by Tia Siren
I still couldn’t get my mind off him. He was this force in my life that I hadn’t expected or been prepared for. Every time I started to do anything, I found myself dreaming about him and either the distant past or the most recent past, which was much steamier. It was more than that, though. My emotions were all over the place. Everything had gotten so confusing, and I wasn’t sure what to feel or if I was even allowed to have those feelings in the first place. Part of me wanted to talk to him about it, but the other part of me was terrified to do that. I still hadn’t spoken to him since that Saturday morning when I ran out of his place. Blair’s words kept ringing through my mind to call, to make the first move, but I wasn’t sure that was a good idea. What if he responded poorly? What if I’d been fooled by everything and he had only been trying to keep me quiet? I didn’t know if I wanted to deal with all that, not at this time in my life.
My nerves had been off the chart lately, so being brave like Blair and picking up the phone and calling him was not something I could even begin to fathom. I wished I was the girl who could be fearless, the one who walked around taking what she wanted, working through what was holding her back, and ultimately being the girl who had everything. I wasn’t that girl, though, and I had been fine with that up to when Mason and I had slept together again. I didn’t even know what I would say if I had the nerve to dial his number. Hell, I didn’t even know what I would say if he called me.
I drove up to my apartment and went inside, still thinking about Mason and the phone call I figured would never happen. Just as I got inside, though, my phone buzzed, and I pulled it out, figuring it was Blair. I froze in the middle of my apartment and stared down at Mason’s name on the screen. It was like he knew I was thinking about him.
“Hello,” I said, putting the phone to my ear.
“Hey, girlie,” Mason said happily on the other end. “Did I catch you at a bad time?”
“No,” I said, suddenly feeling out of breath. “I just sat down at home. What’s up?”
“I wanted to first say that I’m sorry I haven’t called you,” he said. “I wanted to, but I got really wrapped up in a bunch of stuff here, and I wanted to be able to focus on our conversation when I did call. Life always seems to work that way, at least mine does. Whenever I want to call someone, I can’t find the time, but when I’m busy, everyone calls at once.”
“I know, right?” I laughed nervously. “It’s okay, though. I actually finished my last final at school today. I just got home from it.”
“Congrats,” he said.
“Thanks.” I chuckled. “It was pretty easy. Anyway, I’ve been super busy myself with studying and finishing up a final project for another class. I wanted to call you too. I couldn’t seem to find a quiet moment that wasn’t at four in the morning after an intense study session.”
“Ah, the irony. Four in the morning would have been fine actually.” He laughed. “I haven’t slept much either since I saw you last. So, do you have to work tonight?”
“No. I don’t have any gigs until next week,” I replied. “I wanted to have a couple days to rest after finishing up the semester.”
“That’s probably a smart idea. Well, do you have plans tonight?”
“Nope,” I said, feeling anxious.
“Would you like to come over to the penthouse and let me cook you dinner again?”
“Um, yeah,” I said happily. “That sounds really great.”
“Awesome,” he said. “How about an hour from now?”
“Perfect,” I said, looking down at my sweatpants. “I’ll see you in an hour.”
I hung up the phone and raced to the shower, getting ready as fast as humanly possible. I didn’t know why, but I wanted to make sure I looked absolutely amazing. I headed over to his penthouse, and the concierge let me into the elevator, smiling sweetly. When I got to his door, my nerves bubbled up, and before I could knock, he opened it with a smile on his face.
“Hi,” I said, nervously laughing as he hugged me.
“Hey,” he replied. “You look beautiful, as always.”
“Thank you.” I didn’t need to see my cheeks get red because I could feel the heat creeping up in them.
“Come on in and sit down,” he said. “I made homemade pizza.”
“Yum.”
We sat down at the table and put our napkins in our laps. He served me a piece of pizza and one for himself and smiled at me across the table. I didn’t think I had been this nervous since I was a kid.
“So, what are you going to school for?” he asked, biting into his pizza.
“Oh, I, um, am going to NYU Law to become a lawyer,” I said reluctantly, not wanting him to know the reason why.
“What kind of lawyer do you want to be?”
“A corporate lawyer,” I said. “Mainly working with business fraud and things like that.”
“Wow. Well, you’re already doing a good job at the detective work.” He chuckled nervously.
“Yeah.” I thought it best to leave out the whole part where I’d planned to ruthlessly take out his family.
“I always thought law was fascinating, so many different parts to it that are all connected,” he said. “I could never be a lawyer. Too much to remember, and I’ve never been good at holding my tongue.”
“No, you haven’t,” I said. “Like in middle school when you let that kid have it in the middle of history class.”
“Ronnie Bergman,” he said, laughing. “He deserved it.”
“How about you? Are you going to take over the hotel business?” I needed the subject to change.
“Actually, since you asked, I’m in the process of starting my own company,” he said proudly. “A technology company that I have a ton of ideas for. That’s what I’ve been doing, getting all that on paper.”
“Is your dad helping you with that?”
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “It is one hundred percent my idea and my work behind it. I’ve had meetings with everyone on the books, including investors, and everything looks like it’s a go. I’ve never wanted to take over for my dad. You know that. And after everything he did to your family came to light, I knew it was time to make a break. I haven’t been back in the office since Friday, and I don’t know if I can do it. It’s been a difficult decision on one hand because of my mother, but on the other hand, it was simple because I knew my future was somewhere else.”
“Wow,” I said, impressed. “How long will it take to get things up and running?”
“Just a few weeks now,” he said. “I already have a bid in on a building outside Manhattan, and the investors are on board for when everything goes through. I was really surprised by how fast everything is moving, but in a few weeks, I’ll be free of my father and able to go on with my life the way I want to live it. And with the people I want to live it with. It’s been a long time coming, really.”
“Wow,” I said, smiling. “I am really happy for you.”
He went on about the company, his ideas, and the technology he wanted to bring to consumers. He was so excited and motivated, and I had to admit, it took me back a couple steps. Still, I couldn’t help feeling guilty. Little did he know, my plan was to take down his father, which of course would affect him too. Now that I knew he had nothing to do with it all, I felt almost like I couldn’t do something like that to him. I tried to shake the feeling as we finished dinner and sat down on the couch with a glass of wine.
“I was thinking,” he said. “Why don’t you stay the night? We don’t have to do anything. Just stay with me.”
I really wanted to say yes, desperately, but I could barely look him in the eyes. My heart was pounding in my chest, and though I wanted to kiss him, I knew I couldn’t stay any longer. I looked down at my watch and back at him, putting my glass on the table.
“Actually, I didn’t realize how late it was,” I said, standing up. “I have to meet my parents really early in the morning, and I can’t be late this time. It’s better that I head home. I hope y
ou understand.”
“Of course,” he said, walking me to the door.
“Thank you for dinner,” I said.
“You’re welcome.” He bent down and kissed my cheek. “Text me when you make it home.”
“Will do,” I said as I left his apartment.
I stepped into the elevator and waited until the doors closed before leaning back and groaning. Everything was so complicated, and I couldn’t even talk to my parents about it. If I couldn’t do that, then how in the hell would Mason and I ever be able to actually be together? It would take changing every part of my plan plus figuring out how to end this family feud. My mind was so clouded, I didn’t even look up when I left the hotel. I would have kept walking except the flash of a camera caught my attention. There were paparazzi outside the hotel, and they had just taken a picture of me.
“Oh shit,” I said, covering my face and running straight to the cab in front of me. “Just drive me to my car in the parking garage,” I told the driver.
This was definitely not a good thing.
Chapter 25
Mason
Since I had so much happen over the last week and I had no meetings until that afternoon, I had decided sleeping in was the best course of action for that morning. The whole night, I had dreamed of Ava, but not in the sexual way as before. I had been with her, truly with her, and we were a happy family of our own. It was an amazing way to spend my night, but that was quickly ripped away when I woke up to a dozen missed calls from my mother and father. My mother’s voice mail was full of anger and yelling, and the only thing I could make out was tabloid and Ava.
Immediately, I panicked and jumped out of bed, heading into the living room. I turned on the television to the tabloid channel and watched, waiting to see what my mother was talking about. Then it happened. A video popped up on the screen with the words, “Did Mason York rekindle an old love, or was it just another one-night stand?” On the screen, I watched as Ava exited the hotel, completely in another world. When she realized there were paparazzi, she covered her face and jumped into the cab sitting on the curb. The paparazzi took pictures of her as the cab sped up into the parking garage. They replayed the video probably four times as I backed up slowly and plopped down on the couch. I couldn’t believe my eyes, and though my first instinct was to check on Ava, the woman on the screen started talking, making things even worse.
“Just last night, we caught wind of a possible love match no one saw coming,” the news anchor reported. “Ava Spencer, whose father is the former owner of Spencer Hotels, which had gone down in financial flames after its fall a decade ago, was spotted leaving the famed York Hotel. This would be no big deal except for the fact that bachelor and notorious playboy, Mason York, lives in the penthouse suite. The two have been rumored to have had a romantic relationship when they were teenagers. We wonder if the same is true now, or is she just another girl in the rotation of Mason York’s scandalous love life?”
I clicked the television off and stared at the black screen. I couldn’t even believe what I had seen. It was obvious Ava didn’t do it on purpose, and now my parents knew I had been talking to her.
“Goddammit!” I yelled, flinging the remote.
I breathed deeply, trying to get myself put back together. I needed to do damage control, and quickly, before everything fell apart. I picked up the phone and scrolled down to my mother, figuring I could deal with my father later.
Dammit, how did everything get so out of control? God only knew what my father was going to have to say, especially knowing he was the cause of the whole family feud in the first place. He would try to get out of it, try to blame everything on me or Ava’s mother. At this point, there was no way I could fight with him without letting him know I knew about everything he had done to Ava’s family. I wasn’t ready for that yet.
“Mason York,” my mother screamed as soon as she answered the phone. “I have been trying to call you for hours.”
“I know,” I said. “I was asleep. And before you say it, I saw the story on Ava. I could barely understand your voice mail, but I got the message loud and clear.”
“I have a hard time believing that.” She scoffed angrily. “You would have thought that ten years ago when we got into this feud with that family in the first place, you would have gotten the message loud and clear to stay away from the Spencer family, and that included Ava. I cannot believe you would go against your father’s and my wishes like that. Was that the girl you were talking about at dinner that night?”
“Mom,” I said, trying to calm her down.
“Mason York, I cannot believe that after everything, you slept with that girl,” she said loudly.
“I didn’t sleep with her,” I said calmly. “We just had dinner.”
Technically, I wasn’t lying because we’d only had dinner last night. There was no reason to bring up Friday night and add to the madness that was ensuing. My mother needed to calm down. After ten years, there shouldn’t still be that much hostility from her toward the Spencer family. I was an adult, and I knew what I should and shouldn’t be doing, but that didn’t make any difference to her. She was livid and thinking of me like I was still a teenager. The worst part was, my mother didn’t even know what she was really defending. I couldn’t believe she would be part of the conspiracy. She was still mad about the plastic surgery leak, which was ridiculous after so much time had passed, and that leak had nothing to do with Ava anyway.
“Do you know what this looks like to the family?”
“To the family? What it looks like?” I scoffed. “You mean because the media thinks I’m dating a girl from Brooklyn? Or because the people around you think I betrayed you because of the plastic surgery story? Which is it, Mother?”
“What does that matter?”
“I guess it really doesn’t because they’re both completely ridiculous reasons for me not to spend time with Ava,” I said.
“The only reason you need is the fact that your father is losing his mind,” she said angrily. “So you’re going to do exactly as I say to fix this little problem. You’re going to call my friend at the Post and tell them you’re not in any romantic relationship with Ava Spencer. You’re going to tell them she has been stalking and harassing you for some time, and you were trying to keep it out of the media, but now you have no choice.”
My mouth dropped open, and I sat there gripping the phone tightly in my hand. I couldn’t believe what had just come out of my mother’s mouth. Never in a million years did I think my mom was capable of such a deceitful lie. Maybe it wasn’t even her lie. Perhaps it was my father’s and she was just the messenger. Either way, the thought of damaging Ava like that made me sick to my stomach. Did my mother really think I would stoop that low and hurt and possibly ruin a girl’s life because of her and my father’s petty anger? Ava should be treated with kid gloves after my father destroyed her family, not pushed even further down in the mud.
“You are insane,” I whispered. “Is this your plan or Father’s?”
“It is the York family plan now,” she said. “It doesn’t matter who the order came from. It will be done, and it will be done right now. There is no way I can let this continue to go on.”
“I will not do it,” I said. “It isn’t the truth. Do you know what that would do to her? She could get kicked out of school, lose her job. It could trample her future. That is completely unacceptable. Don’t you think she and her family have suffered enough?”
“So you’re more worried about her family than ours?”
“We don’t have to protect ourselves,” I yelled. “It’s a fucking tabloid. You are out of your mind, you and Dad both.”
“Fine,” she said, clearing her throat and collecting herself. “Then I will do it my damn self.”
“Think about what you’re doing here,” I said. “You are ruining the life of a girl who has already gone through hell after Spencer Hotels was demolished. She watched her parents barely make ends meet and is working he
r ass off to get through school. You mean to tell me you would rather save face than give Ava a chance to make something out of her life?”
“It’s a cruel world, Son,” she said. “You know I don’t have a choice in this. The order has come down from your father, and there’s no way either of us are going to get out of it.”
“That’s bullshit,” I yelled. “He’s just a man. He’s not the king or the maker of rules. He is only a man. He has no right to make this call, and neither do you.”
“I do what I damn well please,” she said angrily.
“Fine, but if you so much as speak Ava’s name to any of the tabloids or papers, I will disown you as my mother,” I said. “I will never speak to you again.”
“You wouldn’t dare,” she said. “What pool would you swim in? Where would you find money to buy all those drinks at the bar? You’re comfortable in your life, and I know you better than you think. You wouldn’t give all that up just to protect some girl?”
“Don’t test me, Mother,” I growled. “I’m not afraid of making it on my own. In fact, I would prefer that so I wouldn’t have worry about you and Father destroying people’s lives.”
“What are you talking about?” She scoffed. “We’ve never destroyed anyone’s life.”
“I’m not kidding. If you speak her name, I’m out of here,” I said, shaking.
I waited as my mother remained silent on the other end of the phone. She was starting to understand that I was not playing around. I was not going to let my father bully me or anyone else ever again. I had strong leverage in my threat, and I knew it. I was my mother’s only child, the only one my father would allow her to have. I meant the world to her, and even though I didn’t want it to come to that, I was willing to stand up for what I believed in. I was ready to let go of the whole damn family if it meant Ava would be protected. I couldn’t let something like this happen to her, not after everything she had been through with my family. Not to mention she would never speak to me again if it happened.