by Bonnie Dee
As Mason looked deep into her, something stirred. Not a physical reaction but a different type of yearning unfurled within her. The longer their gazes remained locked, the more it intensified. She wanted to give to him, not just her body but her self. She wanted to erase the tired lines from his face and the sadness that lurked behind his smiles. Mason suffered on an elemental level. Ava sensed it, knew it, and wanted to offer comfort to him.
She didn’t have his powers, but she could give that part of herself she’d blocked off for so long. She opened her heart and let emotion she’d hadn’t felt in years for anyone except Bryan flow through her. I care for you. More than care. I’m beginning to fall in love you.
Whether triggered by the message in her eyes or simply the needs of his body, Mason began to move again, rocking against her, nudging her toward climax. Ava inhaled sharply, and her eyes closed as her pleasure mounted. It burst through her, and while the woman next door screamed obscenities at her mate, Ava matched her with a shout of ecstasy.
Sky rockets in flight. Afternoon delight. The cheesy but incredibly appropriate lyric flashed in her mind as her body pulsed rhythmically. She grinned at the absurdity and at the pure joy that filled her.
Several moments later when she opened her eyes, Mason still watched her with an expression of awe. And something else… Some emotion he quickly covered with a smile.
“You’re beautiful when you come.” His voice was rough and full of desire.
She smiled. The compliment was like a dark, rich truffle—a rarely experienced treat. Compliments about her looks, or anything else, were few and far between.
Ava wanted him inside her now, to finish what he’d begun. Her immediate gratification was satisfied but her pussy still ached to be filled.
“Hurry!” she urged as Mason reached to get a condom from the nightstand. Safety measures were a pain in the ass. He sheathed himself quickly and returned to her, his weight settling on her once more.
Reaching down, he positioned himself at her entrance and pushed. Her body stretched around him, welcoming him home, and she exhaled in relief.
The quiet was filled by the inevitabilities of sex—the grunts, groans, and heavy breathing that must have filled the air of this room many times over the years. Skin glided over skin or slapped together.
Ava whimpered and clung hard to Mason’s shoulders as he invaded her. The act wasn’t new, but in this intimate moment, it felt like a revelation, like some marvel only the two of them had discovered. Ava’s chest ached from the swelling of her heart as she opened up and offered herself to this man. When his orgasm rushed through him at last, she received everything he gave her.
Afterward, as Mason lay panting on top of her, head resting on her breast, he muttered, “Thank you. I think I really needed that.”
She rubbed his shoulder idly. “I did too. I’ve been looking forward to this.”
He lifted his head to look at her. “Have you? Because of what you learned about me, I didn’t know if you still wanted to, ah, get close.”
Ava cupped his cheek in her hand. “Trust me. I’ve thought of this a lot over the past few days. I don’t know what’s going to happen next, but for as long as you’re here, I want to be with you. I want this.”
Chapter Fifteen
The look in her eyes and the intense way she murmured I want this were nearly enough to make Mason leap up from the bed. Ava had feelings for him. Strong feelings. Feelings that scared the hell out of him, especially because those same feelings were bumbling blindly around in the dark inside him.
He couldn’t make this sort of connection. Not given how unstable and uncertain his life was. It wasn’t only because of the healing thing, which might be acting like sort of a degenerative disease, sucking away his life. He was also almost flat broke with no prospects. What could he possibly offer Ava?
Mason generally steered clear of women for both of those reasons. Much as he might wish for some no-strings sex, his guard was down during the act. The barrier he put up between himself and people in order not to experience their traumas was weakened.
Once, he’d been nearly at his climax with a woman, lost in pleasure, when he’d suddenly felt a darkness inside her. Something involving her liver—cancer or some other ailment she probably wasn’t even aware of yet. He couldn’t keep taking pleasure from her while knowing that, so he’d let his power flow into her. Immediately after, he’d gone flaccid without coming. He’d left, sexually frustrated and tired, the evening ruined for him by his cursed ability.
To have Ava begin to care for him… No. He couldn’t take on that kind of burden, that sense of responsibility for her feelings.
Mason dropped a kiss on the corner of her mouth, pulled out from her and rolled away. “Thirsty? I have bottled water in the fridge.”
He got up and went to the minifridge located underneath the mini-microwave in one corner of his room. “My kitchen, mere steps away from my bedroom and bathroom. All the comforts of home in two hundred square feet,” he joked to break the stillness in the air between them, that sense of something big happening.
Mason sat on the edge of the bed and offered the uncapped bottle to Ava. She sat up, the sheet held modestly over her breasts with one arm, and sipped water.
He wanted to crawl back under the covers with her and hold her. He wanted to wake up in the morning still holding her, but instead he snagged his jeans off the floor and stuck a leg in. “Want to take a walk? Sun’s set. We can see the stars.”
“Sure.” She handed him the water and slid out of bed, suddenly shy and rushing to dress, while Mason caught every glimpse of her he could until her clothes were back on.
That was better. Somehow being clothed equated with less vulnerability, fewer close and intimate feelings. Or so he told himself as he walked her outside and locked the door behind him. Nothing much to steal, but he’d gotten the impression his neighbors would take anything that wasn’t bolted down.
“There’s a path at the corner of the parking lot.” Mason pointed it out. “We can climb the hill. I watch the sun set from there sometimes, but it’s good for night sky viewing too.”
He led the way up the narrow, overgrown path, climbing over tumbled stones along the way, and reaching out to take Ava’s hand and help her over even though she probably didn’t need his help. At last they reached the rocky outcropping at the top, amid the tall grasses. He sat on the flat stone, legs crossed, and she did the same. For a little while, they sat silently, watching fireflies in the dark hollow below and listening to the trill of tree frogs and crickets and the rustling of small animals in the brush.
Mason glanced at all the familiar patterns in the sky above. He could locate and name every one, but he was far less interested in the stars tonight than in watching the pale face of the woman beside him. With her head tipped back, the smooth column of Ava’s throat invited him to kiss it, but Mason kept his distance and turned his gaze back to the boring stars.
“What first got you interested in astronomy?” she asked.
“My fifth grade teacher. Ms. Flannigan. Face like a horse, but she was hands down the best teacher I ever had. She made school seem like an adventure rather than a chore. She suggested an astronomy presentation for the class science fair, and once I got hooked, I had to be outdoors every night.” Mason laughed. “Which was better than indoors. My parents fought a lot before my dad finally took off.”
Ava nodded, and even though her dad hadn’t chosen to leave her, Mason guessed she could relate.
“What about the rest of your family? Do you ever see them?” It was an innocent enough question, but the answer was fraught with too much emotion for Mason.
“My mom died. My sisters both moved to other states, and I haven’t been in touch with them for a long time.”
“Not even a phone call?”
He shook his head and waved it off with one hand as if it didn’t matter. “Family drama. The details don’t matter.” Which, of course, was an absolute lie.
“I’m sorry. That must be rough, to be on the outs with all of your family.” Ava drummed her fingers softly on one leg. “Bryan drives me nuts a lot of the time, but I couldn’t imagine being without him, though I suppose I should start preparing myself for it.”
He gazed at her white profile against dark pine boughs. “What is Bryan’s life expectancy?”
She shrugged, her pale moonlit hair flowing over one marble shoulder. “It’s hard to say. His form of MD is milder than some, but he’ll probably be in a wheelchair or scooter by maybe his late twenties. Often the heart is weakened, so he’ll be prone to heart issues or respiratory ones. If he dies young, it’ll be because of that.”
Mason stared, mesmerized, at the ghostly girl in the dark night. “I wish I could help him.”
Ava shook her head. “I wouldn’t ask that of you. I understand what it costs you.”
“When I first met Bryan at the fair, I did look inside him and felt everything he needed. Being a genetic disease, it’s in the very structure of his body. It would take so much… It’s beyond what I can do.”
Under cover of darkness, secrets and truths showed themselves, things tumbled out that would normally stay locked up inside where they belonged. A few started to slip and slide their way into his mouth. “When my mother got sick, I couldn’t do anything for her either. I tried a little, but I can feel when a disease is beyond my ability. My sisters blamed me for her death. I left home and haven’t seen either of them since.”
“That’s awful.” Ava’s eyes saw him even in the darkness. “You haven’t made up with them?”
“I tried to call Gina once on her birthday. The number was disconnected. And one time when the show stopped about fifty miles away, I went home. The neighbors said Carolyn had gotten married and moved to Portland. Gina got a job in Atlanta.”
“Maybe they wanted to reach you but couldn’t. Did you try to find them online?” Ava seemed really upset by the thought of Mason falling off the grid as far as his family was concerned.
“No.” He shrugged. “Anyway, that’s the story of why I left home.”
“I’m glad you told me,” she said quietly. “And please don’t feel bad about Bryan. I understand.”
Which, of course, left Mason feeling guiltier than before. If he could put himself out for Nash’s buddy, couldn’t he at least try to help Bryan. He might not be able to heal him, but perhaps he could do a little to lessen the severity of his symptoms, which would make both the kid’s and Ava’s lives easier.
But he knew himself. Once he started, it was almost impossible to stop. He’d keep pushing and pouring his power into an unsolvable problem until there was nothing left of him. As much as he cared about Ava, he couldn’t give that much of himself—not even for her.
Best if he simply walked away from it all—the rumors, the emotional entanglements, the guilt, and the girl. He’d done it before.
“Look, a shooting star!” Ava cried out, extending an arm to point at the sky.
Mason looked up in time to see the meteor fall. One bright streak, and then it winked out, beautiful and brief.
“I remember sitting in the desert once watching a full-on meteor shower. It was awesome,” he said. “In the 1800s, there was a Leonid shower, tens of thousands per hour observed. Superstitious types thought the world was ending.”
“The sky is falling, like in that children’s story.” Ava wrapped her arms around her knees and leaned her chin on them. “I think the primitive part of our brain still gets a little chill at a phenomenon like that.”
For a while, they both searched in silence for more blazes of light, but the stars shone soft and steady like normal.
Ava broke the silence at last. “Deb’s been in a mood lately. Probably because of the fire. I hope she’s not having financial problems.”
“I don’t think so,” Mason said. “Girlfriend troubles. I overheard her arguing on her cell phone.”
“No way,” Ava scoffed.
“Way. Sounds like Suzanne might even be moving out.”
“No way!”
“I got the impression she’s moving back to wherever she came from. Small-town living too hard on her I guess.”
“That’s awful. They’ve been a couple for five years or more.” Ava sounded like a child who’d been told Santa doesn’t exist. “Why can’t people stay together?”
Mason thought about his own parents and the many people he’d met during his travels. So much turmoil and pain that often seemed self-inflicted and mostly about people refusing to allow themselves to be happy.
“I don’t know,” he said.
They fell silent and continued to stare at the canopy of sparkling stars that grew brighter the darker the night became. Another meteor zipped past. Mason pointed it out.
“I hope you heard wrong,” Ava suddenly said. “I hope Suzanne and Deb work it out.” She was quiet a moment, then added, “Being in love shouldn’t be so hard.”
“No.” Mason dropped his gaze from the sky to the dark shapes of rocks and trees around them and the few lights of houses winking in the distance. Trouble was that love was hard. It demanded things from a person and would accept nothing less than everything he had to give. He didn’t know if he was ready for that sort of challenge.
Mason looked at Ava’s eyes shining like the stars.
On the other hand, he was beginning to think walking away from this girl might be even harder.
Chapter Sixteen
A day later, Mason was standing in the checkout line at Clayton’s when he saw a flyer printed on gold paper and stuck to the side of the register. He froze with a can of beans in his hand, eyes riveted on the cross with the banner across it: Come Be Renewed!
A black-and-white photo of a choir, mouths open in song, hands folded in prayer was pictured below. The poster offered Music. Fellowship. Prayer. Food for the Soul.
Preacher Doug Croyden’s Revival Show was coming to Brag’s Hollow in partnership with a local church, the Evangelical Brotherhood of Christ.
“You gonna get that?” the cashier prompted as Mason continued to clutch the beans.
“Uh, yeah.” He set the can on the counter. No conveyor in this little country store.
Waller was a speck on the map even compared to Brag’s Hollow. So what if the show came nearby? It wasn’t as if Mason needed to have any contact with those people. He wasn’t a wanted man on the run from Croyden. He’d just left. Simple as that.
And he didn’t owe anything to Doug—except the man had helped with his medical bill after Mason collapsed and was taken to the hospital. Doug had told him not to worry about the bill, said he didn’t mind paying so long as Mason returned to the show as soon as he was feeling better. But Mason hadn’t returned. He’d checked himself out and hit the road without picking up his last paycheck.
The cashier, a pimply faced high school girl, snapped her gum and stared at Mason as he continued to gaze at the poster. “Twenty-four ninety-five,” she repeated the total.
He dragged his attention away from the flyer and counted out some cash, grabbed the sack of groceries, and left Clayton’s.
So what? It was a weird coincidence, sure, especially since Croyden’s circuit generally covered the southwestern states. But maybe pickings were slim and he’d decided to focus in a new direction. Plenty of good Christians who still appreciated a revival around here as well. But for the show to stop so close to the very place Mason had holed up for a while seemed beyond coincidental, as if Doug had somehow tracked him here. Or as if Fate was telling Mason his business with Croyden wasn’t quite finished yet.
If there was a higher power orchestrating things, it had a wickedly gleeful sense of humor, Mason thought glumly as he walked back toward his motel room.
He put the groceries away in the minifridge and considered what to do with the rest of his day off. He wished Ava were free to spend it with, but she was working. Maybe he’d just mosey over to the diner and offer to finish Ralph’s shift just s
o he could spend some time with her. But it wasn’t as if they’d have time for more than a glimpse of each other and maybe a quick make-out session during their break. Besides, he didn’t like that he was so into her he missed her after only a day apart.
A breeze blew through the open door of his stuffy room, bringing in a breath of fresh air. Mason lounged in the doorway and gazed across the parking lot at the road and the rising green hills beyond. A few gold-leafed trees dotted the landscape, which was beginning to change from summer to fall. Soon the hillsides would blaze with color, then the branches would be bare, clattering together in winter winds. How long did he really plan to stick around here?
“Hey, man. What’s up?”
Mason glanced at the skinny, shirtless man from the unit next door. Jeans sagged around Gordy’s hips, and tattoos etched his pale arms and chest. He took a drag on the joint burning between his fingers, then offered it to Mason. Gordy leaned against the post that held up the awning along the row of motel rooms, and blew a slow stream of smoke.
Mason took a polite puff and handed back the joint. “Not much. Just figuring out my day. How ’bout you?” He didn’t really want to chat with his neighbor, but it was better to foster goodwill than piss off the volatile-tempered Gordy.
“You know my girlfriend, Sherri?” Gordy asked.
Mason pictured the short, plump woman who scurried rather than walked. She reminded him of a soft, white rabbit, timid and overweight from being caged all its life. “Sure. Why?”
“Sherri said she heard something about you from some friend of hers at the factory.”
“Sherri got a job?” Mason tried to change the subject. “That’s great.”
“Yeah. Well, it’s only a temp job. She’ll get laid off soon. Anyway, she heard some weird shit about you.”
“Huh.” Mason straightened, ready to make an excuse and slip back into his room.
“Some crazy-ass stuff about you healing this kid of pneumonia.”
“Pinkeye,” Mason corrected, then bit his tongue. “I mean, this girl came up to me at the Laundromat and asked me for help, so I suggested some ointment for his eye. Guess the kid got better.”
