Despite growing up together, Catherine Simmons and Mattis Reed were never close.
Cat was inseparable from Mattis' younger sister, Chloé, while he was busy running around on the football field.
But when Cat's new dream drags her across the country du...
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I'm groggy when the phone starts ringing. At first, I hear it far away, like I'm underwater, and my sleepy brain doesn't fully comprehend the furious buzzing on the nightstand. Then, I sit up in a flash, my head swimming as I pat the table blindly, looking for the device.
I press it to my ear to answer without checking the caller ID, just as my eyes fall on the bed next to me. The sheets are rumpled and messy but unmistakably empty...
Cat's gone.
I don't get to dwell on that, though, as a shrill voice rips me from my once peaceful state.
"You complete asswipe!"
I'm still blinking away the last residues of sleep, but I'd recognize my sister's war cry anywhere. It's not the first time she's used this tone with me, and I instinctively know what this is about.
That's why Cat is gone.
"Good morning, Chloé," I say, rising from my bed, looking for a pair of boxers. I don't particularly want to have this conversation naked. I scramble into a pair of sweats, too, while Chloé fumes on the other end of the line.
All of Cat's clothes are gone.
"Don't do that! I can't believe you, Matty," she screeches, but her voice breaks slightly on the nickname, like my actions genuinely hurt her. "I told you to stay away from her."
I still haven't fully remembered the fight Cat and I had the night I got black-out drunk and made a move, but I know it has something to do with my sister's control over Cat, and some of that anger flares in me again.
"For fuck sake, Chloé. Cat is an adult woman. She can do whatever the hell she wants."
And if she wants to do me, I am not going to stand in her way.
"Cat could sleep with every guy at Columbia for all I care," Chloé snaps, and to her credit, she sounds sincere. "This is about you. You are going to ruin her!"
My jaw hits the floor while my heart falls to the pit of my stomach. Does she seriously think this little of me?
"What do you mean I'm going to ruin her?" I repeat through clenched teeth.
"Seriously, Matty? Look at your track record with women. It's not exactly a glowing review, is it?" she asks, condescension dripping from her voice. I feel dirty and gross; my dating history used as a weapon against me.
But Cat is a badass who doesn't take anyone's crap.
"Cat can handle herself."
"Oh, please," Chloé huffs, "stop talking about my best friend like you know her. And for the record, Cat could chew you up and spit out back out."
I don't doubt she's right about that one.
I rub a hand down my face, leaning back against the desk tiredly. "So what's the issue?"
