Page 67 of Mine to Keep

I laughed into his neck. I didn’t care if we fucked or not; I loved having him here. He was safe, he was with me, and no matter what that stalker asshole thought, Matthew York was, in fact, mine to keep.

CHAPTER THIRTY

Matt

I thoughtit would be weird walking into the kitchen the next day, but it wasn’t. It was as if I’d never left and was still staying there. Shep offered me coffee, and Noel and JJ were making breakfast. I sat at the table with Mason and Four and listened to them talking about scenarios where pushing a pressure point in a person could kill them verses just putting them to sleep…Bizarre.

His hair still damp from his shower, Nick entered a few minutes later, grabbed his own coffee, and sat beside me.

“What’s on the agenda today?” I asked.

“Well, why don’t you come to Saintly Sweets with me?” He sipped his coffee.

“I did promise JJ I would and while I said next week, I have no plans today.”

“Perfect.” He turned toward Shep and JJ, who were placing bacon on a plate while Noel was perfecting his eggs. “I’m going to take Matt to Saintly Sweets.”

Shep nodded. “I’ll be by later. I want to work on a few things since I’m busy a few days next week.”

“I’ll come,” Four said quite eagerly.

“Sure, you can hitch a ride with me and Matt.”

“I’ll be down later as well.” Mason sipped his coffee.

“I’m doing more of the social media shit.” Noel placed a huge plate of scrambled eggs on the table.

“Yeah, I’m hoping I get some of that info I asked for from some people later.” I wasn’t sure what Nick was digging for, but I figured he’d let me know.

“Gabe and Angel are actually a lot of help with the social media stuff.”

“You say that in a way I feel I should be offended.” Gabe walked into the kitchen and glared at Noel.

“Just sayin’.” He shrugged and sat.

Breakfast was loud. Everyone talked, except for Four. He tended to watch everything and while it terrified me, I also always found myself curious as to what went on in his head.

After everything was put away, Nick, Four, and I made our way to Saintly Sweets.

“I can’t believe you’ve never been here,” Nick said as he pulled open the front door with gusto.

“Belle’s Beanery is so close to me, and it is really good.”

He shook his head. “You’ve been deprived.” He walked up to the counter, where two women were putting muffins in the trays. One had dark curly hair and was wearing bright-blue glasses and overalls with the Saintly Sweets logo on them. The other had her hair in a fluffy bun, had an orange dress on with—I think?—hippos dancing and an apron with the same logo.

“Hello, ladies. This is Matt. He’s never been here before, and he thinks Belle’s Beanery is the best. I’ll be needing you to change his mind.”

I gasped at him. “Oh, my word. You make me sound like a traitor.”

“Hi, I’m Darby.” The blond smiled. “This is Lizzy.” She waved her hand at the other woman.

“Nice to meet you both. Now, what would you suggest I try as a new patron?”

Lizzy tapped her chin, and I noticed Four staring at her with what could only be described as awe. “I’d say if you’re a chocolate fan, go with the butter brownie choc-chip cookie with mint chocolate chip coffee.”

“That sounds amazing, I’ll give it a go.”

Once I had my goodies, Nick showed me to a booth in the back. I loved how there were so many windows, making people-watching easy. Nick had only gotten a regular coffee but he seemed to love watching me take a bite of this heavenly morsel of chocolate.

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