Liz just held the man’s stare, unamused. “I recover quickly.”
“So little, yet so strong. Good for you Matt, well done.”
Matt felt Ben’s hand on his shoulder—Ben knew Matt was about to lose his cool and wanted him to think better of it.
Clyde was in every sense of the word, a dick. One might expect the guy to use his family name and money to get ahead and go into politics himself, even. But no, the guy married some arm candy idiot, and spent his days making problems for people in town. Starting with his job at the Board of Ed years ago, when he’d initiated a “cleaning house” on his second year, causing a major uproar with the PTA and school officials. He was removed from office shortly after and had since then become the sleazebag of the town.
Saying the Owens disrespected the guy, would be an understatement. They hated the guy.
“Hey Clyde. And where’s your better half?” Matt muttered.
“That she is,” Clyde agreed. “She couldn’t make it today, unfortunately. Conflicting event.”
Megan appeared from nowhere. “Liz, hey, why don’t we go have a drink with Angel and... the others.”
Liz shot Matt a confused look and let Megan drag her away. Matt sneered at Clyde who watched the woman disappear into the crowd.
“Nice seeing you again Clyde,” Ben said through gritted teeth.
“I appreciate the lie. See you kids around.” One thing Matt respected about Clyde—emphasis onone—was that the guy called out bullshit when he heard it. Not that Matt cared.
“Hopefully not too soon,” Ben muttered before he turned to Matt. “Can I talk to you outside?”
“Why?”
“It’s about Liz.”
“Is that why Megan dragged her away?”
Ben held his hands up. “I’m not picking a fight with you. I just want to help.”
Matt swallowed, glanced over at a distracted Liz with Megan, and walked out to the terrace. He stormed to the far end and held the rail, facing the pier, away from the accusing stare from his betraying brother.
“What are you doing?” Ben finally asked.
Matt breathed deep and turned to stare back at his brother with no intention of responding.
“Just tell her the truth. You two are better than this.”
“Don’t lecture me about my marriage.”
“You can get through it.”
“What do you suppose I do? I just tell her what happened? That’ll confuse the hell out her and set her so far I won’t be able to bring her back.”
“Or you make her face the reason she’s hiding,” Ben snapped.
“You really are a cruel human being.”
“I know it sounds awful, but I think the mind is a powerful thing and she needs to face this.”
With all his force and anger, Matt pressed both hands on his brother’s chest and pushed him. “It’s your fault she’s in this. You screwed with her mind. You took advantage of her when she was hurting and now she’s too afraid to face...her life,” he paused. He turned away from Ben and focused on a blurry cluster of lights on a yacht floating a good mile from the pier.
Any other day, Ben would have fought back. But not this time. This time he stood silently behind him. Matt could hear his breathing. He could hear his brother’s mind going over what to say next. What he didn’t understand was that this wasn’t his to fix.
“She’s afraid of losing you,” Ben finally said in nearly a whisper. “She doesn’t want a life without you.”
“You think you know her so well.”
