by Lacey Legend
Chapter4
Mason spent the following weeks exhausting himself even further than he thought possible. When he wasn’t breaking his back with all the houses he tended to, he was spending every free second sneaking off with Kelsey. She was like a drug, an addiction, and he couldn’t get enough of her. No matter how tired he was or how much his body needed a rest, he needed Kelsey more.
He had thought their first time together had been the best he’d ever had, but the more they learned their bodies, and they learned their bodies just about every day, the better it got. She still drove him absolutely crazy with her ways of a spoiled brat, but it almost started to become endearing to him. Still incredibly frustrating, but cute in an odd way. He could rile her up at the drop of a hat and she had the power to do the same.
If anyone were to actually watch their encounters, it would seem as if they hated each other. They fought like dogs and sent some nasty looks each other’s way. But the moment the two of them were alone, it was like all of the animosity that they had for each other fueled the spark the ignited between them.
Sometimes the worse they were during the day, the better they were when they were alone. Mason often wondered if sometimes she pushed his buttons for that purpose alone, but then again sometimes he wondered if he did the same to her.
He didn’t exactly care why they were so good together, and he didn’t even mind when they were bad together, it all almost became like a game. They were each other’s dirty little secret and only they knew what they had between them.
His friends would get on his case about where he was at night and why he wasn’t going out with them anymore. She confessed that her friends wondered why she spent so much time at her house and why she stopped going to all of her dinners and galas. They both made excuses that seemed plausible enough, and both would mention that they probably should make some appearances just to keep up the charade, yet every night there they were together, finding a spot to sneak away to.
Everything seemed almost perfect until she sent him a text one morning.
We need to talk.
That was all she sent. They weren’t typically into the cute texts or really any texts that didn’t allude to the fact that they were looking to get some from the other one. So a message that like that didn’t sit well with him. When anyone started a conversation like that it almost always meant one thing: the end.
He knew they hadn’t really had anything serious going on, but he also knew that he really didn’t want it to be the end, either. Her hold on him had become something he craved and letting it go was the furthest thing from his thoughts. But at the same time it wasn’t as if he’d expected it to last forever.
They were from two completely different worlds, and while he didn’t want to think about the fact that something like that mattered, it definitely did. Even if he ended up liking her, even if he ended up caring about more than just her body, which some niggling feeling in the back of his mind was telling him he did, she could never be with him. He was from the wrong side of town, a loser with no money and who was scraping away from every last cent just to give his brother the things he never had. There was no way a princess like her would ever fall for the stable boy.
He texted her back asking where they should meet and she told him later that night in the pool house. The pool house was always their favorite spot to sneak away to, so it made it hurt even more than she was choosing there to break things off with him. He’d had enough hurt and enough problems in his life to let Kelsey cause any more. He wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of breaking things off with him.
He’d leave before she had the chance. That was the perfect idea. Immediately he went to his savings container where he kept his money locked away and counted. It was slightly less than he’d wanted to leave with, but if his calculations were correct, then he had enough to get by for a little while with Adam in tow until he could find a job. He’d just have to find one, fast.
He packed his bags and made sure his truck was gassed up. He didn’t want to have to make any stops other than to get Adam out of bed. There couldn’t be a window for him to change his mind. The thought of not showing up at all and simply vanishing flitted through his mind but he couldn’t do that.
Not only did he not want to be that cruel, but more importantly he wanted to see her one last time. The entire rest of the day went along in a blur as he started picturing his life without her in it. She wouldn’t be there to drive him crazy with her attitude, and she wouldn’t be there to drive his body crazy either.
It was clear that she had absolutely no idea of how much power she held over a man or else she wouldn’t wield it so freely. Unless of course she did know just how much power she held, and in that case she was worse than any name he had ever called her.
But he just couldn’t imagine that she was that way. She might be spoiled, and she might act like a princess most of the time, but there was one thing he knew about her and that was she wore her heart out in the open.
Every emotion she felt was always written all over her face. Whether it be anger at something he said, or lust, or even something softer, something kinder. Whatever it was, she showed it freely. It was one of the things he liked most about her, that there was never a game that he wasn’t aware they were playing.
He knew when he’d gone too far and he’d have to make it up to her, he knew when she was being playful, and he even knew what she needed from his body. Somewhere in the past few weeks, he’d learned her body and her heart. But those were thoughts he had to shake away. Those things were coming to an end. But if they had to end then they would be on his terms.
When he arrived at the pool house, Kelsey was already inside waiting for him. He took a shaky breath and pasted a smile that was skin deep on his face. The door opened to Kelsey pacing the floor, a look of worry on her face. When she looked up at him, he could feel his heart nearly break.
He didn’t want to say goodbye to her, but he could see that something had changed. The look in her eyes that she usually had, the light and playfulness that she gave him when they were alone together, was gone. Whatever had changed in one day had been enough.
“Listen, I’m glad you wanted to meet tonight. I want to tell you something.”
Kelsey stopped pacing and looked at Mason, confused. He was sure he was throwing her off because she had fully expected to be the one on top, the one who broke it off. But he had never let her best him and he wasn’t about to, he’d do it first.
“I wanted to tell you I’m leaving tonight. I’m sorry it’s short notice, but I’m leaving town.”
There, he’d said it. It wasn’t a lie, at least not then. If she’d asked a few hours before it would have been, but that didn’t matter. He didn’t officially have to break her heart, but he would still be the one to say goodbye.
“Will you be coming back?” Her voice was small and it hurt somewhere inside, but he knew he had to press on.
“Doubtful. I’m taking my brother with me so really there isn’t a reason to come back.”
He knew that last part hurt, he didn’t meant to say that, it had just popped out. Something flashed in her face that almost looked like sadness, but it was quickly covered by fury.
“No reason, huh? Well I’m glad you had your fun with me, it was nice knowing you.”
In that moment, Mason realized that the last thing he’d wanted to do was hurt her like that. He would have rather been the one that got crushed than to be the one who was putting that look on her pretty face knowing that he wasn’t going to make it better for her.
“Well, what are you waiting for? Go!”
She was kicking him out of the pool house and out of her life. He almost had to wonder if she’d had something else on her mind instead of breaking things off, maybe he’d rushed into his thoughts too quickly. But it was too late now, words were something in life that once they were said, the damage was done and there was no getting them back.
His body was aching for one la
st feel, his lips wanted one last kiss. He wanted to taste her one more time before he said goodbye. But she had turned away and he saw that there was nothing he could do. She wouldn’t let him anywhere near her again. He’d done what he came to do.
With one last look back at her, he took in her picture and saved it to his memories so that on the nights where he was missing her he could bring her back to him, he walked out of the door. The irony wasn’t lost on him that the same door that had started the fire was the same one he was walking out of, effectively putting the flames out.
He couldn’t get to his rusty pickup fast enough, he needed to get away and he needed to do it immediately. Once inside the safety of his cab, he slammed the steering wheel in frustration. Life just wasn’t fair. Everything he wanted he lost and there was never anything he could do about it.
Well, there was one thing, and that was start over. He turned on his truck and sped back to his shack of the house. Jotting a quick and simple note to his mother, he told her that he took Adam and that they wouldn’t be back.
He promised to send her some money and that was that. Quietly he crept up the stairs and passed his mother’s room where she was, as usual, passed out snoring and drunk. Mason slipped into Adam’s room and stuffed some clothes, a couple toys, and the few books that he had into a couple of bags. Then he lifted the boy, making sure to grab his favorite teddy bear, and took everything downstairs to his truck.
Adam barely stirred at the disturbance and only peeked his eyes opened when Mason laid him down across the bench seat of his truck.
“Where are we going?” he asked.
“Just on a little trip, you and me,” Mason answered.
Adam nodded sleepily, agreeing to the little adventure and Mason climbed into his side of the truck. The two drove through the night with Adam barely waking at all. It was just as well because Mason had a lot to figure out.
He tried to keep his focus on the task at hand, getting them far enough away and finding a good place for them to start a new life. But his mind kept wandering back to Kelsey and that strange look that had flitted across her face. He couldn’t help but wonder if he’d made a big mistake.
Chapter5
Kelsey felt as if her heart had been ripped into a million pieces. She knew having anything to do with Mason would be a long shot, but she never expected him to just run and disappear. It wasn’t as if she thought that he’d fall madly in love with her or anything and they’d find a way to be together, she knew that wasn’t something that he would have wanted.
But she also never expected him to be so cruel to her. Especially because she never got a chance to tell him the whole reason she needed to meet him.
Earlier that morning, Kelsey had been checking her calendar and noticed that something very important was missing. More specifically it hadn’t come. She couldn’t very well just go to the local pharmacy to get a test—too many people knew her and the gossip would fly, so she had her driver take her to a store a few towns over where she still felt the need to hide her face.
It shouldn’t be a big deal that she needed to make the purchase, she was a grown woman and she was free to make her own choices. Still she could only imagine what her parents’ reactions would be if it came back positive. What would her neighbors say? She’d be the talk of The Vines and the prospect of that was humiliating.
But an hour after she bought it, she got her result. She was pregnant. She and Mason were having a baby.
Kelsey’s world spun fast as a million thoughts ran through her mind. She could never get rid of it, her parents would never forgive her and it wasn’t something she wanted to do, anyway. So she was going to keep the baby, that was for certain. But before she could think any farther than that, she needed to tell Mason. She really had no idea how he would react, but for some reason, she hadn’t expected it to go badly.
It was true that most of the time when they were around each other he drove her crazy. He was cocky and arrogant and never failed to mention how spoiled she was. But, at the same time, every time he teased her or fought with her, she could see a light in his eyes that told her he never really meant it.
Sure, she would spit out a few insults of her own, but deep down she knew she never meant those either. And the times they were alone together were unbelievable. She’d never had many partners before, a few guys here and there, but nothing ever compared to Mason. Just a touch from him sent chills through her body, his kiss always left her begging for more, and when she got more it was never enough.
For some reason, in their strange way, they worked. He drove her insane with jealousy and frustration, yet she would stay home purposefully just so she could be near him. It probably wasn’t healthy, whatever they were doing together, but she could tell that he wanted it just as much as she did.
So for that reason, something in her told her that Mason would be a standup guy when it came to the baby situation. She really hadn’t been nervous at all about telling him. She knew she had more than enough money to support herself, and the baby and while she didn’t want to push anything too fast with Mason, she thought he’d want to be a part of it.
In the rare moments when they weren’t fighting or all over each other, they would talk about their lives and she could always see the way he spoke about Adam. His eyes sparkled with pride and he would tell her that he was setting up a plan to give Adam a better life than he’d had. She always assumed that meant getting him into a good school or buying them a better home. But apparently she was wrong.
When he came into the pool house, she could see something different in his eyes, something she hadn’t seen before. His normally-warm eyes were cold and distant. There was no playfulness in his mannerisms, it was just business. He was dumping her, leaving her as if she’d never been anything at all to him.
The more that she thought about it the more that she realized that maybe she hadn’t. Maybe their entire time together had been just physical to him, or even worse maybe it was a conquest. She had to shake that thought from her head, it was just too much to handle.
Maybe if she’d told him that she was pregnant, he wouldn’t have left her alone, she knew that was a possibility. But she couldn’t make him stay just because he felt obligated. No woman ever wanted a man to stay because he had to, only because he wanted to be with her.
Telling him would only give him an impossible choice to either stay or be miserable raising a baby with her, or leave and never have to feel stuck. So she made the choice for him. It hurt though, letting him walk away. She never even got to tell him how she felt about him, not as if she herself knew exactly what that was.
All night she stayed in her room while tears slid down her cheeks. She stared at her phone blankly, willing it to ring. She wanted him to call her, she wanted him to admit that he’d made a mistake and he was coming back to see her. But it didn’t ring. Not a call, not a text, nothing but silence.
She realized that his silence hurt more than any words ever could. It had only been a matter of hours but she could already feel the hole he’d left behind in her life. Where she’d finally found some excitement and some life, it was now left empty. Except she realized for one small detail. Placing her hand on her belly, she began to rub small circles around the baby she pictured inside.
She wasn’t left with nothing. She wasn’t left with a boring life or little excitement. She had the most exciting thing in life about to happen to her, and it was going to happen in dramatic fashion. She would be the gossip of town, the girl who got knocked up by the bad boy, and she was going to be a single mother.
How had she even for a second thought that her life was going to be boring without Mason in it? She sighed because she already knew. There was a feeling he gave her, something that burned deep inside of her that she’d never felt before and she worried that she’d never feel again.
The worst part of the night was when she broke down completely and called him. Maybe she should tell him, maybe it would change things. She dialed his
number and held her breath, willing him to answer.
Except instead of a ring tone, she got a prerecorded message telling her that the phone was no longer in service. That was officially it. She had no way to reach him and no idea where he had decided to travel. There was no other choice but to say goodbye to Mason and every thought that came with him.
The next morning she awoke red faced and exhausted. If she could have slept the day away in her depression she would have, but she knew she had things to accomplish. So she pulled herself out of bed and showered, making sure to stay under the hot spray long enough to wash away all of the tears from the night before. Dressing in one of her favorite sundresses, which she fleetingly realized would not fit very soon, she dolled herself up and prepared herself for the part she’d been most nervous about. Facing her parents.
When she came down to the breakfast nook, both of her parents were there sipping coffee and reading, shuffling through things on their phones. Her father was most likely looking at the stocks while her mother was probably checking her calendar for the day to see what she had planned. Kelsey took a deep breath and sat at the table with them. Neither one of them even looked up. She cleared her throat to get their attention and eventually her mother looked her way.
“Good morning Kelsey. What do you have for plans today? There’s a charity luncheon that I’m attending today…”
“Actually,” Kelsey interrupted her mother. “I have something I need to tell you both.”
She waited while her father finished whatever he was typing and looked up at her. It was rare that they both gave her attention at the same time and she could feel her face go hot with being the center of attention.
