Page 21 of One Day Like This (Excess All Areas 1)

“How did Izabel take it?”

“I think you’d have to ask her, but she looked pretty crushed. Defeated. To make things worse, Harry was looking at her like a starved man. Sophia, she’s pretty in that too-much-makeup, high-maintenance kind of way. Tits that defied gravity and heels she could barely stand up straight in, but she’s not Izabel.”

“Do you think he wants her back?”

Matt shrugged. An important part of getting Luke to agree was to show absolute indifference to the whole thing. “The way he was practically drooling says he does.”

Luke thumped the steering wheel. “Always knew he was a sleaze bag. Guess he thought he could have my sister and whoever else he wanted. What’s to say he’s not going to try and bait-and-switch at the wedding? Get Izabel drunk, play on her good nature, like that dick of a brother of yours.”

Fuck. How he wished Luke hadn’t brought up Jase. It wasn’t going to make the next part of the conversation any easier.

“Yeah. Well. You might be a bit pissed at what happened next, but I didn’t know what else to do, mate.”

Luke slowed as he approached a red light. “Tell me.”

“Well, you know Harry gets a bit intimidated around us, being the pussy he is?”

“Yes. And?”

“Well, I might have led him to believe me and Izabel were dating so he’d stop looking at her like a piece of meat ... and I said I’d take her to the wedding.”

Luke threw a punch, but Matt backed up against the window and blocked it as the van swerved before stopping. “Calm down, you idiot. I’m not ready to die today.”

“Your fucking brother already did a number on Izabel. Now you’re getting all up in her face. Do I have to worry about you too?”

“Luke. It’s not like that, and you know it. There’s Iz, looking like she just got trampled on by a raging bull, and there’s Sophia, eyeing Iz like she can’t wait to stick a butter knife between Iz’s shoulders. And then there’s Harry, too busy staring at her tits to realise how much he just crushed her. And there are two Metrolink cops on the tram five feet over, stopping me from doing what I really wanted, which was to punch Harry in his fucking mug.”

Luke took a deep breath and screeched away from the lights. “You aren’t going through with it though, are you?”

“I can do you both a favour. She’d no plan. No transportation, nowhere to stay, not enough cash.”

“I’ll pay for her to go. I’ll even take her.”

“You can’t. It’s the weekend you asked for no gigs because you were going to London for that lad from footie’s stag do.”

“Fuck me.”

“Listen. It’s no skin off my nose. A weekend in the Lakes will be good for my creativity. I’ve felt a bit stifled recently. Iz can go do her wedding stuff, I’ll take a hike. I’ll be there on the wedding day to keep Harry and Sophia from causing problems.”

“You don’t have ideas about Iz, do you?”

“Don’t be stupid. Do you think I’d want to go where Jase went?” And fuck knows he’d grappled with it. If Luke only knew how many nights he’d spent in bed thinking about the messed-up series of events stemming from Luke’s stupid demand. If Matt had not been resistant to settling down, if he’d not hooked up that night to resist the signals Iz had been giving him that she was his. When she’d sat on his knee after the gig, when she’d run her fingers through his hair. When she’d let her fingers trail beneath the bottom of his T-shirt so those soft fucking fingertips could draw circles on his back.

Luke blanched. “Don’t even make me think about it. I don’t think you or him realise just how close I came to quitting the band. I know I’m a hypocrite. Every gig. Every other night. Some random girl. But the idea of my sister catching any of that makes me want to hurl.”

Yeah. The idea of Jase and Iz made him want to hurl too.

“I hear you, man. But Iz, before Jase, she was a really good friend. And I can help her out while you can’t. It’s not a big deal.”

Luke’s knuckles were white as he gripped the steering wheel. They drove in silence until he pulled up to his parking spot in their apartment building.

“You need a hand getting this to the apartment?” Matt asked, grabbing his guitar from the back of the van.

Luke shook his head. “Nah. I’ve got it.”

“Alright. Well ... we’re good, right? Because I’ll not take her, just tell her it’s not cool if it bothers you so much. I’m sure Harry will be cool. It’s his brother’s wedding after all. How big a douche could he be in front of family? I mean, there’s a slim chance Iz might go along with anything he might try, just because she doesn’t like confrontation. Doesn’t mean they get back together or anything.”

And, fuck, if he wasn’t baiting his best friend.

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