Obsessed (The Protectors #13) - Sloane Kennedy Page 0,22
that part, my dick most certainly didn’t care.
“Matias,” I reminded him in my best I’m-a-mature-father-of-two voice. It still came out sounding like a squeak.
“He dropped his toy.”
“What?” I asked. Did I sound as breathless as I felt?
“Your kid dropped his toy. The zebra thing.”
“ZeeBee?” I asked as I looked in the direction of Ryan’s bed. The stuffed zebra was still in his arms but not in the same position it’d been in when I’d kissed him good night. Had Matias actually returned the stuffed animal to Ryan’s arms? “You put it back?” I asked in disbelief.
“He was upset.”
When he didn’t expound on that statement, I said, “Jesus, Matias, you probably scared him half to death! He won’t remember you from the other night—”
Something in Matias’s expression went dangerously hard and forbidding, causing me to cut off my words abruptly. But he didn’t reach for me or lash out in any kind of way. Instead, he straightened and put several feet of space between us. I was left both oddly forlorn and completely confused.
“He wasn’t awake,” Matias answered, then he turned and walked away.
Just like that.
No explanation, no emotion, no nothing. He was there turning my world on its head again one second and gone the next.
And instead of letting him go, I ran after him.
“Wait,” I called. I got to him just as he reached the kitchen door that led into the backyard. I actually put my body between him and the door. “Just wait,” I huffed as I tried to catch my breath. The adrenaline was leaving my system in a rush and making me light-headed. I ended up leaning heavily against the door.
For all of five seconds.
Because that was how long it took for Matias’s fingers to close around my upper arm so he could lead me to the kitchen table. “Sit,” he muttered.
I would have liked to tell him that he had no right to be ordering me around, but truth was, I really did need to sit.
And maybe the order didn’t rub me as wrong as it most definitely should have.
Matias returned a moment later and placed one of Ryan’s juice boxes in front of me. But instead of the straw sticking neatly out of the small hole in the top, the entire upper part of the box had been ripped open. I lifted my eyes to study Matias.
“Drink,” was all he said as he motioned to the box. Then he was moving past the table to stand by the window. He had his back to me. But even though he wasn’t moving, I got the impression that he wasn’t exactly still either.
I took a sip from the juice box but choked on it as soon as Matias said, “He was fussing in his sleep. You were still in the shower, so I gave it back to him and he settled down.”
I sputtered and gagged before I managed to say, “You knew I was in the shower?”
He didn’t answer me. I wasn’t sure I wanted him to. I chose to believe that he’d merely heard the running water and nothing more.
Yeah, I was pretty good at lying to myself.
“What are you doing here, Matias?” I asked with a sigh.
“You need better locks.”
“If I install them, will you stop picking them and knock on my door like a normal person?” I asked. If I hadn’t been looking at him, I would have missed the tightening of his shoulders and back. I considered the way he’d reacted when I’d accused him of scaring Ryan.
Had my words actually hurt him?
I took another sip of the juice, then abandoned the mangled box and got up so I could stand closer to him.
Not too close. Just enough to see his face and hopefully confirm some of the strange things my mind was coming up with. The idea that I’d hurt the man’s feelings was both insane and worrisome. Yes, his behavior was over the top, but he hadn’t done anything to hurt me or Ryan. I owed the man my life, for God’s sake.
“Matias,” I repeated, keeping my voice soft. To my surprise, Matias actually flinched. But not like he was in pain… more like he was… uncomfortable. “What are you doing here?” I asked.
He didn’t answer me. Beyond the strange flinching thing, he didn’t react at all. It was beyond frustrating, but I knew shouting at the man would get me nowhere.
“Elliot said you and your brother were out of town on business.”