On His Turf Read Free Page B

all I’m doing is taking a gorgeous woman to a celebrity party. It’s not really a chore.”
    “I wouldn’t exactly call him a celebrity,” I shoot back and he laughs.
    “Touchy, touchy. We don’t see a shit ton of action here in Austin so to me he’s a celebrity. Comprende?”
    “I hate it when you speak Spanish to me,” I whine and he laughs again. He thinks it’s hilarious that I don’t speak a word of it and tries to rile me every chance he gets.
    “I can’t help it, especially not when you’re looking like a hot little tamale,” he teases and I roll my eyes and change the subject.
    “Was Kyle okay with us going out tonight?”
    “Who cares what he thinks?” Matt answers shortly.
    “Matthew Jeffery Dawson, what happened this time?” I groan. Matty is a hopeless romantic who seems to love falling in love but has a hard time staying in it. He is constantly in and out of relationships for one reason or another and I’m a little disappointed since Kyle and he seemed so good together.
    “Nothing happened. There just wasn’t any spark.”
    “But I really liked him,” I whine.
    “You like every guy I bring by. I’m starting to think that you’re a beard in training,” he laughs and I shove him so he falls back on the bed. At the last second his arms grab around my waist and he pulls me down with him.
    “You know I love you, right?” I say into his shoulder and he grunts. “I only want you to be happy.”
    “I could say the same thing to you miss hasn’t-been-out-on-a-Saturday-night-in-months. You are going to work yourself into an early grave. I’m glad we are going to this thing tonight. You need to live a little,” he chastises and I pull away from him and climb off of the bed.
    “God, we are a pair aren’t we?” I say, picking up my clutch and slipping into my fitted beige leather coat.
    “The best pair.” He follows me off the bed and kisses my head, then grabs my hand and leads us out of the bedroom to the front door.
    ***
    The evening air is chilly and I’m instantly glad I brought my jacket as we make our way down the two flights of stairs. I live in a three story low rise on the east side of Austin in an area called Pleasant Valley. The neighborhood is mostly working class with some low income housing and it is pretty safe during the day, but at night there’s lots of property crime which is why I still have a club on my crappy Honda hatchback. I climb into the driver’s seat before Matty can even offer to drive because this way I’ll have to stay sober and can make a quick escape if I need to. It takes a few turns of the key before my twenty year old crap bucket shudders to life and when it does I hit the gas and we both fly forward in our seats before the car jerks and stalls.
    “Fucking hell, Carm!” Matty shouts as his body slams into the seatbelt. “This thing is a complete piece of shit! When are you going to get a new car?” He sounds pissed and I know he’s just speaking from frustration but I flinch anyway. He knows as well as I do that I can’t afford a new car right now and even if I could there’s about a hundred other things that need my attention before I can upgrade my wheels. My mind wanders to my mother and my chest constricts. Matty must see my response because his hand is on top of mind before I can blink.
    “Don’t go there right now, honey. Don’t let that bitch ruin our night. I’m sorry for what I said about the car.”
    I blink away the tears that were threatening to fall and nod my head. I try the ignition again and the car comes to life. I ease on to the gas this time and Matty switches on the radio, presumably to fill the air with something other than our uncomfortable silence.
    It only takes me about ten minutes to drive downtown and we park at the Convention Center and walk up to the condo. It turns out Shane lives in one of the new city loft buildings and as we ride the elevator to the tenth floor an anxious feeling like butterflies