The Price of Mason

by Linda Kage

  She made sure everyone was fed well and she led us in singing the birthday song. Then she sort of steered the conversation and suggested when it was a good time to open presents.

  She and I somehow ended up sitting on the loveseat next to each other as Mom helped Sarah open her gifts. Reese and I had coordinated our present buying to go together. I had gotten a charm bracelet, and Reese had gotten a charm to go on it.

  But when Sarah got to Reese’s present and unwrapped it, there were actually two more boxes to unwrap inside that.

  I leaned close, scowling. “You got her two things?”

  Grinning smugly, Reese swept her hair over her shoulder. “Of course.”

  I sniffed. “Suck-up.”

  “You know it.” She knocked her knee against mine, proud of herself.

  I just shook my head. And then I nearly laughed when Mom saw the makeup kit Reese had gotten my sister. I doubt Mom had ever even considered her baby girl growing up enough to wear makeup. The dread in her expression was priceless.

  Reese didn’t seem to mind my mom’s reaction though; she just grinned at me as Mom helped Sarah attach her new charm to her bracelet, and she said, “Do we make a good present-giving team or what?”

  She offered me a fist bump, which I couldn’t turn down. We’d just knocked our knuckles together when the door flew open and Satan entered…carrying a huge birthday present wrapped in Mickey Mouse paper.

  I stopped breathing, not sure what to do. I wanted to stand up, grab Reese, and haul her out of the house. But then, I didn’t want to leave Sarah and Mom behind with Patricia either. The landlady could be perfectly pleasant whenever she was in the mood, but I had no idea if this was going to be one of those days or not.

  I found myself watching Reese’s expression as she studied Patricia from head to toe. She probably wasn’t expecting someone who looked so well put together, but Patricia had style, and it seemed to intimidate Reese.

  I pressed my knee to hers, trying to get her to look away or at least look at me. I could almost see every thought in her head as she tried to picture me and Patricia together. It made my stomach churn with unease.

  I was about to lean in and beg her to stop thinking about it when she actually swayed my way and whispered, “Who’s he?”

  Huh? He? With no idea what she was talking about, I turned toward the doorway only to find some guy entering the house behind Patricia as if he were here with her.

  “No clue,” I whispered back, furrowing my brow, because seriously, who was this guy?

  “Everyone,” Patricia announced. “I’d like you to meet my fiancé, Ted. Ted, this is Dawn. She’s been my tenant for what feels like forever.”

  I have no clue what they said after that, my brain was too busy buzzing over the word fiancé.

  But fiancé?

  No.

  No way.

  She hadn’t mentioned anything about a fiancé a few days ago when she’d tried to get me to come over. I was so confused. But also relieved. Mostly relieved. If she had that guy to keep her occupied, she wouldn’t have any time to bother me.

  I suddenly didn’t care who he was, I didn’t care if the fiancé claim was a complete lie; I just hoped it helped get her off my back.

  I turned blindly to Reese, needing to share my relief with someone. “Thank God,” I mouthed.

  She snickered and squeezed my knee, only to whisper, “Guess you won’t be needing my protective services today after all.”

  “And Reese,” Patricia broke in, dragging her poor fiancé behind her. “I had no idea you’d be here today. Hello, again.”

  Wait. What?

  Hello again?

  Again?

  When had they met before? Why did I not know about this?

  Reese merely sent her a chipper smile and greeted, “Hey, Mrs. Garrison.”

  Patricia didn’t get a chance to introduce me to her fiancé because Mom and Sarah stole her attention by opening the gift Patricia had brought. So I took that moment to lean and whisper to Reese, “You guys have met?”

  Reese merely rolled her eyes. “She was outside smoking one night when I got off work… The night Sarah had her seizure, in fact.”

  Figured.

  She must’ve seen me and Reese in the kitchen together through the back window. No wonder why she’d come in after Reese had left and touched the wall right where we’d been standing. She’d purposely wanted to ruin my special spot.

  Just then, Sarah thanked Patricia for the large stuffed bear she’d given her, and Patricia winced, pulling her face away before glancing around at everyone and asking, “What did she say?”

  Sarah’s face drained of color, and I wanted to strangle the bitch for humiliating her like that. Yes, my sister might have difficulty talking because of her CP but she was perfectly understandable.

  Reese saved the day by dryly answering, “She said thank you,” as if that should’ve been obvious…because it was.

  After that, Reese suggested that Sarah and her three classmates put Sarah’s new makeup on each other, so she popped up from the loveseat next to me and went to my sister, taking charge of that activity.

  And about as soon as she left, Patricia blew out a breath. “Wow, my feet are just killing me. Do you mind if I sit here?”

  And she sank down next to me without waiting for a response.

  I sent her a scowl before I commenced to ignore her completely.

  Her fiancé or whatever he was, stood awkwardly beside her, because he couldn’t fit on the cushions with us, until Mom seemed to take pity on him and asked him what he did, which left no one paying attention to either Patricia or me, and in turn let her think we should actually talk to each other.

  “So… I tried to contact you last night,” she murmured discreetly.

  I watched Reese spread a deep purple over Sarah’s eyelids.

  “I know you saw the message,” Patricia added.

  Blush was dabbled to my sister’s cheeks.

  “You can’t ignore me forever.”

  Oh, yes, I could.

  “Do you even care what your sweet, innocent babysitter is hiding?”

  Honestly, I didn’t care what Reese might or might not be hiding. Nothing could make her worse than the woman sitting next to me now. She was bright color in my black and white world, and I’d most likely defend her and stand beside her no matter what she’d done or hadn’t done. She could end up being just as big a prostitute as I was, and I just wouldn’t give a fuck. Reese was still Reese, no matter how her past had played out, and I loved her no matter what.

  Shit…

  Wait, what had I just said up there in my head?

  Patricia sniffed next to me, her gaze on Reese. “She’s quite the attention seeker, isn’t she? Stealing the limelight away from your sister on her birthday.”

  This time, I turned to glower at her.

  She didn’t have a clue, not a single fucking clue how awesome Reese was for my sister.

  Before I could tell her to go to hell and never come back, Sarah and her friends started screaming, hopping up on the cushions as not to touch the floor. Then Reese yelped my name in a panic.

  As she cried out for someone to save Sarah, I lurched to my feet, trying to figure out what was causing the uproar, because I couldn’t spot the source of their terror at all.

  “What the hell?” I said. “What’s wrong?”

  Five females started in at once, telling me something I couldn’t understand but their frantic gestures toward the floor at least directed me where to look.

  “Oh,” I said, blowing out a relieved breath when I spotted it. “It’s just a wolf spider.”

  Reese gaped at me as if I’d lost my mind. “I wasn’t asking what kind it was,” she screeched in outrage. “Just kill it!”

  Wow, she was insistent. And ruthless. But this bloodthirsty, kill-it side was cute. I cracked up. “It’s harmless. Jeez, Reese. I thought you would be more of a humanitarian than this.”

  “Not when
it comes to gross, hairy, eight-legged freaks. That thing is bigger than me.”

  I rolled my eyes. “It is not.”

  She drew in a long breath as if she was about to bitch me out for laughing at her fear, which only made her even more adorable, when suddenly she screamed and clutched one of Sarah’s classmates.

  “Oh my God! It moved. Kill it, kill it, kill it.”

  When Sarah and her friends started shrieking along with her, I finally had mercy—on them, not the spider—and I stomped my foot down, only to lift my shoe, exposing squished arachnid guts.

  “Handled,” I reported.

  Reese yelled, “Oh my God, thank you.” Then she jumped off the couch and straight into my arms. I wasn’t expecting her to do that, so I had to grapple to catch her before we both crashed to the floor.

  Her breasts smashed into my chest and her face was inches from mine when she gave an overly exaggerated sigh and announced, “Mason Lowe,” in a dramatic, falsetto voice, “you’re my hero.”

  I chuckled and rolled my eyes, setting her back on the floor before I did something stupid, like kiss her in front of everyone. “You’re such a dork,” I said, loving that feature most about her.

  Shaking my head, I smiled, because she was honestly the best thing that had ever happened to me.

  Confession #23: I could make myself feel guilty over pretty much anything.

  So Reese kept her word and saved the birthday party. Apparently, a little makeup and spider-murder were all thirteen-year-old girls needed to bond. Before the afternoon was over, Sarah’s three classmates seemed to adore her. Reese transformed the kitchen into a dance floor and turned up the music so they could all spin her chair around the linoleum floor.

  Reese even managed to get rid of Patricia early. I have no idea what the two said to each other, but Patricia approached Reese in the kitchen, and after they shared a few words, Patricia took off. That was unlike her. I’d never seen anyone make her retreat before.

  So, that’s when Reese became my hero.

  The only problem with the rest of the party was that Reese took off early too when I wasn’t looking. I was hoping she’d stick around. She was the type to help with cleanup. I thought I’d get to talk to her then and make up for all those weeks I’d stayed away. But she disappeared, and then Mom took off to who-knew-where, so it ended up being just me and Sarah left to pick up the mess.

  The next day was Monday. I’d planned to invade Reese’s table at lunch and eat with her, but my U.S. Politics professor had assigned us to fill out some online quiz and turn in our results the next time class met, so I spent my lunch break in the computer lab, figuring out if I leaned more toward imperialism or isolationism, populism or elitism, globalism or nationalism. By the time I finished that, I had to hurry to my last class of the day, then get ready for work at the Country Club right after that.

  Tuesday through Thursday pretty much followed the same pattern, which frustrated me to no end. I don’t know what was up with these needy professors, suddenly wanting shit done from us, but I couldn’t wait to spend some time with Reese already. We texted, but it wasn’t the same. I wanted to be able to see her infectious grin and hear her laugh when she said something that amused her.

  On Thursday night at the Country Club, I’d just parked a car in the garage and was returning to the valet station to hang up the customer’s keys when someone accosted me from the dark, popping out from the side of the building where he’d been waiting in the shadows for me to exit the garage.

  “You lousy son of a bitch,” he growled, surging forward to shove me, making me stumble off-balance and trip away from him.

  “What the hell?” I hissed catching myself and straightening into a defensive stance, ready to swing back if the shadow came at me again.

  “What the fuck did you do to my mother?”

  Wincing through the dark until I figured out who was even talking to me, I groaned when I realized it was only Ethan Riker.

  “Jesus Christ, you moron.” I clutched my chest and blew out a relieved breath, straightening and no longer intimidated. “You gave me a heart attack.” Then I realized what he’d just said.

  “Wait. I didn’t do anything to your mom. Why?”

  I held my breath, worry mounting before he snarled, “Because she tried to kill herself and we had to check her into a mental health unit.”

  “Oh, shit,” I breathed, running my hand through my hair and trying not to freak out. “When? Is she okay?”

  What day had it been that she’d so insistently tried to get a hold of me?

  I’d ignored her, just as her family had always done. Was I to blame for this? Why hadn’t I just answered one stupid text? Amanda was never any problem. It would’ve been nothing to just give her the hug she wanted and listen to her talk.

  God dammit.

  I’d messed up bad.

  In front of me, Ethan ignited. “You have no fucking right to ask me that question.”

  I scowled, really disliking this prick. “Believe it or not, your mom is my friend. I can worry about her if I want to. How bad did she hurt herself? Is it life-threatening?”

  I couldn’t even imagine what route she’d tried to take. Probably pills. She would’ve been too scared of guns or hangings, and all the blood involved in wrist cutting would turn her stomach. Christ, Amanda, why’d you do it?

  Her son rasped out a bitter laugh. “Friends?” he repeated. “You and my mom? Why the hell would my mother befriend someone like you?”

  I shrugged. The fuck if I knew.

  Ethan snorted. “Then how do you expect me to believe that shit?”

  “I don’t know,” I snapped. “The world is full of weird anomalies. I’d never believe someone as nice and sweet and kind as your mother could possibly have such a dick for a son, but here you are, anyway.”

  “I broke into her phone,” he growled, stepping close and lowering his voice. “And she left you nineteen messages the night before she overdosed.”

  “Fuck,” I said quietly, closing my eyes as regret washed over me. I rubbed my face with my hands, trying to remove the burn of guilt. “I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry. I should’ve just answered her.”

  “No.” Ethan shoved me hard. “You should’ve never gotten involved with her in the first place. You caused this, you sick prick. She is twice your age.”

  “Look, you have this all wrong,” I started.

  “I don’t know what kind of lovers’ quarrel you two had—”

  “Whoa! No.” I shook my hands insistently. “There was no quarrel. And there certainly wasn’t any lovers’ anything. That is so not what we—”

  “You should’ve just kept it in your goddamn pants and never fucked her to begin with,” Ethan went on savagely.

  “Well, I didn’t fuck her,” I growled. “So…”

  This was irony, right here. There must be dozens of guys out there who could probably legitimately go after me for shit I had done with their mothers, or sisters, or wives, yet the only person who decided to confront me was freaking wrong. How whack was that?

  “You…” His voice broke. “You hurt my mom.”

  Shame pierced me because he was right about that. I had been one of the only people who’d ever listened to Amanda, and I had let her down. I did feel as if I’d caused this. His mom was hurt because of me.

  “I’m sorry,” was all I could think to say, shaking my head as my gut burned. “But maybe she’s in the best place she should be right now. They can help her there. You can’t deny she needed something.”

  “Well, she never would’ve needed anything if you’d just fucking stayed away from her.” He shoved me a third time. “I’m going to make you pay for this. I’m going to—”

  “Lowe!” the voice of one of my coworker’s called from around the side of the building, “Yo, Lowe, you out here, man?”

  Ethan and I both looked toward the direction of the call.

  “This isn’t over,” Ethan hissed, backing away. “You
’ll pay for this. I’ll hit you where it hurts the most. Mark my words.”

  He took off and was jogging away, disappearing into the dark just as Mac rounded the corner. “What…?” He paused in confusion when he found me just standing there.

  “Dropped my keys,” I said, thinking quick as I lifted the set in my hand to jingle them. “Just found them.”

  “Ah.” He cleared his throat and began to back away. “Well, good. Now, come relieve me. I need to take a piss something fierce.”

  I laughed. “No problem.” Slapping him on the side of the arm, I followed him back to the valet station.

  I couldn’t help but glance off into the direction that Ethan had run, though. I wasn’t worried about his threats. I think I’d gotten so many threats and blackmail issues lately I was becoming immune to them.

  But I was worried about his mom.

  I never thought I’d helped her that much by simply spending a few minutes letting her unload her worries and frustrations onto me. It made me wish…

  I don’t even know.

  It made me realize how powerful a simple kindness like listening to someone could be, though. It also made me want to call Reese and tell her about what had just happened, get her opinion on it. For some reason, I thought she’d know how to handle Riker. Aside from being a dick and clueless about how to deal with his mother, he wasn’t that bad of a guy. He just needed a little guidance.

  While Mac was taking his break, I tried Amanda’s phone first. She didn’t answer and I didn’t leave a message. I tried Mental Health next, but, of course, there was no way they would give out any kind of information about their patients. I was just finishing that call when Mac returned from his break, so I couldn’t call Reese after that.

  It was late by the time I got off work, so I decided to hold off until the next morning. Except, I slept in, so I decided to just find her on my lunch break and get some feedback then.

  By the time I finally approached Reese, however, I was just so happy to see her and get a chance to talk to her again that I’d forgotten everything I’d wanted to discuss the night before.

  “Hey.” I plopped my bag onto the bench seat across from her and drew in a deep, giddy breath when I smelled her familiar scent. God, yes. “Sweet pea,” I nearly groaned.