“Oh…uh, okay.” We could hear her clearing her throat. “Uh, what’s up?”
This time Gabriel spoke up, but I think that was because Aiden was choking on his misguided anger. “Mason has some pretty serious battle scars, and we were just wondering if you were okay?”
She started coughing and sputtering-in shock, no doubt-and I had to smile. Her naivety was so endearing. “They think I hurt you, Shane,” I said, clarifying their concern.
“What?!” she screeched. “Good God! Of course, you didn’t hurt me! Of course, Mason didn’t hurt me!” she repeated.
“Are you sure?” came three Buchanan voices simultaneously.
This time she scoffed, completely offended on my behalf and I loved her a little bit more for it. “It was the best night of my life. Is that what you guys needed to know?”
“Yes,” came those same three Buchanan voices simultaneously, again.
“You guys are so incredibly ridiculous,” she uttered, right before she hung up on us.
I waited until each of my brothers’ faces looked up at me and asked, “So, do you believe me now?”
“Awe, come on, Mase,” Michael groaned. “What did you expect?”
I could feel spikes of anger needling at me. “I expected you guys to not think I’m a piece of shit who gets off on hurting females,” I spewed.
“We know you’re not like that, Mason,” Gabriel chimed in, looking regretful. “It’s just that…”
He trailed off, and I suddenly felt out of the loop. “It’s just what?”
“Shane’s special, Mase,” Michael picked up where Gabriel left off.
I couldn’t control my scowl. “I know she’s special. Why the fuck-”
“No, Mason. We mean she’s special,” Aiden added this time.
What in the fuck?
I crossed my arms over my chest and demanded, “One of you motherfuckers better start explaining what you mean, and you better do it fast.” I knew Shane was special. I couldn’t pinpoint what it was about her, but she called to everything that I was. I was very aware of how she made me feel and how special that made her in my eyes. But I had no idea what point my brothers were trying to make.
Michael let out a deep sigh. “I know you don’t see it like we see it, because you’re in love with the girl and all, but that girl has a broken soul, Mason.”
I knew that. Even if I hadn’t known about her childhood, I knew Shane felt deeply.
“Yeah, and because she’s yours, that makes her all of ours to protect and heal,” Aiden added.
“And that means protecting her from even you, if we have to,” Gabriel informed me.
Michael’s next words kept me from going after Gabe. “Mason, Shane’s strong, but she is one hiccup away from shattering from whatever is weighing on her soul. Anyone can see it if they just took the time to look into her eyes and see. She’s beautifully broken on the inside and the fact that she’s yours, just makes her that much more exceptional to us.”
And just like that, all my anger dissipated, because they were right.
I knew that Shane grew up in foster care. The second I knew she was it for me, I had a thorough background check done on her, and while it told me a lot, it hadn’t told me everything. She may have suffered evils that hadn’t been logged on the report. I was counting on her opening up about her life, eventually, but the guys were right. Until I knew what I was dealing with, she needed all of us.
Before I could concede, Aiden was following up on Michael’s point. “She’s the first and only girl to mean something to you, Mase. That means guys and girls, alike, will be going after her. We’re going to have to make sure she’s strong enough to stand up to how catty the girls are going to be and how forward the guys will be. She’s going to have to know that we all have her back.”
“She matters because she’s yours, Mason. And she will be the one to test what we’re really all made of,” Gabe chimed in.
They were right. Girls would be jealous or try to use her to get to us, and guys were going to be curious about what’s so special about her that she got me to come to heel.
But, more importantly, Gabriel was right about her significance in our lives. She was going to be the catalyst that would determine my future and, in turn, determine theirs.
My father was going to lose his shit when he found out about her, and if it happened before we graduated, it would shift everything.
Shane was special. She was an extraordinary kind of special.
I hated the idea of lying about her and trying to keep our relationship a secret, but I knew my demon of a father and I knew him well. If he couldn’t control me, he had no conscience about trying to control me using Shane. I could see him threatening to ruin her chances at a degree or making it hard to find a job after graduation. He possessed that much money and that much power.
“Yeah, okay,” I relented. “You guys are right. She is…fuck...”
Michael clapped me on the back. “It’ll be okay, Mase.” He jerked his head at Gabe. “We’re going to go get some last-minute shit before school starts on Monday. Do you guys need anything?” As soon as Aiden and I said no, the twins took off.
“You know that fact that she was a virgin changes shit, right?” Aiden asked.
All I could do was nod. “I know, Aid.”
“She has no experience with assholes hitting on her, Mason. We-”
I pierced my brother with a heated glare. “I’ll kill anyone who touches her,” I hissed.
And I would.
And I knew they would, too.
Chapter 17
Shane~
If a paparazzo jumped out of the bushes and snapped my picture, it wouldn’t surprise me.
Apparently being Mason Buchanan’s girlfriend came with superstar status.
Mason had spent the rest of Saturday texting me and Sunday was pretty much the same, except for a brief phone call in the evening.
Everyone had been too busy trying to get all their last-minute things together for the start of school, that I hadn’t seen any Buchanans for the rest of the weekend.
But that has all changed this morning when Mason pulled up to my apartment to drive me to class. He knew-and I didn’t ask how-my school and work schedules, so he knew how limited my free time was. His solution was to be my chauffer. Since I still didn’t have a car, I couldn’t argue much, and if that was the only way I could see him, then that worked for me.
Because I really, really wanted to see him.
When my mind wasn’t on work or school, I was thinking about Friday night. I had never expected to lose my virginity to Mason, but now that I have and know what he’s capable of doing to my body…well, let’s just say, it was everything I could do not to jump him when he knocked on my door this morning.
And that’s bad.
Very bad.
I’m so close to getting my degree, I couldn’t afford to let Mason Buchanan’s body and magnificent penis deter me in any way.
But it would seem that it wasn’t just Mason I had to compartmentalize. After that bizarre group phone call where I assured them I was fine, Mason’s brothers had randomly texted me throughout the weekend, as well. It was almost like…we were all friends. Weird.
And now I had people eyeing me like a science experiment gone wrong.
Mason was walking me to my first class of the day, and he was holding my hand for God and all to see. That one little, boyfriend/girlfriend act was garnering looks left and right. “Mason, everyone is staring,” I stated the obvious, as we got closer to my class.
He just snorted, completely unaffected. “Fuck ‘em,” he so eloquently instructed.
“Mason…” I chastised.
He stopped me and pulled me into a small alcove entering the east building. He caged me in between his arms and peered down at me. “I will only say this once, so I need you to listen and absorb what I’m saying, okay?” I nodded. “Anyone who didn’t speak to you before Friday night, but tries to speak to you now
is a user and an opportunist, Shane. Do not, and I repeat, do not befriend them.”
Like I didn’t know that. “Oh, really, oh wise one?”
He tried but failed to hide the smile that crept on the edges of his lips. “Don’t be a smartass, babe.”
My body instantly warmed at his endearment. “Mason, I’m not stupid. I know who my real friends are…well, friend, and it’s always been Viola. Besides, between work and school, I don’t have time for new friends.”
“Aiden, Michael and Gabriel.”
“Huh?”
He leaned down and kissed the tip of my nose. “Your friends are now made up of Viola, Aiden, Michael and Gabriel, baby.” Before I could reply, he pulled on my hand. “Come on, let’s get you to class.”
Mason walked me to the door of my first Econ class of the day and kissed my temple before ushering me into the classroom. I was very aware that every eye was on me as I made my way to a vacant seat. It was the most uncomfortable I have ever been, and that’s saying something considering how many foster homes I was shuffled through.
I found a seat in the back and I was pulling out my laptop when a very well put together and pissed off Amber, from Friday night, approached me. She sure didn’t waste any time.
“So, is it some kind of joke or something?” she asked, insultingly.
I straightened my spine, but I didn’t stand up. I would not let her think she was intimidating me. “I’m not sure what you mean, Amber.”
She placed her hands on her hips and anger radiated off her stance in waves. “I’m talking about the fact that, out of all the girls on campus, Mason Buchanan chose you to be his girlfriend.”
I lifted my chin. “No joke. Mason’s my boyfriend,” I answered, my words chilly. It also wasn’t lost on me that we had the attention of almost everyone who’s been seated.
And in a voice loud enough to carry a few seats down, Amber scathingly spat, “So what? Do you take it up the ass or something? Because I can’t imagine any other reason that Mason Buchanan would be interested in a nobody like you.”
I could hear both, shocked gasps and catty snickers, all around us, but it was the rumbling of murmurs that gave me pause. And when that voice reached us both, I almost felt sorry for Amber. Almost. “What in the fuck did you just say?”
Amber whirled around and I looked up into the furious face of Aiden Buchanan. “Aid…Aiden…” I said, trying to calm him.
The look he shot me reminded me so much of Mason, I wisely quieted down. He looked back at Amber and I knew this would not be good. “Care to repeat what you just said to Shane, because it sounded a lot like you were accusing her of being a whore, Amber,” he addressed her, his voice smooth and lethal.
I could see Amber visibly shaking and I knew she knew she had just fucked up big time. She started her best to backtrack, but I was pretty sure the damage was already done. “Aiden…I…I just said…”
And in a voice and volume he didn’t try to disguise at all, Aiden said, “I heard what you just said, and it seems as if you’ve forgotten yourself, Amber.”
“Aiden…” I tried, again.
Aiden went right on ignoring me, “Because if memory serves me correctly, wasn’t it your sophomore year when you let Beckett Miles, Carlos Montegue and Tim White plug up all three of your holes at the same time after the football championship win?” He leaned in closer to her and completely discounted the shock on her face. “Do you really want to be the one talking about anyone taking cock up their ass, Amber? I mean, really? Because there’s more where that came from.”
You could hear a pin drop. I’d heard rumors that the Buchanans were ruthless, but I never imagined anything like this.
It was only a handful of seconds before Amber shrieked, “You bastard!” She pushed Aiden aside and ran down the steps and full on out of the classroom.
And before I could fully register what the hell had just happened, Aiden turned and addressed whoever could see or hear him. “Anyone one else have anything to say about my sister?”
My heart dropped.
His sister?
Aiden had just claimed me as his sister.
It was all I could do not to burst into tears. Instead, I called out to Aiden. “Aiden, what are you doing here?”
He turned back around, looked down at me, and had the audacity to smile. “This is my first class of the day, too.” He sat down next to me and went about pulling his laptop out as if nothing had just happened.
With all the drama over, everyone turned back around in their seats as the professor entered the room and got ready to begin class.
I leaned over to Aiden and whispered, “You don’t think that was a little harsh, Aiden?”
He snorted and smirked. “Fuck no, I don’t. That little bitch is lucky it was me and not Mason who overheard her bullshit. I just ran her out of class. Mason would have run her out of school. Hell, he might still.”
“Aiden!”
Then he turned to me, and focusing his emerald green gaze on mine, he said, “No one is going to ever fuck with you, Shane, and think they can get away with it. Whether it be dicks or tits that shit ain’t happening on our shift.”
“Our shift?”
“Yeah, our shift; mine, Mason’s, Michael’s and Gabriel’s,” Aiden clarified, before sending me a saucy wink. “That shit isn’t going to fly now that you’re a Buchanan and everyone needs to know it.”
Now that I’m a Buchanan?
“But…but I’m not a Buch-”
Aiden turned away from me, setting up his laptop, but said, “Make no mistake, Shane. You’re a Buchanan now. If Mason could marry you tomorrow, he would. So, when I said you were my sister, I meant just that.” I had nothing to say to that, so I powered up my laptop and got ready for class.
I spent the next hour doing my best to concentrate, but Aiden’s words kept ping ponging around in my head. He just claimed me like Mason had. Hell, just like the twins did. I went from only having Viola to, suddenly, having…brothers?? In a matter of three days, I went from being a nobody to a Buchanan.
I went from having no family to having an unconditional one.
Holy Crud!
Chapter 18
Mason~
I was doing my best to take things slow, but it’s been a long fucking week.
I’ve always known that all Shane did was go to school, study and work. But now that it’s affecting how much time I can spend with her, well…her dedication is fucking me up. I wanted, so badly, to pay all her bills for her from my inheritance allotment so she didn’t have to work so much, but I was pretty sure she’d tell me to go fuck myself if I offered.
In a nice, polite, refusal kind of way…but still…
So, yesterday, I spent a good portion of my day in between my classes, her classes and her jobs convincing her to spend the weekend at my house, so I’d at least get her nights. Even if we just slept because she was so exhausted, I’d take it.
I walked into my bedroom and took in the sight of how perfect she looked sitting down on my bed studying. “You about ready to go to bed?”
She looked up at me and smiled. “I need about 30 more minutes and then I’m all yours.”
My dick twitched at her words. We hadn’t had sex since our first night together and it was taking everything I had to not just kidnap her and keep her tied to my bed forever. “Good,” I said, already undressing. “I know you have to be up early for work tomorrow, but I’m still going to steal an hour of your sleep, regardless.”
Her eyes dilated, and surprise, surprise, she set her books and laptop aside. “Does…does that mean…you want…”
“Does that mean I’m going to fuck you raw?” I asked, smirking. Her cheeks bloomed, but her eyes were all lust and need. “You’re lucky I know you’re still new to this, Shane, or I’d be fucking you in school restrooms and libraries in between classes with how much I fucking want you.”
Shane stood up off the bed and slowly began undressing. “But if I let you do t
hat, then doesn’t that make me the slut Amber accused me of being?”
I wasn’t sure what was in her voice, but it wasn’t fear or shame. And her words were in contrast to her stripping. When Aiden had called me and told me about Shane’s showdown with Amber, I had wanted to seek, kill and destroy. The only reason I hadn’t, was because Aiden assured me the set-down he gave her was significant enough to put everyone else in check.
No one would bother Shane ever again.
I was stripped down to my boxer briefs when Shane made her way over to me in her bra and panties only. I cradled her jaw in my hand and answered her honestly, “It makes you my slut, Shane. It makes you the hot, little whore everyone else wished was theirs.”
Her voice was a low whisper, but fuck, if it wasn’t filled with flames and flickers of white-hot need. “Is that what you want me to be, Mason? Would you prefer it if I was dirty?”
My grip on her jaw tightened. Hearing her talk like that, knowing she was a virgin before me and that she would never know any other cock besides mine, had me at full fucking mast. Our first night together had me teaching her how to take and suck my cock and I blew my stacks all over and in her body. But the night hadn’t been nearly as dirty and depraved as it could have been and will be in the future.
It was my responsibility to guide her into being the best lover she could be, so I went for complete honesty. “Yeah, that’s what I want,” I groaned at her shocked face. “I want you to want me so badly that you don’t care where or how I’m giving it to you, Shane. Anytime, anywhere, anyway…whenever your pussy’s wet and begging for my cock, I want you telling me and bending over for it.”
Her hands went to my waist. “You won’t…you won’t think badly of me?”
I threw my head back in a ridiculous laugh. When I looked back down at her, I said, “Shane, baby, the dirtier you are for me, the more I will want you. You want to know why?” She shook her head. “Because it’s a special kind of high to know that whatever you let me do to you, you’ve let only me do it to you.”
She hooked her fingers around my boxers and started to pull them down. I took her cue and reached around to unhook her bra and then moved to her panties. All the while she’s asking questions. “So, if I asked you to go down on me in the library…”
If You Could Only See (Buchanan Brothers Series Book 1) Page 9