dirty little secret.

Matt was reading the last of the papers from the day, head turned towards Foggy and Karen's lighthearted bickering as they looked through the finances once again. The specifics of their conversation flowed through him as he focused on the sounds of the street below, the busy hubbub of people finishing for the day, scurrying back to their homes. Another sound, he turned to face towards the door just as it swung open.

"I've come to rescue the three of you," the person began and Matt's lips twisted into a smile.

It had been a while since Loey had come by the office, and even longer since he'd met her outside of it. His combined jobs didn't make for a great deal of time for socialising, and he'd missed his friend's younger sister.

"A much welcome interruption from a much welcome young woman," Matt said to her offer of drinks.

He rose to greet her, heading towards the door until his outstretched hand caught her elbow, and he leant in to brush a kiss to her cheek.

"It's been a while," he added, stepping back and releasing Loey's arm. "I hope you've been well?"

"I'm glad, because I wasn't going to take no for an answer." Loey said, a faint smirk tugging at the corners of her lips.

It had been a while since she'd last seen her brother's best friend. Ever since the Fisk trial, things in the law office of Nelson & Murdock had picked up. She, of course, saw her brother more than she saw Matt, but more often than not the two were sort of a packaged deal. Loey didn't have a problem with that though. There was never a dull moment when she hung around with Matt and Foggy, and now Karen was known to come out for drinks with them at Josie's as well, so there was an even number of people for pool matches.

Nevertheless, their nights at Josie's were a bit less frequent recently. At least, the nights where the whole group was present were. Matt hadn't been showing up as much recently and it took everything within Loey to not start overthinking things. Had he figured out that she'd developed feelings for him? Was he avoiding her? Those were just a few questions that had a tendency to run through her mind rather uncharacteristically.

She watched Matt cross the room towards her, smiling when he leaned in and pressed a kiss to her cheek. It was a friendly gesture, though she knew that it would be enough to receive an offhand comment from her brother later on.

"And whose fault is that? I'm not the one who has been skipping out on nights at Josie's, Murdock." She teased lightly. "I've been well, though I'd be better if my pool partner was around more often."

"You're just missing your excuse when you lose," Matt said with a grin. "But I'm willing to suffer through it for the sake of a cool beer."

He returned to his desk, beginning to stack away his reading. He could hear Foggy and Karen do the same behind him as he slid the bundle into his bag.

Loey was an enigma to him. He couldn't get a feel for her the way he did the others. Her heartbeat never felt consistent to him, her ways and mannerisms... he couldn't pin any of it down. He loosened his top button in the heat, tie already long gone, and reached for his cane.

"Shall we?" he asked, turning back to the young woman stood in the door.

Loey scoffed lightly in response to his words. "I never lose, so I really don't know what you're talking about." A slight grin tugged at the corners of her lips. Okay, that was kind of a lie. She had lost before, Foggy and Karen normally beat her and Matt nearly every single time, but she never used Matt's disability as an excuse for it happening. Nor did she realize that he was actually quite good at pool and it was all kind of just an act.

"Your memory must be going, little sister. Karen and I kick your asses nearly every single time." Foggy chimed in as he began packing case files and other important legal papers away into his bag.

"I came here to save you three from becoming workaholics and this is how you all repay me? Unbelievable." She shook her head as if in disbelief.

When Matt walked back over to her, having packed everything into his bag at this point, she smiled slightly. "Only if you plan on buying me an apology drink."