“Ian is just fine in New York. He’s not going to buy land from you, Trent. So stop trying to get him on your leash.”
He traced her hand, and she pulled back quickly. “You liked being on my leash, Presley. You begged for it.”
“I must have been out of my mind. Now leave before I call the manager and tell him that you’ve been harassing me. That won’t look good for your reputation, will it? After all, you’ve already had to deal with the fallout of fucking my friend in my house.”
Trent’s cheeks reddened, and he narrowed his eyes. “Don’t be such a frigid bitch,” he snapped. “You’re a whore for sleeping with my brother right after you fucked me. You’re just sloppy seconds, and I wouldn’t have you back even if you begged. And I’ve seen you on your knees begging—it’s not a pretty picture.”
Fucking. Asshole.
“Go. Away.”
Trent raised his hands and stood before brushing off the front of his too-expensive suit. “Fine. I’m sure I’ll see you again when you try to crawl back into by bed. I don’t take dirty thirds though, darling.”
“I wouldn’t have you back even if yours was the last penis on earth.”
“Such a foul mouth,” he murmured. “You won’t have your precious Mason to run home to when you need to get off soon.” Her eyes narrowed. “Oh, you haven’t heard the big news? Little brother just got a huge job out of state. It’s his dream job. Something he’s always wanted, and yet he didn’t tell you? It seems you weren’t worth enough to stay. Doesn’t matter though. You never were worth much.”
Presley’s heart lurched. What was Trent talking about? He could have been lying, but from the knowing look in his eyes and smug grin on his face, she didn’t think so. What had Mason done?
“This is the last time I’m going to tell you to leave, Trent,” she said, her voice far too shaky.
Damn it. She would not break in front of this man.
Trent leaned down and kissed her. Hard. She tried to push away, but he held her close. She punched him in the stomach and broke away. “Don’t forget me, Presley. You never could before. You won’t now.”
“What the hell is going on?” Mason snapped from behind Trent.
Trent smiled at her before holding up his hands. “Just saying goodbye to Presley. You know how close we were.” He strolled away, and Mason lifted his fist.
Presley pushed forward and held him back. “He’s not worth an assault charge.” Sure, she’d just punched the man, but Trent would file a charge against Mason in a heartbeat.
Trent smirked over his shoulder then left the café. Presley stood next to Mason, her hand on his chest. She could feel the stares from the people around them, and she just wanted to get out of there. Her emotions were all over the place, and she wasn’t sure what to think. Had Trent been telling the truth? Did Mason really get another job out of state? She wouldn’t put it past her ex to lie—he’d done that for years—but Presley couldn’t shake the feeling it was all too true.
“Let’s get out of here,” Mason murmured as he put his arm around her shoulders. She pulled away without thinking, and he sucked in a breath.
Damn it. This wasn’t going well at all, yet she didn’t know another way to handle it.
“Fine. I need a break from people staring at me anyway.” She grabbed her bag then walked out onto the sidewalk, Mason on her tail.
“What did he say to you?” Mason asked, his jaw clenched. Huh, apparently you could talk through your teeth.
“The normal Trent crap.” She turned on her heel and faced him. “He also said you got a job out of state and were moving. Is that true?” Anger welled in her belly, and she clenched her fists. Damn it. She shouldn’t have cared so much. She shouldn’t have put her heart out there for a man who told her they’d just say friends, despite the fact she knew she loved him.
Mason blanched, and Presley took a step back.
“It’s true. You’re moving.” You’re leaving me.
Mason held out an arm, reaching for her, but she shook her head. “Tell me.”
He let out a breath, his shoulders falling. “It was a long shot. Part of an environmentally sound project that happens to be out of state. I applied over a year ago, and they just got back to me. I don’t know how Trent figured it out, other than he has connections everywhere and seems to get joy from fucking up my life.”
Her heart ached, freaking shattered. That sounded like a perfect job for him. His dream job. So much better than what Trent gave him and what he’d been forced to do for years to earn a living. Tears filled her eyes, and she blinked them back. She couldn’t cry. That would only show him the true depth of her feelings, and she knew now it was a lost cause to love him. He was going to leave her. Leave her broken and alone.
Damn it.
“I trusted you,” she said softly. “You’re my best friend, Mason. Or at least I thought you were. If we were so close, especially now, then why didn’t you trust me enough to tell me that you leaving was even a possibility?”
“Pres, it was such a long shot I didn’t think I’d get it. I didn’t want to worry you with something that probably wouldn’t happen anyway.”
She shook her head. “You thought I couldn’t handle it.” Well, she wasn’t handling it well right then, but she’d push on. She had to. “You took the decision out of my hands. You slept with me, knowing you could leave at any moment.”
Mason sighed. “When we started out, it was just as friends. I thought everything would be fine. I’m sorry, Pres. I haven’t taken the job, though. I wanted to talk to you first.”
He cupped her chin, and she leaned into him before shaking him off. Letting him go would be the hardest thing she’d ever have to do, but she couldn’t keep him from his dreams. His brother had been doing that for years, and she wouldn’t stoop to that.
“Go, Mason. It’s the perfect job for you.” She swallowed hard. “And you’re right. We only slept together as friends. Easy to break away and move on,” she lied.
He look like he’d been struck, but she couldn’t do anything else. “Presley, you know—”
“I know what? No, don’t bother. Between you and your brother, I’m done. I can’t do this anymore. Just go. Move away and live your life because I know this is something you’ve always wanted. I’m not part of that. I get it. I won’t hold you back.”
He narrowed his eyes. “You can just let me walk away? Just like that? I thought we were more than that.”
If he’d truly thought that, he’d have told her in the first place. “You were wrong,” she lied.
With that, she left him standing on the sidewalk. Her body shook, and she couldn’t hold back the tears any longer. He didn’t call out to her. Didn’t follow her. That hurt worst of all. He’d let go without a fight, and now she knew where she stood. She’d been the one in love. Not him.
She should have known she’d break in the end.
Nothing good came from hopes and dreams.
Nothing but shattered hearts and tears.
****
Mason stood on the sidewalk, staring at where Presley had been, long enough for people to stare, before heading to his truck and back home.
Fuck. That wasn’t how it was supposed to go. He wasn’t supposed to walk into the café, see Trent’s lips on Presley’s, and then have the one woman he loved leave him.
Nothing was going right, and yet he honestly didn’t know how things were supposed to go in the first place.
Well, Trent shouldn’t have touched Presley. Mason knew that much.
Fucking prick.
Before he knew what he was doing, he was on his way to Trent’s place, his hands gripping the steering wheel so hard his knuckles turned white. When he pulled into the driveway, he turned off his truck and slammed out of it, anger coursing through his veins.
He walked in without knocking since Trent had left the door open. The bastard was probably expecting him.
“You fucking asshole,” Mason spit out when he walked in
to the living room.
Trent stood near the windows, his back to him. Lorena sat on the couch, her legs crossed and her eyebrows raised.
“Really, Mason,” Lorena admonished. “Is that any way to greet your brother in his own home?”
Mason couldn’t help it. He laughed. “Jesus Christ. This is just perfect. The two of you are a match made in hell.”
Trent turned slowly, that smug grin begging Mason to wipe it off his face. “You’re in my home, so you will treat me with respect.”
“Fuck you.”
“You’re so low class and common,” Trent spat. “I can’t believe we share DNA.”
“I can’t believe it either, but you know what? I don’t care. I’m done working with you.”
“It was for me.”
He couldn’t kill his brother. That would only make things worse.
“What the fuck ever. I’m done. You can build your big houses and force someone else to put in random topiaries that make no sense. I’m not going to do it anymore.”
“You’re taking the job out of state. Good for you. Too bad you’re leaving poor Presley here.”
“Can we stop talking about that rag doll?” Lorena whined as she stood from the couch. “I don’t know how she captured either of you. She took my leftovers with you, Mason, but she’s not even good enough for that.”
Mason closed his eyes and prayed for patience. Wait, he didn’t need patience. Not anymore. “Trent is Presley’s dirty leftovers, and considering Trent sticks his dick in anything with a pussy, you’re lowballing, honey. In fact, he kissed Presley just this afternoon.”
That reminded him. He needed to punch the bastard. He moved to do just that, but Lorena beat him to the punch.
Literally.
Trent howled. “What the fuck, Lorena?”
“You bastard! You don’t get to kiss some little bitch just to make your brother jealous. You’re mine.”
“Stop your lovers’ spat for a minute, and let me finish. I’ll leave you two to claw each other’s eyes out soon.”
Lorena growled at him. Growled. “Fuck you, Mason Sutton. In fact, fuck all of you Suttons. I’m done with this family.” She stormed out on her too-high heels, and Mason put her out of his mind. He honestly didn’t care what his ex did. He did care about Presley.
Despite the fact that she’d told him she didn’t want him anymore.
God, that had hurt.
Trent rubbed his jaw. “Women in this town are crazy.”
Mason shook his head. “No, you’re just a douche. Even if I don’t take the job, I’m done working for you. It’s not worth it.”
His brother rolled his eyes. “Whatever. I can get someone better. You’re just cheap labor anyway.”
“If you come near Presley again, I’ll make sure you feel pain in every inch of your body for days. You get me?”
Trent snorted. “I don’t want her. Sure, she was fun to fuck for a while, but she wasn’t getting me what I wanted. I only kissed her to show her what she was missing.”
Mason curled his lip then punched Trent on the other side of his face. Trent hit the floor, groaning.
“What the fuck is wrong with you people?” his brother spat.
“You touch her again, I’ll kill you.”
“She’s not yours, Mason. Or did you forget that part? You’re leaving her. I saw that broken look on her face. Poor Presley. Alone again and worthless. You did that to her. Not me. No matter what I did, she never looked as hurt as she did when she discovered you hadn’t told her you were leaving. So look in the damn mirror if you want someone to blame. It’s not me.”
Mason sucked in a breath then left. Trent was right, and that killed him. Presley had trusted him with her heart after Trent cheated on her, and Mason hadn’t told her everything. He hadn’t even told her he loved her. Damn it. No wonder she pushed him away when he hurt her. She had to, or she’d have been hurt worse. He’d kept his feelings hidden so he wouldn’t lose her and ended up alone anyway.
Fuck.
There had to be a way to fix this.
He just hoped it wasn’t too late.
Chapter Eight
Fired.
Seriously?
She’d been fired.
Presley sucked back another shot of tequila then bit into the lime. The liquor burned down her throat, but the citrus helped. Or maybe being on shot number three made all the difference.
Whatever.
The past two days had probably been the worst in her life. She’d left Mason standing on the sidewalk, tears streaming down her face, and managed to make it home before she fully broke down and sobbed.
She’d let him go because it was the best thing for him. This job was what he’d always wanted, and there was no way she would hold him back from that. Ironically, now that she was jobless, she didn’t have that many ties to Austin and could have moved with him.
That wasn’t an option anymore.
Frankly, she wasn’t sure that’d been an option to begin with. He hadn’t asked her to come with him—though she never gave him the chance to discuss it because she’d been afraid to hear it.
She’d cried herself to sleep and woke up with a headache. She’d pushed through and dressed in her best business attire for her meeting with Stan and the company’s other representatives, while doing her best to put Mason and her worries out of her mind.
That morning should have been the pivotal point in her career.
Red Swan should have shined.
Instead, she’d been locked out of the meeting entirely.
She could still see the smirks on Franklin’s and Geoff’s faces as they walked side by side with the representatives.
Apparently, they’d gone golfing and hadn’t invited her. They pitched their projects and bashed hers, and gave her no chance to defend herself.
With that last nail in the coffin, Stan told her that her services were no longer needed.
She’d blinked then walked to her desk, stuffing everything she owned in a box Stan had happily provided. She’d looked into the faces of each person she’d worked with for years and didn’t feel anything. She was frozen, broken.
When they tried to turn away or act like they might have been on her side, she silently cursed them. If they’d cared at all, they wouldn’t have let this happen to her. No one said she’d been fired because she was a woman, but Presley knew, and she didn’t want to deal with the legalities of suing.
She would move on.
Before she left the building, she’d taken down her hair, letting her curls bounce around her face. She’d also taken off her suit jacket so each man could see her curves. The curves she’d been hiding because she’d been ashamed of her body, ashamed to be a woman.
Well, no more.
She strutted out of there, her chin held high.
Fuck Stan and the rest of them. Fuck them all.
Red Swan was a promising game, and she would just have to find another buyer for it. She would start from scratch and find a career where her talents would be appreciated. She’d hidden herself for far too long.
That had been a mistake.
A mistake she wouldn’t make again.
When she arrived home after the second round of getting punched in the gut, she thought about eating ice cream again, and trying to ignore her hurts, but changed her mind. She’d done that after Trent, and thinking about feeding Mason ice cream that night only made things worse.
Instead, she put feelers out for Red Swan with another company and made a list of what she’d need to do now that she was unemployed. Being proactive was the only way to cope.
Well, that and getting dressed in low-slung jeans and a sexy top and then going to a karaoke bar. That’s where she found herself now—tipsy and trying to get over the fact she’d pushed Mason away and lost her job.
At least she wasn’t wallowing in ice cream again.
No, this time she was wallowing in tequila.
“Hey, you want to get out of here?�
�
Presley scrunched her face then looked over her shoulder at the very hot, bearded dude behind her. Too bad he wasn’t Mason.
Too bad she really wanted nothing to do with men.
“No thanks.”
At least men were noticing her. Far cry from when she’d been wearing her baggy shirts and jeans. That just pissed her off more. Apparently guys only noticed her when her boobs were out and her ass looked great.
Well, Mason had noticed her, but she’d pushed him away for his own good.
Okay, time to stop wallowing and sing.
“Are you sure, honey? You look good enough to eat.”
Jesus. “Nice, but still, I’m not interested.” She pushed away from him, and he let her, his gaze on another girl in tight jeans. Oddly enough, that didn’t bother her. She was already numb enough from the events of this day and the tequila.
She put her name in for karaoke then waited a few minutes until it was her turn. A soft ballad came on, and she sang to her heart’s content, putting all her emotions into the song. The lyrics spoke of walking away, of letting go of the past.
She wasn’t sure if she could do it, but she would try.
When the last chord rang and she finished belting out her lyrics, the crowd clapped and cheered. She bowed, her head a bit dizzy. Maybe she’d had too much tequila. She’d have to quit since she’d come to the bar alone, and she wasn’t that idiotic to get drunk and wind up with a stranger.
“Little sister, what is going on with you?”
Presley looked up to find her brother standing in front of her. Sure, he had a hat on and an old hoodie covering his torso so no one would recognize him, but this was her Ian. Her big brother.
“Hey, you.” She opened her arms, and Ian picked her up, cradling her close. “I missed you.” She inhaled his familiar scent, and her eyes watered. Damn, she’d missed him, and yet this wasn’t the person she truly wanted to hug her.
“Let’s get you out of here and hydrated,” Ian murmured as he led her out of the bar.
“I wasn’t done yet,” she said softly. “I think I have one good song left in me.”
Finally Found You Page 8
