Page 4 of Imperfect Match (Imperfect Match 1)
And then he’s fake-weeping in her arms again.
I’m going to kill him tonight. But how? I’m thinking food poisoning, since I’ve never known him to turn anything edible away. It would definitely be the easiest option and the least messy. Shooting him seems too bloody. And he’s way too strong for me to choke, although the way he’s grinning at me again might give me Herculean strength.
I move my mouth but don’t make a sound. I’m going to kill you.
He smiles wider and mouths back, I’d like to see you try.
Game on, jackass.
Two
Reid
Willow’s mother rocks me in her arms like the sad, pathetic, unloved man I’m pretending to be. All the while, I’m looking at Wills and trying not to laugh.
She and I both know my act is total crap.
I’m not unloved or sad. She might say my inability to cook and shop for myself is pathetic, but as I remind her, she enjoys doing those things for me. I wouldn’t want to take that away from her.
The truth is, I’m a normal guy with the best friend in the world living across the hall. She makes sure I’m fed, and she ensures I don’t look like a total loser by helping me pick out clothes. More than that, she’s always there for me.
When my dog died, Willow was there.
When my idiot brother Leo moved in because his girlfriend kicked him out, Willow helped make sure I didn’t kill him.
When my ex-girlfriend cheated on me, Willow was the one offering to help bury the body. (Glinda was not the good witch she pretended to be.)
There’s nothing in this world I trea
sure more than our friendship.
Nothing.
Right now though, if looks could kill, she’d have murdered me six ways till Sunday.
“Come sit.” Mrs. Hayes pulls me toward the chair.
Not wanting to let this charade die, I sniff as though I’m holding back tears.
Which earns me a major eye roll from Wills. “Oh, please,” she says under her breath.
“I want you two to have someone in your lives to share more than just pizza and Chinese food with. You need a real relationship,” Mrs. Hayes says while glancing back and forth between us. “I know you’re friends, and it’s so important to have that platonic affection too, but you need someone to love romantically who will love you back the same way.” Before either of us can say anything, she lifts her hands. “Not that you two don’t love each other, but you don’t love love each other. I think we can all agree on that.”
Willow sighs and nods, and she and I exchange a look.
No one gets our friendship. She’s beautiful, not to mention funny, smart, and put together in that I’m-a-Real-Adult way, but it’s never been romantic for us.
We’ve somehow managed to keep our friendship securely in the friend zone.
“My point is that maybe you guys are hurting each other instead of helping,” her mother goes on.
“Mom, we’re fine.” Willow holds up her hands. “We really are. Reid is happy. I’m happy. Not everyone needs to be married to be happy.”
Her mother turns to me with her best maternal stare. “Do you want a wife and children?”
The truth is no, I don’t. I don’t want any part of being a dad, or a husband, or turning into any version of my own father. I grew up with the most fucked-up parents a person could have. Mom is a raging alcoholic. Dad works constantly to avoid my drunk mom, and my brother and I had to fend for ourselves more often than not. They had all the money in the world, but they were miserable, and they made us miserable too. Why would I want to repeat that?
But I don’t want to get into my fucked-up family history with Mrs. Hayes. I’ve barely talked to Willow about it. I prefer to leave it in the past where it belongs.
