by Jen L. Grey
My phone buzzed on my nightstand, so I picked it up.
Hey - Let’s go out and grab something to eat. My brother is getting on my damn nerves, and I need girl time.
So, Mason was at home. It shouldn’t give me comfort, but it did.
Sorry, no. I’ve got to study.
The problem was that I wanted to go out with her. This reinforced the fact that I needed to get distance from both of them.
You’re a nerd. No go. Be ready in thirty minutes. If you don’t come out, I’ll give Connor your address.
No, she wouldn’t do that. Would she?
Go hang out with some other friends.
This is your last warning. If you aren’t outside of your house when I pull up, be prepared for Connor to show up. I doubt it would take him long to get there.
She fought dirty. But I had a feeling she would follow through. I shouldn’t be happy about it, but I was. She was a force to be reckoned with.
Jumping up from the bed, I threw on a pair of jeans and a V-neck, cut-rose patterned shirt. I put on some makeup and brushed the flaming red bush that was my hair. Right at the thirty minute mark, I was ready and rushing downstairs.
I opened the door and found her sitting on her car’s hood with her cell phone out and typing. She arched an eyebrow when she took me in. “You were almost too late.”
She had to be bluffing. “You said thirty minutes; it’s right on the dot.” I hurried over to her and glanced at her phone. I couldn't believe what I saw. She had Connor’s number pulled up, and she already halfway typed my home address out. “You bitch.”
“No, a bitch would be someone who wouldn’t warn you.” She hit the backspace and deleted the message. “A friend gives a warning. Now come, let’s go.” She turned and jumped back into her car.
I wasn’t sure whether I should be impressed or pissed off. She had a knack for getting her way. I begrudgingly got into the car and slammed the passenger door shut for emphasis.
“Oh, stop. You aren't mad.” She waved me off as she put the car in reverse. “You secretly love it.”
It scared me that she wasn’t far off with that assessment. I needed to do a better job gaining distance. If something happened to her because of me, I wasn't sure if I could live with myself.
“Anyway.” She pulled out onto the main road. “We’re heading to one of the bars close to town. They have a live band playing.”
“I don’t like being in crowds.” She was a shifter. She shouldn’t like being around loud music either.
“We hang outside.” She waved me off. “We can still hear the music, enjoy the atmosphere, but not be around all the crammed in bodies.”
That was at least a better alternative. “Fine, but if it’s too much we leave. Promise me.”
“Okay, okay.” She lifted a hand in the air. “Whatever it takes for you to at least try to act like a normal teenager.”
Within minutes, we pulled up to a huge bar that had an open back patio. There were several large groups of people hanging outside, and the music blared.
It took everything I had to climb out of the vehicle. Maybe if I refused to get out, she’d forget about me.
As if she heard my thoughts, she made her way to my door and opened it. “Come on. I swear. Look,” she said as she pointed to a section that was clear. “We’ll go over there, away from everyone.”
I wanted to argue but there was no point. I took a deep breath and climbed from the car. “Remember what you promised.”
“Yeah, yeah.” She waved me on, and soon we were walking across the wood floor of the patio, and we took a seat in the far corner.
As I scanned the people surrounding us, my eyes landed on the blonde that Mason had slept with. It was almost like a punch in the gut.
“Hey, are you okay?” Ella followed my eyes to Bridgette. “Oh, yeah. She’s a slut. She’s been harassing Mason. I don’t know why he does stupid shit like that.”
Honestly, I wanted to drop this conversation. I didn't want to think about him and other women. He could never be mine, and it just hurt too much to hear.
“What can I get you ladies tonight?” a young waitress, who couldn’t be much older than us, approached and asked.
“Could I get a Coke and some cheese sticks please?” My stomach growled as if telling me it wasn’t enough. “And a bacon cheeseburger, medium rare?”
“Sure.” She smiled at me and then gazed at Ella. “Oh, a burger sounds good. Let me have the same as her with a large onion rings, my own order of cheese sticks, and some hot wings.”
“Uh… sure.” The girl glanced at Ella. “Are you expecting more people?”
“Nope, just the two of us.” Ella smiled and tilted her head. “I just really enjoy eating.”
“Now that’s not an understatement.” A familiar voice called from across the patio. The wind picked up, blowing his earthy scent in my direction. “But don’t worry, she’ll share some with her brother.” Mason crossed the floor to us, smiling at me, while Alec followed right behind him.
My heart took off when our eyes met.
“Dude, you know she won’t share food.” Alec laughed loud.
Bridgette’s head jerked in our direction, and her eyes landed on Mason. “Oh, hey.” A huge smile crossed her face as she ran over and wrapped her arm around his. “I’m over here. I thought you said you couldn’t make it.”
“I can’t.” Mason disentangled himself from her. “I’m busy.”
The fact that he was blowing her off shouldn’t make me happy, but it did. I needed to get out of here. “Ella, I thought it was just us two.”
“It was supposed to be, I swear. He was supposed to have a fight tonight.” She placed a hand on the table and pointed at Mason accusingly. “How the hell did you know where I was? Did you follow me?”
“It’s a Friday night, and I was afraid my sister might get in trouble, so I pushed the fight till tomorrow.” He shrugged and turned his back on Bridgette as he moved around the table and took the empty chair that was sitting against the wall, between Ella and me, so Bridgette couldn’t join him. As he sat, he scooted the chair closer to me. “Tell her, Alec.”
“Uh… yeah.” Alec’s eyes darted at me but then focused on Ella. “So… add a burger to that order for me, too, please.” He glanced at the waitress.
“Yeah, sure.” The girl hurried off, leaving us alone with an angry, scorned lover.
“Are you being serious right now?” Bridgette leaned over the table, placing her girls on full display for Mason. “I invited you here, and you’re now turning me down.”
“Yup, that’s exactly right.” Mason pointed over to the group that was standing around across the patio. “You’re pretty enough. Someone else will take you home tonight.”
Her mouth dropped open, and she blinked a few times before storming off in the direction of her friends.
“You know what?” I needed to leave. His scent was making me dizzy, and my body betrayed me by leaning in his direction of its own accord, in an effort to be closer to him. “I think it’s time to go.”
“But we just got here.” Ella whined.
“Maybe we should sit over there and give them their girl time.” Alec winced as he waited for Mason’s response.
“Hell, no. I want to be here.” Mason’s eyes stared right at me.
“You’re being weird.” Ella arched her eyebrow at her brother. “Which is really saying something about you. I mean you’re crossing over a line of strangeness right now.”
“We can talk about it later.” Mason’s hand brushed my leg under the table, making my breath catch.
“I need to go to the bathroom.” I jumped to my feet and rushed off in the direction of the restaurant. At this point, I’d rather take my chances with the loud music and a crowd.
As I pushed past a group of guys, one of them reached out and snagged me by my waist.
“Hey there, gorgeous.” His words were slurred, and he was openly gaping at my breasts. “Where do you
think you’re going?”
“Hands off.” Mason’s dark, chilling voice broke through the loud music as he appeared, glaring at the man. “She’s not yours.”
The look on his face and his words implying I might belong to someone… to him… turned me on so damn much.
“Whoa.” The guy’s eyes widen as he took in Mason and dropped his hand from my waist immediately. “I didn’t know. You’re one damn lucky man.”
“Damn right I am.”
Needing distance, I turned and rushed to the bathroom. Right when I got into the small hall that lead there, a strong, warm hand touched my shoulder, gently turning me around.
“I can’t let you go in there. Remember what happened last time.” He stepped close to me, his eyes going straight to my lips.
“What are you doing here?” Every time I tried to run, he appeared.
“You know why.” He reached up and brushed a piece of my hair behind my ear. “I can’t get you out of my mind.”
“Try harder.” I had to be strong.
“The problem is I know you are attracted to me, too.” He took a step closer to me, making me dizzy. Our chests were almost touching.
In other words, he could smell my arousal. Scent is something that no one can fake. “We’re not right for one another.” He had to see that this couldn’t last.
“Then why does it feel like we are?” He brushed his chest against mine, and I turned, attempting to move around him, but instead, he pushed my back against the wall and trapped me within his arms.
I’d never been this turned on before. If I didn’t get my head on straight, I could wind up throwing caution to the wind and having a go with him right here and now.
“Dammit, you’re killing me.” He groaned as he leaned down, brushing his lips against mine once more.
I gasped as my body reacted, and I found myself licking his lips, tasting him. My wolf howled in approval and began to push to get free of me.
No, this can’t happen. I pushed him off of me so hard he flew into the other wall, and I ran back through the restaurant to Ella.
Her hazel eyes landed on me, and she stood. Understanding seemed to flicker in her eyes when she must have noticed Mason running to catch up to me. “All right, let’s go.”
Thank God I wouldn’t have to argue with her.
“What? No.” Mason almost yelled the words across the room.
It was so loud that Bridgette’s little group turned their attention to us, and Bridgette herself began to grin.
She planned on helping distract Mason from his thoughts of me like she had the other night. It pissed me off even though I had no right to be mad. However, my wolf had other ideas as she struggled to break free from her cage.
“I don’t know what the hell is up with you, but we’ll talk about this at home.” Ella glared at her brother and grabbed my arm, tugging me toward the car.
“Elena, wait.” There was a pleading undercurrent in his tone.
“Look, you can forget about me the way you did the other night.” I didn’t mean to be cruel, but I was hurt, and my wolf had almost gotten free. “She’s over there, waiting for you anyway.” I pointed at blondie who had bigger jugs than brains.
Something flashed across Mason’s face before it set back into the cruel demeanor he had when we first met. “Maybe I will.”
“Have fun with that.” I turned on my heel and headed to the car, slamming the door behind me.
Ella stood out there and chewed Mason out before climbing into the driver’s seat and pulling away.
The entire ride back was in silence.
When she pulled up at my house, she put the car in PARK and glanced at me. “I don’t know what to say besides sorry. He’s never acted like this before, and I don’t know what’s going on. I’d hoped to have a fun night with you, but instead, I feel like I messed up.”
“No, you didn’t.” I smiled despite the tears that burned my eyes. He was probably taking Bridgette right now in the back seat or his car. “It’s okay. I'll see you Monday.” I got out of the car and headed straight to bed.
So here it was, Saturday night. I was in my room, watching television. Today would’ve been a work day for me, but when Mona and Kassie found out about the vampire who’d been hanging around work, they pretty much decided for me that I’d better call in sick this weekend or they would show up and make a scene. They wanted me to stay away to see if that would discourage him.
For the first time in my life, I didn’t want to be home, but I refused to do anything I’d regret.
Our doorbell rang, startling me from my internal thoughts. Great, they must have ordered a pizza. I was starving.
I jumped off the bed and opened my door. It didn’t smell like food yet, but they probably hadn’t brought it in. I ran down the steps and stopped short when I saw him.
“Mason?”
His gaze landed on me. “Hey, sorry to come over unannounced, but I figured you wouldn’t talk to me otherwise.”
“You got that right.” Kassie chuckled and arched an eyebrow at me. “She’s a pistol.” Kassie tilted her head up, gazing at me. “You hadn’t mentioned you had made some friends.”
She meant hot guys. I wasn’t dumb. “Well, it’s because no one should know where we live.” I crossed my arms and leaned against the wall. “Stalker much?”
“Please ignore her.” Mona waved him in. “Come in and visit. She has poor manners. I had thought we raised her better than that.”
“Well, in all fairness, I deserve it.” He entered the house and went straight to the couch. “I’ve been a jerk to her.”
“So, you’re the reason why she came in all in a panic last night.” Kassie punched Mona in the shoulder. “We should’ve known it was due to a guy.”
“Will you two be quiet?” They were purposely embarrassing me and encouraging him. “Why don’t we go talk outside?” I made my way down the rest of the stairs and headed toward the kitchen.
His footsteps followed mine as I walked out the back door.
When he stepped outside, he laughed. “No wonder you kicked that guy’s ass.” His eyes were on our little training station.
“Uh… yeah.” Damn him. His voice caused a shiver. “So what do you want to say? I figured we said everything yesterday and that you had to make up with blondie.” It hurt to say the words, but I prevented myself from flinching. I had to get used to the idea of him with someone else.
“Who? Bridgette?” His focus landed back on me. “She and I are nothing. I told you I fucked up and I didn’t sleep with her last night. You hurt me, so I lashed out in retaliation. I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to explain yourself to me.” He needed to go, but I wasn’t sure how that was possible. He came to my house, and if I went back to my room, there was no telling what Mona and Kassie would do.
“Yeah, I do.” He huffed and scratched the top of his head. “Can we sit down for a minute?” He pointed to the two plastic chairs that were on the back porch.
“Okay.” I was going to ask how he found me, but we both knew that answer. Ella was getting yelled at as soon as I saw her. “I thought you had a fight tonight.’
“I do.” He huffed and gave me a small grin. “This is fucking ridiculous.”
“Then feel free to leave.” I waved him on. “You found me, not the other way around.”
“That’s not what I meant.” He rubbed a hand down his face. “Damn, you’re impossible.”
“Sorry if I’m not one of the girls throwing themselves at your feet.” I would never be that for him or anyone. I was my own person and strong enough to make it on my own.
“I’m not, but damn, you’re making me work for it.” He sighed. “Look, my life is… complicated. I’m not ready to tell you why, but there is a very good reason for me to try to stay away from you. However, Wednesday when Bridgette said what she did… the pain on your face…” He ran his hand through his short hair and growled. “It made me realize that I never wanted to make y
ou look that way again.”
He was shattering every wall I’d ever put in place with this one conversation. “This could lead to both of us getting hurt.” I had to warn him just like he had me.
“You’ve got some dark secret that you don’t want to share with me either?” He laughed until he looked at the expression on my face. “Oh, hell, you do.”
“It’s something that I don’t tell anyone.” He deserved to know it had nothing to do with him.
“So Ella doesn’t know either?” His forehead creased, and he frowned.
“The only two people who know are in that house.” I pointed in the direction of Kassie and Mona. “And the only reason they know is because they were there.”
“We can try to keep fighting this between us, but I don’t think we’re making much ground.” He sighed and tentatively held his hand out for mine. “I know being a jackass to you has been making me sick.”
Yeah, it wasn’t fun for me either. “I don’t know what the right answer is.”
“How about we just start with this?” He took a deep breath and gently placed my hand in his. “Will you please come to my fight tonight?”
“What?” That was probably the last thing I expected him to say. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah, I am.” He squeezed my hand ever so gently. “I haven’t been able to get you out of my head for weeks now. I need you to be there for me and Ella.”
“You and Ella?” Crap, his sister was going to be pissed. She thrived on the fact that I wasn’t interested in him. “She won’t like this.”
“She knows what’s going on.” He licked his bottom lip and sighed. “I got her permission before coming here.”
“And she’s okay with this?” I wasn’t, but our bond had already kicked in. The buzzing was stronger now with our joined hands. Even though we both hadn’t meant to kick start it, fate was intervening once again.
“If you don’t come tonight, I’m going to get my ass kicked. Having you near me helps me stay focused.” He snorted and shook his head. “All these years, and you just waltzed in and turned my life upside down.”