We wander back down the drive hand in hand. I feel totally relaxed, happy and in love.
'This is such a beautiful house Matt; I can't believe it belongs to you.'
'Well it does, I only found out a few days ago. I just assumed it would have been sold. I've never been back here since the day they were killed; I couldn't even walk past without getting upset. Whenever we had to drive past then I would always screw my eyes shut, when the rest of the family realised this they would distract me if we came this way.'
'Oh Matt, how do you feel now about being here.'
'Happy, relaxed. It doesn't feel too bad with you here. I don't know when I'll be ready to go inside. I'll have to speak to mom; she has the keys and will know what it's like inside, whether it's still the same or if it's totally empty. Here let me help you back over the wall.' I give her a leg up and then climb over to join her on the other side. We walk back and go back into the house. I pack some gym stuff in case Christian wants a work out and then grab the keys to the new car.
'Do you want to leave your stuff here?' I ask Hannah. 'At least if you stay over again it's already here and it will save keep going back to your house.'
'Sure that would be good, I'll need to go home tonight though because I'm supposed to be working early tomorrow, I promised mom I would open the shop.'
'That's OK, I'd probably better put in a full day's work as well, come on I'll drop you off now, will you speak to your mom this afternoon?'
'Yes, I'll try and get her to reduce my hours; I'll call and let you know.' I open the car door for Hannah and then throw my bag into the trunk.
'I've not driven this car yet, Christian wanted first go yesterday.' I say and Hannah laughs 'Hey, what are you laughing at?'
'You and Christian. He might be the scariest person I know but the two of you together are like little kids. He has to drive the car first, you pinch the handcuffs off him, though I'm glad you did. It's like you're always trying to get one up on each the whole time. They always report in the papers that he's this mysterious person that no-one can get close to but you and him have this special kind of relationship. Even my three brothers who are close don't have the same relationship as you two.'
I smirk at her. 'You like the handcuffs, I wasn't sure. I was going to give them back to him. You're right though, we do have a great relationship, he's always been there for me. Lately though we've had a few problems, I've been a bit jealous about his relationship with Ana. I think I should be more accepting of it but I was worried he wouldn't have as much time for me. He's happy for me to be in a relationship with you though.'
'Maybe you just need to get to know Ana better, after all Christian has known me since I was five but you only met her a few weeks ago. How much time have you spent with them?'
'Not long, a meal at home when she came for dinner the first time and then the ball.'
'That's hardly any time at all, especially because there were loads of people at the ball. Remember with me and Christian it's different, I've been there for parties, meals, play dates and loads of other things; I've always been there so he knows me really well.'
'I suppose.' We're at the florists now, I get out and open Hannah's door for her. 'OK baby, call me later, I'll collect you from your house about seven, will that give you enough time to get your art stuff together.'
'Yes it should do, see you later, love you.'
'Love you too, laters baby.' I say as I kiss her and then climb back into the car. I drive into the city, music playing quietly in the background. Pulling into the parking lot I see Christian's car is here. I suppose I'd better head straight to his office so that he can have it out with me about last night. Arriving in his reception Andrea greets me warmly.
'Afternoon Matthew, Mr Grey is in a meeting at the moment.'
'Good afternoon Andrea, do you know how long he will be?'
'I'm not sure, please just excuse me a moment, his blackberry is ringing.' She says as she answers his phone efficiently, it's Ana on the phone and she tells her to hold the line while she goes to interrupt his meeting so he can speak with her. I flop down on the leather chair by the window, the feeling of jealousy returns. It's ok for Andrea to interrupt the meeting for Ana but a couple of weeks ago she told me to call him back. She does mean more to him than me. He finishes the call and turns to me.
'Hey little bro, my meeting will be finished in ten minutes, do you want to wait for me in my office?'
'Sure, I'll wait.'
'What's the matter? Are you in a bad mood? I thought you were spending the morning with Hannah.'
'Nothing, no and I did.'
'You're very talkative, and you look exhausted.'
'Go finish your meeting, I'll wait in your office and then we can talk.' I say.
'OK, I'll be with you soon.' He says and I go into the office. I stretch out on his sofa and close my eyes, he was right I am exhausted as I didn't sleep after waking up at 1 a.m. I close my eyes thinking I'll just catch up on ten minutes before Christian finishes his meeting.
'Matt, wake up.' Christian says as he gently shakes my shoulder. 'Here drink this.' He says as he passes me a glass of orange juice. 'How are you feeling now?'
'OK, why? Sorry I must have fallen asleep.'
'Matt you've been asleep for four hours, I called mom because I was worried about you. She said you'd been up all night looking at the photos. She's worried about you as well, she said you made her go to work but she wishes she'd stayed with you now.'
'I'm fine.' I say sullenly
'Matt…..'
'What' I snap
'Hey calm down, you can talk to me.' He looks at me with concern. 'Is everything OK with you and Hannah?'
'Yes.' I look at him warily, not knowing where I want to start the conversation with him.
'Would you rather go home and talk with mom?' he asks. I shrug my shoulders. He runs his fingers through his hair, he's trying to stay calm but I'm making him frustrated.
'Please Matt, tell me what you want to do.'
'I don't know.' I reply.
'Why don't you start by telling me what happened in the sports bar last night.'
'Hannah's ex was being a jerk. He touched her arm and I was jealous so I went over to check she was ok and he called her some awful name so I punched him.'
'I can relate to that, I'd have probably done the same.' He says, I look at him stunned that he's not angry. 'I'm not angry with you, I only needed to know his name so that my PR can make sure it doesn't make the press. Do you think you'll have any more problems with him, I can send Taylor to have a word with him.'
'No hopefully it will be OK, maybe he learnt a lesson.'
'OK, but let me know if he's a problem and I will fix it. So why were you awake all night?'
'I went to sleep but then woke up at one and couldn't get back to sleep, I think I was worried about having a nightmare, Hannah stayed over and I didn't want to have one with her there. I played the piano for a bit and then found the photo albums so looked through them. That's when mom found me.'
'She's concerned about you.'
'I know, I think I'll go home soon and see her before I collect Hannah later.' I say 'I took Hannah to the house this morning.' Christian looks at me in shock. 'We didn't go inside, we just walked round the garden.'
'How did you feel?'
'OK, in fact I felt quite good. It was easier having her there. We sat on the swing seat near the water.'
'Oh I remember that.'
'Then we went on the climbing frame, it was being like a kid again.' I smile and he grins back at me. 'I said she could use the summerhouse to do her art portfolio, she has to get most of it done this summer.'
'Wow Matt, I'm shocked but happy for you that you've done this.'
'I'm not ready to go in the house just yet though.'
'I can understand that. It sounds like you had a good morning, so why the bad mood earlier?' he asks. I look at him warily again. 'Tell me, something is wrong, just say it, don't be scared.'
'I'm jealous of Ana.' I say and he looks puzzled. 'When I arrived today your phone rang and when Andrea answered it she came to interrupt your meeting straight away. When I called you a couple of weeks ago for the first time in four days she told me to call you back.'
'Oh Matt, I'm sorry. If I'd have known you were going to call I would have left anything at the time to hear you speak to me. You have no need to be jealous, I will always be there for you. I think you need to get to know Ana better.'
'That's what Hannah said.'
'Sensible girl. It looks like Mia has got her way with organising a dinner for my birthday on Saturday so why don't you sit on the other side of Ana and then you can chat with her.'
'OK, I'm sorry I'm being silly aren't I?'
'No don't worry, but you need to talk to me so that we can sort things out before they become a problem. I want to show you something, then you can go home early and see mom.'
'But I haven't done any work today.'
'Don't worry, you can make up for it tomorrow.' He says as we leave his office. We take the elevator down one floor. It's empty and I wonder why he's brought me here.
'I want you to work from this floor, you can still look at the accounts from here but you'll be able to do so in privacy and without people realising what you're up to, I trust you completely to look into any of my businesses. No-one else works on this level so you can do what you want with it. When you go back to school you can always come here after to do homework. It's up to you how you decorate it and what furniture you want.
I'm shocked. 'You're doing this for me.'
'Yes, I enjoy having you here working with me, I know you'll be back at school soon and then going to university but I want this floor to be yours to do with as you want, even run your own businesses from here if you so want. Even if you're only in here a couple of hours a week it will be good knowing that you've got this.'
'Wow Christian, thank you. I can't believe you would do this for me.' I say and give him a hug.
'Go home now, speak to mom and remember I'm here for you always.'
'Thank you.' I grin at him and he hands me some keys for the offices and we leave together.
'
