Something in her gut just couldn’t digest the conversation with Val. It was too cut and dry; too…easy.

Before she could get to the bottom of the stairs, her phone began to ring in her purse. Digging through the cluttered mess, her fingers finally found their way to her phone. “Hey Hannah,” she was relieved to talk to her sister.

“Damn, are you at a bar?” Hannah asked, finding it hard to hear Kat.

“No, hold on,” Kat slipped out the front door. “I’m at Matt’s,” she continued as she pulled the front door closed behind her.

“Shit, is all of Orange County there?” Hannah laughed.

“Might as well be.”

“What’s the matter sis?”

Kat felt a lump slide down her throat as she swallowed hard. “His ex and I had a talk.”

“Well, you aren’t in jail, so I guess it went ok?”

Kat huffed and ran her fingers through her hair, brushing it away from her face. “Something’s not right,” she admitted.

“What do you mean?” Hannah’s voice full of confusion.

“She admitted to me, of all people, that she had cheated on Matt and even though she was ready to pull the skin from my face a few weeks ago. I’m no fucking idiot! There’s more to all this than she’s letting on,” Kat explained her intuition.

“Fuck,” Hannah groaned into the phone. “Look, I’ll be there in two more days. Just play it cool and stay out of trouble until I get there, ok?”

Kat couldn’t help but laugh at her sister automatically assuming the worst. “If anything happens, I can promise you it won’t be started by me.”

“Good enough,” you could hear her smile through the phone. “I love you and I’ll see you soon.”

“Love you too,” Kat finished before hanging up and burying her phone back inside her purse.

In the time she had to just THINK of running to her car and hauling ass, Zacky appeared at the front door, holding a beer in one hand and a shot in the other.

“What are you doing out here? The party’s inside!” he gave her a sideways grin.

“I came outside to use the phone,” she explained with a small smile.

“Come on,” he reached his elbow out to her.

The backyard was even more breathtaking than the front; more palm trees and other tropical plants placed perfectly around the sizeable acreage. In the middle sat a large swimming pool that could give the Playboy Mansion a run for its money.

Kat's eyes scanned the large crowd until she saw Matt standing near the edge of the pool wearing white board shorts, his body still damp from the water as he laughed and joked with a group of friends. Her footsteps were unsure as she approached him, her mind still focused on the conversation with Val.

As she made her way to face him, he stopped mid sentence and grinned at her. "There you are," his gravelly voice made her fingertips tingle. "Excuse me guys," he pushed his way next to Kat. "Hey," he leaned down and softly kissed her lips.

"Hey," she answered back bashfully.

"How long have you been here?" he asked.

"About 20 minutes. I got intercepted several times on my path to find you," she laughed awkwardly.

"Twenty minutes?! Are you shitting me?"

Kat smiled smugly and nodded her head at him.

“Fuck,” he uttered. “Come on, I need to put on some dry clothes.” He took her hand and lead her back into the house and up the stairs towards his bedroom, shutting the door behind them. “Is everything cool?” he asked as he leaned down to shuffle through his dresser for some clean clothes to put on.

“I guess,” she answered.

“You guess?” he parroted, his dimples as he grinned melted her heart. “What kind of answer is that?”

“Is Val really ok? With us I mean…” she trailed off.

Matt stood up as he pulled his t-shirt over his head. “Did she say something to you?” he asked with his back still facing her.

“Yeah.”

Even though she couldn’t see his face, Kat knew he was rolling his eyes. “I somehow knew that she would.”

“It kind of took me off guard seeing her here. I mean, it’s weird being here with you…when she’s here too. I just don’t feel right.”

He didn’t say anything as he pulled his swimming trunks from his body, his back still facing her. She felt her cheeks get pink as she stared at his naked behind. He quickly stepped into a pair of jeans and turned to walk towards her as he buttoned them.

“She came with Michelle, I didn‘t invite her,” he began to explain, sitting next to her on his bed. “We are starting a tour in a couple of weeks,” he quickly changed the subject.

“Really?” her stomach dropped, only assuming this meant he’d be gone for several months.

He bit his lower lip and looked to her lazily. “Now that Val’s not really, well, a part of things anymore, we could really use a hot merch girl,” he grinned. “That would mean we’d have at least three months with no Val. I mean, that is…if you want to do it,” his eyes dropped to his feet.

“You seriously want me to come with you?” Kat’s voice had a slight surprise in its tone.

“Why wouldn’t I?”

Kat only shrugged her shoulders.

Matt put his hand on her knee and gave it a tight squeeze. “I REALLY want you to come with me. Will you? Please?”

She did an amazing job of hiding her excitement, “I’d love to go,” she said gently causing Matt’s face to light up, giving her his amazing smile.

“Well hot damn,” he began to laugh. “I thought for a minute there we were gonna have to dress up one of the Berry’s!”

Kat began to chuckle, “That might have been pretty sexy.”