by Apryl Baker
“Do you know what you want to order?” Heather and Jo were both staring at him in amazement. He ignored them and drank down half the cup.
“Pancakes.” Jo dumped some sugar in her coffee and added cream.
“My usual.” Finally, the jittery feeling in his stomach started to settle. He decided then and there to invest in a Keurig so he could survive waking up this early.
“Feeling better?” Jo asked, staring at him over the rim of her coffee cup.
He nodded. “Yeah. I don’t function well without coffee in the morning.” He pulled the second cup to him and doctored it with cream. He couldn’t stand sugar in his coffee, but he loved cream.
“I can see that.” There was an unmistakable smirk in her voice. He didn’t even have to look up to see it. Damn perky morning people.
He yawned and sat back. There was a definite smirk on her face. She was still sexy as hell even with those blue eyes of hers laughing at him.
“You need to email me your class schedule. I sent my email address in the text last night.” The smell of bacon and eggs assaulted him, and his stomach growled.
“Are you always going to be this grumpy in the mornings?”
“Yup.” He took another sip of his coffee. “You never told me what you were majoring in.”
“Psychology.” Her gaze swept over the diner, and he found he couldn’t rip his focus away from her. Damn, but she was gorgeous.
And she had a boyfriend, he reminded himself.
Asshole of a boyfriend, but still a boyfriend.
And she was Keith’s little sister.
“Why psychology? You have a huge YouTube channel. I thought you’d be doing something that could help you with that.”
“Human behavior fascinates me. I’ve even been thinking of getting my PhD in criminal psychology and working with the FBI.”
“My brother, Kade, used to work with the BAU.”
Her eyes lit up. “Really?”
“Yeah. He and Viktor own Kincaid Security and Investigations now.”
“How many brothers do you have?”
“Five.” He watched her eyes widen and laughed. “My family is just as big as yours. If I remember, you have three sisters and Keith.”
“Any sisters?”
“Thank fuck, no, but I do have three nieces now. Delia, Arielle and Rose. Rose is only a couple of weeks old. Delia is almost eight and Arielle isn’t quite a year. We’re already stockpiling weapons.”
“I think you have a few years yet.”
Conversation stopped when Heather brought their food. He thanked her and dug into his eggs and bacon, his stomach agreeing wholeheartedly. He loved food, but then all his brothers did.
“These are good.” She sounded surprised.
He looked up to see syrup dripping down her chin. Without thinking, he reached over and swiped it with his fingers and then sucked them clean.
He ignored her sharp intake of breath and his own shock. “They make everything from scratch.”
“You going back to bed after breakfast?”
“God knows I’m gonna try. My first class today isn’t until one.”
“I thought you said it was at ten.”
“Nah, that’s my Tuesday and Thursday class. I got them mixed up.”
“Mason!”
They both looked up to see a couple guys making their way over. It was some of his frat brothers. “Hey, guys.”
“You’re up early.” Mark Stevens leaned against the booth and eye fucked Jo. “I can see why, though.”
“Jo, these are my frat brothers, Mark, Scott, and Devin. Guys, this is my pseudo sister, Jo. She’s off limits.”
“Hey, Jo. Good to meet you.” Scott was the first one to recover from Mason’s snarled statement.
“Nice to meet you too.” She smiled, and Mason had the sudden urge to pull her across the table and tuck her into his side, away from his friends.
“She has a boyfriend.” The edge in his voice was a clear warning, and Scott took it as such. He’d had to knock the fucker out his first semester here. Idiot thought he could haze the new guy. Fat chance of that.
“I do.” Josephine looked at Mason like he’d grown a second head. He sounded almost jealous when the guys came over. That couldn’t be right, though.
“Yeah, but are you attached to said boyfriend?” the third guy, Devin, asked, a twinkle in his eye.
“I live with him, so I’m pretty attached.”
“Damn, girl, all the good ones got to be taken, don’t they?” Devin teased.
Jo wasn’t really paying attention to Devin. She was too focused on Mason. He looked pissed.
“She’s taken, so fuck off.” Mason turned his head so he could see them. “We’re eating. Go get your own table.”
Scott held out his hands in surrender. “Fine, grouchy. We’ll leave you the fuck alone.”
As soon as they walked away, Mason relaxed. “Stay away from those three.”
“Why?”
“Because there has been some shady shit go down at the frat, and those three are at the center of all of it. We can’t prove anything, but that don’t mean shit.”
“Noted.” She took another bite of her pancakes, careful of her hands. It would be her luck to spill something. “So, I was looking through your videos last night.”
Now, that got his attention. He stopped glaring at the guys a few booths away and turned his attention back to her. Jo had never seen anyone with eyes like Mason’s. They were a true black. You couldn’t tell where the pupil ended and the iris began. They were beautiful.
“You did?”
She nodded and sipped her coffee. “Yeah. You do some funny skits. I even saw a few Let’s Plays on there.”
“I only record the games I really want to play. The last two I did were Resident Evil Seven and Outlast Two. I typically keep it light and funny.”
“So, horror games are light and funny?”
“Well, no, but they made for some funny moments seeing me scream my ass off onscreen.” He smiled sheepishly. “I’ve been thinking of adding movie reviews as well.”
“I was thinking of doing movie reviews too.” Jo made a note to look up his playlist for those games. Mason screaming like a girl was something she definitely wanted to watch. She pushed her plate away, unable to eat anything else. “Think maybe you might want to go watch a couple movies with me, and we can do them together? Swap it from channel to channel each week, and that way fans don’t think we’re straying too far from the content they expect from us?”
Mason’s eyes got huge. “Really?”
“Really. Maybe give your channel a boost in the process. I figure if you can haul me back and forth from school, I can introduce you to my subscribers.”
“I’d like that.” He gave her a shit-eating grin. “I’d really like that, and not just because of the channel. I have a feeling you and I are gonna be really good friends, Josephine.”
“I could use a friend.”
He took her hand, his thumb stroking the back of it, sending a wave of shivers along her arm. “You got one, moye dragotsennyy.”
“What does that mean?” His accent was thicker today. She’d barely detected it yesterday. Keith told her Mason grew up in Russia, but hearing him speak it in that accent did things to her girly parts, and she felt a blush race up her neck and bloom on her cheeks.
Mason leaned forward, his black eyes intent. “You’re blushing, Josephine.”
“I, uh…”
“You two ready for the check?”
Jo took a shaky breath and pulled her hand from Mason’s, grateful for the waitress’s interruption. Spending time with Mason might not be the best idea after all, but she wasn’t about to back out of her offer to do a movie review segment for their shows. It wouldn’t be right.
“Sure thing, Heather.” Mason never looked away from her, and it made her blush run even hotter.
“Paying separate or together?”
“Together,” Mason answere
d before she could. When she opened her mouth to protest, he cut her off. “Don’t even think it. I asked you to breakfast, which means I’m paying.”
This was new for her. She and Ray usually split the check when they went out. He’d never offered to pay her half before. Her old boyfriend always footed the bill. She’d been with Ray so long, she’d forgotten what it was like to not split everything.
It was nice.
Once the check was taken care of, Mason dropped her at her building and drove off, presumably back to his frat to get some sleep.
She went inside and hurried to her first class, even though it was a little early. The smile on her face seemed to want to linger, and that was all because of Mason. She couldn’t help but compare him to Ray, and sadly, her boyfriend came up lacking. Didn’t mean she didn’t love him, only that she saw his flaws a little more clearly.
Taking out her laptop, she shot off an email to Mason with her schedule. She refused to let herself think about how much she was looking forward to seeing him later. It was only because she desperately wanted a friend.
That…and nothing else.
Chapter Five
Jo walked in her front door and threw her bookbag down beside the hallway table. It had been a long first week at school. Classes were harder this year too. So much homework. And she was taking a math class. She hated math. It was her biggest weakness when it came to school. Always had been.
Mason picked her up every morning, brought her home every evening. He ate lunch with her most days too. Sometimes he got caught up in frat business, and she’d had to wait for him once or twice. It was nice to have one friend. He never hit on her, even if he did flirt, but that was just Mason. He flirted with everyone. It was part of his charm.
And good Lord, but he was a goofball, always laughing and smiling. His attitude was infectious and rubbed off on her. It was why she’d walked in smiling. He’d made her belt out the lyrics to “Barbie Doll” along with him on the way home. The expressions and hand gestures he’d come up with to go along with the song were hilarious.
“Ray?” she called. His car was in the drive, so he had to be here somewhere. Not in the bedroom or the bathroom. Maybe he went to his parents’. Oh, well. It gave her a little time to edit some videos she needed to upload soon.
Going into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water, she saw the note sitting on the kitchen table.
Hey, Babe.
Dad and I are going fishing this weekend. Be back late Sunday.
Ray
She closed her eyes and counted to ten. He left her alone their first real weekend in New York. Didn’t even call to say goodbye, no text or anything. Just left a note.
Ray loved fishing, especially with his dad. She just thought maybe he wouldn’t leave her alone until she’d made a few friends to hang out with so she wouldn’t be so lonely.
It pissed her off.
She found a bottle of water in the fridge and stormed into her makeshift studio in the spare bedroom. The walls were bare, and she couldn’t record until she got the foam panels up to buffer the echoes, but she could edit what she’d done before dismantling her studio at home.
Turning on her computer, she tapped her foot as she waited for it to come on. Her cell rang, and she picked it up hoping it’d be Ray. Her brother’s face flashed across the screen instead.
“Hey, Keith.”
“Lil’ sis.” Keith yawned into the phone. “Whatcha up to?”
“Getting ready to do some video editing. My computer is being slow. I think it’s finally crapping out.”
“Make Mason look at it. He’s a whiz with those things.”
“I might. I can’t afford to buy a new one.”
“So, how are things working out with Mase? He looking out for you?”
“He’s been really cool. Takes me to and from school every day. I don’t think he’s much of a morning person, though.”
Keith laughed. “He’s not. Doesn’t like to get out of bed before noon if he can help it.”
“He’s like a zombie in the mornings, grumpy, growly, and rabid until he gets coffee. I think I’m going to buy some of those disposable coffee cups and bring him a cup in the mornings.”
“It might wake him up, but I’m guaranteeing he’d need more than one cup. We had to get up once for a class project at five in the morning. He walked around in a daze all day. Boy is addicted to caffeine.”
Jo smiled thinking of him stumbling around in the wee hours of the morning, coffee-free. She shook her head at the thought. “You know, Keith, I appreciate everything he’s doing, but it’s not fair to make him get up and haul me to and from school. I’m not even his sister.”
“But you’re mine, and if the roles were reversed, I’d do it for him in a heartbeat. Mason knows that. Plus, he likes you. He nearly took my head off when he found out who you were. He had a serious fanboy moment, there.”
“Really?” Jo frowned, thinking back to that first day. “He didn’t seem like it.”
“Mason’s good at covering up his feelings, but trust me, he was freaking out.”
“Huh.”
“So how you doing up there all by your lonesome?”
“It’s different, but I’m okay. Getting used to the school is taking longer. It’s so much bigger than the college I was attending. I got lost, like, three times already.”
“Well, it’s a good school. I checked it out to make sure. You didn’t need to be in that small college in the first place. You should have been at a university.”
Jo sighed. She hadn’t gone to a university because of Ray. She didn’t want to be so far away from him. Keith held that against him even though it wasn’t his fault. She’d made that choice.
“Well, I’m here now, so stop playing the blame game.”
Keith was quiet for a long moment. “What do you think of Mason?”
“What do you mean?”
“Just what I asked. What do you think of him?”
Jo frowned. Why would he be asking that? “He’s cool, like I said. Good guy. Funny. Why?”
“No reason.”
Her eyes narrowed. He sounded way too casual. “Keith…you’re not trying to play matchmaker, are you?”
“No.”
“Good, because I love Ray. I don’t know how else to get that through your head. I love him.”
“You love someone who puts himself before you.” This time there was no mistaking the anger in her brother’s voice. “Hell, even Mason saw that. Pissed him off, and he didn’t even know you.”
“Keith…”
“Don’t Keith me. I’m right about this. I’m hoping being around Mase will show you how a man is supposed to treat you.”
Jo ran a hand over her eyes. Her brother was never going to accept Ray. “Keith, I’m not arguing with you about this. Mason is just a friend. It’s all he’s ever going to be. If you start trying to shove your best friend at me, I’ll push him so far away, he won’t even remember my name!”
“Don’t do that, Jo.” Clear frustration poured out of her brother. “You need someone there to rely on. Mason is family to me and the only person I trust to take care of you when I can’t.”
Her temper flared. First, she came home to an empty house and an absentee boyfriend, and then Keith pointing shit out she was already seeing only made her madder.
“Then stop interfering and be my brother who loves me.”
He let out a long sigh. “I’m just worried about you.”
“I know.”
“Love you, Sis.”
“Love you too.”
She hung up with him a few minutes later and sat back in her office chair, exhausted. Physically and emotionally exhausted. It had been a hell of a week.
When the computer finally came on, she checked her email and dealt with some fan letters. Then she spent a couple of hours editing a few game segments and set them to upload. Once that was done, she checked the clock. It was only a little after five. Friday was her early day. She�
�d finished with classes at one.
She wandered through the house and finally flopped down in front of the TV just for the noise. She hated the quiet. She grew up in a house full of family, and all this silence was getting to her. Another quick look at her phone showed no calls or texts from Ray.
It irritated her.
He’d gone off and left without so much as a goodbye. She hadn’t told Keith because it would only be one more thing to fight about. And the last thing she wanted to do was fight with her big brother for trying his best to look out for her, even if it wasn’t needed.
Flipping through the channels, she found absolutely nothing to interest her. It was because she was mad. Mad at Ray, mad at Keith, and maybe even a little mad at herself. Jo knew Ray sometimes put himself ahead of her, but she loved him and overlooked his flaws. He loved her as much as she did him. Only he didn’t always show it so well.
And that was the problem that had been grating on her nerves for a while. She was hoping with this move, that would improve. Ray had always complained about the pressure her family put him under, and that was no longer an issue. He didn’t even have to talk to her family, and still he seemed to forget about her needs.
Jo understood her family’s frustration with Ray. If she were in their shoes, she would probably be yelling at her too, but they didn’t understand. She and Ray had gone through a lot. They’d shared something she’d never told her family about that cemented her loyalty to him. He’d been there, stood by her, and helped her get through it. He could be an ass, and she knew how he treated her wasn’t always right, but she’d decided a long time ago to stand by him because he had her.
Didn’t make her weak, blind, or stupid.
She owed him for keeping her whole when her world splintered apart around her.
Shaking her head, she turned the TV off. This was not distracting her from painful memories. She couldn’t afford to go down that rabbit hole. Not today while she was alone and feeling vulnerable. What she needed was a distraction.
On impulse, she called Mason. Maybe they could start their movie review segment tonight. He picked up on the third ring.
“Something wrong, Josephine?”