The Young & the Sinner: An Age-Gap Romance (The Entangled Past Series)

by V. T. Do

  “How many times did he hurt you?”

  “Too many to count.”

  She wrapped her arms around me and buried her face in my chest. “I’m sorry, Mason.”

  “Shh, baby. It’s not your fault.”

  “I’m still sorry it happened to you.”

  “It’s over now. I promise.”

  “Where is he now?” she asked, anger ringing out in her voice.

  I hesitated. “He committed suicide.”

  And it might be the way I said it, or the way my muscles tensed that prompted her to ask, “Why?”

  I pulled her tighter into me. “He was coerced.”

  There was nothing but silence in the room then. I felt her swallow before letting out a quick breath. “Who, uh… Who forced him?”

  My arms tightened around her unconsciously. I swore I would never tell what had happened that night to another soul. It wasn’t just me I needed to protect. I wasn’t the only one there that night.

  “You don’t have to tell me, if you’re not ready. Or if you don’t want to tell me. But I… you can trust me with anything, Mason. You know that, right?”

  I brought her closer to me and kissed her temple. “I know, baby.”

  “Good.”

  She settled more into me, and I knew she would have let it go, but… I wanted to tell her.

  “It was Max.”

  I felt her tensed. “You mean Max forced him to commit suicide?”

  I nodded. That was one way to look at it, I supposed. But no matter how it was said, the truth of the manner was, Max killed Terrance Hughes for touching me. And I was there to witness it all.

  Years later, I still didn’t think Max regretted his decision. I knew he never lost a good night’s sleep over it. But I questioned whether or not his death had helped me heal in some way, or if it had been all for nothing.

  Some days, I didn’t feel healed.

  Olivia was quiet for the longest time. And I didn’t know how she felt after finding out this truth about Max…

  About me.

  But then she seemed to be coming alive in my arms, crawling her way on top of me. She laid her head on my chest, and I wrapped my arms around her tiny waist, playing with the skin at the small of her back.

  “I don’t care.”

  “Olivia?”

  She shook her head. “No, listen to me. I don’t care. I don’t care that Max killed him, or even that you were there with him. I don’t care. I’m glad he’s dead. The world is a better place without him in it.”

  “Okay, baby,” I said soothingly. And I was glad. Glad she was able to see past all of this. Glad that I told her. And glad that she was mine.

  “I don’t want to talk about this anymore,” I said. “I think there are better ways for us to be spending our time.”

  And she probably couldn’t see the wicked smile I shot her way, but I knew she caught on to my intent just by the tone of my voice. If she hadn’t already, then the fact that I had one of her perky tits in my hand should have given me away.

  I pinched her nipple, and she sucked in a sharp breath.

  Olivia stilled for a quick second before she let out a sigh and moved closer to me.

  “Of course,” she said softly, primly. I bit my bottom lip to keep from laughing out loud. Only she could sound like this while laying naked in my arms. She tensed a little when I pinched her nipple again, twisting the hardened nub in my fingers, more roughly than I knew she was used to from me.

  She moved her small hand up to cover my own, but she didn’t do any more than hold it there, indecisive, as if she didn’t know if she wanted to pull me away or keep me close.

  My fingers clamped down on her nipple even harder, tugging the tip taut.

  “Mason,” she breathed out, her small protest mixed in with her desire in that one word.

  I moved in closer to her, tugging on her earlobe between my teeth, before whispering, “I’m going to show you all the ways a man like me can ruin and worship you at the same time. And by the time we’re done, all the bad shit between us will be nothing more than a distant memory.”

  “Okay,” she said on a sharp inhale. I smiled wickedly in the dark, right before I showed her all the ways we could break and put ourselves back together again.

  44

  Olivia

  I was meeting Mason for lunch today.

  My first semester passed by in a blink of an eye, and I was finally on winter break. It meant I had more time freed up to do with as I wished, and I wanted to see Mason.

  Ever since he confessed to me that night, I couldn’t help but look at Max differently.

  He had always seemed so responsible, so upstanding. I never even knew he was hiding such a dark secret. But that didn’t change my opinion of him. I still loved Max, and I loved him more for being the one to protect Mason.

  It made me thankful to have him in my life, knowing he would always protect me just as fiercely.

  I pulled up outside the office, and a coffee cart nearby caught my eye. Mason said he liked the coffee there. I supposed I should give it a try, though I wasn’t a big coffee drinker like Lizzie.

  Just as I opened the door, a cold breeze came through, and I shivered a little, pulling my jacket in closer to me. Our first snowfall came last week. And it was as if that opened the floodgates because we had three more days of snow since, and the snow never really went away, instead laying frozen on the ground in a black-and-white mess around the streets, creating icy patches everywhere.

  I moved out the car and closed the door. Just as I locked the car, my phone rang.

  I pulled it out from my pocket and as soon as I saw who was calling, I wanted to throw the phone away.

  My dad.

  I had his number saved on my phone as Michael. I couldn’t bring myself to call him Dad. Not anymore. And since that first phone call I received from him, he called me once every week. I always sent his calls to voicemails, and he always left one. I had deleted every single one without listening.

  I hadn’t told anyone about it, not Max or Lizzie, and not even Mason.

  But perhaps I should.

  If I told Max, I knew he could get my dad to leave me alone. And I think that was one of the reasons why I hadn’t told Max, yet. I didn’t know if I wanted my dad to leave me alone or not.

  I shook my head and put the phone back in my purse. Everything was so messed up right now, but I doubted I would solve it standing out here in the cold.

  I started to move to the coffee cart when out of nowhere I was hit on the shoulder by a mess of blonde hair and black clothes.

  I almost fell from the impact, and when I looked over to see who had hit me, I found a girl running away.

  It was below twenty degrees out, and this girl was dressed in nothing more than a thin black shirt and what appeared to be men’s black sweats, way too big for her.

  And I didn’t know why, but I gave chase.

  “Hey, wait up!”

  The girl moved faster. For such a tiny thing, she moved pretty damn fast.

  But I was faster.

  I caught up to her on the next block.

  She glared at me when I placed a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t touch me!”

  I raised both hands up. Despite her mean tone, I could tell she was scared of me. And I didn’t know what to make of that. I was the most nonthreatening person out there, and my earlier assumption was wrong, the girl wasn’t really tiny. She had at least three inches on me, though I probably weighed more than she did. Hell, Lizzie probably weighed more than she did, pre-pregnancy.

  My heart hurt as I took her in. She was around my age, and I think she was homeless.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

  She scoffed. “I wasn’t scared.” She looked me up and down, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. “What do you want.”

  “Huh? Oh, you probably think it’s weird that I chased you down the street.” I offered a smile, but it felt more like a grimace in my face.
>
  “Weird? I guess that’s one word to describe it.”

  My smile dimmed a little. “Sorry. We bumped into each other, and I was just checking to make sure you were okay.”

  “Well, as you can see, I’m still standing. Bye.”

  She turned to leave and I grabbed her shoulder without thinking. She glared at me, then at my hand touching her. I quickly pulled back.

  “Sorry. I just…” I looked at her clothes.

  Without thinking, I pulled off my coat and tried hard not to shiver. I was in nothing but my hoodie now. She frowned at me.

  “Um, it’s cold outside.”

  “I can see that,” she said drily.

  I almost smiled. This girl reminded me a lot of Lizzie, even though they looked nothing alike.

  “Why don’t you put this on?” I moved my coat closer to her. It was pretty new. Max bought me new coat every time the weather turned cold. I think I had three more in my closet still in good condition.

  She didn’t say anything for a while, and I really thought she would ignore me, but then she grabbed the coat and put it on. She was so lean it hung off her shoulders.

  I unzipped my purse next and pulled out my hat, gloves and scarf. They were things I never left the house without because I couldn’t tolerate the cold very well. Today, they came in handy.

  She eyed the clothes in my hand suspiciously, and I wondered what happened in her life to make her so cynical.

  When she finally grabbed the items from my hands, I let out a small sigh of relief and smiled at her. Her eyes softened, and one corner of her mouth tilted slightly upward. That was probably the most I could get out of her.

  I watched her put the rest on and was relieved to note she wasn’t shivering as much as she was before.

  “What do you want?” she asked cautiously.

  What did I want? I didn’t even know why I chased her down the street in the first place. I was lucky she didn’t punch me in the face for it, although she looked like she would the very moment I said the wrong thing and wouldn’t feel an ounce of remorse about it.

  I schooled my expression, pulled out my wallet and grabbed all the cash I had in there. It was around 300 dollars the last time I checked. I shoved the cash in her hand, and she stared at me in disbelief.

  “I know this is probably only going to last you a couple of days, but I hope you find somewhere warm and safe to stay tonight, and maybe a hot meal, too.”

  When she didn’t say anything to that, I offered a small smile and walked away.

  I was maybe fifteen feet away when I looked back, and the girl was gone.

  I didn’t know why I felt so empty afterward, even if I had done a good thing.

  By the time I got to Mason’s work again, I was shaking so bad, the security guard shot me a slight frown.

  He was here the first time I came here to visit Mason, and many times since. He knew why I was here, but I didn’t want to go up to Mason’s floor. I didn’t want to see the bitchy receptionist again, who, I suspected, liked Mason.

  I pulled out my phone and texted Mason, telling him I was here, and when he didn’t respond right away, I put it away and took a seat at one of the red recliners nearby, looking out the window. It wasn’t long after I sat down that I felt eyes on me.

  I looked up, and I didn’t know why, but my heart nearly gave out when I saw Logan just across the room, heading toward me.

  I sat up a little straighter.

  I hadn’t seen any of Mason’s friends since that night we went out on what was probably one of the most awkward nights of my life. I had no wish to repeat it, but it didn’t look like I had a choice.

  Logan stopped when he was about three feet away from me. He was just as handsome as I remembered. With beautiful hazel eyes and golden olive skin against dark brown hair, he was like the American dream come to life. Especially in that black expensive suit, white button-up shirt, and eye-catching deep blue tie.

  He wasn’t taller or bulkier than Mason, but I had never met a man who was. In fact, out of their little trio, Logan was the leanest, but he was in no way a small man. He just made friends with some pretty big people.

  He was taking me in with a sharp gaze, so I fidgeted a little in my seat.

  “Hi, Olivia. It’s good to see you again.”

  I offered a small smile I didn’t exactly feel, but I supposed seeing Logan again was better than seeing Gage, who was the most cynical of the group and was also the one who told Mason he didn’t think I’d fit in with him or his lifestyle.

  Logan, on the other hand, had been nothing but distantly respectful. But I didn’t think he approved of my relationship with Mason any more than Gage did. He was just more polite about it.

  “Hi, Logan. It’s good to see you, too. Are you heading out for lunch?” Hopefully soon, so we could put an end to this awkward conversation. I didn’t even know why he walked over to me. He could’ve pretended not to see me.

  “Yeah.” He let out a small laugh. “I drew the short straw and have to take the daughter of one of our biggest clients out to lunch.”

  “That sounds fun.”

  He grimaced. “No. Not at all. Carissa Johnson is nothing but a spoiled brat whose main goal in life is to marry rich.”

  I frowned, not really understanding. “Is she trying to marry you?”

  “Ah, no. I might make a pretty decent living now, but I am nowhere near in the tax bracket to be a potential future husband for her.”

  “Yet,” I added. I might not know a lot about law, but I knew corporate law was where all the big money laid.

  Logan smiled. “Hmmm. We’ll see, won’t we?”

  I nodded, not knowing what more I could add to that. I was sure he was going to make some excuse about running late, but instead, he fidgeted around with his sleeves before motioning to the seat next to mine with his head. “Can I sit down?”

  I shrugged, like I couldn’t care less. “Of course.”

  He quietly took a seat, setting his briefcase down by his feet. I watched the movement, noting that Mason had a similar briefcase as well.

  “I owe you an apology,” he said, surprising me.

  My eyes jumped to his in surprise. “What for?”

  “For the way I behaved the last time we met. I know you think I don’t like you, but nothing is further than the truth.”

  “Oh.” I really did think he didn’t like me.

  “I was… surprised when Mason brought you with him.”

  “Because of my age?”

  “In part, yes. And because of how innocent you are.”

  I scoff. “Says you.”

  He smiled, his eyes softening as he took me in, and I didn’t know what to make of that. “Mason’s different with you. I don’t know how to explain it, but he’s… lighter.”

  “Lighter?”

  “Yeah. I’m probably not explaining this very well. But Mason and I met during our undergrad years, did he tell you that?”

  I nodded. Because of how long they had known each other was one of the reasons why I wanted his friends to like me so much. And we all saw how that had turned out.

  “I know some things about his past, but not a lot of it. He doesn’t talk about it often, but I know enough to know he’s been carrying around a heavy weight on his shoulders for a while now. And I also know what your relationship with Max is like. I know how much you have come to depend on Max. I saw a problem there—a reason Mason could be hurt—and I didn’t like it. Mason is like a brother to me.”

  I frowned. “I would never hurt Mason.”

  He shook his head slightly. “I know. You would never hurt Mason intentionally. But what about when all this comes out to Max and he can’t accept it? Who would you choose?”

  “Choose? What are you talking about? This isn’t an either-or kind of situation. We plan on telling Max soon, and Max isn’t the kind of man to make me choose between him and his brother.”

  “I hope for both of your sakes, that’s true. But if it’s not
, you need to really think about who Mason is to you and how much he means to you.”

  Mason meant the world to me. But then again, so did Max. I hated that Logan might be right.

  When I didn’t say anything, Logan eyes softened. “I do hope things work out for you and Mason, Olivia. Because despite what you think, I do like you. I think you’re good for him. He’s happier with you.”

  “Thank you,” I said quietly.

  Logan nodded and stood up. “I better get going. Clarissa Johnson does not like to be kept waiting… for anyone.”

  He rolled his eyes as he said it, and I couldn’t help but grin at the grimace on his face.

  “I’ll see you soon, Olivia. And hopefully, the next time we all hang out, it will be better than the first.”

  “Yeah. Hope so.”

  I watched him as he walked out the front door, and I continued to stare even after he was out of sight, his words ringing in my ears.

  If I was forced to choose between the man I was in love with and the one man who had always been there for me, who would I choose? And would I end up making the correct choice? I didn’t know.

  I hated that I may actually have to choose, if Max couldn’t accept my relationship with Mason.

  45

  Mason

  I was nervous.

  In a lot of ways, being in a relationship with Olivia was a brand-new experience for me. In other ways, it wasn’t.

  I’d been in some relationships before. Casual ones, mostly. Ones that lasted a couple of months, ones that only lasted a couple of weeks, and even ones that lasted only one night, though I wouldn’t exactly call my one-night stands a relationship.

  I was the experienced one out of the two of us, and that meant Olivia looked to me to lead her. That meant that it was me who controlled the pace of our relationship, though I didn’t mind one bit. Call me a controlling bastard, but I liked being in charge.

  And having Olivia cede that control to me was a gift I would never abuse. But because of how young she was, I was afraid of pushing too hard. Of crossing some sort of line I had no business crossing in the first place.