by Summer Rose
We finally pulled up to Mason’s mansion, and the door opened when Aaron leaned out of the window to press a button by the gate. Damn, talk about fancy. I was from a wealthy family too, and my parents enjoyed spending money, but our home had never been so huge and cold. It had been warm and modest.
Jake drove in and memories of the last time I had been in this house came rushing back. A girl had pushed me into the large swimming pool to “avenge” her friend’s death, which she thought I had been responsible for. I had struggled and was unable to swim because of the trauma over my father’s death, whose body had been found in his car and at the bottom of a lake. The next day, I heard the news about the girl’s death, and she had been right, both hers and her friend’s death had been my fault. I had caused it.
I shook my head, refusing to think about one of our close friends, Liam, who had turned out to be a psychopath killer. As if he knew what I was thinking, Mason pressed a kiss to the side of my head, and I instantly felt better.
A middle-aged, average height woman with auburn hair dressed in maid’s clothing ran out of the huge house to meet us.
“I didn’t know you had a maid, why didn’t she come to the hospital to see you?” I asked, and almost instantaneously, the boys shared a look. “What?” I asked, feeling suspicious.
“She was busy,” Mason simply muttered, staring right ahead at nothing in particular.
I scoffed loud enough for everyone to hear. “You don’t know that. You were on a hospital bed, in a co…” I stopped, finding it hard to say the word ‘coma.’ “How do you know she was busy? And even if she was, she could have at least found time to visit you at the hospital.” The woman had reached the car by now, and she had clearly heard me. She lowered her head in shame and guilt. Good, let her be ashamed.
Mason’s hand left mine “It’s okay Kat, trust me,” he said and smiled. I was about to argue, but one look from my mom stopped me.
The woman helped Mason out of the car as Jake and Aaron ran to assist her. I followed as they led him into the house, only stopping when my mom called out to me. I turned around and walked up to her, where she now stood by the driver’s side, taking in her weary features. “I’m sorry to put you through this mom,” I said. My beautiful mother now looked like a shell of herself.
“That boy saved my daughter’s life. What else would I rather be doing?”
“Thanks, mom.” I pulled her skinny body into a hug, Christ, when did she eat last? “Listen, mom. You don’t have to come out here anymore. You can just stay home and rest, I’ll stay and take care of Mason from now on,” I asserted, leaving no room for argument.
She nodded with a smile, probably amused by how mature I sounded. “That’s fine by me. I’ll do what I can by cooking meals for him. He seemed to like my dishes that one time he came for dinner.” Her loving smile mirrored mine at the memory.
When I made to leave again, she pulled me back. “Bebé, what’s going on… with the boys, I mean? I thought you liked Jake and wanted to be with him. He isn’t particularly discreet when sneaking into your room every night.” She smirked at my agape mouth. “But now it seems to me that you like all three of them?”
I lowered my head, not knowing how to respond. “I don’t know how to choose,” I confessed. Maybe my mom could offer insight. I scrunched up my nose at the thought. I really needed female friends.
“I understand how difficult making this decision will be Katrina, but even though those boys try to pretend they are okay with it, I can feel their hurt. They all want to be with you, and they are all in love with you. You might think it’s better to prolong your choice so they won’t get hurt, but it really isn’t. You’re only hurting them more.”
She patted my head gently. “I trust you to make the right choice Kat.”
My eyes widened. I had always begged my mom to call me Kat instead of Katrina, but she never did. She smiled knowingly at me before getting into her car and driving off.
As I made my way into the mansion, I thought over my mom’s words. She was right, I couldn’t prolong this anymore. I had to make a choice, and I had to do it fast, or I would be hurting the ones I love.
CHAPTER FOUR
M ason’s bedroom was nothing like I expected. As neat and large as it was, there were no personal touches to the room at all. His king-sized bed sat in the middle of the room against the wall with curtains draping down before it. An expensive-looking rug was placed at the foot of the bed, and a purple-colored bean bag sat a few inches away, which Aaron now occupied. The reading table only had an electric lamp on it, and Jake took the seat before it. Apart from these, Mason’s room was completely bare of anything else.
Sure there was furniture, but there were no pictures of him and friends or family, none at all. The children’s book, The Princess and the Frog sat lonely on the nightstand, and that was about it.
There was no place else for me to sit and the boys hadn’t noticed my entrance yet, so I walked toward the bed and sat, smiling to the boys as I did. “Your room is huge,” I said, interrupting whatever conversation they had been having. It was twice as big as the living room at my mom’s house. But I still liked our home, it was warm and cozy while Mason’s looked like a hotel suite.
“My everything is huge darling,” he winked at me, and I rolled my eyes, glad that he was well enough to make jokes. I had missed them.
Aaron chuckled and stood up at the same time Jake did. “Hey Kat, would you mind staying with him? I have to get back to Renee. I’ve left her alone for too long,” he said, referring to his cute, little four-year-old sister.
I nodded in agreement before turning to face Jake. “It’s okay, you can go too. I know your mom needs you,” I said, knowing Jake’s mom sometimes suffered panic attacks. Only her son could calm her down. “I already checked with mom, and she said it’s okay, so you’re stuck with me buddy,” I said to Mason, hoping he would allow me to stay.
“No other way I’d have it, babe.” His devilish smirk caused me to blush, and I couldn’t hide it even if I wanted to. I could already tell that taking care of a sleeping Mason had been much more challenging than taking care of an awakened Mason would be.
I saw the boys off, and by the time I came back to his room, Mason was struggling to sit up. He was making no progress, grunting in pain.
“Hey, what do you need?” I ran to his side.
He looked irritated, but not at me, or at least he didn’t look like he was irritated with me. He kept glaring at the t-shirt he had on. “I need to get this off,” he murmured.
Understanding how helpless he was and how much he hated it, I nodded and moved closer to him before gently taking off the shirt to reveal a muscled, very chiseled chest and pecs. A part of his abdomen was wrapped in a bandage, but I could tell that six-pack abs hid beneath it.
A weird sound escaped me, causing my face to heat up once again. It was somewhere between a moan and a gasp. If he heard it, he didn’t react. Probably because he already knew how embarrassed I would be.
The shirt was off, but I found myself still touching his warm body, unable to take my eyes off him. Slowly, my fingers wandered across his chest, which was usually tan but had become pale ever since his stay at the hospital. My heart beat faster, and I felt my mouth dry up as I trailed my fingers over his wrapped abdomen, then moved them dangerously lower.
What was I doing? I couldn’t seem to stop. A groan from him jolted me back to reality, and I quickly cleared my throat to break the intense atmosphere. “I’m sorry about your parents,” I said, quickly grabbing on to a conversation that could stop me from turning into a blubbering mess. It worked because as soon as I thought about Mason’s parents, anger swelled inside me. “I mean, you’d think they would be there for their only son when he needed them the most.” A scowl formed on my face.
“It’s fine Kat, just drop it,” Mason said, sounding irritated and tired.
“No, it’s not fine. There is nothing fine about it. You were in a coma for weeks, Mas
on, and we all thought… I thought I would lose you.” I swallowed back the tears that threatened to fall. “How could they just act as nothing had happened? How could they abandon you like that?”
I should have stopped talking, or I should have at least raised my head to see the storm brewing in Mason’s eyes. Instead, I had gone on like an idiot.
“I said it’s fine, that’s enough Katrina,” Mason bellowed. I had never seen him this angry before, and it looked like I was staring at a stranger.
CHAPTER FIVE
R emorse shone in those beautiful blue eyes as soon as he saw my reaction. I wasn’t scared of him; I could never be scared of Mason. I was just shocked because he seemed like a completely different person than I knew at that moment.
“Kat, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” He looked so sad and guilty that I couldn’t fault him. I must have struck a nerve by talking about his parents.
I took the hand he offered. Since he couldn’t get up from the bed, I sat back next to him. It didn’t take long for him to pull me against him so that I was lying by his side with my head on his chest and his arms around me. I had never felt safer.
“I could never be scared of you, Mason. I love you.” It was as simple as that.
I felt his smile before he kissed my hair. “My parents are a sore spot for me, Kat. I don’t like to talk about them. They’ve never really been around for us; the only thing they care about is their political careers.”
“Us?” I asked, confused by the word he had used. “Who else?”
“It doesn’t matter,” he whispered. “It’s been like this for as long as I can remember. Once, when I was ten, I jumped off the treehouse Aaron’s dad built for us back at their place hoping that would bring my parents home, but it didn’t. On the rare occasion that they were home, I stole my dad’s car and took it for a reckless spin when I overheard them talking about leaving the next day. I thought that if I got myself into an accident, they would stay, but they still didn’t. After that, I knew there was nothing I could do to stop them from being so indifferent.”
He stopped talking for a while before he continued.
“Aaron said you read to me all the time back at the hospital. Do you know why that’s my favorite book?”
I shook my head.
“It’s the only book my mom ever read to me when I was little. Deep down a part of me still yearns for the love and care I know they won’t give me.”
My heart broke for him as I wondered what kind of parents would do that to their son. “That’s awful… but you don’t seem…”
“Bothered? Depressed? Bitter?” He asked the questions I couldn’t, answering them himself. “It’s been years Kat, and I’m older now, smarter. Dwelling on it won’t change anything. That’s why I surround myself with people I love. When I’m with you guys I never think about my parents or how much they’ve hurt me.” He sighed, and I pulled myself up to stare at him. I could understand now why he dated so many girls, searching for affection in the wrong places, but I knew I was different. I could feel it whenever I was with him. “Besides, I’ve got this huge place all to myself to throw awesome parties and stuff.” He grinned widely, and I managed a smile.
“You’re one of the strongest people I know, Mason, and I’m never going to leave. You won’t lose me,” I promised fervently. It was the same thing I had said to Jake not so long ago and just as I meant it then, I meant it now.
Suddenly, he pulled me to him and sealed those words with a deep kiss that I couldn’t help but return. I felt my face flush, and my breasts heaved as my breathing changed. I moaned when the tips of our tongues met and it seemed to excite him more too. Filled with barely restrained passion, I let him roll me over, his naked upper body pressing me to the bed. I gasped as his kisses followed the trail of my throat to the back of my neck, tickling behind my ear.
“Choose me,” he whispered.
“What?”
I was so deep into how he was making me feel that his words confused me. I reached for the nape of his neck, trying to bring his lips to mine again, but he drew back from me.
“Choose me,” he said again, and this time, I understood what he meant.
I shook my head uncertainly. “Mason…” What he was asking for seemed too hard because as much as I wanted him, I couldn’t imagine not being with Jake and Aaron.
“What?” he pulled himself up with his elbow to stare down at me. “You know how much I love you, Kat. How much you mean to me. If you’re worried about the other girls I used to be with, I can assure you that they meant nothing to me. Not the way that you do.”
“I know Mason; I trust you, but I can’t…”
A scowl formed on his face “You don’t want me,” he grunted, trying to move away from me.
“No, you know that’s not true. I do want you, Mason, I do, it’s just… I want them too.” I felt so ashamed of saying the words, but he deserved to know the truth. “It is a hard decision for me to make.”
He finally managed to sit up with his back to me. “Well, you better make up your mind fast, Kat. I’m not going to wait forever,” he said before standing up with great difficulty and walking into the bathroom, closing the door behind him, shutting me out.
A tear fell on my cheek. I had never felt so lost and alone.
CHAPTER SIX
I t would have been better if I hadn’t come to school, I thought as I walked toward the cafeteria, tray in hand. I hadn’t heard a word in all three classes we had earlier that day because I couldn’t stop thinking about that kiss with Mason and the way we had left things. I had hurt him, and my mom was right, I would keep hurting them all if I didn’t make up my mind soon. I knew what I had to do.
With my tray now filled with food, I walked up to our table where Jake and Aaron already sat, only to stop at the sight of the familiar platinum blonde-haired girl that sat beside Jake. “Noelle, what are you doing here?” I asked, my voice dripping with anger.
A broad smile formed on Jake’s face as he gestured for me to sit in the chair next to Aaron. “Look who came back to school,” he said as if it was the best news he had heard in his entire life.
“Yeah and I’m asking why?” I didn’t care that I was being a bitch to Noelle. There was no love lost between us. She and her twin brother had been the reason that the murderous serial killer had come to town in the first place.
Jake sighed while Aaron continued peering into the large chemistry textbook before him as he ate. “Don’t be like that Katrina.”
“Why not? If it weren’t for her and her brother, my mom wouldn’t have been in danger and Mason wouldn’t have been shot. Now she strolls in here like it all doesn’t matter. At least your brother had the decency to leave Redwood for good. I guess you just can’t resist taking what isn’t yours,” I said, referring to her obvious crush on Jake. She hadn’t even bothered to visit Mason once.
He sucked in a sharp breath “You can’t blame her for what happened Katrina. She was a victim just like your mom and Mason.”
I still wasn’t backing down “She should act apologetic then. She didn’t visit Mason and I’m pretty sure she didn’t even ask about him because everything always has to be about Noelle, doesn’t it?”
She must have had enough because Noelle rose and fled the cafeteria. Jake looked torn between chasing after her and staying with me. I knew why I was lashing out; it was partly because of Mason and partly because I was jealous of how close she and Jake had gotten. If it hadn’t been for me, Jake wouldn’t have been so open and friendly with her.
“That wasn’t fair, Katrina.”
“Well, what happened to my mom and Mason wasn’t fair either. I can’t believe you are taking her side.” I glowered at him.
He looked beyond angry when he spoke again “This isn’t about taking sides, Kat. It’s about Noelle and how she must be feeling. You think this was easy for her?”
He never called me Kat. Something in the way his eyes sparkled as he defended her made me ga
sp. “You have feelings for her,” I said, feeling my heart break into pieces. He didn’t deny it, or maybe he hadn’t recognized it himself yet, because he simply stared at me. “I can’t believe you like her Jake, what about…?” I couldn’t finish my sentence.
Jake scoffed “Us? We both know there hasn’t been an ‘us’ for a while now. When was the last time we even hung out together? Just the two of us? Noelle and I are just close, that’s all.”
“That’s so unfair Jake. I’ve been taking care of Mason. I know I said I would give everyone a fair chance, but I haven’t had the time…”
He stood up, towering over us as Aaron finally raised his head. “I’m done with this Katrina. I’m done waiting for you to make up your mind. When you do, you know where to find me,” he said, picking up his bag to leave.
Tears were running down my face now. With my feelings hurt I screamed after him, “Well let me make it easy for you! It’s over! You and I are over! You can go back to your precious Noelle for all I care.”
Jake didn’t look back as he strode out of the room, leaving me crying pitifully into Aaron’s shirt with the whole school staring at us.
*****
Aaron dropped me off after school and I ran into my room, ignoring my mom’s concerned questions. I buried myself under the covers, snuggling against the pillow as I began to cry again.
I heard the knock on my door, but I made no move to open it. My mom came in anyway. Her soft, delicate hands caressed my hair as she laid down beside me.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” I said, sniffling back my tears. I wasn’t in the mood to hear my mom tell me how wrong I had been, stringing all three boys along. I already knew that. I just wanted to wallow in my despair.
