All That Matters (5 page)

“Caroline made it my business.” Train informed her. “You can tell me to fuck off all you want, but you shouldn't let him talk to you like that. Especially in front of those boys, because you're teaching 'em that's how women should be treated and that's fucked up!” He realized that he'd shouted the words when her eyes went wide. “Oh shit, please don't start crying.”

The door was only a few feet behind him, and it was seriously tempting to just turn and leave, but he had given Caroline his word that he'd keep an eye on the situation. Train told himself that it was the only reason he hadn't left yet, but that wasn't the whole truth. He'd had more memories of his past since he stepped into the house than he had in years.

“Fuck you. I'm not going to cry.” Her voice trembled, and he wasn't convinced. “I don't badmouth Josh to the boys, and he doesn't talk to me like that in front of them.” She crossed her arms over her chest defensively.

“They were right behind you in the hallway, they took off right before we came upstairs,” Train pointed out. He watched her expression shift; her posture changed. Suddenly, she looked smaller. “Look, the last thing I want to do is get tangled up in your messy personal shit, but like I said, Caroline's worried. So, you want me to go downstairs and teach him a lesson in how to speak to you?”

“Please don't,” she replied with a shake of her head.

“Why not?” he asked, although there was no way that any answer she gave was going to satisfy him.

“He's my brother.” It was a weak reason, and they both knew it. In fact, it only made Train want to put a hurt on Josh more that she would defend him when he treated her the way that he did.

“No, he was your brother. Now he's heroin's bitch, and he's high as the sky right now.” Train took a step closer to her. “He's supposed to be the one taking care of you, not the other way around.”

“Beating him up isn't going to solve that. It'll just make things worse. I already told Monroe that. And trust me, I would really like to see him get his ass kicked, but I'm the one who'd have to deal with him tomorrow.” She sighed. “I really appreciate the sentiment, for what it's worth.”

“You believe that shit that he says to you?” Train shouldn't have cared, but he asked the question anyway. “All that shit about the way you look?”

“I ignore him,” she replied. “And I should get back downstairs. Check on the boys.” She looked down at the floor, over at the wall, everywhere but at him.

“That isn't an answer.” Train took another step closer to her, close enough that he could smell her perfume, something tropical and sweet. If he reached out, he'd touch her, but he didn't. He could see that she was a little flustered he was so close, maybe even a little scared. “Do you believe the shit that he says to you?”

“I know I'm no Riley Chase. I've got eyes and several mirrors.” She replied without looking up, a gasp escaped her lips as his hand gripped her chin and tilted her head up. She started to speak, but Train cut her off with his mouth.

He didn't realize that he was going to kiss her until he did. He moved his hand up to her hair as her lips parted and she began to respond to him. He was able to get a good hold on her hair and he tugged lightly, he couldn't help it. She tensed against him but kissed him harder. Train slid his free hand down to her ass. He squeezed, and she moaned against his mouth. He thrust his hips against her. He'd been rock hard since he'd caught the scent of her perfume.

She tore her mouth away from his; her breathing was fast and heavy. “Wait.”

Train nearly groaned. He let go of her hair but kept a grip on her ass. Her perfect ass. He brought his other hand down, held her tight against him. “He's wrong. He couldn't be more wrong.” The bed was just a few feet away so he turned them towards it.

“Wait,” she repeated. “We can't do this.”

No meant no. Train released her immediately and stepped back. He adjusted his now painfully hard cock and tried to look non-threatening. “I'm not gonna force you to do anything.”

“No.” She blushed. “That's not it. The boys are downstairs. I've got chicken parm in the oven. It's really shitty timing. You could come back later. You should come back later, if you want.”

Train closed the distance between them, gripped her ass again and pulled her close. “I want to.” He knew that she could feel how much he wanted her. “What time do they go to bed?”

“Nine o'clock,” she replied, slightly breathlessly. “They're usually asleep by ten.”

“I'll be here at ten.” Train leaned down and nipped at her bottom lip. “Save me some of that chicken parm.”

“Or you could stay,” she offered. “Have dinner with us.”

“Just save some for me, and for you, we're going to be hungry later,” Train told her. “I'll be back at ten. Guess we should head back downstairs before it burns or the kids set the curtains on fire trying to light farts.” Train felt himself grin as she made a face at him. “What? That's what kids do.”

“Please don't tell the boys that because I really can't afford for this place to burn down. It's not much, but it's paid off,” Meg said with a laugh. “But, you're right. We should go down.”

Train adjusted himself again as they left the room. He heard a familiar voice when they were on the stairs and found Monroe in the living room with the boys. Monroe didn't look surprised to see him. “Monroe's going to stay for dinner, Meg. We invited him because he said that your food smells so good.” The smaller boy, Leo, smiled widely. “That's okay, right?”

“Leo invited him. Not me.” The surly older boy, Joshua, rolled his eyes. “Can I go upstairs now? Are you done? Dad said I should stay down here until it was safe.”

“Yeah, it's safe,” Meg replied. “Sure that you don't want to stay for dinner?” she asked.

“I'm sure,” Train replied. He didn't tell her that he'd see her later because Monroe already had a borderline pissed-off expression of his face. “Take it easy.”

“Hold on a second.” Monroe cleared his throat. “I'll walk you out. I wanted to talk to you about something, anyway.”

Train didn't bother to hide the huff of irritation that escaped his lips. If Monroe tried to get up on a soapbox, he was going to knock him right off of it and onto his ass. He had no say in what happened with Meg, unless he was banging her. If he was, he obviously wasn't doing a good job of it, by her response to the kiss upstairs. She'd been on fire. He swore he could feel her heat through her jeans. The memory made him hard again.

They stepped out onto the porch. The rain had stopped, and Train thought that he saw a flake of snow fall. He really hated winter. “What are you doing here, Train?” Monroe lit a cigarette. “And don't tell me dropping off the stuff from Caroline. I'm talking about being upstairs?”

“You fucking her? Give me one of those.” He snatched the pack of cigarettes out of Monroe's hand.

“No.”

“Then it isn't any of your concern what happened up those stairs.” Or what would happen once it was ten o'clock. Train couldn't wait.

“You're wrong. She's my friend, and I care about her and those boys. Always have.” A dark look crossed Monroe's face. “A couple of times, I let Josh go when I could have taken him in. I did it because I thought that it was better for her and the boys. So she could keep the boys, but I should have helped her get legal custody, locked Josh up and thrown away the fucking key. All this now, it's partially on me. I'm not going to be a part of fucking her life up more.”

“Fucking me would fuck her life up?” Train was offended. “I've never put my hands on a woman in a way that she didn't want. And I don't bullshit, I have no intention of promising her anything. So, we're good.”

“No. We're not. She's not the one night stand type. You want to get off? Call one of the girls. Hell, call Claire! There's nothing that she wouldn't let you do to her.” Monroe tossed his cigarette to the ground.

“If I wanted to fuck Claire, I'd fuck Claire.” Train tossed his cigarette as well. This conversation was going downhill fast. He was actually proud of the control that had kept him from punching Monroe right in the mouth the moment he'd started to talk.

“Fuck whoever you want. Just don't fuck Meg.”

“You want to be with her or something? If that's the case, man up and say it, Brother.” Train didn't think that was what was going on, but he wanted to be sure. “And if that's not it, you're going to want to back up out of my business. Now, I'm going to go the fuck home because I can't look at you anymore.”

Chapter Four

The food must have been good; everyone but Meg ate seconds. She had a hard time finishing her first plate because her mind kept focusing on other things, things like the fact that she could feel a tingle between her legs just by recalling the kiss she'd shared with Train. He hadn't been gentle with his mouth or hands. She should have been scared, but she wasn't, instead it was like the kiss had flipped a switch inside of her. It had been two years and maybe six months since she'd last had sex or even kissed anyone in a romantic sort of way. And she'd been fine with that. Really fine. At least she knew that she could make herself come almost every time. Not dating meant that she could really focus on the boys. Meg desperately just wanted to make sure that they turned out normal. She looked at the clock and sighed because it was only eight o'clock. If she tried to get the boys to go to sleep early, they'd pitch a serious fit, and she wasn't in the mood for that in the least. She was in the mood to get laid.

The conversation she'd overheard on the porch had made her nervous. Why was Monroe so insistent that Train stay away from her? Meg knew it wasn't because Monroe wanted something with her. He'd made that clear with his speech about Josh. Was he scared that Train was going to physically hurt her? Force her into something that she didn't want to do? Bile rose in her throat at the mere idea she might end up in over her head, again. Train didn't give off that vibe, but her track record with judging character was questionable, thanks to Carlos. Meg swallowed hard and headed down the hallway into the bathroom, where what she had managed to eat came back up violently.

What the fuck was she doing? What was she thinking? Hadn't she learned her lesson?

Time seemed to fly after that. The boys not only put the dishes away, but they'd picked up their things out of the living room, too. And they made no protest about going to bed. Meg had half hoped they'd have one of the nights where they just didn't settle down, but of course, they did. At two minutes after ten there was a knock on the door. Meg opened the door to see Train on the other side. “Hey. I... Um...” She exhaled a frustrated breath. “I think that we might be moving things a little fast.” She saw a look flicker across his face, but she didn't know what it meant. “I'm sorry.” Apologizing was second nature to her. “I just... Monroe was right about one thing. I'm not a one night stand kind of girl.”

“You were listening?” He cocked an eyebrow at her and seemed to be more amused than annoyed at the fact.

“The two of you weren't exactly anything that resembled quiet. And the door was open. So yeah, I couldn't help but listen.” Meg averted her eyes from him, not because of the conversation but because she was staring like an idiot. Train really was one of the most handsome men that she'd ever seen in her life, even if he could probably use a trim of his dark brown hair. It was a little more unruly than he normally wore it.

“So what you couldn't help but overhear is giving you second thoughts?” he asked.

“It's part of it,” Meg replied. He gave her the same look from earlier, like he could see right through her, and she felt compelled to explain more, but she couldn't dump her story on him. She wouldn't. The past was going to stay where it was because no good came of bringing it up, not for her or anyone else. “And it's not that I'm not seriously attracted to you because I am. It's just been a very long time since I've...” she trailed off. “Fuck.”

“I think if we fucked, we'd have a really good time,” he pointed out with a grin. “Look, I'll be straight with you, I'm not looking for anything more than a good time. If that's not your thing, I get it. There won't be any hard feelings on my part.”

Something about his voice and how serious his expression was made the tingle from earlier reignite inside of Meg. “Do you want to come in? It's cold out there.” For a moment she worried that he was going to refuse, but then he nodded and stepped forward. She had to step back to not be bowled over by him. “You want something to drink?”