Ridiculous: Mattory

27: The Business of Breaking People

A/N: My five chapter buffer zone is now one chapter, but I'm not gonna leave y'all on that cliffhanger for too long. Hopefully I can buckle down and get some work done today XD

Matt

I have to be dreaming.

"Leave her be." I must be dreaming, because there's no way I'd be so brave as to say those words right to the face of someone wielding a very nasty looking knife. "She's already made her choice, and she chose me."

"Don't be a hero, Matt," Mallory snaps, and I abruptly realize I'm very much awake.

"He wouldn't know what a hero was if it kicked him in the face," Lawrence retorts. "And your mouth won't save you."

"A husband ought love his wife as he loves his own body," I say, my voice somehow entirely level. "Even unto the point of death."

"She is not your wife," Lawrence says quietly, a vein on his neck bulging in evidence of his anger. "And she never will be."

"Wife? Girlfriend? Fiancée? Lover? What's the difference?" I was possibly going to regret this for whatever was left of my life. "You just can't comprehend loving someone enough that you'd willingly give your life for them, can you?"

"I'd appreciate if you didn't, thanks Matt," Mal says, her voice surprisingly dry.

Lawrence snarls, looking from me to Luke to back again. The latter is standing casually, his arms crossed with a distinct look of... was that amusement on his face?

I don't have time to dwell on that, because Lawrence grabs hold of the collar of my shirt and snaps, "I've had enough of your lip!"

Sudden agony blooms from my right side and spreads through every inch of me in a matter of moments. My eyes slam shut but not before I catch sight of him smirking, and when I try to take a calming breath pain rampages through me.

"Matt? Matt!"

Mallory's voice rings in my ears and even that hurts. I chance opening my eyes—that should not be painful and yet somehow it is—and glance downwards.

Oh.

He'd stabbed me.

Well that was lovely.

"Not so high and mighty now, are we?" Lawrence taunts, the knife now clattering to the floor. I shut my eyes again, trying to slow the breaths that are coming into my lungs in uneven gasps.

"That wasn't necessary," Luke says icily. "Not. Necessary. We had it under control."

"I don't care if it was necessary or not. He ruined everything for me!"

Mallory twists in her seat, probably trying to look at me and figure out exactly what was going on. I try squeezing her hand in what I hope is a reassuring manner, but it might just be the worst acting job I've ever done.

"I'm sure he'd love to hear the tale," Luke snaps. "You can tell him how brilliant you were while he bleeds out."

"Maybe I will," says Lawrence, almost thoughtfully. "I'd like him to know how thoroughly I've won."

"I am right here you know," I manage to get out, though the words are fainter than I'd like.

Mallory says something but I can't make it out.

Lawrence crouches in front of me. "When did we first meet, Matthew?"

I blink a few times and try to clear my vision. "I've never seen you before now."