We’re both getting our just desserts, whether we like it or not.
Chapter Twenty Four
Meg
Mia looks exhausted today. Like, thoroughly worn out. I haven’t seen much of Mateo to see how he looks, but he spent the night in her bed, so I’m guessing he didn’t get much sleep either.
“Long night?” I ask lightly, as Mia droopily helps make dinner.
As if in response, she yawns. Then she nods like even that small movement is too much.
When she blinks, her eyes stay closed far longer than they should to blink.
“You should go straight to bed after dinner,” I tell her.
“That’s the plan.”
“I’ll try to lure Mateo away to his own bed.”
“Leave a trail of shiny new souls up to the door, that should do it.”
I grimace. “Is he being evil again?”
“When is he not being evil?”
“I actually see quite a lot of not-evil Mateo,” I offer.
Mia rolls her eyes. “Lucky you.”
“Well, not so much since you’ve been back, since I just don’t see him as much. But when I do, he’s generally still nice.”
“Ugh.”
So, Mia is not chatty today.
And apparently she still hasn’t forgiven Mateo for being murdery. I wish she would. I mean, I get why she won’t, it was a shitty thing to do, but I want peace in our lives, dammit.
Sure enough, Mateo yawns about five minutes into dinner. Mia vaguely glares at him, like he doesn’t deserve to be tired. I wish they would play nice together. I want to go on vacation to Paris. Maybe I should tell Mia we get a reward once she gets her act together. Maybe then she’ll be nicer.
Wait, what am I saying? He’s the one being an ass. God, it’s so hard to be on his side sometimes. Frankly, resisting Mateo is probably the most together her act has been since she met him.
It’s also stressing me out though, so I wish she’d stop. Whatever they’re doing in that bedroom, it’s clearly not breaking her down though, so I guess it’s okay.
“We should all go out one night this week,” I suggest, sawing my dinner roll in half.
Mateo glances up at me, then glances to Mia, to gauge her interest.
“Like where?” Mia asks.
“Oh, I don’t know. I expected you to say no.” I flash her a smile, hoping for one back. I get a tiny one, but she’s not much fun tonight. “We could do anything. We could go to a show? A movie? I haven’t been to a movie in literally… God, I can’t even remember the last movie I saw in a theater. I’m pretty sure it was with Rodney.”
Now Mateo is the one grunting. “Fuck Rodney.”
“Well, take me to the movies then.”
“We basically have a movie theater in our house,” he points out.
“Yeah, but it’s not the same. You don’t have to wait in line for tickets.”
Mateo rolls his eyes. “I’m sorry, you’re right, that must add exponentially to the experience.”
“Fine, a show then,” I decide. “Let’s go to a musical. Girls love musicals. Take your girls out on the town. I think it would make all of us feel a little better.”
Nodding, Mateo says, “If you want to catch a show, we can.” Turning his attention to Mia, he asks, “Would you like to do that?”
She looks almost disappointed as she pushes her food around her plate, muttering, “I would, actually.”
He smirks a little at that, but doesn’t remark upon it.
“Maybe next weekend. Or one night this week. I would say we could go tonight, but you both clearly need some sleep,” I remark.
Adrian snorts at this, and I glance down at him questioningly.
He watches me, shaking his head.
“What?” I ask, blankly.
“You’re fucking insane.”
Elise silently nods her head in agreement.
I point to myself, wide-eyed. “Me?”
Adrian rolls his eyes.
I don’t know why.
Whatever.
—
I’m not successful at getting Mateo to stay in our room that night. Or the next night. Or the next night. And frankly, I’m getting worried. Because they are not sleeping. When Mia gets home from school on Wednesday, she goes straight to bed. She sleeps through dinner.
Mateo doesn’t get to nap though, he has to work. I decide I’m going to use every ounce of my power to keep him in our room tonight. Not for sex (I would like sex, but it’s not the end goal) but the man needs some rest.
That’s the plan.
Then Mia finally wakes up and comes downstairs. And she’s crying. Like, openly crying, unashamedly crying. I am more horrified than Mateo, because I am not good with crying people. I could offer her a hug, but I don’t know what’s wrong.
Mateo is alarmed. He goes right to her, grabbing her shoulders and looking at her face as he demands to know what the hell’s wrong with her.
“I’m not pregnant,” she sobs.
I had no idea there was a possible pregnancy on the table, so this sure throws me.