Impress Me Not: Neon Underground

Chapter 57

This day was going to suck. Not only did he have to deal with insurance and trying to salvage what he could from his beach house. But he also had to do it after being teased by the demon that had now asked him for a ride.

"Are you okay?" Melvin looked like he was a second away from laughing at him.

"I hate you so much right now," Mateo shook his head. At least his club wasn't too far away from his house. The rain was quickly disappearing down the drains, which made it easier to drive, too.

"I didn't think a little kiss could make you that hard," Melvin snickered.

"If you're going to stare at it, you might as well do something about it," he wasn't actually mad, but he was losing his damn mind. Mateo hadn't had this problem since he was in high school, and he wasn't enjoying the fact that it was back.

Not when he had to go and do boring things.

"I wouldn't want to distract the driver now," Melvin's voice was low and tantalizing. It was easy to see that he was enjoying himself right then. Mateo hated that he was the victim of this man's never-ending teasing.

But he loved it at the same time.

"This better not take you forever," he told him, dropping him off. The club still looked like it was open, surprisingly. There weren't too many people around, but there was still music. The doors were wide open, probably to try and cool it off. The people dancing inside though didn't seem to care that much.

"I can't make any promises," Melvin sighed, dropping the playful face. "I'll pay attention to my phone, though."

"Come on," Mateo smirked, putting the car in reverse. "You know I'd have a better chance coming here and forcing you into your office than actually getting ahold of you on your phone."

He started backing away before the man could say anything, but he could see a smile pop up on his face. The last thing he wanted to hear was something from that man that was going to remind him of what they had started in the house. At that point, he could handle anything the world threw at him as long as it meant that he could get back to that house within an hour.

"Hello?" He answered his phone while he was driving. He didn't even think to look at the caller ID again, but he wasn't really worried about that anymore.

"Mat!" Lucas' voice came through the receiver. "You doing okay?"

Well, he guessed this was a good enough distraction.

"I'm fine," he told him. "Why? Did Anton say something?"

"Well, yeah," he said. "I had to give him your number because he didn't have it. He was really worried about Melvin."

"Yeah," he said, only half paying attention at that point. "I was wondering how he still had my number."

"Did you guys get through the storm okay?" Lucas asked.

It still felt strange to talk to him, if Mateo was being honest. He wanted to go back to being friends, at least for the sake of getting along with him and Anton. But it just felt awkward. Mateo wasn't sure if it was his own doing or Lucas' but it just wasn't the same after he found out that he went with Anton. Mateo was just trying to make the best of it, he guessed. Maybe one day they would go back to being close again. Who knew?

"Yeah," Mateo answered. "Mel just went to get his A.C. fixed at his club. Other than that, there's not too much going on."

"Jeez, it's been forever since I've been through a storm like this," Lucas said. "I'm surprised everything is still intact."

"Melvin was laughing at me when I thought it was a hurricane, man," Mateo rolled his eyes. "I swear, everyone who lives here is insane."

"Anton was fine until he started to wonder where Melvin was," Lucas chuckled. "Speaking of which: You two are...?"

"I don't know man," Mateo shook his head. "It's not like we really talk about the specifics. We just kind of hang out and...do stuff."

"So, you aren't official then?" Lucas asked.

"Why are you asking?" Mateo was this close to hanging up the phone. Did this guy seriously just call to find out about his dating life?

Then again, it would probably be good to have someone to talk to about this. Although he really didn't want to bring up any of the choking or tying up. Lucas would definitely get weirded out about that.

"No reason," Lucas said. "Melvin just seemed pretty serious when he was talking to Anton about it the other day."

"He was?" Why did that make his heart skip? What was he, a school girl?

"Yeah," Lucas answered. "I'm glad that you could find someone, Mateo. I really am."

"Are you really happy for me?" He asked, the beach almost in view now. "Or are you just relieved that I won't be trying to hit on Anton or something?"

"No, Mat," Lucas sighed. "I'm happy for you. I know you might not get it, but I genuinely am glad that you found someone that makes you happy."

Was this weird? Maybe he just wasn't used to people actually caring for him. Lucas was the weird one out of everyone at that old company. He actually walked around and talked to people like he cared about them. It wasn't just the bosses either. And him and Mateo were the dream duo that could always get a contract signed no matter what. They worked pretty close together for over a year. Mateo guessed being around a person for that long could make them care about each other at least a little bit. Maybe that was why he still answered the phone to him.

"You always have to be sappy," Mateo told him. "You know that?"

"I try," Lucas chuckled. "Do you need anything by the way? One of Anton's cousins made these tacos, and you just have to try it!"

"Maybe later," he said, finally turning into his beach house. "I have something I need to take care of."

"Anything I can help with?"

"Not really, no," Mateo parked his car, looking at the poor little beach house that had looked perfect not even a day ago. "I'll talk to you later though. Save me some tacos."

"I'll try to," Lucas said.

They both ended the call after that, and Mateo took a good moment to look at the house. The sun had just started to rise, and the damage from the roof was getting worse with every moment he scanned it. It seemed like it was just in the living room and kitchen area, so that was a good thing. Now he just had to hope that he would somehow be able to get this figured out without having to pay a fortune.

It didn't look pretty on the outside, and the inside didn't look pretty either. All the rain that poured in had caused damage to the walls and the floor boards. Mateo got as many pictures as he could of the damage. There was some mild ceiling damage in the bathroom too. Other than that, though, the bedroom had gone untouched. If he had known that it wasn't going to be phased by the storm, he might have just convinced Melvin to stay in bed.

Damn, did he wish they could have.

The last thing he did was pull out his safe that had all of his paperwork. One thing he learned working with contracts was just how important some papers could be. The little safe had a bunch of different things in it, from some jewelry, to his birth certificate. He had kept it in that storage unit he had before deciding to move. It turned out to be really handy for living here, too.

"Alright," he started dialing the number. "Time to rip the Band-Aid off."