Chapter Forty Five - Indebted To You

"This isn't gonna work. Nope. I'm falling all over you, and my back hurts. And my arm hurts. Get out." Leaning over Matt, I pushed open his door.

"Seriously? I haven't even started driving yet."

"Exactly my point."

He stepped out of his car, and I jumped on his side to follow him out of the driver's door.

"I can't believe neither of us thought about this." I sighed.

We stared at his car blankly. How were we supposed to drive home? It was impossible for me to be in the passenger seat and have Matt behind the wheel with his left hand bound to my right. We'd tried, and it was inconvenient for him and kinda painful for me.

"What if you were in the driver's seat and I was in the back with my hand outstretched to the front—nope! I'm not even sure we can get in the car like that." I scratched my head pensively while he shook his head.

"I can try to drive," I gave another suggestion.

"My car? No way." He pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialled someone. "Hey, Chris. I need a favour. Can you come back to school... come on! Fine, it's alright."

He hung up.

"What happened?" I asked.

"He can't."

"My friends have left too. We should probably take a cab."

"And leave my car in the school parking lot? I don't think so."

"Well then, let me drive it. I'm just a little out of practice, but I've got this."

His eyes narrowed. "I've never seen you behind the wheel."

"You don't watch me all day, do you? I did learn some driving during summer break."

He considered me for a second, then took in a deep breath and nodded at his car. "One scratch, Andrews, and you're dead."

I scoffed. "Yeah, right."

"I mean it."

"Sure." I pulled open the passenger door and got in first, jumping over to the driver's side to allow him to settle in next to me. Once he did, I put my hands on the wheel excitedly and grinned.

Truth was, I'd only been behind the wheel once when my brother had come home during summer break last year. His car was brand new, so the moment I'd started the engine and began to move out of the driveway, he'd panicked and told me to get out of the car.

Clearly, he'd overreacted. How hard could driving be? It looked really easy when someone else did it. But how was I supposed to learn without actually driving, right? Too bad Matt's car was going to be my debut.

I took in a deep breath. "Okay! I've got this."

I started the engine and put it in drive, a wider grin falling on my face when the car slowly started moving forward.

"Oh my God!" I whisper yelled.

"What? What is it?" Matt raised in his seat in alarm, eyes frantically searching ahead like I'd run over someone.

"It's moving!"

He was taken over by complete silence for the next few seconds.

"You've never driven before, have you?"

I winked at him, whispering, "No."

His eyes widened with horror. "Stop the car!"

"That's a bit of an overreaction, don't you think? I'm doing fine."

A little defeated groan came out of him and once I'd recovered from my surprise that he was actually letting me drive his car despite knowing that it was my first time ever, I wiggled my brows at him proudly.

"Eyes ahead, Andrews!"

"Whatever you say, Williams."

I started to pull out of the parking lot, and he had to turn the steering a fraction so I wouldn't ram into another parked car. Five minutes into driving, I was comfortable as hell. Almost like I was born with those driving skills.

"Tell me I'm good at this." I smiled proudly.

I don't think he'd even heard me with the way his eyes kept sweeping our perimeter, especially at turns. I was only behind the wheel and in charge of brakes. He was doing the rest.

"Oh well. I might as well just..." I trailed off and took my hands off the steering and placed them on my lap.

"What the hell are you doing?" he snarled.

"What's the point? You're just doing everything."

"Don't be an idiot. You'll get us killed!"

"You're such a drama queen." I put my hands back just as a signal was approaching. The car ahead of us started to slow down, and for a moment, I thought I was going to crash ours into theirs.

My foot hit the brakes in panic, and the car came to an abrupt stop, throwing us forward. I was holding the steering, but Matt's palms flew to the dashboard to stop him from banging his head against it. He steadied himself after a moment and straightened up, glaring at me.

Then, without a word, he put on his seatbelt. We'd both somehow forgotten about it.

"Aren't we thankful for these bad boys?" I chuckled nervously while putting on mine as well.

"Just drive."

If I'd pissed him off this much some other time when I wasn't in charge of his car, I'd probably be dead; he really looked at me like he wanted to choke me with his bare hands.

It usually took us half an hour to reach home from school but with me driving and Matt yelling every few minutes for me to slow the fuck down, we made it home after an hour.

"Thank God!" He sighed in relief.

"See, Williams? Not a scratch."

"I'll admit it's pretty impressive for someone's first time driving." He nodded.

"Thank you." I smiled, reversing the car into his driveway.

"Just a little left," he muttered, staring into the rearview. "Left! Left! I said left—brakes, no!"

Crash

My foot hit the brakes and I froze in my spot. His jaw dropped, a pained look reaching his face as he looked back at the light pole in his driveway that I'd ran the car into.

"How bad do you think it is?" I whispered.

He shot me a death glare and rushed out of the car, not realizing that he would be dragging me out too. The sudden pull made me fall over to the passenger side and my foot got off the brake pedal and since the car was on a slope and still in drive, it reeled forward and crashed again, this time in the fancy light column ahead.

"Oh my God!" I slammed my foot on the brakes, not like there was much of a point anymore. Matt, who was halfway out, slowly turned his head to me in horror.

"Okay! This one's on you." I pointed a finger at him.

Too scared to look ahead, he slowly turned his head forward and his mouth opened a little, as if finally registering that all of that had actually happened. His precious car probably had two big dents. He buried his face in his hands and for a moment, I thought he was crying but he let out a long breath and looked up. "Just put it in park, turn the engine off and give me the keys."

"You got it." I immediately obliged and handed him the keys, following him out of the passenger side as he made his way to the rear of the car, then to the front.

"It looks bad." I frowned.

His sharp gaze fell on me just as he snapped, "You think?"

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I'll pay for it."

He didn't say anything, just watched the damage with so much hurt in his eyes that all I could see was a little puppy who'd just accidentally ripped his favourite toy.

"I'm really sorry, Matt."

With a shake of his head, he marched inside his house and I followed. Without wasting any time, we went straight up to his room and started looking for the key.

"The sooner we find it, the better," he snapped and I cringed. Translation: the sooner I get rid of you, the better.

"It has got to be somewhere here." He searched through his drawer.

"Are you sure Rebecca even gave you a key? I wouldn't be too surprised if she didn't." I rolled my eyes.

"What is that supposed to mean?" He raised a brow.

"If there's no key and you ever used the cuffs on her, she'd be the one stuck with you like this." I lifted our hands.

"You make zero sense. That's not how they're normally used. She'd be tied to the bed or something else, not me."

"I did not want that image in my head." I cringed harder.

"You asked for it. Now search that drawer." He pointed to the one next to his bed while he searched through his nightstand on the other side of it. We both were sitting on the opposite sides of his bed with our arms stretched between us.

"Not that one! The one below—never mind." He gave up because I'd already pulled it open to reveal all that protection. My jaw dropped and I pushed the drawer close just as quickly, squeezing my eyes shut like doing that would erase that image.

"Okay," I said awkwardly. "I'm gonna pretend I saw nothing." Matt didn't say anything and I pulled open the other drawer to search, cutting him a brief glance to find a fading smile on his lips.

I couldn't help but smile myself.

After looking everywhere twice and not finding the key, I flopped down on his study chair with a huff. "I don't think you ever had a key or else we—"

"No, he didn't!"

My eyes lifted to Matt. He was glaring daggers down at his phone.

"What?" I asked.

He flashed the screen at me. It was a picture of Parker, a selfie in which he was holding a key and under it was written 'looking for this?'.

I gasped loudly. "He did not!"

"I'm gonna kill him," he snapped and started to march out of his room, dragging me along behind him.

"Where are we going? We can't drive, remember?"

He pushed open a door at the end of the corridor. Aiden was lying on his bed, listening to music with his arm folded over his eyes.

"Hey!" Matt called, shaking him by his leg.

Startled, his eyes snapped open and he removed his earphones with a frown at the sight of us hovering over him.

"I need you to drive us to Parker's house," Matt barked it like an order.

"Are you talking to me?" Aiden raised a brow.

"What does it look like?"

"Hmm let me think about it." He pretended to think for a second, tapping his chin. "I thought about it. No, I won't. So why don't you buzz off, big bro?"

I let out a laugh, then shut up at the look Matt threw me.

"Aiden," he warned.

"I've got homework. I saw your car in the driveway by the way. Sorry about that. You can take my car if you want—oh right! You can't do that either. The cuffs. Right. Sorry about all that. Now you can shut the door on your way out."

"Asshole," Matt snapped while walking out with me. He slammed the door wide open instead of shutting it and it hit the wall before bouncing back shut.

"You were seriously expecting help from him?" I asked him as we walked back to his room. "With the way you treat him?"

He only rolled his eyes in response.

We sat down on the edge of his bed and he ran his free hand through his hair, saying under his breath, "I'm gonna kill him."

"Come on! You kinda deserved that. Aiden would've lost all respect I have for him if he'd actually done what you'd asked. What's your beef with your own brother anyway?"

He averted his eyes to me. "I was talking about Parker."

"Oh!" I blinked, nodding. "I'll help you."

"And I don't have beef with Aiden. Do you not get into fights with your brother?"

"Not that often but even when we do, we're still there for each other, unlike you two."

He studied me for a moment, then shook his head with a chuckle. "I seriously don't think it's your brother fighting you. I bet you're the one who gives him a massive headache about the most stupid stuff. He probably just retaliates."

"Did you just side with my brother?" I narrowed my eyes playfully. "You don't even get along with him."

"I've never had a problem with him."

Yeah, you only bullied him. I wanted to say but did not.

Matt probably sensed my thoughts right away. I knew it with the way his eyes flashed with guilt for a second before they became expectant. Like he was expecting me to start another fight. Like he was preparing for it. But when I did not say anything, he looked away and cleared his throat.

"I've... there's something I've..." he trailed off indecisively.

"What?" I frowned at his hesitation.

"You know, Luke...he's..."

My brows pulled together in confusion. What was he going to tell me about his father?

"Luke is not my father."

My mouth opened in surprise. "You-you're adopted?"

"No," he said hesitantly, eyeing me like he was deciding if he should speak further or not. Like he was checking if I was interested or not. He must've noticed I was all ears when he continued, "my mom remarried. Luke's my stepfather and Aiden's my stepbrother."

"Oh...what about—" I cut myself off from asking where his real father was, not wanting to push him. He already seemed edgy enough talking about it; I could tell by his rigid form and clenched fists that each word coming out of his mouth was carefully measured.

Why he was even telling me that, was beyond me.

"You can ask me."

Are you sure about that? I searched his face for a moment, biting down on my lower lip before asking, "what about your real father?"

"Dead."

Shit! I was expecting separation to be the reason why he was out of the picture but that was abrupt. I was too taken aback to react. "Matt, oh my God, I'm so sorry. I had no idea—"

"It was a long time ago. I'm fine." He shrugged dismissively but I could see past his pretence. Maybe he had been fine since but, in that moment, right there, right then, he was not.

And long time ago? I'd known him for a long time. And I'd always known him as Luke's son.

"When?" I asked.

He inhaled audibly and I feared I'd done just what I didn't want to. Pushed him. I should've let him open up to me at his own pace.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to—"

"I was eleven. It was a car accident...ugly car accident."

His eyes suddenly became distant like he was recalling and perhaps very sadly, living it again and I felt a shiver run down my spine. I'd never seen him look so woeful before.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Once again, his eyes scrutinized my face as if deciding whether or not I could handle it.

"I don't know."

So indecisive and disoriented. Not the Matt I know at all.

Probably for the first time in the whole day, I was thankful for the handcuffs because I didn't have to gather a lot of courage and reach far enough to place my hand on his.

The moment our hands touched, I felt him tense up for a second but when I gave his hand a little squeeze, he relaxed instantly. "I was in the car with him."

"What?"

He nodded. "It was just another evening. Dad and I had come back from my football practice and he was really happy with my game, that's what he told mom. After dinner, he and I decided to go get ice cream; it was supposed to be my reward. We were on our way when this huge truck came out of nowhere. I don't remember much, just that there was a lot of blood. I remember Dad shouting my name, his face was bloody, he was coughing...blood and I remember—"

He stopped talking abruptly and despite my bursting curiosity, all I did was nod slightly to let him know it was okay to tell me or not tell me, whatever he wanted.

He took in a deep breath. "I remember his hands were here." He placed his hand on his torso, right under his chest. "I had this huge shard of glass pierced right here."

I stopped breathing.

"I barely made it. When I woke up in the hospital, mom looked so relieved I thought dad was okay, too. It wasn't until I got out of there after a few days that I found out he never even made it to the hospital alive. I didn't even get to attend his funeral."

There wasn't much I could say to comfort him. All I could do was try to blink back my tears and squeeze his hand. But amidst that, something dawned on me and a little gasp escaped my mouth. "What was his name?"

He smiled slightly. "Mark."

A single tear rolled down my cheek as I looked down at his torso, knowing his hand was right over his tattoo. "Is that...is that what it stands for?"

"Yeah."

I took in a shaky breath and carefully brought my other hand to his shoulder, promising myself that if he tensed up again and needed space, I would immediately get as far as I could. But instead, despite his obvious sorrow, he seemed pretty calm.

"After that, school was a nightmare. I was the miracle kid who'd apparently 'come back from the dead'. Nobody had thought I was gonna survive. I became the talk of the school, in the worst sense. I was bullied."

I felt something break inside me as another tear rolled down my cheek. Matt, on the other hand, didn't seem much bothered as if he'd buried those things way back.

"My mom and Luke had been friends but they'd lost touch when she got married to my dad right after college and moved away. Luke had just had a divorce when they found each other again. I wasn't too thrilled to have a new dad but mom was happy. And when I found out that we were going to move, I thought I could have a fresh start. And I promised myself to not take shit from anyone anymore. Maybe even mark my territory in the new place. Show them who's the boss, you know? I thought if I did to someone what others did to me, I would never appear so weak and vulnerable. Then I saw your brother in the corridor and I thought to myself 'easy target, Matt. Just one courageous act and everyone will know not to mess with you.'."

My tears blurred my vision and I had to blink once to let them roll down my cheeks as I bit down on my quivering lip to stifle a sob.

"Rebekah, I know what I did was wrong. I do blame myself. I have been blaming myself ever since—" he cut himself off to make sure I was ready for him to bring that up. I was. "—your brother almost ran away from home and you stopped him. When you told me about it and kneed me in the groin the next day, I was kind of...thankful."

"Thankful?"

"Yes. Because it wasn't too late for me to stop. And also, because you'd somehow saved him."

I nodded.

"So, thank you. I have been indebted to you ever since."

A smile formed on my lips. His eyes were so honest and grateful, I wanted to take back everything I'd said about him having no feelings. On the contrary, I didn't think I'd ever met someone who'd felt life at such a degree as he had.

"You're welcome, Matt."

Something sad flashed in his deep brown eyes. "Just know that all this doesn't mean my gratitude has outweighed my guilt. It didn't. It never will."

"I don't blame you, Matt." I shook my head, sniffling. "Not anymore."

A soft look reached his eyes. "Rebekah, I didn't tell you all this to make you forgive me or pity me. I only told you so you would know what I was thinking when I did what I did. That's all. I just didn't know where to start so I started from the beginning."

"But I do forgive you. That's my choice."

His eyes became distant as he stared into space, bewildered. Then after a moment, he nodded. "Thank you."

"Would it be weird if I wanted to give you a hug?"

I'd dropped the tension with that as his eyes brightened up a little and a deep chuckle reverberated from his throat. "If it's a pity hug, I don't want it." He straightened his back stubbornly.

I let out a laugh, blinking back new tears and wiping the old ones with the back of my hand. "It's not."

"Go ahead then. It's not every day Rebekah Andrews shows me affection."

"Shut up." I threw my free arm around him and placed my chin on top of his shoulder. A feeling of warmth and comfort enveloped me when he put his arm around my waist, returning the hug.

"I'm so sorry you had to go through all that, Matt."

"Honestly, it was so long ago, it doesn't even feel like it actually happened."

It was only seven years ago. He was really brave to say that but I hoped he felt that way too.

I pulled back, looking down at our hands. "I guess Parker got what he wanted. We did talk." I continued with a nervous smile, "if it's okay with you, I wanna keep learning music from you until the challenge."

"It is okay with me." He nodded, a noticeable gleam reaching his eyes.

"Thanks."

He fished his phone from his pocket and dialled a number, putting the phone on speaker.

"I know you wanna kill me—" Parker started right away.

"No, I don't. Not right now, at least. We talked. It's all good now," Matt cut him off.

There was a little pause.

"You sound suspicious. I think you're just saying this so I would come over with the key and you would punch me in the face."

Matt rolled his eyes. "You keep that up and I can still do that at school tomorrow."

"Where's Rebekah?"

"Right here, Parker. We did talk. It's all good now," I answered.

"So, you guys will train?"

"Yep," we both answered together.

"Wow. This was easy. I'll keep this in mind for next time. Great! I'm on my way."

Matt hung up and with a shake of his head, fell back on his bed. "This has been the longest day ever and it isn't even over yet."

"What do you mean?"

"Rebecca must be on her way. She'll probably chew my ear off about the handcuffs."

"Does she know?"

He raised his head. "Know what?"

"What you just told me."

His brows pulled together. "It's none of her business."

I looked away to hide my smile. I know he told me because he wanted to justify bullying my brother but the way I saw it—the way I wanted to see it—he'd opened up to me like he'd never opened up to Rebecca.

I probably meant more to him than she did. Why that little fact was so important to me, I had no idea.

With a sigh, I laid back on the bed next to him and looked up at the ceiling. His head turned and I could feel his eyes on my face.

"Guess we'll just have to wait for Parker now," I muttered.

"Yeah, I guess so."

I shut my eyes and stifled a yawn. "This is my nap time."

"What are you, five?"

I snickered. "I get sleepy in the evening if I don't take an afternoon nap."

"More like cranky. But anyway, go ahead. Parker's probably gonna take half an hour to get here."

"If Rebecca arrives before him and finds me sleeping in your bed, she'll probably bite your head off. If you survive that, you'll still never hear the end of it."

"I think she'd be more freaked out if we didn't have our clothes on. So, you're fine, Becks."

I snapped my head to the side and he was staring up at the ceiling, no thought behind his eyes. He'd just made a nonchalant statement again. I shook my head and let out a laugh. "That came out of nowhere."

He said something under his breath.

With a deep breath, I shut my eyes. "Really? It's fine if I get some sleep here?"

"Yes."

"Thank you. School really tires me."

"What are you gonna do in college?"

"I'm not even sure I'm going to college," I scoffed.

"What?"

"That was a joke," I covered up. I didn't want him to know how my mother's opinion on me affected me. He already found me pathetic enough for dating Sean.

Sean!

My eyes flew open, and I gasped. "Oh my God!"

"What's wrong?" Matt frowned.

"Sean! He's probably still pissed about this afternoon."

"You're telling me you haven't talked to him after he walked away?"

"Wouldn't you know if I did?" I deadpanned.

"Right." He nodded, and I fetched my phone from my pocket, dialling his number. He didn't pick up. Not even the second or the third time. I pressed the phone against my forehead and sighed out loud. "Come on!"

"I'll talk to him and explain," Matt assured me.

With narrowed eyes, I propped myself up on my elbow and asked, "You?"

"Yes. Me."

"The guy who's been rooting for this relationship to fail since day one? You'll do something to make it right?"

"First, I'm not rooting for you guys to fail. Second, yes, I will. He means a lot to you and..." He swallowed as if it physically hurt him to even think about it. "...if explaining makes it right, it's the least I can do for you."

I smiled at him and laid back down on the bed. "Thank you, Matt, but I think I should talk to him first."

"Okay."

I shut my eyes, and after a few even breaths, I had dozed off.

I woke up to knocking on the door and rubbed my eyes open. Next to me, Matt was sleeping, too. He was on his side, facing me, and his hair was falling over his forehead. Smiling at the sight, I fought the urge to brush it back with my fingers.

"Becks? Matt? It's me, Parker."

I sat up on the bed, yawning. "You can come in, Parker."

The door opened, and Parker tiptoed inside, a look of relief falling on his face when he found Matt sleeping. "Thank God! Here's the key." He carefully made his way over and handed it to me. "I should go before he wakes up."

"He's not gonna bite, Parker." I chuckled.

"I still think it's best if I see him tomorrow. He must be really pissed right now."

Matt shuffled in his sleep and opened his eyes. Looking a little lost, he raised his head and looked up at me.

"Did I..."

"Yeah, you just took an afternoon nap." I grinned.

"You're a bad influence, Andrews." He sat up next to me, finally noticing Parker in the room, and his eyes narrowed. "Look who showed up."

"Look who woke up." Parker smiled. "I'm glad you guys talked. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Sure." I nodded, grabbed the key, and uncuffed us both. Once my hand was free, I rubbed my wrist and twisted it, then stepped out of bed and stretched.

"I should go home."

"Will you come back later in the evening?" he asked.

"Isn't Rebecca coming over?"

"She'll leave after talking."

"So, she's not staying the night?" I asked a bit more cheerfully than I should have and cleared my throat. "I mean—"

"No, she's not," he answered. "I'll text you when she leaves."

"Great!"

I grabbed my backpack and left.

Hey guys!

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