I glared at both of them; on closer inspection of Jay he had scuffs and marks too. “You will not get out of my car, either of you, I mean it, until I know every single thing that is going on, do I make myself clear?” Two blank faces looked back at me. “I mean it, so God help me, Matt Landers you better tell me every single detail, or I swear, I will never feed you again.”
Matt, to his credit, genuinely looked worried. Jay leaned into him. “Is that a threat worth testing?” he stage whispered. Matt shook his head frantically. Jay regarded me with a new speculative gleam in his eye, “You cook, darling? That just makes you even more tempting.” Damn that wink.
“Shut it. I’m talking to mybest friendMatt.”
Matt groaned and threw his hands up. “Fine, you win, I’ll tell you everythingbutwhen Colton attempts to kill me, you better tell him it was Jay who spilled the beans.” Jay squawked a protest and I grinned in triumph. I led the two oversized monsters to my Mini. I was such a badass ninja.
Watching two men over six feet tall trying to manoeuvre into my two-door car was very funny, and it was so hard not to laugh outright. I ended up turning away before I collapsed in laughter. Once we got Jay into the back, I jumped into the front and headed out of Lafayette and back to Boulder.
Matt was looking out the window and Jay had his head rested against the headrest with his eyes closed. I glanced at Matt. He was purposefully avoiding me, I could tell.
“I’m not giving up,” I muttered, especially since the distance back to Boulder was about 11 miles. I didn’t have a lot of time. Matt’s answering sigh was enough to let me know I had won.Ninja.
“We’re competing,” Matt began. I looked at him quizzically as I slowed down at a stop light. “We are fighting,” he further explained.
“Fighting? Fighting what?” I didn’t understand what he was talking about. Jay snorted in the back seat. He sat forward and started playing with my hair. Matt noticed and frowned at him but said nothing.
“We fight each other and most importantly other people, for money,” Jay explained. My foot slammed on the break so hard he jerked forward dangerously. I was out of the car and round to Matt’s door before they had a chance to catch their breath. I threw open the door and started pulling at Matt’s arm.
He got out the car. “Jesus Bit, trying to kill me?” he demanded.
I slapped his chest. “Are you freaking kidding me? You’re fighting? Formoney?” I screeched. “You don’t need money, your mother is a bloody southern belle, your family practically owns a state! What the fuck are you thinking? Does Colton know? He is going to kill you. Literally kill you. Oh my God, I’m going to have to tell him, he’ll...” I trailed off as I caught sight of Matt’s face.
“He knows?” I whispered. “Heknows?” I started pacing again. A loud curse made me realise that Jay was trying to get out of the car. As he half fell out, I snorted out a laugh. I think that deflated me a bit and my temper calmed down.
I looked at Matt. He was standing there contritely. He shrugged. “Matt, what’s going on?” I asked softly.
“Look, there’s no harm in it,” Jay said as he came over. “It’s just a few fights – winner takes the pot – guys are coming from all over to take part. Your boy Colton is a big thing.”
“He’s not my boy.” I frowned. He wasn’t my anything. Hang on, wait. “Colton is a big thing? Colton? Is he fighting too?”
I whirled back to Matt. He was giving the death eye to Jay and Jay must have realised he had fluffed up as he muttered, “Oh shit”.
“Back in the car. Both of you. Now,” I ordered curtly. Matt went to speak and I held my hand up. “No. Not one word.”
We got back into the car, Jay with as little finesse as before. I would drive them back to town. Jay was wise enough to say nothing except to ask me to drop him in the city centre. I nodded. I didn’t trust myself to speak. These guys had told me that Jay and his friends weren’t ‘good people.’ Why, then, were they fighting with them? Something else was going on here, there was no way this was being done for money.
We drove in silence – Matt started to relax about halfway back as he started making small talk with Jay while I fumed in silence. I pulled up beside a bar as directed by Jay. Matt went to get out. Jay put his hand on his shoulder and shook his head.
“It’s ok, I’ll get out of this side. Darling can you move for me?” I frowned at him in the rearview mirror but got out of the car and then watched him struggle. He eventually stood and threw his hair out of his face. He looked at me and let out a huff. I couldn’t help it – I started to laugh.
He playfully shoved me and I took a light step back. He caught my jacket lapel and pulled me to him. I looked up at him as he steadied me. His eyes were twinkling with laughter as he looked down at me. I smiled. It was just so easy with Jay. This was definitely not the right time to be thinking about this. I desperately needed to be thinking about what I was going to say when I got to the house. However, as he smiled down at me, I couldn’t help wonder at how easily distracted I was with Jay.
“Look, I know you’re mad, your boys have been keeping shit from you, but can you take it easy on them? My bro needs them to fight next Friday. I can’t tell him that a tiny girlchild beat them up.”
I frowned, losing my good mood with him. I was not tiny, and I was hoping no one was fighting on Friday. I looked away. “I don’t think I can promise anything,” I said.
He pulled me closer. I tilted my head up to look at him and he smiled softly. “Arielle, be good and don’t be a mean girl to them. They’re fine and they’regoodat it, Colton is a machine. Matt’s just as good, trust me.”
This did not reassure me. In fact, I think it was making me feel worse.
“You know my name,” I mocked instead. He chuckled softly.
“Darling, I know everything about you.” With that declaration he tilted his head and leaned down to kiss me. Again, I was totally unprepared for it and again I found myself leaning in. He didn’t take it too far – it was soft and sweet – like Jay, I suppose.
“Be good darling, let them live.” With a wink to me and a wave to Matt he turned and walked off across the street, to who knows where. I watched him go and then turned back and got in the car.
“Ari,” Matt began. I held up a hand. “Ari…”