Chapter 78

Celeste

I couldn’t believe where I was right now. My head rested against Matt’s chest and I could hear his heartbeat pumping steadily. His arms were around me and one of his hands was stroking my hair.

I was in Heaven. He had picked me up like I weighed nothing. He was in my bed. He was with me, Celeste, and not me, Rose. He had chosen me over Rose. I was the thing that he had to check up on.

I took in a deep breath, taking in his scent. He smelled like whatever cologne he was wearing, but underneath that was all him. It was dark and masculine and intoxicating. I snuggled into him more.

“You stopped crying,” Matt said, his voice reverberating through his chest and into my ear. He sounded relieved.

I touched a hand to my cheek. It was dry. I guess I had stopped.

“Yeah, well, surprising someone like that would make anyone stop crying,” I teased and he chuckled, patting my head in an affectionate way. But it was more brotherly than romantic.

“Do you want to tell me what that was all about?” Matt asked gently, pushing a wayward strand of hair behind my ear. His fingers brushed across the sensitive skin at the tip of my ear and goosebumps erupted along my arms. I took in a sharp intake of breath before I could stop myself.

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” he hastily added, thankfully mistaking my gasp for fear instead of what it really was: lust.

Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t tell him anyway. It was about him and the whole horrible mess that I had gotten us into. It was about how I was such a coward that I had to hide behind a screen and a fake identity to tell him how I really felt. So I decided to say what he was expecting to hear.

“It’s just the whole thing from earlier. It really freaked me out. And Jack didn’t help either.”

Matt nodded in understanding. “I can’t imagine how scared you must have been. Have you ever seen him before? You said he was calling out your name.”

I shook my head. “No, I didn’t recognize him. You don’t think he’s been following me, do you? I mean, how else would he know my name?”

Matt went still as his mind processed what I said. It was the only logical thing I could think of, but why would a homeless man be stalking me? I wasn’t anyone special and I really didn’t have anything of value. There were so many other people who had more to offer.

“No, I don’t think so,” he said slowly as if he was afraid he was going to spook me. “He might have overheard one of us say your name one day and you got stuck in his head. He probably just saw you tonight and remembered.”

“Lucky me,” I muttered darkly and Matt hugged me tighter.

“Don’t worry. Jack and I won’t let anything bad happen to you.”

I believed him, but it wasn’t like he and Jack could be with me 24/7. I would eventually be by myself at some point and I just hoped the homeless man was far away when that day came.

“Jack won’t let anything happen to me,” I said grumpily and Matt laughed, playfully dumping me onto the bed before standing up and jumping off. He landed silently, turning with his hands over his head as if to say ‘tah-dah.’

“You know he just worries for you. He’s your big brother,” Matt said more seriously and I rolled my eyes. I could do without Jack’s overprotectiveness, thank you very much.

My whole body stiffened as I looked past Matt to my laptop. It was still open, the chat there for everyone to see. From this far away, I couldn’t see any specific words, but if he turned around, he’d definitely be able to recognize the layout. If he got close enough, he’d definitely be able to see our conversation and my ruse would be revealed. I couldn’t let that happen.

I scrambled out of bed, ran to my desk and slammed the laptop shut. I knew I must seem crazy, but it didn’t matter. I couldn’t let him find out that I was Rose. No matter what.

I turned, my cheeks burning scarlet, to find Matt looking at me with raised eyebrows. His lips curled into a teasing grin. “You got a boyfriend you don’t want me to know about?”

I choked on air. He’d meant it as a joke, but it was the god’s honest truth. I did have a boyfriend I didn’t want him to know about: HIM.

Matt looked taken aback, the shock evident on his face. Then his eyes narrowed and his hands curled into fists at his side. He took a step forward, eyes trained on my laptop. I could practically read his mind. He was going to open it to see who I had been talking to.

I stepped in front of the laptop with my arms out and shook my head wildly. “Please, don’t do it, Matt. Just let me have this one thing. Please.”

He stopped moving, only a few inches away from me. A muscle ticked in his jaw as he visibly fought a war inside himself. He closed his eyes and sighed.

“Fine. Keep your secret. But if he hurts you…” He let the threat hang in the air, but I just nodded quickly, my hair whipping back and forth.

“You don’t have to worry about it. He won’t,” I said and I wasn’t lying. Matt wouldn’t hurt me. In fact, I was pretty sure that I was going to hurt him.

“And please don’t tell Jack,” I added, not caring that I was begging. Jack already thought that I had stopped talking to my ‘boyfriend.’ If he found out I had lied to him, he would probably take away my laptop and my phone. I couldn’t lose any more freedom than I already had.

Matt scoffed. “Obviously.”

I sighed in relief, disaster averted. When I glanced back up, Matt was staring at me with an unreadable expression. I had no idea what it meant. I had never seen it before and I knew all of Matt’s expressions. At least, I thought I did.

Matt blinked and the look was gone. It was replaced with a small smile as he chucked me under the chin.

“Take care of yourself, Celeste. I’m going back to the party before Jack comes looking for me. If he finds me in here, it’s not going to be pretty,” he said and left, waving as he closed the door behind him.

I collapsed into my chair. There had been too many different emotions in a short space of time. I was utterly exhausted. And more confused than ever.

I knew I should end things with Matt. It was the right thing to do, but how could I ever give him up? He was literally the sweetest and most caring man that I had ever met. Not to mention the most good looking.

I groaned. There was no point in dwelling on it tonight. I had already failed in my mission. All I could do now was do my homework and then go to bed. I reopened my laptop, minimizing the chat screen and got started.