She hands Lake one, and he stands up, wrapping the thing around him before falling back into the chair. “You saved my life,” he praises her while shivering his ass off.
Layla opens a blanket and places it over Falcon before pressing a kiss to his lips.
Lovingly, he smiles at her. “Thanks, my rainbow.”
When she gets to me, I hold my hand out. “You don’t have to tuck me in.”
She grins at me and then wags her eyebrows. “You sure about that?”
“Layla,” Falcon grumbles which makes me smile.
“I’m sure. Thanks,” I say before Falcon shits himself, but then add, “Jealous much?”
“Fuck off,” he mutters, a smile pulling at his lips.
“Can I make anyone coffee?” Kingsley asks from where she’s leaning against the doorjamb.
“God, Kingsley, I’ll love you forever,” Lake exclaims.
“Please,” Falcon says, grabbing hold of Layla’s hand before she can head back inside. He pulls her down for another quick kiss, then lets her go.
Still folded, the blanket lies forgotten on my lap.
‘Love you,’ I hear Jen whisper to Julian.
He presses a kiss to her mouth before she climbs behind the steering wheel.
‘Drive safely and text me once you get home.’
She never got to send him that text.
Chapter 4
Kingsley
I was tired but the moment I crawled into bed I started thinking about the day.
And Mason’s weird behavior.
When I hear footsteps coming toward the room, I quickly turn on my side, so I’m facing the wall, then shut my eyes.
“Try to sleep. You need the rest after searching hours for Kingsley,” Lake whispers.
Mason grumbles something I can’t make out. They move around the room, and a couple of minutes later, I hear them settling into bed.
I peek at the wall, then almost roll my eyes at myself, because I’m lying with my back to the guys.
Lake lets out a sigh, then whispers, “Talk to me.”
“Just flashbacks about Jen,” Mason’s voice rumbles low.
Realization creeps into the back of my mind. I knew Mason’s sister died in an accident. I was thirteen back then and still trying to adjust to the new wealthy lifestyle after my dad made it big. I didn’t know much about Mason, Lake, and Falcon.
It was during my senior year that I learned as much as I could about the wealthy society I was apart of, so I would fit in easier once I started at the Academy.
Come to think of it, I’m only a year older now than Mason was when he lost his sister.
“Nothing to worry about,” Mason breathes, but the words sound heavy with grief.
“What triggered it?” Lake asks.
Mason remains quiet for a while.
My eyes widen when my nose starts to itch.
Crap, don’t sneeze.
I wiggle my nose and moving as quietly as I can, I rub it.
“The girls,” Mason whispers. “Certain things they do remind me of Jen.” He pauses for a couple of seconds, then adds, “Then there was the avalanche, and not being able to hold onto Kingsley.”
The rhythm of my heart slows down as if it’s trying to whisper the beats so the guys won’t hear.
“You don’t want to take the meds? It will help with the shock.”
Lying in the darkness and listening to them whisper, slowly begins to alter my perception of Mason.
“I’m not going to take that shit. I’ll deal with the flashes.”
“Don’t take it out on Kingsley, though,” Lake murmurs.
There’s another moment of silence, and I find I’m holding my breath, so I won’t miss what Mason says next.
“It hurts to be around her.” His admission makes me press my lips together, and I shut my eyes tightly, a wave of guilt hitting hard. “It’s the same with Layla, but Falcon will kick my ass if I snub his girl.”
“What are you going to do?” Lake asks.
“Deal with the shit somehow.” Mason lets out a heavy breath. “They’re not going anywhere, so I’ll just have to deal.”
Layla said she thought Mason’s aggressive attitude was all a smokescreen. It’s his way of trying to cope with his loss. I thought he hated me but hearing he’s hurting because of me… I don’t know what to do with the information.
“I’m here for you,” Lake mumbles, sounding half asleep.
“Thanks, buddy.”
Long after they fall asleep, I lie awake, listening to the cabin creaking from the wind blowing outside.
Honestly, I’m still scared of him, but now that I know his offensive behavior is only a mask he hides his pain behind, I can’t help but wonder if there’s a way to melt the frozen shard of ice he calls a heart.
There must be something I can do to make things easier for Mason.
“Five minutes,” I mumble when someone calls me.
“Kingsley!” Hearing Mason’s shout has my eyes flying open, as I shoot up into a sitting position. I’m disorientated and have to blink a couple of times before glancing around the dark room.
“Jen, wake up,” Mason whimpers, and the heartbreaking sound instantly clears my mind of the sleep.
I glance over to where he’s lying and see Lake shake Mason’s shoulder. “Wake up, buddy.”
Mason’s breathing speeds up, and then it hitches.
I lie back down and cover my mouth with my hands as I watch Lake shifts closer to Mason, wrapping his arms around him.
“I’ve got you,” Lake whispers.
Mason's arm moves around Lake, and when he grabs hold of his shirt, my heart almost cracks in half.
Oh, my God. I’ve never seen anything so heartbreaking in my life.
Tears well in my eyes, and I grab hold of the covers, pressing it to my mouth.
Hearing Mason’s erratic breaths only makes it so much worse.
“I’m here,” Lake keeps whispering calming words.
I can only hear Mason’s breaths for a while, then he gets up, and I quickly shut my eyes. I hear him walk out of the room, and when Lake doesn’t follow him, I assume he went back to sleep.
I sit up, and worried about Mason, I throw the covers back and scoot to the foot of the bed. I use the wall to help me get up, then peek out onto the landing, but I can’t see him.
Knowing I’ll wake everyone if I hop, I carefully put pressure on my right foot. The pain is sharp, and I cringe through it as I take an unsteady step. I only manage to get to the banister at the top of the stairs and glancing down, I see Mason down below.
His hands are linked at the back of his neck as he paces up and down the length of the living room.
Suddenly, he picks up his phone from the coffee table and does something on it before he walks toward the stairs.
Oh, crap.
Panicking that I’ll be caught red-handed, I use the banister so I can quickly move into the corner. I hunch down and pulling a worried face, I say a quick prayer he won’t see me.
Mason walks back into the room and gets something. Coming out of the room again, he stops right by the stairs.
Shit.
“Don’t wake them,” he whispers.
Slowly, I pull myself up and look at him.
He doesn’t turn his head my way and begins to go down the stairs.
I watch him shrug on his jacket. He pockets his phone and wallet, then walks to the front door. He pulls it open and stepping outside, he looks up to me. It’s the first time I don’t see any hostility on his face.
Just the sadness.
Mason, unmasked.
The beauty of a fallen angel… with broken wings.
When he starts to pull the door closed, I want to call out for him to wait. I want to ask him where he’s going.
He pauses, and as if he can hear my thoughts, he murmurs, “I’m going home, so don’t worry. Don’t wake the others.”
I nod and quickly ask, “How will you get home?”<
br />
“I called a cab.”
“Have a safe trip and text Lake or Falcon once you get home.”
Pain tightens his features right before he turns away and closes the door behind him.
“What was Jennifer like?” I ask while we’re driving back to the Academy.
With me almost spraining half my body and Mason leaving yesterday morning, we all decided to pack up and head home.
“She was always positive,” Lake answers.
Without taking his eyes from the road, Falcon adds, “She had an infectious laughter.”
Lake glances over his shoulder at me. “They were really close.”
Not wanting to cause Mason more pain, I ask, “What can I do so I don’t remind him of her?”
“What do you mean?” In the rearview mirror, I see a frown forming on Falcon’s face.
“Ahh fuck,” Lake mutters. “You weren’t sleeping?”
“No, sorry.” I feel shitty for eavesdropping, but I’m glad I overheard them. At least, I can try to help and not make things worse.
“I’m still lost here,” Falcon calls out.
It wakes Layla, who’s been sleeping most of the journey, and lifting her head, she squints at the road. “How can you be lost? We’re on the right road,” she mumbles, then leans her head back down.
I let out a bark of laughter which has Lake chuckling.
After the short interruption, Lake answers my question from before, “Just be yourself, Kingsley.”
I let out a sigh, wondering if that’s the best thing to do.
Lake adds, “And don’t worry about it. You’ll see, he’ll be back to normal when we get to the Academy.”
Normal?
Is the aggressive version really the normal Mason?
“What was Mason like before the accident?” I ask.
Lake yawns and mumbles, “Not so stubborn. Less rough around the edges.”
Lake drifts off to sleep, and I lean my head against the window as I stare at Layla’s hair that’s sticking up from the front passenger seat.
I’m going to take a page out of Layla’s book.
Kill him with kindness.
Okay, maybe not the killing part… yet.
Chapter 5
Mason
The Academy is like a ghost town, and it’s just what I needed. I texted Falcon and Lake yesterday when I got back, letting them know I’m fine.
I’ve spent all my time in the suite, pushing every one of my ghosts back into the vault deep inside my heart, and ignoring life by watching all the YouTube videos I can find about the current most expensive supercars.
Lying on the couch in just my boxers, I begin to drift off when I hear a thud against the door. Frowning, I sit up, and when I hear a shuffle, I walk closer.
Falcon and Lake won’t be back this soon, will they?
I’m just about to reach for the door when it opens, and a mess of dark hair slams into my chest.
“Dafuuuc?” I grumble as I scowl down at the rat’s nest planted against me.
“Crap, sorry.”
Fucking Kingsley.
My eyebrow darts up when she places her left hand on my abs and pushes herself back.
Getting a view of her face, I watch her blink while she stares at my chest. She pulls an exaggerated impressed face, then nods. “Not bad, Mason.”
“You’ve seen it before,” I growl. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“Oh,” she grins up at me as if we’re best friends. “We decided to come home early.”
The rest of the gang comes down the hallway and stops behind Kingsley, their arms full of baggage.
Falcon’s eyes sweep over me, and grinning, he says, “Haven’t seen those boxers in a while.”
“It won’t suck itself,” Kingsley reads the writing plastered over my fucking dick, then she lets out a bark of laughter and almost loses her damn balance.
“Fuck off,” I snap, and turning around, I stalk to my room. Grabbing the sweatpants draped over the side of my bed, I quickly pull them on, then walk back out to get my phone.
“Every muscle in my body aches,” Layla groans.
Wagging his eyebrows, Falcon offers, “I can massage every muscle for you.”
“Yeah?” she teases him, her voice dropping to a seductive tone.
“I need a shower,” Kingsley mutters from where she’s planted herself on the couch, right next to my phone. She’s leaning back, and her eyes are closed.
“Won’t argue with you there,” I mumble as I walk closer and swipe my phone from the couch. “It looks like something exploded in your hair.”
She sits up and pats her hand over the wild mess as if it will help. “Ugh, I didn’t have time to straighten it before we left.”
I let out a chuckle, “So this is you, all-natural?” I glance over her, and even though she looks just fine, I can’t help but take advantage of the opportunity. “You must spend quite some time getting ready every morning.”
She swings her eyes to me and giving me a your-opinion-doesn’t-matter-look, she says, “Lucky for me, I don’t give a flying fuck about what you think of my looks.”
And just like that everything is back to normal between Kingsley and me.
I was a little worried she would be weird around me after she caught me sneaking out of the cabin.
Kingsley’s phone begins to ring, and her ringtone almost makes me grin. It has Lake and Falcon chuckling.
‘It’s your daddy calling, and you know he’s gonna chew your ear off. It’s your daddy calling, all you’re gonna hear is blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.’
“Hey, Dad,” she answers. “No, we came back early.” She smiles. “Yeah, it was okay.”
She leans back against the couch and catches me watching her.
I glance away as she continues, “No, nothing happened. We just felt like coming back before the other students.” After a short silence, she quickly rambles, “Someone’s knocking at the door. Gotta go. Love you, Dad.” She hangs up and pulls a worried face at the phone. “That was close.”
“You’re not telling your father about the avalanche?” I ask.
“There’s no need to worry him about something that’s done and dealt with,” she brushes it off.
Changing the subject, Layla asks, “Which ringtone do you have for me?”
“Oh!” Instantly the frown vanishes, and Kingsley grins at Layla. “You’re going to love it.”
A moment later ‘You are my sunshine,’ comes from the phone.
“Aww… thanks, my friend,” Layla coos.
Lake leans over the back of the chair. “And me?”
Kinglsey looks at him from over her shoulder. “Have you heard of Lucas, the spider?”
“Yeah.”
“You have Lucas.” Kingsley presses play, and then you hear, ‘What you eating? I’m starving.’
“That’s perfect,” Falcon chuckles. “Now I have to hear mine.”
“One sec.” Kingsley scrolls to his name and then I let out a bark of laughter. “You have a call from God. Haa-llelujah! Haa-llelujah!”
“Badass,” Falcon grins, obviously happy with it.
“This is Mason’s.” Kingsley grins mischievously, which tells me I’m not going to like it. Then a butler’s serious voice sounds up, ‘Excuse me, but I’m afraid someone is endeavoring to contact you telephonically. Shall I tell them to fuck off?’
Lake cracks up, disappearing behind the couch which doesn’t help shit seeing as I can hear the fucker laughing his ass off.
Two weeks later, things have kind of returned to normal, and it’s helped silence the memories.
I glare at the tie. “Fuck it,” I mutter as I toss it back on the bed. People should be glad I’m wearing a damn suit.
Grabbing a pair of cufflinks and my watch, I walk out into the living room. Sitting down on the couch, I quickly put on the cufflinks.
Taking hold of the Cartier watch I got from Jennifer, I stare down at it.
That was
our last Christmas together.
Letting out a sigh, I strap it onto my wrist before getting back up.
Lake comes out of his room, fumbling with his tie. “I still can’t make one,” he complains.
I walk over, and taking hold of the tie, I fix it for him.
“Aww… you make such a cute couple,” Layla teases.
I glance over my shoulder and see her and Kingsley come in.
When I spot the keycard in her hand, I frown. “You have a keycard now?”
“Just borrowed it from Falcon,” she says.
I think it’s time we each move into our own suite.
I finish making Lake’s tie, then pat him on the chest. “See you at the chamber of torture.”
Every year the Christmas Eve party is held at the main offices of CRC.
“Hold up, let’s leave together,” Falcon says.
When Falcon takes his keys from his pocket, Lake protests, “No, put those away. We’re all going in the Bentley.”
“Why?” I frown, not liking the sound of that at all.
“Because you fuckers left me with that viper last time. If we go in the Bentley, there’s no space for her.”
Shaking my head, I walk out of the suite first. As I press the button for the elevator, I smell something sweet and glancing to my side, I see that it’s Kingsley.
She’s busy checking something in her purse. Her hair is styled in soft curls. She glances up, and her blue eyes lock on mine.
I might not get along with her, but even I have to admit she looks beautiful in the black dress she’s wearing.
Turning my eyes away from her, I glance up at the numbers, and as soon as the elevator opens, I step inside.
Kingsley walks in and then stops the doors from closing as the rest of the gang approaches us.
I step back and lean against the wall. When Kingsley bumps into my left arm, I flick a glare her way. She quickly moves to the corner and smiles at Lake when he goes to stand by her.
After Falcon and Layla get in, he leans down and whispers in her ear, “You look beautiful, my rainbow.”
Having seen enough, I turn my head only to lock eyes with Kingsley again. Her head is tilted to the side, a far-off expression on her face.
Mason (Trinity Academy Book 2) Page 3
