Page 31 of Fear of Love
“She might be mad at first, but she’d support you,” Bryton said with an earsplitting grin.
“Landon would be lucky to date me. I’m amazing.” Trevor shoved Bryton, making him stumble to the side as he laughed.
I rolled my eyes at the two grown ass men in front of me.
“Back to the conversation.” Trevor turned back to me. “You’re going to burn a hole in Lydia’s side from how hard you’re staring.”
“Seriously. What’s that about?” Bryton asked.
“Nothing.” Like hell I was going to say something to these two about Lydia and me.
“Yeah, right. You two have something going on. Don’t think we didn’t see the moment you guys had at Mateo’s game when he won.” Trevor gave me a look, daring me to disagree.
“It was…” Fuck, I didn’t even know what that was about. Seeing my little brother win his game, getting him one step closer to the biggest game of his career thus far, made my chest swell with pride. I didn’t think when I pulled Lydia into a hug. For just a brief moment, I let my walls down for Lydia to see.
“You two have been skirting around whatever this is,” Bryton waved his hand between Lydia and me, “for what? A year? Why don’t you do something about it?”
“Because.” Because, what? Because I was scared to get hurt again? Scared that maybe it could be more if I let it?
“I almost lost Tasha because I was too chickenshit to go after her. You should give it a shot.” Since when did Trevor become a relationship expert? First Mateo and now him.
“Yeah, well, it’s not that simple,” I said, taking a pull of my beer.
“It is. You’re just standing in your own way.” Bryton slapped my arm before walking off to his girlfriend.
“He’s right, you know.” This time it wasn’t Trevor that spoke. I looked at Mateo as he wandered over. “For a guy who’s such a know-it-all, you really suck with women.”
“Did I forget the part where I asked?” I leveled my brother with a look.
“Not my fault I’m better with women than you.”
“Yeah, and that’s going to get your ass beat one day.”
“No pain, no gain.” Mateo smirked, making me roll my eyes.
“Did you come over here for a reason?” I switched the conversation away from me.
“I can’t talk to my favorite brother?”
“Favorite brother?” My eyebrow raised. “What do you want?” He was quiet for a minute before he gave me a sheepish grin.
“My friends and I want to go to Kawartha Lake tomorrow until Monday.” I knew where this was going. “Would it be possible for you to help with the cabin?” He turned on the puppy dog eyes that always worked on Mom.
“Would it be just you five?” I asked, glancing at his friends who stood behind him and acted like they weren’t listening. They weren’t even remotely sly about it.
“Yeah, just us.” I looked back and forth between him and them, trying to see if they were lying, which they probably were.
“Do you have a place picked out already?” I asked Mateo.
“Yeah, here.” Mateo pulled out his phone, flipping to a booking page for a cabin near Kawartha Lake. “We made sure it wasn’t too far and a decent price.” He listed off everything the cabin included as he scrolled through the pictures for me to see.
My protective side wanted to come out and ask a million more questions, but I knew I needed to start trusting Mateo. It was hard to come to terms with the fact that he wasn’t a little kid anymore.
It did make me feel better that Mateo was asking even though they were all adults. It made me feel important as my father-figure role was slowly disappearing. I’d been so used to being the man of the family since my father left that it was hard to step away from it.
I wasn’t worried about the money. While Mateo had his own to pay for the cabin I was happy to pay for it this time. Wyatt and I set up a fund for him when he was ten that he was able to get access to at eighteen. But when he started uni, we sat him down and had a serious conversation about being financially responsible.
It was there for his future, not for bullshitting and spending it on whatever he wanted. Just because Wyatt and I had money, thanks to smart investments with Trevor, it didn’t mean Mateo had it, too. Boones worked for what they wanted. They didn’t just get things handed to them. Something Mateo had to learn.
