by Anthology
“Mason,” she said in a husky voice when she reached us. “Who’s the flavor of the week?” She nodded in my direction but didn’t remove her predatory eyes from him for a second.
“Congratulations on the new job. How’d you weasel your way into that one?”
She flicked her long hair behind her shoulder then rested her hand on her hip. “Oh, you know me. Never one to let an opportunity pass me by.”
“I do remember you being quite the opportunist,” Mason said and there was venom in his voice. “Where do you wanna do this?”
“Used to be you wouldn’t even ask. You’d take me wherever you wanted me, didn’t matter who was around. It’s nice to be the one giving you direction for a change. Let’s head back this way for some privacy.”
“Cut the bullshit. Let’s get this over with.” Mason leaned over and gave me a chaste kiss on the cheek. “I’ll be back in a bit, babe. You okay to stay here?”
I nodded and tried to check the impulse to claw Rebecca’s eyes out. I knew these two had history and as much as everything they said indicated they didn’t like one another, I couldn’t help thinking their feelings were too intense to say that they’d both moved past it.
Troy watched them walk away and when they were out of earshot turned to me. “Better watch out for that one, Ellie. She’s a viper. If Mason comes back anytime soon can you tell him to find me? We have a couple things to discuss.”
“Yeah, sure.” What’d he mean if?
I polished off my drink, got another one and returned to my seat only to see that Little Mac was on the sofa. I glanced around but there were no other free seats. I reluctantly headed over to sit beside him and did so without acknowledging his presence.
“Saw Mason and Becca leave together. Those two hot and heavy again?”
I whipped my head around in his direction and flashed him a bitchy look. “You know they’re not.”
He chuckled. “I see he didn’t fill you in before he ran off alone with her.”
I was beginning to see why Mason had no love for this guy. He was an irritating little shit. “Do you have a point?”
“He and Becca used to be inseparable. She went everywhere he did. It was sickening to watch them all over each other. Shit, they must have been together for at least a year or two. He was messed up after they split. Not that we’re tight or anything but everyone knew she broke his heart.”
“That’s in the past.”
“You sure about that? I saw her earlier and she was asking me about him. Seemed real interested. Becca doesn’t quit easy when she wants something.”
Was she hitting on him right now? No. I stopped myself right there before my thoughts turned in that direction. Mason had made it clear that he wouldn’t do that to me.
“Aww, don’t worry, sweetheart. I’m sure he’s not interested in wettin’ his whistle in that again. You’re pretty hot, too. Though, I gotta say…she was looking pretty smokin’ in that dress tonight.”
My chest tightened making breathing difficult. I stood quickly. “I need to use the bathroom.”
I didn’t wait for him to answer, making my way to the bathroom as fast as possible. I sat on the closed lid of the toilet trying to gain my composure and gather my thoughts. I hated that I let that jerk get a rise out of me. It’s not that I thought Mason was going off to have a quickie with her or anything…but what if being around her again brought old feelings to the surface for him again? Made him remember the good times they’d shared. I didn’t know the details of what had happened, but I knew it had ended badly. Regardless, if they’d been together that long there were a lot of good times, too. Remembering them might make him realize of how much he used to love her, or maybe still did in some way. I couldn’t compete with her. She was off the charts beautiful in a way I’d never be.
I leaned forward so my head was between my legs and took some deep breaths. I needed to get myself together. I couldn’t let this jerk fill my head with bullshit.
It dawned on me that Little Mac would be good for one thing. He liked to talk…maybe I could get a better idea of what went wrong between Mason and Becca. Mason would tell me if I asked, but I didn’t want him thinking I was being a jealous lover—whether or not that was the truth.
I made my way back to where I’d been seated to see Little Mac still there. I sat down beside him and leveled my gaze at him.
“So when does your new album come out? You mentioned it earlier.” I figured if I fed his ego a bit it’d be easier for me to pump him for information. It seemed my instincts were right. A big smile crossed his face and he grabbed my drink from the table, passed it to me and leaned back, stretching his arm along the back of the couch behind me. It wasn’t so brazen that I could tell him to knock it off—he wasn’t touching me—but I leaned forward anyway in the hopes my body language would indicate I was not interested in him in that way at all.
“It drops next month. That shit is gonna be epic.”
“How long have you been doing hip-hop?” I asked and took a sip of my drink. I was gonna need more of these if I had to listen to this egomaniac’s drivel.
I needn’t have bothered—I didn’t remember anything after that anyway.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Yelling. Someone was yelling and the sound beat the inside of my head like a drum. I moaned and covered my head with my hands to drown out the sound. Was that a pillow under my head? I grabbed it and brought it down over top of me.
The mattress beside me moved, bouncing up and down like someone couldn’t decide whether they were getting on or off. Still with the shouting.
I might have drifted off for a second again but a hand shoved my shoulder. I tried to ignore it and the queasy feeling the jostling gave me. A hand pressed into the back of my shoulder again but harder this time.
I groaned and rolled slowly over onto my side. I tried opening my eyes but they wouldn’t cooperate. Lead weights must’ve been tied to my eyelids they were so heavy. On my second attempt I was able to open them little more than slits. It took a minute for my vision to focus on what was in front of me.
Mason stood glaring down at me, fury evident on all his features. He grabbed my arm and hauled me out of bed. I stood in front of him and realized for the first time that my pants were missing. What the hell?
“Your playmate’s still out cold,” Mason said, his voice seething with rage.
I looked around and realized I didn’t recognize my surroundings at all. We were in a trailer, but this didn’t look like the one Mason had been using. I was pretty sure his had dark wood, not bleached oak like this one. I turned and looked behind me to see Little Mac passed out in the bed, his bare chest visible before the sheet cut off the view at his belly button.
My knees buckled and I slumped onto the ground. What the hell had happened to me? Mason crouched down in front of me to look me in the eyes.
“Was it all a game from the beginning? Did he put you up to it from day one, or you get what you needed and move on to the next sucker?”
“Mason, I—”
“Save it. I don’t even want to hear it. I can’t believe I ever trusted you. Did you plan to meet me all along once you found out who was renting the beach house? Your mom give you some lessons on how to land a rich guy?”
My heart cracked into a million pieces as I sat there listening to Mason and the venom behind his words. Hot angry tears ran down my cheeks. I couldn’t stay in this room any more. I wanted to physically distance myself from whatever had happened here.
I stood and Mason followed suit. My head spun for a moment and I had to take some deep breaths to clear my vision. I looked around frantically for my pants. I needed out of here. I couldn’t stand being in that room for one more second.
“Nothing to say for yourself?” Mason spat at me.
“I don’t know what happened. I don’t remember coming here. The last thing I remember I was sitting on the couch talking to Little Mac.”
“Oh, I heard all about you
two on the couch. How do you think I found you?”
“Mason…” I croaked out.
“Fuck! FUCK!” he yelled and turned to punch the wall, leaving a gaping hole.
“Someone must have put something in my drink. That’s the only explanation!”
“Jesus Christ, Ellie. What are you a fucking teenager? Save your excuses. I’m not buying what you’re selling anymore.”
“I’m telling you the truth!” I yelled, cringing at the pain it caused.
“Why are you trying so hard to make me believe it? You have a little more planned for me? Feel like pulling the wool over my eyes a little longer? I really didn’t take you for an opportunistic bitch but I guess we’re all wrong sometimes.”
“Stop saying horrible things to me.”
“You’re right. You’re not worth the breath.” He started to turn away but stopped and glared at me again. “I hope you weren’t counting on this guy being you’re next conquest because I gotta tell ya…you couldn’t have picked a worse one. This guy’s fucked and chucked every girl he’s ever been with.”
I couldn’t form any words around the painful lump that had formed in my throat. I shook my head back and forth as my only form of denial.
“I don’t wanna have to look at you ever again.” His voice was devoid of emotion now and somehow that was worse than his anger. “Get your shit from the hotel and get out of my life, Ellie.”
I couldn’t believe that this man who’d been so understanding couldn’t find it in himself to consider that I was telling the truth. Not only was I dealing with what felt like a betrayal from him, but I’d been violated. In what way I didn’t know yet, but that didn’t matter. Instead of supporting me and offering me comfort he was cutting me down.
“Screw you, Mason! You don’t want to believe me? Fine. I’m gone!” In a daze of heartbreak and fury, that’s exactly what I did.
Skye and Katie were waiting on my front porch when I arrived home from the airport. I’d texted them on my way to the airport and given them the rundown of what had happened—at least what I could remember of it. Thankfully my mom and Ralph were out so I’d be able to put off dealing with them until later.
The skin underneath my eyes was puffy and raw. I’d cried the entire plane ride home, trying my best to do it quietly so other passengers wouldn’t notice. The flight attendant probably thought I was an emotionally unstable woman—which might not have been too far from the truth.
“You look like hell,” Katie said as I made my way up the walkway.
“Gee, thanks. Kick a girl when she’s down why don’t you.”
“Come on. Let’s go in and pour you a nice stiff drink and you can tell us all about it,” Skye said.
I burst out crying again. Alcohol was what had gotten me into trouble in the first place. I didn’t want to see, smell, think, or hear about it. Skye and Katie took my keys, opened the door, and got my bags inside. They led me to the couch and let me cry for ten minutes without complaint, sitting on either side of me rubbing my back. I had great friends, which somehow made me cry harder.
“I don’t know what happened. One second I’m sitting beside this guy and we’re talking and the next I’m half-naked in bed with him and Mason is yelling. Someone must have put something in my drink. That’s the only explanation.”
“Do you think you guys…you know?” Skye asked.
“No! I can tell we didn’t have sex but I must have been half-naked for a reason.”
“And Mason wouldn’t let you get an explanation out?” Katie asked.
“That’s the worst part. He didn’t believe me. Didn’t even try to hear me out.”
“Maybe once he cools off he’ll listen,” Skye suggested.
I shook my head. “You guys didn’t see him. He wasn’t even that angry when his mom was arrested. After all the horrible things he said to me I don’t even want him to try.”
“Well, screw him then,” Katie said emphatically.
I burst into tears. Skye went to the bathroom to grab me some tissue. I blew my nose and wiped under my eyes.
“It’ll be okay, Ellie. You’ll be okay,” Katie said with confidence in her voice.
“I loved him!” I blurted out without thinking. “How is it going to be okay when I loved him and now I have to be without him? How could he think any of those things about me?”
It was the truth. I was in love with him. I’d been so busy fighting my feelings and trying not to need him that I’d been blind to what was right in front of me the whole time.
“We know you’re not like that sweetie. It’s his loss.”
Fresh tears escaped my eyes when I thought I’d had none left. There wasn’t anything left to say. Mason was just another in a long line of men who’d let me down. It had started with my dad, continued with my stepdads, and now the only man I’d ever loved.
I laid myself down on the couch surrounded by what was left of my support system until I drifted into a fitful sleep out of pure physical and mental exhaustion.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
My head felt like it’d been split open with an axe when I woke. Not sure if it had more to do with the bottle of Jack I’d polished off last night or the image in my head of Ellie lying in bed with that douche bag. I’d gone and gotten as shit-faced as possible after she’d left, not wanting to deal with crushing weight of betrayal bearing down on me. I think I remembered Troy and Jas stumbling upon me at some point, trying to get me to go easy. Obviously they’d failed.
I hated myself for turning to the bottle to deal, but I hadn’t seen any other way to turn off the images of Ellie and Mac scorched in my brain. That was the problem with the bottle that my mom had never figured out; the relief it provided only lasted as long as you had your lips fused to it. The emotions you were avoiding always came roaring back to life the next day.
I didn’t understand how I could’ve been so wrong about Ellie. Was I a complete moron? Had there ever really been feelings on her part or was it all some kind of game to her? I had so many questions scrambling my mind I couldn’t think straight. The pain and desolation was unlike any I’d experienced before. Why with him? Why with the one person most guaranteed to ensure that I could never forgive her, regardless of how much I cared for her.
There was a knock at the hotel room door loud enough to wake the people next door. It sent the jackhammer working in my head into overtime.
I peeled my body up off the bed as fast as was possible, which wasn’t fast at all, and shuffled to the door. I didn’t give a flying fuck who it was I just wanted the banging to stop. For the love of God make it stop!
I unlocked the dead bolt and swung the door open to find Troy standing there freshly showered, looking like he’d gotten his full eight hours in.
“You look like shit,” he said. I didn’t bother responding. I turned to shuffle my way slowly back to the bed to lay down. “I came to make sure you were still alive.”
“You can see I am. You can go now.”
“I can see you’re technically alive although you might want to consider a shower before we head to the airport.”
“Whatever, man. I don’t care what I look like right now.”
“Right, well, we still have business to discuss even if you’re nursing the mother of all hangovers. She’s not worth it, Mason. Look what she did to you.”
If shouting at Troy wouldn’t have split my skull in two I would have let fly, but I’d be the only one in pain for it. “I don’t wanna talk about it.”
“Well, we have to talk about the offer for the reality show. Have you given it any more thought?”
“Yeah, Troy. I think I thought about it between shot number twenty last night and puking my fucking guts out. Oh, wait. No, I didn’t.”
“No need to bite my damn head off. I’m the one trying to keep your career on track—not throw you under the bus.”
He was right. He’d done nothing but help my career from day one. Turns out he’d been smart to be looking out for me wher
e Ellie was concerned. He’d seen something that I’d been too blind to. “Sorry, man. Just a lot running through my head right now.”
“So…should I call the producers and tell them you’re in?”
“No. You can tell them I’m not interested in doing the show anymore. Make my apologies. Mac can have the damn show if he wants it.”
I was lying on the bed with my eyes closed so I couldn’t see him but I heard him stomp closer to the bed. “What do you mean you don’t want the show? I figured with Ellie out of the picture for good you’d have come to your senses.”
“It has nothing to do with Ellie. I don’t want to do the show. I’m not interested in showing the world a fake version of Mason Nash. Some version production has decided the world wants to see. I’ve had enough of people misrepresenting themselves and I want no part in doing it myself.”
“Mason, you’d be a fool to throw this opportunity away. This could open up a lot more doors for you.”
“Then I’m a fool. Ellie taught me there’s more to life than just work and becoming bigger, better, and richer.”
“Why don’t I see if I can put them off for a day? You’ve had a lot to deal with. You should think about it with a clear head.”
“I don’t know what you’re not getting here—I’m not doing the show. Not now, not next week, not next month. It doesn’t matter. I want no part of it.”
Troy was silent for a minute so I reluctantly opened my eyes to be sure he was still there. He was standing at the end of the bed, his face flushed in anger.
“Don’t do this, Mason. Don’t throw this away because you got addicted to some pussy and now you’re thinking no pussy is ever gonna feel as good. Believe me—they all feel good. After a while you’ll forget all about her.”
He didn’t have the first clue what it felt like to be with someone who was like the other half of you. The missing puzzle piece. What was I saying? It was none of that…that was only what I imagined it to be.
I didn’t have the energy or desire to argue with him about it. “Just go, Troy. I don’t want any company right now.”