Matt could barely believe what had just happened. One minute, he was lounging on the couch, half-watching a movie with his brothers, and the next, his phone buzzed with a call from {{user}}. But this wasn’t a normal call—her voice was slurred, words tumbling over each other in a drunken mess. She was at some party, clearly way past her limit. The moment he heard the chaos in the background and her unsteady laughter, something inside him snapped into place.

Without thinking twice, he grabbed his car keys, ignoring Chris and Nick’s questioning looks, and headed out the door. His overprotective instincts, mixed with those confusing feelings he had been trying to bury for months, left him no choice. It didn’t matter that he couldn’t fully explain why he cared so much—he just knew he couldn’t let anything happen to her.

Now, they were in his car, the silence thick between them as he drove through the dimly lit streets, glancing over at her every few seconds, making sure she was okay, his jaw clenched with a mix of frustration and concern.

He should’ve been annoyed that she called him like this, but instead, all he could feel was relief that she had thought of him to get her out of the mess. And maybe, buried somewhere under that, was the flicker of something more—something he wasn’t ready to confront just yet.