Author's Note: Hello everyone! Sorry for the delay in this update, but I was working out of town for the past couple of weeks and was just too exhausted to even think about writing. Thank you to everyone who reviewed and/or favorited/followed the story!
***START OF CHAPTER***
Mattie's dreams were filled with bloody and blurry images of Paul with David laughing in the background. As a result, she tossed and turned all night and woke up grumpy. After forcing herself from bed, Mattie shuffled downstairs and into the kitchen. Sam was pouring himself a bowl of Lucky Charms and Mattie held out her hand in a demanding gesture.
"Morning sunshine." He teased as he handed her the box. Mattie flicked him off. "Nice."
"Where's mom?" Mattie asked as she prepared her bowl of cereal.
"At work." Sam replied as he opened the door to the sun porch; Nanook ran past him inside.
"Mike?"
"Still sleeping."
Mattie returned the milk to the fridge before joining Sam outside.
"What are you going to do today?" She asked after a few minutes of silent eating. Food in her stomach made her more sociable.
Sam shrugged. "Explore, I guess. You?"
Mattie too shrugged. "Try to find a job, I guess."
"Good luck." Mike muttered as he fell onto the couch next to his sister, a piece of toast in hand. "Word on the street is that the legal job market around here sucks."
Mattie sighed. "Great."
"Yeah, mom lucked out."
"I think it's 'cause Max – the guy who owns the video store – likes her." Mattie commented. Both of her brothers sent her incredulous looks. "What? Mom's not bad looking."
"Mattie," Sam said seriously, "Mom and dad haven't even been divorced a year yet."
"Sammy," Mattie said in an equally serious voice, "So what?"
Sam rolled his eyes. "Mike met someone last night too." He announced. "Well sort of. She totally ditched him for a group of bikers." For the second time that morning, Sam was flicked off by an Emerson twin. "You two are great siblings, you know that?"
Mattie ignored her younger sibling and focused instead on her twin. "What's her name?"
"Don't know." Michael answered. "I never got a chance to speak with her."
"She'll probably be at the Boardwalk tonight." Mattie commented hopefully and Michael perked up a bit. "And hopefully so will my guy."
At this, Sam threw up his hands. "Everyone in this house is ruled by their hormones!"
The twins watched as their younger brother stomped from the porch before sharing an eye roll.
"So, what's this guy's name?" Michael asked, trying to sound disinterested when he wanted to know every last detail. Older by minutes or not, Mattie would always need protection in the eyes of her brother.
"Paul."
"Paul." Michael repeated with a snarky tone.
Mattie immediately went on the defensive. "What?"
"Nothing. It's just you never struck me as the kind of girl who'd date a guy named Paul. So, what's Paul look like?"
"Kind of like a hot Dee Snider." Michael furrowed his brow. "No, like a cross between a hot Dee Snider and Ice Man from Top Gun. Whatever, the point is he's totally hot." Michael rolled his eyes as he crammed the last bit of toast into his mouth. "Mom thought he was cute."
At that, Michael laughed. "Since when do you care what mom thinks?"
Mattie shrugged. "I don't, just thought I'd mention it." She stood and started to stretch.
"You going to see him again tonight?" Michael continued to feign disinterest.
Mattie side-eyed him. "Probably. Why?"
Michael shrugged. "Maybe I should meet him."
"Yeah, no, not yet." Mattie laugh-snorted. "You don't need to go into protective brother-mode; I'm pretty sure that I'm completely safe from harm when I'm with Paul."
She turned to go into the house and get ready for the day.
"But what's keeping you safe from him?"
That Mattie didn't have an answer too so she pretended like she hadn't heard him and went inside.
***BREAK***
The Boardwalk was already packed by the time Mattie, Michael, and Sam showed up; all three instantly went in their own direction. Decked out in her new hot pink Sex Pistols shirt, jean skirt, and flip flops, Mattie walked slowly down the wooden boardwalk, letting all the scents and sounds wash over her.
"The shirt looks good on you." Paul whispered in her ear as he arrived out of nowhere. Mattie, holding a hand to her startled heart, used her other hand to smack him on the chest as she cursed him for scaring her. "Awe, I'm sorry babe." He grabbed the hand that she had used to hit him and pulled her into his arms; before she could even react, he was kissing her. It was like a fire had been lit within Mattie as she clung to Paul, demanding more and more affection. The kiss ended when they bumped into the brick wall of the arcade. Paul laughed. Mattie was dazed. She hadn't even realized that they were moving. "Where have you been hiding that?" Paul teased.
Mattie flushed. "I don't know." She muttered. "Sorry."
"Yeah, I'm gonna go ahead and ignore that completely unnecessary apology." Paul bent down to kiss her once more, but kept it brief. "Come on."
He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and started guiding her down the Boardwalk.
"Where are we going?"
"I promised Marko we'd play some games." Mattie laughed at the thought. "What?"
"I just can't picture you or Marko playing Whack-A-Mole."
"Hey, I'll have you know that I am the King of Whack-A-Mole." Paul replied indignantly, puffing out his chest a little.
This only made Mattie laugh even harder.
"She laughing at you, Paulie?" Marko asked teasingly as he slid up next to them.
"Yes, actually." Paul muttered.
Mattie tried to get her giggles under control and sent Paul an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry."
"She doesn't believe that I'm the King of Whack-A-Mole."
"He is actually." Marko confirmed with a serious nod. "Even I have to admit that."
"See?"
Mattie nodded, though she was still trying not to giggle. "Fine."
Paul shook his head. "She still doesn't believe it."
Marko shook his head too. "Unbelievable." Marko spied the Whack-A-Mole game booth. "Well she'll find out soon enough." He grabbed Mattie's hand and tugged her away from Paul. "Come on."
Mattie laughed as Paul followed leisurely, watching the scene with pleasure. She's going to be a much better fit, he mused to himself.
***BREAK***
After proving his unrivaled skill at Whack-A-Mole, Paul allowed Marko to hog Mattie at the Water Gun Game and for exactly two games of Skee Ball before telling his fellow blonde to skedaddle.
"Wanted me to yourself?" Mattie asked teasingly as Paul steered her towards the beach.
"Yup." Paul admitted. Mattie flushed in pleasure which made Paul grin. "You like Marko, huh?"
"I do." She confirmed with a nod. "He's fun. He kind of reminds me of my brother Sam – when Sam can loosen up that is. Lately he's been so obsessed with his stupid hair that he's had zero sense of humor."
"Hey," Paul protested, "Hair's important."
He patted his blonde locks gently and Mattie giggled. "I'm not saying it isn't, but if it keeps you from having fun, well, then, even you have to admit that's sort of ridiculous."
Paul nodded thoughtfully. "I'll agree to that." They found a secluded spot on the beach and Paul did a control drop into a seated position before dragging Mattie in-between his legs and wrapping his arms around her. Mattie settled in comfortably before they sat in silence for a few minutes. "We should go on a real date." Paul announced suddenly.
Mattie glanced up at him. "We had ice cream." She reminded him.
Paul rolled his eyes. "That was not a real date. That was me bribing you with ice cream to keep you in my company long enough to fall head-over-heels in love with me." Mattie giggled. "Did it work?"
"Oh yeah." She replied, only somewhat teasingly. "Totally."
"Good. But seriously, a real date."
The request still struck Mattie as funny, but she could tell that he was serious. Not privy to Paul's thoughts, she couldn't know that Paul wanted to solidify her attachment through normal means before turning her simply because it would make things easier.
"Okay…where?"
"I don't know. Where do you want to go?"
"I've only been in town for a couple days so I have no idea where. You, on the other hand, have apparently lived here for a number of years so you would know better than I."
"Touché." Paul thought for a moment. "We could go to the movies. That's a typical type of date."
"It is." Mattie confirmed.
"What should we see?"
"Um…" Mattie racked her brain, trying to remember what had been listed in the paper that morning. "Dirty Dancing and Predator are all I remember that are playing."
"What do you want to see? And please don't say Dirty Dancing."
Mattie laughed. "I'm fine with Predator."
"Sweet. We'll see Predator and then come back to the Boardwalk for dinner."
"Sounds like plan."
They settled back into the silence. Without even realizing it, an hour had passed.
"I should get back to meet up with my brothers."
Paul grimaced. "Can't I take you home later?" He whined.
Mattie shook her head and stood up, dusting off her butt. "No 'cause I drove Sam here."
"Can't your twin drive him back?"
"Mike took his motorcycle." Mattie replied.
Paul grimaced. "Fine. Help me up."
He held up his hand. Mattie took it and he promptly pulled her down on top of him, instantly engaging her in a kiss. Mattie allowed herself to get carried away for a few minutes before putting her hand on his chest and sitting up. Paul propped himself up on his elbows and stared at her. She felt lightheaded from the action and wasn't entirely sure she should be going as far as she was, but also loathe to put a stop to it.
"I have to go."
Paul sighed in defeat and this time, when Mattie stood, he didn't pull her back down. He took her hand, intertwining their fingers together as they walked back down the beach towards the Boardwalk. A giggle from Mattie caught Paul's attention and he glanced down at her.
"What's so funny?"
"It's just, here I was, thinking that my life was over just a couple days ago. And now, I'm making out on the beach with a totally hot blonde."
Paul barked out a laugh, wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and pulled her up into his side so that he could press a kiss to the side of her head.
"You ain't seen nothing yet. Stick with me, babe, and you'll get introduced to a whole new world."
***BREAK***
Paul whistled Charlotte the Harlot as he jogged down the stairs into the cave.
"What happened to Mattie?" Marko asked as soon as Paul's feet landed on the bottom step.
"She had to take her younger brother home." Paul replied, falling onto the couch. "I made sure they got home safely before heading back here."
Marko snorted. "Well aren't you a knight-in-shining armor."
"I like her." Paul shrugged, nonplussed by the mockery. "I mean, she ain't wild, but there's something, I don't know, alluring about her."
"That whole family has this pack losing their minds." David snapped. "I don't see anything special about them." This was a lie and only David's age (and therefore skill) kept it secret from his brother's. The truth was that he was as attracted to Mattie as Paul was.
"I don't know, Mattie is pretty cool." Marko interjected. "I mean, for a human."
David pinched the bridge of his nose. Mattie was the only Emerson he had any positive thoughts about. Michael got on his nerves with all his doe-eyed staring at Star, the youngest Emerson held the promise of being obnoxious, and the last thing David wanted was a mother. But Max had spoken and as long as Max held control over his brothers, David was bound to him.
"Change comes whether we want it or not." Dwayne stated in a low voice. "Max wants Lucy and she comes as a package deal."
"Man, this shit is bringing me down." Paul groaned, lighting up a joint.
"When are you supposed to see Mattie again?" David found himself asking.
"I'm supposed to take her to the movies and dinner tomorrow night."
"No, you're not."
Paul frowned. "What? Why not?"
"Because I think it's time that I get to know Mattie a little bit better."
Paul regarded his leader for a moment before laughing and taking another puff on his joint. "Suit yourself."
***END OF CHAPTER***
Author's Note: Thanks for reading!
