Matthew gritted his teeth. “There isn’t much of a story to tell.”
“But this chick is back?”
“She’s notsome chick. Luna is the love of my life,” Matthew said. “You want to make fun of that?”
Kid held his hands up. “Dude, I’m not here to make fun of anyone, and you’ve got some pretty hard feelings. I was on the other side.” He pointed toward the punching bag. “I know you’ve got a lot of issues.”
“Luna’s back. In town, I mean. She’s not mine. I had achance for her to be mine, and it never worked out. I fucked up.” He ran a hand down his face.
“You sure you can’t, like, win her back?”
Matthew laughed. “I’ve tried, but I messed up big time. I almost got her pregnant back then. Man, I was so fucking stupid. I, er, it’s, she was my tutor, but I’d seen her, you know. I’d noticed her, around school.” He took a sip of his water. “She wasn’t like a cool cheerleader or anything.”
“She was a nerd?”
“Yeah, a total nerd. She had these cute glasses, and I’d watch her press on them, pushing them up her nose. She wore her hair back. It was long then, dark brown. It always looked so soft.” Matthew chuckled. “You know I wasn’t flunking anything until I heard she was tutoring. Then I stopped paying attention, watched her, and lo and behold, she became my tutor. For a couple of hours a week, I got her all to myself.”
He was a fucking freak because he’d looked forward to that time. “I was a dick to her about the time, but there was nowhere else I wanted to be. Kind of fucking scared me.” He shook his head. “Of course, there were other girls. You know the ones, they were happy to get on their knees, open their mouths. Easy. They weren’t hard. They wanted to be with a biker’s kid. The next best thing to them. I was an asshole. There was this beautiful, sweet, kind, amazing girl. She had the sexiest laugh. She found my dirty jokes funny. That was a surprise. I figured she’d be a bit of a prude.” He smiled just thinking about it. “She told me I was worth something. Told me that I could go far. All I wanted was the club and her.”
“Then you got her?”
“I got her, and you know what I did?” Matthew asked.
“This is kind of self-explanatory. You guys aren’t together, so I’m guessing you were a giant dick to her and you lost her.”
“Exactly. I totally fucking lost her.”
“How?” Kid asked.
“I was fucking freaked. We had sex, and I thought it was the most amazing thing I had ever felt. She was everything. I was her first. I didn’t last. I was a screw-up, and afterward, I panicked. When that happened, I, er, I…” He rubbed the back of his head. “I went and fucked a couple of other girls.”
“Damn,” Kid said. “That’s cold.”
“Yeah, it was cold. I hurt her, and now, there is a chance she’s going to move on. I’ve seen her with a couple of guys. Just kissing, but that was hard. I didn’t want to see her with anyone else, and now she’s back.”
“You’ve got to win her,” Kid said.
“I’m going to try.” He was ready now. No more time for fucking up or being afraid. He’d already been on the receiving end of that, and he knew how it ended. It wasn’t in any way how he wanted it to end.
Kid cleared his throat, and Matthew looked toward him. He was staring at the doors.
Matthew turned and saw Luna standing in the doorway. She held her keys in a death grip.
“Luna,” he said.
“Matthew.” She glanced toward Kid.
“Kid,” he said, getting to his feet. “Matthew wasn’t wrong. You’re beautiful.”
Luna’s mouth opened and closed. She didn’t look sure as to what to say or do. “Er, thank you, I think.”
He winked at her. “This is my cue to leave. Don’t be a stranger, Luna.”
Matthew wanted to hurt him. Luna was his.
“Don’t think about him.”
“What— How? Why?” Luna asked.