The Arrangement | Completed | Wattys2020

58

When I woke up, Matty was curled up in my embrace. At some point in the night, we switched position and he is now cuddling into my chest with my arms wrapped around his body. He looks so young like this. Innocent, even. I love it.

I wiggle away from him, and he sighs and rolls over, still in a deep sleep. I get up and check my phone. It's still pretty early, but even with our time change, I know Phoebe will be awake and ready to start her day. I have no idea why children are morning people, but I can't relate in any way shape or form. 

As I walk down the hallway, I bump into Garret who quietly pulls me to the side when he sees me.

"Hey, are you okay?" He asks quietly, looking around to see if anyone can hear us.

"Yeah, I'm okay." I sigh. "I'm really sorry, about that. He was just upset." I apologize for Matty, knowing he more than likely won't do it on his own.

"Candace, did he like....he didn't hurt you or anything, right?" He asks me.

I am momentarily shocked by his question. I regain my composure quickly, but have no idea why he would even ask that.

"What? No. Of course not. He was just upset. He would never hurt me." I tell him quickly, defending my relationship.

"Candace, he got really mad. I mean, you don't really...I know you guys have been together for awhile and that you think you know him, but you don't. He has really bad anger issues. He always has. He just...he freaks out over little things. I just don't want you to get hurt." He tells me with concern laced in his voice.

"Matty would never hurt me." I repeat.

"Yeah, and the last one said that too." He shoots back.

"What are you even talking about?" I ask, grabbing his arm before he tries walking away.

"He has done this before, Candace. He has something out for me, and I don't know what. He like...fucking hates me or something. I have no idea why. The last girl he brought here got into the same thing you did. If she so much as talked to me, he would just...flip out. I remember he threatened to leave her here if she spoke to me again. So, she stopped talking to me. I mean, I would never try and get with my cousin's girlfriend. That's my fucking cousin. He thinks I'm some monster, but I'm not. I just...I want you to be careful. The other girl told me that he never hit her, but she would come out to the beach with bruises covering her arm and wrists. A lot of the family noticed." He tells me.

"Who was the girl?" I ask, not knowing what to believe at this moment.

"It was his ex. That Haley girl that he was with for so long. He used to bring her here all the time. Even before they were dating, he would bring her. He would just get so mad at her. We used to spend all summer here, so of course we would all talk to her. But he would get so controlling and possessive. He wouldn't want her to talk to anyone. It got to the point where he would only allow her to go to the beach if he was with her. Same for literally anything else she wanted to do. It would be that way for the entire two months we would stay out here. I just...I don't want that to happen to you. Especially since you have Phoebe here, too." He mutters quietly.

"That's not true. You're lying." I say, not wanting to believe anything he's saying right now.

"Why the hell would I lie about something like this? I don't want to see you get hurt, that's all. Literally what would I gain from lying to you?" He asks, shocked by my accusation.

Why would he lie to me? I mean, he has a point. He doesn't have anything to gain by lying to me. He barely knows me. He only knows what I have told him, and I only know what he has told me last night. But, we actually had pretty honest conversation. Why would he lie to me.