“Everyone is watching you, Matthew. You didn’t exactlyhave a good start a couple of years ago. That chip off your shoulder is gone, and that’s good, but they’ll still be watching and waiting. Don’t let me down and don’t let yourself down.”
He got it, he did.
Matthew knew more than anyone what a dick he’d been.
Chapter Two
Luna was filling up the sugar pots as Matthew came into the diner. She didn’t even need to look up to know it was him. It was the energy. Something about him that told her he’d finally arrived.
She finished filling her pots even as he approached the counter. She hadn’t told him she had returned. There were a lot of things she hadn’t told Matthew, like the fact she had quit her teaching assistant job and had given back the key to her apartment once the rent was up. Also, the guy she’d been kind of dating, that had ended.
There were many things that had changed in the past couple of weeks.
“Hello,” he said.
She’d hoped for a little more time before this moment, but it wasn’t going to happen. Lifting her head, she forced a smile to her lips and looked at Matthew. “Hey.”
This wasn’t awkward at all.
When they were younger, Matthew had been handsome, sexy handsome in a bad-boy-biker way. It so wasn’t fair because he was maturing, and all of that handsomeness seemed to have morphed into this ultra-sexy rebel that was hot in all the bad ways that felt so right.
He made her mouth feel dry.
They had a history. A bad one. One where he couldn’t keep it in his pants and treated her like she didn’t exist. Only when they were alone. It was mortifying.
Luna had lost count of the number of times she had cried over this guy growing up. The tears had long since dried up, but the feelings weren’t gone. Matthew confused her all the damn time.
“We have, er, seats available if you want them. Or you cansit at the counter. I’ll be right back.” She hoped he took a seat far away from her. After picking up multiple pots of sugar, she distributed them around the tables.
It was a little past lunch, so there weren’t many people hanging around. These lulls were the worst for her, and now that Matthew was here, it would be even more so.
Luna saw he’d picked the counter for a place to sit at. Yay.
Rubbing her hands down the sides of her uniform, she squared her shoulders and stepped behind the counter. She pulled out her notepad and pencil and placed a fake smile on her lips. “What can I get you?” she asked.
“How about some answers?”
“We don’t serve answers. That’s usually at a court of justice.”
“You’re being a smartass.”
“You won’t order.”
“Fine. I want twenty-four burgers and twenty-four fries to go.”
Luna scribbled the order down. It wasn’t the first time they’d had a large order. They dealt with office workers and construction crews as part of their customer base. Mac had no problem, or at least he didn’t use to have a problem, sending her out with multiple orders at certain times of the day.
“Coming right up.” She stepped to the counter and slid it over as Mac took it, seeing past her shoulder.
Luna frowned at his tic. It only slightly clenched the side of Mac’s face. Was he angry at Matthew?
Mac didn’t say anything as he turned away and got to cooking. There was a time Mac always seemed nice. Gruff, but nice. Not recently. He wouldn’t talk, wouldn’t hold a conversation. He was kind of rude, and not in a nice way either.
Luna turned back to Matthew and grabbed her coffee pot. “Would you like a cup?” she asked, holding up the black coffee.
The stuff was rancid, but it worked. If anyone felt tired, a nice mug of this did the trick. This shit was powerful.
“Sure,” Matthew said.