The Child Bride

Ch-5: Grateful

Ch-5- Grateful

Don is smiling as he pulls up at the Carllone house.

He is not drunk, he is not on drugs and for once he is actually early, early as in the sun was yet to set and he already expected Matt to come gasping and confused when he did see Don in a good mood, and of course the kid would probably be startled too at seeing him unexpectedly if she was around somewhere.

So he decides to ring the doorbell to his own house before barging in for once, mainly to alert the kid. She had definitely stopped flinching at his sight, and even though he didn’t always remember most of the nights they spent together either in companionable silence or her constant babble, he knew that something had changed and he could finally stand to look at her without irrational rage overcoming his senses. But then again, that might actually have something to do with his good mood for the evening.

The security had already seen him though the cams, so the door opens quickly for him even with the doorbell. Matt is still on babysitting duty, at least until the kid grows more into her surroundings, and considering it was a weekend Casey was meant to be home, and in extension so was his friend. He instinctively follows the lone audible noise in the house to the living room. Surprisingly, what greets him is the teary eyed face of Mathew Bohlen.

For a few seconds Don just blinks at the man, then he notes that the TV is playing in the background and Matt’s eyes are transfixed on the screen, hence the tears. Even more surprisingly Casey is sitting next to him, curled into her own body in another oversized hoodie and pajama pants, and seemingly half asleep, but the shock factor is that she is actually sitting next to Matt, provided there is a large distance and a couple of pillows between them, but considering she still scoots away when Don accidently even gets too close it’s a big deal that she chose to sit next to Matt.

The sting in his chest is not jealousy, he is sure of that but yet something deflates at the realization that Casey trusts Matt more than she trusts him, it’s impractical and childish so he barely dwells on it, not letting it ruin his good day.

“Hey man” Matt actually greets, rubbing at his eyes once he sees Don staring at the two of them. He even sounds chocked up, “I f*****g hate this show!” he complains but looks seriously regretful when he gets off the couch and walks towards him.

There is a small smile on Casey’s face, a hint of dimples peeking out at him as wide brown eyes takes in his stance, it’s only then he even notes she is awake, but when she is staring at him like that, looking much like the three year old he categorizes her as, she looks up at him with her wide eyes. For once she doesn’t react, even manages to direct that shy smile towards him a little before she straightens up.

“Grey’s Anatomy?” Don wonders.

“No Man, we finished that last week- It’s Game of Thrones now” Matt says looking a mix between angry and sad.

Casey’s hoodie snags on something and it is pulled down for a second, he gets a flash of red scarred skin just below her neckline before she covers it up, seemingly not even having noticed the fact Don saw it. He notes that Matt is already speaking again and the thoughts are out of his mind as fast as it came

“-doing here?” he hears the end of Matt’s question.

“Uh- I have a date” he says and only realizes the kid watching TV a few feet away from his is also his legal wife a few seconds later. For what it’s worth, Casey barely reacts even if she heard him, eyes easily flinging back to the TV screen.

It’s not like it matters, he could f**k and date whoever he wanted and there was nothing Casey could do about it, it’s not a rash opinion from a self-conceited man, it’s the honest truth in their circumstances and he already doubted that the kid knew it all too well, she was born out of such a relation, she might be a little scared but definitely not stupid. Besides it was Marin, Marin who had finally agreed to have dinner with him after months, who had sounded happy enough to hear from and had hinted that there was definite prospects of their night extending to one of their bedrooms, and not five months ago he would have been willing to push Casey off a cliff if Marin told him to, so it’s not something very guilt inducing.

Now he needed to convince Marin of this, Casey wasn’t all too bad as he expected her to be. She was kind, soft and funny in a way he hadn’t found a lot of people are. Marin might even end up liking her and even if she didn’t, you won’t even know Casey is there unless you look for her most days, especially after her classes started and she’s been mostly busy, silent and stayed out of his way, he doesn’t doubt that Casey would extend the same courtesy to Marin too.

He makes his way to the kitchen, grabs a bottle of water and wonders if he has the time to take a shower.

“Are you sure man?” Matt follows him easily, “It’s Marin, right?- Just maybe you should think about it. You know how she can be and you are falling right into her hands again-” Matt starts right with his usual speech, but today he hasn’t got the time for it.

“Matt you do know I pay for your time right? So for now you should stick to watching over the teenager rather than advising” Don snaps out quickly, he knows its rash because he and Matt have known each other since they were teenagers, he’s followed him half way across the country, the Carllones may pay for him but he is the closest thing he had to a brother if you didn’t count Carter, besides considering the way Carter turned out he has all the rights to doubt his men sometimes.

Matt for what’s it worth recovers quickly, “You know the kid is not half as bad you know, kind of smart, witty, sarcastic, she is a little s**t to be honest. And she is not that hard on the eyes either, a little on the younger side but some people find that very attractive- You’d both get along-” Matt says and Don pointedly shuts him out.

It seems Matt doesn’t know about their nightly encounters, so he does know Casey to an extend she lets herself be seen, he also knows there is more to Casey that what he or Matt knows too, they don’t interact other than for their nightly encounters, which was actually slowing down because the kid had seemingly started sleeping through the nights again in the past week since her college started. Don woke her once when things got a little rough after he drank too much, and she had quickly diverted onto her story and never complained. On one particular day when he went of correcting her logic, she had eventually turned back and glared at him as asked him, “I am sorry, but who is the one giving private dramatized personal lives to your fishes disregarding the fact they can’t do nothing other than blink, gape and drink their own piss to worry about the force of gravity underwater?”, all in a sarcastic breath. It’s the most unguarded he had seen her be.

So he does know the things Matt just told him, but that doesn’t change the fact the only reason she is here is because his father made a deal with the Devittos before he got himself killed. He doesn’t really have a choice when it comes to Casey, he is stuck with her, but that doesn’t change the fact Marin will always be the one for him, that when it comes down to it Casey doesn’t mean much when compared to Marin.

“I am not f*****g the 18 year old Mathew, but you two seem to get along well enough so feel free to do what you want, take this as my permission to make a move on my baby bride- I am gonna head down to see Marin, tell the kid not to expect me for the night” he says quickly, his words harsh. He gives Matt another stern glare before he makes his way into his room before Matt can argue and he ends up saying things he will regret further.

He knows he is over reacting, and being crass for no reason, but nobody seem to realize how important Marin is, and the idea of belittling her still grates at his nerves. Marin’s been the only good thing in his life for so long, the person to ground him to earth, to break him away from his demons, she is the reason he’s got the guts to break away from the family routine. He would have died for her, but when the time came he was stuck with the child bride while he had to watch the love of his life walk away with his best friend.

He loved her, He loved her more than anybody else and it’s as simple as that.

But it’s instantly complicated much further when he rushes to meet her reservation for their date just to see the same Marin making out with Carter, he had a feeling the night is not going to turn out the way he hoped it would.