Love At First Hate (Love At Firsts Book 2)(18)

The things Matt does to me are unreal. I feel like I’m fifteen all over again and just talked to a crush for the first time. I need to get a grip and get rid of this raging boner I get whenever I’m around Matt.

My phone ringing makes me come crashing down hard from my Matt high. I could have just let it ring, but I have it set so that the different demons in my life—aka my parents, Lindsey, or my siblings—have different ringtones. This time, it’s my father. The reason I came crashing down so hard is because I remember the time he sent me away because he caught me watching gay porn, and I feel like he just busted me all over again after the little moment Matt and I shared.

At least Matt is gone now. I know how worked up my father gets me, and I didn’t want Matt to see me in the state I’m in after talking to Robert and taint what we shared.

“Sir,” I say picking up the phone.

“About time, Nathan.” His stern voice greets me.

“What do you want?” I ask annoyed.

“Don’t you dare use that tone with me. Lindsey came to see us earlier. It is disgusting the behav-”

“She’s the one who broke countless shit in my house.” I try to defend myself, but I know it’s pointless. Lindsey can never do any wrong.

“Because you treated her as if she was any other broad.” He raises his voice.

“You all know where I stand when it comes to marriage. I’m not interested in that relationship going any further. If none of you can accept it, then that’s not my problem.” I stand my ground, and it feels f*cking good, but it’s short-lived.

“Listen to me, you little shit. Tonight you’re going to join all of us for dinner at Shanahan’s at seven. We’re going to celebrate yours and Lindsey’s engagement. I do not care if you don’t want to marry her. You’ll be there, and you’ll go with it. If you’re not there, trust me when I say this—It’s going to be a hell of a lot worse than when I sent you to war. The choice is yours.”

He hangs up before I get to say anything else. I’m shocked into silence. I knew I was going to get shit today, that’s why I was on edge this morning. However, I wasn’t expecting this. It’s going to be a f*cking mess and a nightmare. Not only tonight but whatever they have planned is not going to go well. The temptation of packing and leaving is getting more and more appealing.

“Knock, knock, you alright?” Ellie asks knocking on the door.

“Just peachy,” I groan and refrain from throwing my phone against the wall.

“You don’t look it.” She walks in and sits on the table where Matt was sitting just a few minutes ago.

“It’s a long story.” I blow out a breath.

“Do tell, I like a good story.” She smiles at me, clearly not gauging the state of my mood.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” I mutter.

“Judging by the fact that you look like you could just strangle someone right now, something must have f*cked up your morning.” She points out the obvious.

“Talk about my life not my morning, and my genitor just called.”

“What did dipshit want?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” I rub my face and sit at the table where Matt’s future tattoo design is.

“I just want to help you. You know I always give good advice.”

“I know. It’s just so messed up.”

“I do good with messed up. Come on, tell Ellie.”

“He just announced that I am to join my family tonight at Shanahan’s to celebrate my engagement to Lindsey.”

“Please tell me you didn’t f*cking propose, or I swear I’m calling the closest mental institution and getting you locked up,” she yells at me.

“Calm down. No, I didn’t propose. We had a fight last night because I told her again that I didn’t want to get married. She threw one of her tantrums then called daddy dearest, and now he’s decided we’re getting married.”

“That’s bollocks! Tell me you’re not going to go through with it,” she asks sounding worried.

“No way in hell!”

“But you’re going to go to dinner because daddy dearest threatened you.” She sighs knowing the answer to that already. “I’ll be on standby all night, if you need me to rescue you, just call me.”

“You’re the best.”

“I know.” She smirks and pats her shoulder.

“So humble too,” I scoff and get back to my drawings.

I spend the rest of the day stressing out about tonight’s dinner. Ellie’s constant teasing and my thoughts wandering off to my chat with Matt are making it hard for me to focus on the tattoos I have to do. Thankfully, I don’t have any big pieces to do today so I can’t complain.



Skipping my daily post-work gym session was probably one of the worst ideas I’ve had in a long time. I could have done with letting out some of the pent-up tension that built inside of me since last night. From the fight with Lindsey to the mad flirting with Matt to my father announcing that I am now engaged. My life has gone to shit right in front of my very eyes, and I didn’t even see it coming. Or I was just too self-absorbed in my inner turmoil that I didn’t see what was going on right in front of me. Either way, I’m screwed and not in the good way.