.
"And Elodie is okay with this? You using her for this story? You know they're going to ask why you were so desperate to stay close to her, desperate enough to screw over your best friend."
"I know, but I've thought about that. They court case, the restraining order, us adopting her, it's all out there already. I don't have to say what happened to her outright since it's already implied."
"That may be true, but that's not what I asked. I asked if you told your sister this and if she's okay with it."
"Jesus man, I thought you'd be happy. I was going to tell her today, I just found out last night. Obviously if she doesn't want to do it, she doesn't have to, but the story will still go forward, and it's not like I'm telling the world something they don't already know. Her father was dangerous and I wanted to stay close to make sure she wasn't hurt. I'm planning on talking about what I went through, too, so that I can put it in perspective."
Matthew blew out a breath of air noisily and directed them further out of the bedroom but Eli didn't move, his shadow perfectly still.
"Well, if Elodie is okay with it then I can't really say no considering it would help my image and clear my name. I have a meeting in three weeks with the coach and the staff, probably the board, I think they even said the owner was going to be there virtually, too. Whatever's happening, it's huge."
"Damn, I didn't know they were going all out for this. Well, the article is supposed to come out in their virtual magazine two days after the interviews and photoshoots, so it's a good thing it'll all happen before your meeting."
"When is the interview? And did you say photoshoots? I don't have to wear a three piece suit or anything, do I?"
"Nah, just casual. I think we're doing some picnic setting for the shoot, making us look normal. Honestly, I feel like they wanted to do this because of how well V's music has been doing in the charts and on all the streaming platforms compared to her start. They're saying she's solidifying herself in the industry while it feels like I could just burn out at any minute in my own...it's kind of intimidating having a wife who's way more famous than me, especially with all the crazy stalkers she's gotten from all of this..."
"Well, if anyone can handle crazy stalkers, it's you."
"And you, man. Did you forget when you beat up that asshole when Elodie was a senior because he tried spreading rumors about her? Dude was barely eighteen and you put him in his place before I could even do anything."
What? Matthew had beaten up a guy who'd given me trouble back in high school? And it had been recent, or recent-ish, considering the last guy who gave me trouble was over a year and a half ago, right around when I started dating Ben.
"That was nothing. He was a piece of shit."
"He was, but don't sell yourself short. You can handle crazies with the best of them. Sometimes I wish..." Eli trailed off, not wanting to finish his sentence, but Matthew was quick to follow up.
"You wish what?"
"I don't know, now that her ex is out of the picture, I just wish Ellie had someone like you to watch over her at school, so I could have peace of mind that she was safe from her father. I worry about her all the damn time, but I don't want to come off as controlling or overbearing. I remember all too well how that was for V, and I know that's a totally different situation because of how evil her father was, but I never want to even have a single thing that could compare me to him, you know?"
I held my breath after Eli's words, wondering what Matthew would say to my brother practically declaring that he wanted his best friend to be with his little sister. Well, not exactly, but he was basically approving, right?
"She can take care of herself, Eli. You of all people should know that by now."
"I know, but it would just make me feel better having someone watch over her. Would you check in on her every now and then, you know, since you technically can't practice with the team until your suspension is lifted after the big meeting with the higher ups?"
"I can check in on her."
Matthew bit the words like he hated the taste of them in his mouth, like he had to spit them out otherwise they never would've been spoken.
He was pissed. Monumentally pissed, and rightfully so. He was being suspended for something my brother did to him. I'd be pissed, too.
"Thanks man. Alright I gotta head out and make it to the gym before they fine me for being late again. I'll owe you one. Oh, and I brought some gluten free glazed from the..."
Eli's voice faded out as they walked out of the bedroom and I whooshed out a breath from my lungs that almost hurt to expel.
Maybe Eli wouldn't be so upset that his best friend and little sister were hooking up behind his back, but I wasn't about to take that chance, and neither was Matthew.
***
Back at campus Sunday night, Matthew dropped me off since I let Phoebe drive my car back from the city.
The moon hung low in the early evening sky like a giant backdrop amongst the streetlights bathing the courtyard in an eerie glow.
"So have you made up your mind about doing the article and the photoshoot?"
Matthew's dark hair gleamed a little in the harvest glow emitted from the moon, the soft interior lights of the car striking his features in a muted incandescence.
"Yeah. I'm going to do it, and not just because it'll clear your name, although that's a pretty damn good reason for me, but also because I need my brother to do the right thing, to do the right thing by you, mainly. You've been in our lives since the beginning and it wasn't fair for him not to make this right the second it came out what was going on. He should've stepped up sooner, and for that I'm sorry, but I'll do my part to make sure he follows through with it."
Matthew's eyes softened as he registered what I'd said.
"And with everything else, you're...okay? Not overwhelmed? Freaked out? Scared?"
"How about all of the above? It's normal for me to be all three of those things at any given time, but when it comes to what we've been doing, I mean...it's just like a rebound thing, right? We're just having fun, you're giving me a good distraction. Like, a really good distraction. It should be illegal what you can do with your tongue and...um, yeah. So, what's there to be freaked out about, right?"
He tensed in his seat, hands encircling the steering wheel once more, like he didn't know what to do with his hands. His jaw was set, and I could've sworn I heard his teeth grinding together in his mouth.
Had I said something wrong? Did he want to stop what we were doing?
"I mean, unless it's...um, and it's really--I mean, if you're still wanting to keep doing-"
Matthew silenced me with his lips, effectively cutting off my rambling self. Thank god, too, otherwise that would've gotten even more embarrassing than it had already been.
Soft velvet lips encased my own and I sighed happily as he drank me in with his strong slender hands gripping the sides of my face like I was his lifeline.
My heart skipped one, two, three beats in my chest as I sank into him and he greedily pulled me under like a wrecked ship in a salty ocean harbor, succumbing to stormy waves and hurricane winds.
When I was with Matthew, it was like the rest of the world didn't matter. My father wasn't out to get my family's money and wouldn't resort to violence to get what he wanted.
My ex boyfriend's new girlfriend wasn't my roommate.
My father had never abused me as a little girl.
My mother loved me unconditionally and actually wanted me to be apart of her life, and not just fund it.
I could be with Matthew in public and not hide what was happening with us.
Matthew wanted more than just a distraction from me, though what he was distracting himself from was still a mystery, but I wasn't going to ruin the moment to ask.
All of these things were real and more in my imagination when the two of us were together, like nothing could touch us as long as he was with me, like we had a bubble of air swirling around us and protecting us.
He pulled back and caressed the soft skin of my cheeks before passing over the fluttering lids of my eyes, tracing the lines and divots and curves of my face before they moved down my neck, dipping into the hollow of the throat and passing over my pulse point before finally resting there.
"Distraction, rebound, whatever you say."
His words were gruff and still all the more confusing. Did he mean that he'd be whatever I needed?
What if I want you to be more? What if I need more?
The words were on the tip of my tongue, but I was too much of a coward to say them, even as his face fell a little and there was something like contented sadness swirling in his eyes.
He didn't love me, I knew that. He couldn't, not the way that I'd loved him from afar for so long, but I was starting to realize that even that wasn't real love, the true kind that could crush you under its weight and twist your heart into a vise grip that had you gasping for air because of the power it held over you.
Maybe he didn't love me, and I didn't love him in the way that I needed to, but probably couldn't because I was broken, but damn it if I wouldn't try, even if he didn't know that was how I felt on the inside.
He'd be my rebound, because that was what I needed, and I wouldn't tell him the truth, because once I did, it would end, and that would crush me more than knowing this was all temporary to begin with.
I'd suffer through it and wait it out, see how much of himself he was willing to give me, and that would be enough.
It had to be.
An annoying voice in the back of my mind was yelling and screaming through all my defenses, however, that I was fucking delusional.
Matthew would break me apart and snap me in half when he finally left, and when it happened, I wouldn't be able to glue those pieces back together again.
***
A/N:
What did you guys think of this chapter?
What do you think will happen next?
What has your favorite part been so far of Rebound?
What do you WANT to happen next??
Until next time my lovely readers,
Kristen :)