Bruised

Chapter 13

In that morning Matthew woke up full of energy, something that was not really normal. Once he was ready made his way to "Scandal". And although the blue eyed knew he couldn't fight for almost two weeks but he didn't feel particularly bad about it.

There was a new security at the door and as he walked closer the man approached him "This is a private club kid, leave" Matthew laughed but the man got angrier and closer to him "This is private, leave" he repeated harshly. If Matthew was not a fighter he would certainly be scared with the man's height and muscles because he seriously like a human wall.

"Hm, are you even going to bother asking who I am?" he said with a smirk on his face "Matthew MacCouglan? Does that ring a bell? Wanna call Bossy or shall I?"he said making eye contact with the tall muscled man.

"Mac's son? I'm so sorry, but there's no pictures attached to your names and I never saw you before, I'm sorry" he repeated and truth be told it was really awkward to see that man embarrassing himself like that. The man quickly stepped away from the door and Matt got in.

As always he walked to the end of the room, to the punching bag that was right in the corner, and the one that was also closer to the #2 ring, the one he always trained at.

Dave, an old partner, approached him when he was already throwing some punches.

"It's good to have you back" he said and the blue eyed greeted him "Back on fights?" he said after making sure no one was listening "Not for a couple of weeks" Matt said and the man nodded "There's a new spot, tell me when you are back in the game" he said and did an attempt to fist bump Matthew, which was not very successful considering he was wearing gloves.

Then he focused again on his training, made a stop to train with Dave and got back to his corner. His phone started to ring inside the bag and he quickly grabbed it, worried about what was the reason behind the call. He relaxed when he picked up and the voice was calm.

"I'm a bit late but I think 30 more minutes and I'll be at your place" Stella said really quickly "I also invited Joe, I hope you don't mind" he could hear her giggle on the other side "I know you don't" Matthew pretended to cough to make her stop talking "What time is it?" he asked realising how late he probably was "12:30" she said and he heard a lot of noise on the other side "Are you okay??" concern was in his voice "Wait" he could hear her but she was clearly away from the phone. Not long after she had the phone again "I fell and my phone decided to ski 20 stairs, I'm fine. Anyway, 30 minutes we'll be at your place" she said and hung up.

Matthew made his way home running fast, took a quick shower and when he was putting on his shorts someone knocked on the door. "1 sec" he yelled and finished getting ready. When he looked in the mirror he smiled, his face was basically bruise less and that wasn't something he was used to.

When he opened the door Stella was already sat on the stairs "Why do you take so long to open the door, damn!" she stood up. Like that he greeted them. He didn't bring up the fact that he nearly forgot the lunch, neither that he had been practicing.

"Nate and Christie are packing cause they are leaving for Florida tonight" Matthew said when he was asked where they were, that information was obviously not enough for Stella "She has family there and they go there pretty much every three months" he ended up explaining.

Matthew was paying attention at the two standing in front of him as they made the way to the restaurant. The friendship between Stella and Joe was something that was not that normal to see, even most siblings didn't have such honest relation. They were patient with each other and understandable that it seemed hard to see the pain in the ass Stella was to him.

During lunch he could see Stella was weird, especially after reading some texts. He said nothing but when Joe went outside to answer a call and Stella said she was going to the toilet felt like the perfect opportunity to sneak on her phone. He picked it but she obviously had password what made him put the phone down again. But when he heard it beeping just seconds later he turned it around again just to see the beginning «We need to talk, I'll meet...» sadly he couldn't read more than that. Joe arrived before she did and Matthew didn't say a word. It was easy to tell she was nervous, even if she tried to hide it the best she could, letting out loud laughs and making jokes about pretty much everything.

Joe decided that he was going to pay the lunch for the three of them even after Matthew "threatened" him saying that he would obviously win any kind of fight. They all laughed at that and Stella ended up saying that he did look like a fighter but the fact that he was such a good person made it kind of hard to imagine him in a real fight "And the fact that you take more time than a girl to get ready, that doesn't really help when it comes to picturing you as a fighter" She added and they laughed again.

When they stopped in front of the siblings house Joe shyly said he was meeting "a friend" and left in his motorcycle. Matthew had second thoughts about telling Stella that he had seen her phone, but the fact that she was quieter than usual made him speak.

"Uh I-I" he started and her eyes were now on him "You?" she quickly stopped him "You are acting weird today" he spoke "Do you need anything?" it felt stupid to ask her that but he was getting concerned "No, everything's okay, I just feel a little tired today" Stella said but her eyes betrayed her. He wanted to know what was going on, but he wasn't certainly going to make her feel uncomfortable, maybe asking Joe later was a better option. "If you need anything you know where I live" he ended up saying as he got outside the gate, she was at the stairs but her eyes were not shining as usual, he walked back inside and made his way to the stairs. She was on the first step and like that she was slightly taller than him. He hugged her and he could feel her relaxing for the first time since the lunch "Anything Stella" he said and she nodded.

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I'm really sorry it took me forever to write this chapter

Thank you so much for your support, it truly means the world to me

Ly,

Yxzmin