Matt Donovan

It’d been months since she’d seen him. The circumstances were entirely different then, but the common theme of drowning seemed to have stuck. Before, she’d been drowning in ignorance, in a web of lies and false memories. Now, she was drowning in the truth. 

It was going to take some getting used to…

She didn’t know if she was ready to have this conversation with Matt, but given that he’d felt so confused with respect to Vicki, Cami felt she owed him some confirmations. After-all, he’d suspected the supernatural long before she’d let herself believe in its possibility. 

“Do you wanna take a seat? It-… Might come as a bit of a shocker.” She began, before continuing a few seconds later. “So, I’ll try to keep this short. I don’t want to take up too much of your time, but-… Remember what you told me? About Vicki, about how she mentioned seeing ‘monsters’?” Cami paused for a moment, searching his eyes as she drew in her breath slowly. “You thought that maybe vampires were real, that maybe you’d seen one yourself on the night of the storm all those months ago. Turns out you’re right, Matt. They’re real. Vampires, witches…” Cami exhaled emphatically and shook her head. “All of it.”

Matt furrowed his eyebrows and swallowed. He wasn't really sure what to do, how to act, how to look. He wasn't really sure what she was gonna talk about anyway. He just knew that somewhen he kinda had to bring up the whole supernatural world and stuff. He licked his dry lips and tried to feel a little comfortable, even though he totally wasn't and he looked up when Cami said it wouldn't really take long or something. 

"Yeah, I remember what I told you and..." He couldn't really finish his sentence. If he was gonna say this, he was gonna change her entire world, her entire life. He was gonna make all those stuff true. He was gonna scare the crap out of her. But he widened his eyes when Cami finished his sentence kinda for him. "Werewolves, werecoyotes..." Matt added a few more monsters to the list. "I know." He dropped his jaw. "And you know. How did you figure all this out?" He cocked his head and didn't even try to hide the surprise.

Hayley nearly lifted a brow in response to his question before the realization of it hit her. He was invested in Malia even more than she’d come to realize, and while that idea should have made her happy, it didn’t. Matt was human, and more than that, he was vulnerable as all hell in the churning waters of New Orleans. He had no side or stake; he was on his own for the most part. If someone took him out, Malia would crumble just as she had when Derek lost his life. Her head shook some as she nodded. “Jackson is in charge of the Kenners, and I’m in charge of the Crescents. Derek…was the third before.” The wolf allowed herself. The past tense of words and Derek still didn’t quite mesh in her mind; it felt odd to use them together. “No, she’s not. I’ve offered, but she has a good reason not to want to be. Being a wolf..in this city isn’t an easy thing, Matt. I’m not sure it ever will be.” Hayley said before mulling over his question in silence.

 “It’s not your job to worry about what happens to the wolves or Malia. You take care of her the best you can, but this isn’t your fight.  Malia doesn’t need a protector; she’s done that herself for her entire life. What she needs is someone to trust. Someone to love her. Her whole life has been about wolf politics, and it’s cost her everything. You just have to trust that I’m doing my best for my people and for her because I don’t think you getting involved is going to do her any good.”

 Getting involved is going to get you killed.

"O, damn..." He realized what Hayley kinda implied. The Wolfs had lost an Alpha. Malia, Cora, they had not just love a family member, they had lost their Alpha too. "I didn't know he was..." He shrugged. "I'm glad you're taking care of her. Of her and Cora." He and Cora weren't really on speaking terms at the moment. Something he had kinda messed up himself, but something she had not really made any better either. "But, being alone in this city..." He licked his dry lips before he could add the, is probably even worse. It was probably worse to be a lone wolf in this city. "We never really talked about her pack. I never asked and she never told me."

He only found out about this stuff just now. He didn't understand everything. He didn't wanna ask everything either. He didn't wanna get into stuff she didn't wanna share with him yet. "I guess that's why she didn't text me or anything when this all happened..." Matt sighed. "I just don't wanna do nothing and stay out of this." He shook his head. "What kinda shitty boyfriend would I be if I'd just get there to hold her and dry her tears when something bad happened?"

“You haven’t heard from Chris in a while??..so that’s why you are here! if you and he would have been buddies who saw one another often then I wouldn’t have you here now would I!”

Come to think of it, Cora hadn’t seen Chris in a while but she saw it as a good thing, because crossing paths with the older Argent in her present state wouldn’t be very good for either one of them.

She cast a quick glance over at Matt, but her visual was swift in diverting away once more. Keeping her eyes on him was difficult, simply because it reminded her how they once were–that she liked him and how in her own mind, it had all been lost–everything was lost…..she was lost. 

Her eyes narrowed at him when he said he chose her, Hayley and Malia. The young Hale had been lied to so often lately that she really didn’t know who to trust anymore. People had told her they wanted to help, they’d said they cared and she really shouldn’t have believed one or two of them.

“If you weren’t so close to Malia…would you still have chosen the same?”

Her tone of voice had changed to a cold but calm one and the volume had lowered too, but it changed just as quickly when she responded to what he’d said next. 

“Yeah and when your world fucking changes you really find out who your friends are don’t you, Matt!!”

She didn’t mention his sister and how she had done her best to support him, because she didn’t want to accept that was what he was doing for her right now. Her emotions were that fragile, she had to hide them with everything she had because once they surfaced she knew she would break.

“Don’t you dare point your fucking finger at me!!….I am not to blame for your attitude when you found out what I am…what did you expect me to do?…go around telling everyone I am a wolf??…I would’ve been dead long ago….I told you because I trusted you and you were my friend!!…it shouldn’t have mattered what I am…I understood it was a shock…but what I didn’t expect was you to be a damn judgemental asshole!!”

Anger flowed through her veins and she threw the nearest object she could pick up, which was a mug she’d had earlier. Her aim was always accurate, so when it smashed to his right without hitting him, it was purposely done.

“I don’t want to talk about this at all!…let alone talk about it calmly…..I don’t want anyone’s shoulder to cry on….I don’t want anything from anyone!…I want my fucking brother back!!”

There was a slight pause as she swallowed thickly, realising what she had said at the latter end. Cora didn’t want Matt to sympathise or to suddenly soften with his words…so she turned and used her wolf speed to leave, pushing past him as he left.

Cora ran…because heated words–physical fights, letting people get pissed, pushing them away, it was all far easier to deal with than going through processing just how traumatic it had been to watch her brother have his skull crushed.

“What? God, no.” Hayley said with a shake of her head. “I’m trying to avoid war at all costs. I don’t want to fight.” The alpha said surely, even though she was lying straight through her pearly whites. It wasn’t an option she’d pick off the top of the deck, but she hadn’t thrown it out either. It was merely a last resort, and even if she were considering, it was none of Matt’s business. “I’m not in charge of all of them, but most. Jackson’s the other alpha.” She said with a faint smile before shrugging. “And then there’s one or two wolves like Malia that I look out for that aren’t in my pack.” Hayley said before nodding with the faint etching of a smile of her lips. “-I’m not planning on losing any.’

Matt let out a relieved sigh. He didn't even know he had been holding one, but he was kinda glad that it was out. He had never really been the fighting type. That was Tyler's department. If Tyler couldn't fight on his own behalf, he fought on Matt's and Matt had never wanted to chance that. "There are two Alphas?" Matt really wanted to understand all of this. It was part of Malia's life. At the moment it was like her entire life. And just like he wanted her to share his and be involved with him, he wanted to be there for her too. "Is...is Malia in a pack?" Matt had never really asked her about it. Maybe he should. "Thanks for looking out for her." He smiled. "And thanks for not planning on losing any, but..." He paused. "You can't accept being stuck here for the rest of your life, right?" He for sure couldn't accept Malia being stuck here for the rest of her life.

When Vicki died, she didn’t really die.

Tyler felt sick. Actually physically ill - and he hoped his disgust wasn’t evident on his face. Vicki had become a vampire. She’d become a vampire because he’d stupidly caused that dumb accident. He hadn’t just killed her, he’d helped to turn her into a monster.. And then she’d met another end by someone else’s hand.

So maybe her first death had been his fault… But her ultimate demise hadn’t been. Her death wasn’t all his fault.

Tyler felt the weight of Matt’s gaze and swallowed, hard. “So.. vampires, huh?” He laughed a little nervously, still hesitantly coming to terms with their very existence. The terrifying thing was that he knew Matt wasn’t lying to him. That all this time he’d spent trying to ignore the truth had just left him less than prepared when their very existence reared its ugly head. 

Matt knew he shouldn't tell Tyler all this. He knew how it felt when he found out about this shit. Tyler's face didn't really look good either. He couldn't blame him. It was already kinda bad to know that Vicki had died in some brutal accident, it was another thing to know that she had been killed again, because somehow she'd become some kinda monster. 

"I'm sorry to tell you all this and such, but..." Matt took a deep breath. He didn't wanna go through anything like the thing with Vicki again. And he didn't wanna lose another friend because they didn't really know what to look for. "I don't wanna keep secret for my friends. I mean, everyone tells it was for my own good and such, but it sucks." He shrugged. "if I'd know about this shit, maybe I could have done something to save her."

Rolling his eyes annoyed Cora even more, yet it was something she tended to do a lot when it came to others and it annoyed them too. She remembered how fond Derek was of doing it also and it had kind of emerged as a Hale thing which ran through the family. It came naturally to her and she didn’t even realise she’d done it half the time. So really she had no right to be angry at Matt for doing it, so why was the knot in her stomach becoming tighter with each passing moment?

–this was happening too much. 

Even before she’d got halfway into the conversation with him, the young Hale knew it wasn’t going to go well and yet Matt was someone she genuinely really liked–and still did if the truth is known. She’s was making it very difficult to let anyone see anything but anger and hurt at the moment. 

“Look….”

She inhaled deeply and let out a tired sigh as she tried her best to not go ballistic on him.

“…..It doesn’t matter. Whatever you want to refer to me as, none of it damn well matters any more.”

It was the only possible outcome she could come to by letting it go and hopefully they could part without some big argument. 

“Then instead of sitting on the fence…make some choices, Matt!…decide who you feel is telling the truth…who has given no reason to think they are lying and choose them!”

She knew perfectly well that it might not mean her that he chose, but it felt like she’d lost him anyway on the day she told him what she was. 

“I never once gave you a reason to doubt me!–yet you find out what I am and what?–everything changes?”

She threw her hands up slightly as she couldn’t understand his train of thought. Cora understood when you trusted someone and then found out they betrayed you, but not when someone hadn’t done anything to betray that trust. 

“I can fucking blame you!!”

Cora closed the gap between them with the speed of her wolf and infiltrated his personal space. So much for trying to keep things calm. 

“I blame you because you dropped everything we had–our friendship which actually meant something to me–and chose to throw mistrust in my direction–so yes, Matt…everything that has gone on between us, is now down to you!!”

Her dark hues bore into his and Cora wasn’t stupid, she was aware that her aggressive response might not help her corner, but in her eyes, he’d already got it into his head she should be someone to be wary of–someone not to trust–someones Chris Argent would tell him to steer clear of. 

“You don’t know what I want!!”

She grabbed him by his jacket and yanked him closer, though the mention of Derek hit her like a freight train and the young Hale just continued to grip his jacket tightly before finally pushing him away. 

“Just go…turn around and GO!!”

He didn't know what else to say. Whatever she said it was wrong. It was either a lie. Or it was something she didn't wanna hear. She wanted him to trust her, blindly. And he really wanted to do so, but he couldn't just flip that switch in his brain. He didn't know what she was capable of, what she would do. He hoped she'd never hurt him. But he did wonder if she could really promise not to do so.

"You're grieving, Cora..." At least, Matt hoped she was. If this was her acting out because she was grieving, it meant that somehow their friendship could be saved somewhen. Not right now. They were worlds apart and it seemed that he was kinda the last person she actually wanted to see. But maybe someday. When the pain had faded, when he was more used to everything, when they were both in a much better place. 

"I'm here!" Matt let out a deep sigh. "Do you think I'd be here if I chose against you? I haven't heard from Chris in a while, Allison is acting different." He licked his lips. "I choose you. And Malia. And Hayley. And the others." He had to be honest. So far not one of the wolves had been acting out towards him, apart from Cora right now. But maybe, if she could control herself while she was this angry, she could indeed promise to never hurt him.

"Everything changed for me too! The entire fucking world changed!" He screamed at her, knowing that he shouldn't do it. But he couldn't help himself and he hated him for it. "I needed some time to adjust. I didn't know..." He sighed. "I didn't know things would go this wrong in the mean time." How could he have known? How could he have known that the wolves would be banished? That everything in this town would change?

"And I can fucking blame you for not telling me!" If she could act unreasonable, he'd act unreasonable too. He was not gonna crawl and beg for her to like him again. He wanted to understand her, what she was, what she could do. But that understanding had to work both ways. He hadn't asked for any of this. He was trying to deal with this shit. Maybe he was not doing well. But he needed time. More time than it seemed he had.

"What else can I do apart from saying sorry and telling that I chose you? What do you want me to do? Turn back time? I CAN'T DO THAT!" He breathed in and out and stepped backwards, away from her, from her anger, from the signs she was losing herself. He had felt Malia's nails piercing his skin. Maybe he shouldn't tell Chris about that, and this. 

"Because you don't fucking tell me!" He wasn't a good talked himself, but it seemed that Cora wasn't great at it either. Well, that was a perfect base for a long term friendship. Right?

"Let me know when you can talk calmly about any of this." Matt caught himself before he crashed on the floor. "Or when you need a shoulder to cry on." He turned around and walked out of the door. And deep down he hoped that she would call. He hoped that she would call soon.

“Be happy you aren’t in charge of it all.” Hayley offered with a bleak smile. “-They’re my family, Matt. Malia is my family, and I want you to know that anyone who threatens that, will not get away with it. I fought for twenty years to get here. I’ll be damned if anyone takes that away from me.” The brunette said softly before shaking her head. “We can’t fight back without losing lives. I’m trying to get Marcel to talk to me, but for now, we just have to wait.” It wasn’t the entire truth, but she wasn’t going to tell Matt anything he could accidentally let slip. “It’s not fun, but it’s better than being dead or threatened. I can keep people safe here, and for now, that’s going to have to be enough.”

The fire in Hayley's eyes kinda scared her. He knew she wasn't angry with him, but it was kinda impressive. He knew that it was probably the kinda fire he'd need if he'd wanted to get Malia out of here. "You wanna go to war..." He swallowed. He understood why she'd want that and do that. They were locked up here, kept away from everything the city had to offer. Just because of what they were. He sighed. The words from Chris echoed in the back of his mind. They could hurt people. Matt licked his lips. Right now they were the ones to be hurt. "So, you're leading all these people?" He nodded. "I really hope you can solve this without losing too many."

“Vampires aren’t on a leash right now, but Marcel has a thing about killing in the Quarter, I think.” Bonnie murmured back to Matt as she brought her slightly crunched coffee cup back up to her lips. Sipping on the hot liquid, she nodded. “I know it sucks to have to be on the outskirts, but it’s the safest place, Matt. Staying as far away from this as you can, especially right now, is how you stay alive.” Bonnie murmured before offering him a small smile as he grabbed her friend. “I was scared, Matt. I still am scared about all o f it.” She whispered, curling her fingers around his own tightly before nodding again. “You have me too, Matt. Always.” The witch said with a nod. 

"Yeah...I've heard about that. It didn't really help with Vicki. I guess it's the fact that she was asking for it, or so." Matt still felt kinda bitter about that. Chris knew about that rule and that Vicki was a local. But if she was a vampire venom whatever junkie the rules weren't for her. Great. "I guess it's a little late to stay out of this..." He thought about Malia, about what she was and where she was. "I mean..." He took a deep breath. He didn't wanna give up Malia's secret. "I'm kinda dating a were..." He didn't finish his sentence, since Malia was the only werecoyote he knew. "I'm terrified too, but it's even more terrifying that my sister died and I couldn't do anything because I didn't even know what was going on." He sighed. "Thanks..."

The verbal shots she made at Matt might have been very personal and quite unfair, but Cora wasn’t seeing it that way right now. She couldn’t think with a clear head that would allow her to realise he was just trying to be supportive. It was difficult to believe anymore that people didn’t have some ulterior motive for trying to help or be around her. Plus the fact she and Matt weren’t exactly on the same terms as they once were. At least that’s how she felt. The young Hale had never been ashamed of herself or her family and what they were, but after leaving Matt the last time, he’d made her feel as though she should be ashamed being a wolf and that she had been judged without even doing a damn thing wrong. This did not sit well with Cora and all it did was fester inside her head until it became very negative. 

“Weresomethings???…really?…you want to know everything and yet all you refer to us as is something? I am werewolf…and there are werecoyotes too.”

She paused for a moment, Malia’s name was on the tip of her tongue but she refrained from naming her. After all, she wasn’t even sure who knew what any more with all the secrecies around this damn place. Although, judging by how history had played out, Cora wasn’t so keen about some truths.

“Is that honestly how you feel?..that everyone is pulling at you and wanting a piece?”

She paused for a moment, her brow cocking and yet a slight look of confusion on her face.

“I never wanted anything from you….I just wanted your friendship and to be able to trust you…and for you to trust me not to hurt you because of what you had found out I was. So whatever bullshit you have going on in your head–it’s totally unfounded when it comes to me!”

Cora had never hurt him or his family. All she had shown was friendship to him and if not declaring what she was because she wanted to focus on who she was, then yeah she was guilty. 

“Boo-hoo Matt…nobody tells you anything and why do you think that is? Because they thought it was for the best. It wasn’t done out of malice towards you and you proved me the hell right when I did eventually tell you! You reacted like I was some threat to you….the girl who would drop by the garage…the girl who carved your sisters memorial plaque….the girl who was dying under the tree that had trapped her….and the girl who was your fucking friend!”

The young Hale had closed the gap between them, anger running through her veins at a fast rate as blood pumped around her body quickly because her heart was bumping.

“I do not want you to feel sorry for me!…I don’t want pity!…I…..”

The words just weren’t coming easy anymore and she had to press her lips together firmly whilst she tried not to let anger take over totally. 

“I don’t want a friend that decided to be just that because they feel sorry for me!…I wanted one because they liked me and didn’t judge what I was!…but you couldn’t do that could you…so yes…it’s too late!…get the hell outta here, Matt.”

As soon as her face was turned away from him, Cora’s expression slowly dropped and was replaced by something totally different. It was a combination of anger, hurt, pain and a feeling that she was tail spinning and unable to stop herself. 

Matt rolled his eyes. He was kinda bad with words and he for sure wasn't good in those fighting kinda things. "Sorry, it's just..." He couldn't believe he was actually gonna defend himself. "I didn't mean it as a bad thing or so..." This whole stuff was new to him. How the hell did he need to call them? Just werewolves? Werecoyotes? Was there a way to include all of them in one word. There probably kinda wasn't, because it seemed that the word he'd come up with only made her more angry.

Matt took a deep breath. "I feel like everyone is telling me things and want me trust them, while those things are not all the same." Chris says one thing, Cora says another, Allison says this, Malia says another. It was kinda hard, if not impossible to keep track of all of it. And it was even more impossible to not at least be a little confused. Right?

"You know...other people have told me the same thing. That I should trust them, that we were friends, that they'd never given me reason not to trust them..." Matt shook his head. "You can't blame me for not being able to make sense of all of this and for not understanding what it all means and what you're all capable of and what not!" He wanted to trust her, more than anything. But at the moment she made it kinda hard. She was the one yelling at him, not Chris, not Allison. 

"Everyone else seems to think it's to keep me safe!" Matt screamed back at her. "And to be honest, that sounds like a lot better reason than this one." He threw his head in his neck and placed the hand in the back of his neck. "You might know about this hidden world all your life, I just figured out that there are werewolves, and vampires and witches. That my friends are those. That there's politics going on I don't understand! You can't blame me for not knowing who to believe when! I needed some time to think about this, but I figured out you were right and that's why I'm here!" It seemed he was yelling at someone who was deaf though. It seems he had come at the wrong time to be sorry and act like a friend to her.

"I know you don't want that! But I can't give you back the one thing you do want!" No one could give him Vicki back. No one could give her Derek back. "And if Derek wouldn't have died, I'd be here too. With an apology. But I guess you don't wanna hear it anymore. I might come back later. See if you're in a better mood or something..." He turned around and walked slowly towards the door, giving her the time to stop him. If she wanted that. 

The way he kissed her with such vigor left her melting in his arms. A sudden sensation that she’d never known was capturing her up in this moment with Matt. She felt so lucky that a guy like him had found her. He was everything she wished she could be, and more. It was scary too though. Knowing how easily she could find a way to trust someone and similarly, how quickly that trust could be broken. Scott’s betrayal had shaken her to the core but she refused to let it affect how amazing she was feeling with Matt. Whatever would come was something she would handle at the time. 

She smiled half-heartedly when he spoke with a small shake of her head. “People out there are protecting you–like Chris and other hunters. It’s illegal to kill humans in the Quarter. You are safer than you think. It’s–” She cut herself off with a gulp, not wanting to admit it to him, but she pressed on knowing it was the truth. “It’s your association with me that makes you less safe.” She finished sadly, eyes meeting the ground. But she perked up as soon as he started talking about food. “That sounds perfect. I can’t wait.” It seemed that the danger she was putting Matt in wasn’t enough for her to push him away. She hoped that day never came but she also hoped she wouldn’t be too late to see it coming. The thought terrified her. Malia nodded at him, understanding. “Well what would you do instead? I didn’t really get to finish school. I ditched with Cora one day and just…never really went back.” 

"I haven't really heard Chris for a while..." He hadn't really gone checking on him either. He wasn't really sure what to think of all this actually. Chris was kinda at fault for the whole fight with Cora, especially when she kinda needed him, and then there was the thing that he was dating a werecoyote. He wasn't really sure what Chris would think of him and Malia being together, but he was almost sure it wouldn't anything good. "You really think someone would do something to me because I'm dating you?" He hadn't really thought about that at the moment, not sure if he wanted to think about. If he'd been associated with her and such, would that make him less of a human? Would it make people break rules?

He shook his head and tried to shake the negative stuff. He didn't wanna think about it. "I can't really wait either." He smiled at her, but the smile was a little forced. He really wanted her to get out of here, to get out of the bayou, somewhere. He had talked to Hayley about it, but somehow she had not been too sure that just getting out of time would be good enough. Marcel would still kinda punish Malia and that was the last thing he wanted. Matt shrugged. "I don't really know, just..." He paused. "Something meaningful. I mean..." He paused. "I know that horrible things happen to good people and I can't do anything. I just wanna do something. For people like you and for people like..." He swallowed. "Vicki."

“Werewolves, Matt.” She finished before licking over her lips. “Malia’s the only one of her particular kind that I’ve met before.” Hayley didn’t want to explain to him the long line of treachery that gnarled it’s roots around the wolves and the vampires. It was far too complex for someone who’d only just learned of the supernatural to begin to wrap their heads around. “-He’s scared, I suppose. Or just grieving and taking it out on someone.” The alpha offered. It wasn’t clear what Marcel’s direct motive was just yet. “Out of New Orleans?” Hayley replied before letting the thought roll over in her head. Marcel didn’t have any particular rules about leaving the city entirely. “-I don’t know. Marcel hasn’t said anything about going anywhere else, but I don’t know how safe you’d be out there either.”

Matt nodded. He didn't really understand all this. How could Malia be the only one of her kind? Was she even bound to all the same rules as the others? He licked his lips. He was looking for loopholes to get Malia outta here, to make her feel better. But the truth was that he couldn't protect her if something would happen to her and he wouldn't forgive himself for risking everything either. "It sounds really complicated..." Matt swallowed. "So, are you guys planning to fight back or something?" He wasn't sure if that was something good or bad. The last thing he wanted was some kinda war. But he didn't want Malia to be freaking stuck here either. "Yeah, I already feared so...I don't wanna risk her life or something..." Matt sighed. "I just think you must all be getting insane locked up here."

“I knew they were vampires, but I didn’t know they had anything to do with Vicki. I would have never stayed quiet about all of it if I would’ve known what they did to her.” Bonnie said with a quaking sigh escaping her lips. It was all she could do not to take off and snap both of the Salvatores’ necks. She’d thought she’d known hatred, but this was only another nail in the coffin. Her hues filled with hot tears as he said it aloud. “I don’t-I don’t want to talk about it, right here, Matt.” She whispered as he took her hand. The woman curled her hand around his own and nodded her thanks. Bonnie cleared her throat as he asked if she was a witch. “I’m a witch.” A sad smile worked onto her face as she looked at him with a small shrug. “Not a very good one, but yeah.”

Matt sighed. "Who knows how many other girls or whoever are in danger. I mean..." Matt paused for a moment. "I know that Vicki was a thrillseeker and such, but she's not the only one in this town..." Matt thought about all those high school girls, some straight A's and others struggling to get there. Vicki was kinda extreme maybe, made even worse by all the gossip and such. But there were girls like her. There had to be. "And it makes me feel horrible I can't do anything to help them." He licks his lips and he leaned back in his chair. "You could have trust me with this, Bon..." Matt reached for her hand. "I'm your friend. I'll always be."