“Do I stink?” I asked, lifting my arm to smell.
He laughed and paused in the doorway. “You smell like a bar.”
“Lovely,” I sighed.
His boots slapped against the steps as he went downstairs, leaving me alone.
It took more effort than it should have to shower and get dressed. I chose to forgo drying my hair and instead tied it back in a messy bun. Even though I felt like shit I took the time to apply my makeup. Nobody wanted to see me looking like this. It was scary. And Mathias was the kind of guy to make a rude remark. I didn’t think he honestly meant to be so rude to people, he was just crass and didn’t think before he spoke.
I met Ezra downstairs and he already had a glass of water waiting with Advil. I’d tell him he was a saint, but he did wake me up so he was still on my shit-list for the moment.
I took the pills and emptied the glass of water. I poured some more water into the glass while Ezra fiddled with the toaster. After a minute two browned pieces of toast popped up.
He buttered them both, sticking one in his mouth, and put the other on a plate before handing it to me.
I waved it away. My stomach was too queasy to eat.
“Come on.” He set it in front of me, chewing on his. I swore the thing was gone in three bites. “It’s just toast. It’ll help.”
“You know what else will help?” I asked, pushing my sunglasses further up my nose. “If I poke you in the eyeball with a fork.”
“I don’t think rendering me eyeless would be helpful in this situation.” He washed his hands in the sink with his back turned to me. I was tempted to pelt the buttered toast at his back, but I refrained.
He turned back around, crossing his arms over his chest. “Eat, Sadie. You’re holding up progress.”
I rolled my eyes and stuck the toast in my mouth, making a very dramatic show of taking a bite. Crumbs dotted the corner of my mouth and I wiped them away.
“Happy?” I asked.
“For now.”
He smacked his hand on the counter. “Eat in the car. Mathias has already texted me ten times in the last five minutes.”
I followed Ezra out to the garage and paused. “When can I get my car?”
“Later,” he answered vaguely.
“You’re testing my patience,” I muttered under my breath.
He merely chuckled at me.
I was glad that he was still acting like himself though, after the truths we shared last nights.
And those truths…well, they had me thinking.
Thinking things I should not be thinking, that is.
Like me, and Ezra, naked and rolling beneath the sheets.
Yep, my thoughts should so not be going there. Especially after I had just ended my engagement to the Douche Lord.
Damn you treacherous thoughts!
Maybe I was still drunk…yeah, that explained it.
We didn’t talk on the way to Mathias’ house. Frankly, my head couldn’t take it. How he expected me to act like a civilized human being today was beyond me.
Ezra turned into the neighborhood, one I recognized since it was where his parent’s house was.
“Mathias bought a house in your parent’s neighborhood?” I asked, not bothering to hide the shock from my voice.
He nodded. “Yeah, a few streets over. He and Remy liked the fact that the houses were a nice size, but not too large, with decent sized lots. You know how Mathias is, he didn’t want to be too close to neighbors.”
I laughed at that. Mathias Wade might’ve been the lead singer of Willow Creek, but he was not a people person.
Ezra turned into a driveway, and I gaped at the pretty home. It wasn’t what I was expecting. The driveway wound up a hill, where the house sat overlooking the street.
The two-story home was covered in light gray siding with white trim. It had a gorgeous wraparound porch with a swing. There was a glass double front door and the windows were large, giving it an airy appearance. The grass was so lush and green that it reminded me of a golf course, and pretty flowers were planted across the front.
A moving truck was parked on the driveway and guys unloaded furniture and boxes.
“Why do they need our help again?”
He sighed. “It’s Remy and Mathias.”
I didn’t know much about Remy, but I did know Mathias, so that was enough of an answer for me.
Maddox’s sports car was parked in the grass and a large pickup truck that I knew belonged to Hayes took up another space.
Ezra put his car in park, blocking the exit of the driveway.
Before I could ask him why he was doing that and not parking in the grass like the other guys, he said, “Mathias is going to shit a brick when he sees that those two idiots parked in the grass. Just wait.”
I managed a small laugh and then winced when my head pounded. I rubbed my temples, trying to get the throbbing to go away. I really shouldn’t have drunk so much. Lesson learned.
Ezra slipped out of the vehicle and I was forced to follow him.
Immediately we stepped into drama.
“I’m going to kill him!” Remy shouted—I recognized her immediately with her platinum blonde hair and signature red lipstick. “I swear to God I’m going to smother him with a fucking pillow.” She stomped down the porch steps, Emma hurrying behind her. “Oh,” Remy paused suddenly, her hand falling to her small baby bump, “sorry baby, mommy said a bad word. Please forgive me, but your dad is being a pain in my ass. Butt. I meant butt.” She frowned at Emma, not noticing our presence yet. “Between Mathias and me our baby’s first word is going to be ‘fuck’. This kid is doomed.”
“Hopefully ‘mom’ will be a close second in the word department.” Emma shrugged.
“Eh,” Remy shrugged, “second will probably be ‘asshole’ because that’s what I keep shouting at Mathias. He is driving me nuts.”
“Ahem,” Ezra cleared his throat as we approached them.
Remy glanced away from Emma and sighed in relief. “Oh, thank God you’re here. Maybe between you and Maddox you can talk some sense into my husband. He’s trying to bubble wrap the fucking walls.” She winced and mumbled, “Crap, I did it again.” Taking a deep breath, she continued, “Anyway, he’s going way overboard with this whole baby-proofing thing and it’s just…a nightmare.” She rolled her eyes. “And he’s getting in the way of the movers, so they’re getting mad.”
Ezra saluted her. “I’m on it. We’ll tag team him.”
I watched him leave, disappearing into the house. I was left alone with Remy and Emma—and the moving guys that were wrestling with a massive dining room table.
“I’m sorry you had to walk into all of this drama,” Remy sighed, her hand rubbing absentmindedly against her stomach. “Mathias has been…extremely overprotective since we found out that I was pregnant.” She glanced at Emma and then me. “Do you know the other day he got mad at me for picking up my cat. He thinks if I pick up anything that weighs more than five pounds that the baby is going to fall out of my vagina. I’ve got news for him, the process of childbirth, sadly, isn’t that simple.”
Emma laughed and patted Remy’s shoulder in a familiar gesture. “He loves you.”
“He’s smothering me with his love. Seriously, I’m suffocating. And he will too if he doesn’t stop.”
I snorted and then burst into laughter, Remy and Emma joining in too.
“Ow,” I groaned when my head pounded with renewed vigor.
Note to self: Stop laughing while hung over.
“Are you okay?” Emma asked.
“Yeah,” I nodded, closing my eyes behind my sunglasses as I tried to get the blinking white lights to go away, “just a little too much to drink last night.”
“Why’d you have too much to drink?”
“Because I wanted to,” I replied. “Anyway,” I rubbed my hands together, “what can I do to help?”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Emma shook her head. “Who did you go out with?”
“How do you know I went out? I could’ve gotten shit-faced at Ezra’s place and passed out in my vomit on the kitchen floor.”