Always Been Mine by Carina Adams Page B

space, and every seat in the dining room was full.  I looked around at all the people standing, thankful that Matty was able to get us in.
    “How do you know the bouncer?” I asked. Matty looked up, eyebrows arched.
    “What bouncer? Here?” I nodded. He shrugged. “I don’t.”
    “How’d we get in?”
    He smiled. “I told him we had reservations.” I couldn’t help but laugh at his sheepish look. Then he looked serious. “Are we gonna talk about it?”
    I shook my head. Nope. Not now at least. “Tell me about Rocker.”
    “There’s nothing to tell, really.” It was my turn to arch my eyebrows. “Fine.” Matty gave a small exasperated sigh. “I was in the youth center with him.” He paused dramatically, as if waiting for his words to sink in and for me to run away screaming in fear. I rolled my eyes at his flair. It was no secret that he’d been in a lot of trouble as a kid. He’d told me he spent the later part of his teens in Long Creek, a detention center for criminal teens.
    "Oh! What did he do? Or can you not tell me?" I lowered my voice so the couple at the table next to us couldn't hear.
    Matty met my eyes and shrugged. "It's really his story to tell." I wasn't surprised. After all these years, he still wouldn't tell me the specifics that led to him being there, as if it was some terrible thing that would make me run away. Matty's past made me sad, not scared. Every once in a while he would let something slip, though, so I was able to piece together that he’d had a pretty rough time before becoming an adult.
    I nodded and he continued. “He was my best friend and had my back through a lot of shit. We went through hell and back together. After we got out, I mean for the last time, we moved to Boston together.”
    “You moved to Boston with Rob.” I’d heard the stories enough. Rob Doyle and Matty were close, like brothers, and even had matching tattoos. They’d gotten in even more trouble in Beantown. He hadn’t talked about Rocker before, though.
    Matty beamed at me. “I forgot I told you that. Yeah, Rob is Rocker.”
    I gaped at him. Nothing about the man I met earlier matched the Rob I had imagined. From the way Matty talked about him, I pictured the Hulk. Someone that was large, destructive and always angry, but that could turn in an instant into Bruce Banner and be calm and collected. Rob, or so I'd gathered from the brief mentions of him, was bad news. Matty had to bail him out of jail more than once. I’d pictured the monster that could put on a good show, not the good guy that could be a monster. Rocker seemed genuinely nice, and funny. “But… Rocker is freaking hot!”
    Matty choked. I stood, pounding him on the back. When his coughing stopped, he glared at me. “Really?” I shrugged. He was. "Since when do you think the tattooed guy on a Harley is hot? You don't like the bad guy." Since you , I thought, blushing. Seeing my embarrassment, he winked at me… “I’m sure his wife would agree with you.” Matty’s words interrupted my thoughts. I glared back. He smiled slowly. “Sorry. Too soon?”
    “Are you trying to tell me something?”
    He shook his head. “Nope. You don’t want to talk about it.”
    “Well, we kind of have to now, don’t we?” I snapped.  “Fine.”  I set my fork down. “Why are you here with me when you told your fiancé,” I spat the word at him, “you were sick of my drama? Why aren’t you home celebrating with her?”
    His eyes flashed at me. “Why are you here with me instead of with Billy?”  I’d half expected him to deny the drama comment and the fact he mentioned Will was a surprise.
    “Because it’s your night,” I snapped back.
    He leaned over the table. “Then why did you run away?”
    “Ha! Did you want me to stay after Taylor made it perfectly clear I wasn’t welcome in her house?”
    “Yeah, actually, I did. It isn’t her house, it’s mine.”
    “Actually, Matt, it’s her house now, too. You fucking proposed