The home was extravagant, but as Brett walked up to the door, he thought about how small it appeared in comparison to Lorna Ray Mason’s mansion.
It was total chaos in the house as Matt and Brett tried to move through the crowd. They spoke to a few people they knew and grabbed a beer from one of the kegs they found on the back deck.
“I see we lost the rest of the guys,” Matt said.
Brett signaled to a door.
“Let’s go downstairs and see if Olivia is there.”
The basement was spacious with a couple of pool tables and a theater size TV. There were also doors open to a lit up patio where people were hanging out. They finally spotted her talking to a group of guests.
“Olivia, give me a hug,” Brett said, smiling. Olivia was a beautiful blonde, and those who met her were fond of her.
“I’m glad you made it. Isn’t this crazy? I guess I let the party leak to a few too many people.”
“I think it’s because you become friends with everyone you meet,” Matt said.
“Good point.” She gave Matt a warm hug. “Thanks for coming. I know neither of you enjoy this scene anymore, and you’ll probably enjoy it even less tonight due to the number of underclassman here.”
“I wouldn’t miss it. It’s going to suck around campus next year without you there,” Brett said.
After a few minutes of talking with Olivia, Brett heard a lot of laughing and yelling coming from the corner of the room where the sitting area and TV were set up. He shifted his position to see what was happening. Six guys who appeared much younger than him were huddled around someone.
He walked over near where they stood and saw that one of the men had his cell phone out taking pictures. Brett finally got a glimpse between two of the guys and saw Hannah Ray Mason barely alert on a couch. The men were taking turns getting their picture taken with her.
Dammit, this is why I don’t get to know college girls.
He felt he had to intervene. He believed the probability of her getting hurt if he didn’t was high. He also figured with her celebrity status that it would be ugly for her if the pictures got out. The longer he watched them laugh and grope her, the angrier he became. He took hold of Olivia’s arm and gently pulled her aside.
“Olivia, do you know Hannah Mason personally?”
“I’ve talked to her a few times and seen her at parties.”
“Do you know who she rode with?” he asked.
“She hangs with these three girls, and they showed up together. Why are you asking?”
“Shit’s about to go down.” He pointed to the guys over at the sofa. “I need you to go upstairs, and find her friends. I’ll bring her to them shortly, but then I’m out of here. Sorry I can’t stay longer.”
“You’re such a great guy, Brett. No problem, I don’t want anything bad happening here, anyway.”
Matt walked over to Brett.
“What’s going on?”
Brett pointed to the group of guys and Hannah.
“I’m getting ready to do something. Just follow me upstairs after, and then we’ll need to leave.”
Matt sighed and ran a hand through his dark hair.
“OK, whatever, bro, but don’t get us into a fight.”
Chapter Two
To avoid a fight with six guys, Brett knew intimidation was key. He stormed over to the men, and with his hands, he pushed his way between two of them.
“What the hell do you all think you’re doing?” he asked in a raised voice. When angry, Brett often came across as scary due to his height and build. They stopped speaking and stared nervously at him. Only the guy taking the pictures answered.
“Dude, we’re just playing around. She’s so wasted, and do you know who she is?”
Brett could tell the guy was drunk by how he slurred his speech and laughed the whole time he spoke.
“Give me your phone—now,” Brett demanded.
“No way, man. I’m going to sell these damn pictures.”
“Like hell you are. You’re going to delete every photo you have of her while I stand here and watch. If you don’t, I’m taking your phone and beating your ass.”
Brett’s fists clenched. He glanced down at Hannah and saw she was passed out and had fallen over on the couch. The room was silent as everyone stared at him.
“What’s your fucking problem? Are you just wanting a turn with her or something?” the guy with the phone asked.
Brett snapped and grabbed him by the front of his shirt near his neck.
“Don’t ever fucking talk about her that way again! Delete the damn pictures now if you don’t want your ass handed to you.”
He released the guy who then fumbled to get his pictures pulled up on his phone. Brett watched as he deleted every one with a trembling hand. The five other men never said a word.
“Now, the next time any of you decide to take advantage of a drunk girl at a party, remember there will be someone like me waiting to kick your ass.”
Brett glared at the men as he pointed to the doors that opened up to the patio. “All of you take your sorry asses out that door and leave.”
“Sorry, man. I—I’m sorry,” the drunk guy with the phone said as they turned and headed toward the door.
In one swift move, Brett picked up Hannah and carried her up the stairs. Once on the main level, guests cleared a path for him, looking with surprised expressions. Matt followed right behind him.
He tried to keep her very short dress tucked under his arm as he treaded toward the front door. He saw Olivia and walked up to the three girls standing next to her.
“Did she come with you?” Brett asked as Hannah lay passed out in his arms.
With their eyes the size of silver dollars, the three answered “yes” simultaneously.
“Where’s your car?”
“Um, I have to call my driver, and who are you, anyway?” one of the girls asked.
“I’m obviously the only one looking out for your friend. Six guys downstairs were taking photos of her, and from what I could tell, that wasn’t the last thing they were going to do with her. Call your damn driver. I’m going to carry her out front and wait with her there,” he said angrily.
“OK, I will right now,” she said, digging for her phone in her purse.
Matt followed Brett outside.
“What the hell am I supposed to do with her now? I thought I’d be putting her straight into a car.”
Matt pointed to two oversized wicker chairs sitting to the right of them on the porch. “Come on, we can sit there.”
They both sat down, and Brett adjusted Hannah in his lap, so he could hold on to her. She curled herself inward toward him and laid her face against his neck.
“Do you even know her?” Matt asked.
“I met her today.”
“Who is she?”
“Are you just screwing with me?” Brett asked.
“I have no idea who she is.”
“Brace yourself. I’m holding Hannah Mason, the daughter of Lorna Ray Mason.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“I wish.”
Matt chuckled. “I’m sorry, bro, but now I wish I could take a picture. This is priceless.”
“Don’t even think about it,” Brett said sternly.
“I heard she went to Vandy, but I’ve never seen her before. She’s hot.”
“You should see her in a fucking bikini.”
“You’re going to catch hell over this for a long time.”
The three girls Brett had approached came out the front door, and the one he’d spoke with walked up to him.
“He’s on his way, but it will be about thirty minutes. I’m Chelsea. Do you want us to hold her so you can go?”
“I’m good. There’s no sense in moving her now,” Brett answered.
“OK, we’ll wait over there.” Chelsea pointed to the other side of the porch. Brett could see the girls were nervous, but he thought they deserved it for not checking on Hannah at the pa
rty.
“Damn, her friends are hot, too. I think I might have to date the young girls again,” Matt said.
Brett’s worst nightmare happened next. Dylan and his two other roommates, Cody and Austin, came tearing out the front door. They’d got wind of what happened and had to see for themselves.
“Oh, man, I can’t believe it’s true,” Cody said with his hands on his hips. Cody had blonde hair and blue eyes like Brett but was much shorter. He had a strong country accent, and like Dylan, he wore a ball cap every day. All three were standing in front of Brett, staring at Hannah and him.
“What’s gotten into you today? First you tell us you’re done with older women, and now you’re holding the passed out daughter of the most famous country singer on earth. I don’t think she should’ve been your first choice if you’re gonna rob the cradle, dude,” Dylan said, laughing.
Dylan was the jokester of the bunch and loved to harass Brett on a regular basis.
“Dylan, get off my back. I helped her out of a bad situation, that’s all.”
Hannah stirred a little from Brett speaking. She curled up even tighter against his warm chest and moved her arm up, wrapping it around his neck.
Damn, her body feels good up against mine.
Dylan chuckled. “I think she likes you, Brett. Oh, I’m so loving this.”
Brett tried to ignore him as he focused on Hannah, and the fruity scent he was breathing in from her hair. She started to slide out of his lap due to her slick dress, so he wrapped his arm around her legs and pulled her back up while trying to pull her short dress down.
“This gets better every minute,” Austin said, smirking.
Austin was the mellowest of the group. He was tall with red hair and green eyes. The home the guys lived in actually belonged to Austin’s parents. He was the only one from Nashville. The other guys lived on campus originally, but after getting to know Austin in their classes, they started staying over at his home for parties. They quickly became good friends, and since the house was so large, Austin let them move in while still keeping their required dorm rooms.
“Look three amigos, either go back inside or go home,” Brett said.
Dylan turned his ball cap around backwards.
“Oh no, I’m not missing any of this.”
“My driver is pulling in,” Chelsea yelled.
When Brett saw the black car approaching, he got up and carried Hannah down the long row of steps. The three girls climbed into the car and left the back seat on the passenger side open, so he could put Hannah in.
After getting her inside, he started to shut the door but felt a gnawing pain in his stomach. Brett was worried about leaving her. “Keep an eye on her. I don’t know if someone slipped something in her drink or if she just drank too much, but make sure she’s OK tonight,” he ordered.
“Thank you for rescuing her. I know she’ll be grateful,” Chelsea said.
“Just watch Hannah,” he said anxiously before he shut the door.
Brett and his friends got into their cars. He was quiet on the way home, and it irritated him that he was worrying so much about her. He barely knew her and seldom took a second glance at younger women.
“What’s going on with you?” Matt asked.
“Nothing.”
“Bullshit. I’m not even playing this game with you, so tell me what’s going on.”
“It’s just been a strange day. I decided this morning when I woke up at Brittney’s that I’m tired of sleeping around with older women.
“Every few months it’s a different one, and the cycle repeats. After three years, I want something different. I think I’m ready to find a girlfriend, and I want one closer to my age.”
“What’s going on between you and Hannah Mason?”
“I kept seeing in my head those six guys taking a turn with her, and it pissed me off.”
“No, you were furious with those guys. You acted like you know her and like her.”
Brett glanced over at Matt. He wondered how he gave the impression he liked Hannah.
“Jay got a contract at her mansion. I’ll be working there almost every day for months. I started today, and I met her. She seemed cool, so I guess seeing her in that situation right after talking to her today made me feel obligated to help her.”
“I can’t believe you’re going to be over there that much, and it’s weird you saw her tonight.”
Brett thought about how good it felt to hold Hannah and how right it felt to protect her. It confirmed his desire to have a girlfriend he could take care of and plan a future with, but he didn’t want one younger than him.
***
Chelsea laid Hannah over in her lap and stroked her hair. “I can’t believe what just happened. We have to find out his name. He was her knight in shining armor,” she said.
“I know. It’s a shame she missed the whole thing. Every one of his friends were hot, too,” Jasmine added.
“Before Olivia walked away, she said he made the guy taking the pictures delete every last one. Girls, I can smell his cologne on her, and it smells yummy. We sure have a story for you in the morning,” Chelsea said, looking down at Hannah.
Chapter Three
“Hannah, wake up. It’s one o’clock,” Chelsea said as she nudged Hannah’s shoulder with her hand. Chelsea had two queen size beds in her room, and the girls often slept there.
Hannah finally opened her eyes and grabbed her stomach.
“Ugh, I feel like shit.”
“I bet. Sit up and take this pain reliever, and drink this whole glass of water,” Chelsea said, holding the pills in her open hand.
“What happened to me? I barely remember anything from last night.” She looked down and saw that she was still wearing her dress.
“You won’t believe us when we tell you,” Morgan said.
Hannah finally sat up, worried about what her friends would say next. Racing through her mind, she recalled her parents reminding her to remember who she was.
Chelsea started telling her the story. “OK, we were all upstairs just hanging out when Olivia Franklin came and found us. She said that you were in the basement in trouble with some guys but that her friend was bringing you upstairs.”
“Oh no, tell me it doesn’t get worse than this,” Hannah pleaded.
“Oh girl, it gets so much better,” Chelsea said before she continued. “Anyway, the next thing we knew, people were clearing a path for this tall, gorgeous, blonde guy who was carrying you toward us. Then there was this other gorgeous guy right behind him. They looked like they were friends.”
“Yeah, and he started asking us if we were with you. He was being an ass, like he was mad we left you alone, but he could be an ass to me all day long if I could keep staring at him. Then he told us six guys were taking pictures with you, and he insinuated they were going to take advantage of you if he hadn’t come to your rescue,” Jasmine said.
“Oh no, the pictures will be in every magazine, and my parents will want to kill me.” Hannah buried her face into her hands.
“We were told he made the guy stand there and delete every single picture,” Morgan said.
“Oh, thank goodness. Did he carry me to the car?”
Chelsea glanced to Jasmine and Morgan.
“About that … um, he carried you outside, but we had to wait thirty minutes before Gregory got there, so the guy sat in a big chair on the porch and held you. He seemed pissed at us, so we didn’t get too close. We watched him though, and he was being really sweet with you,” Chelsea said.
“I’m going to throw up.” Hannah got up and ran to the bathroom.
“I was afraid that would be her reaction,” Morgan said.
Chelsea went into the bathroom and wet a washcloth with cold water. She held the cool cloth to Hannah’s forehead. Hugging the toilet, Hannah began vomiting.
“People will forget about it over summer break. It was so crazy there that hardly anyone noticed.”
Hannah lifted her head after throw
ing up.
“You’re lying. When will you learn that I can always tell when you lie to me? OK, I can take it, who was this guy?”
“We have no idea. Olivia walked off, and we asked some people that were standing around, but nobody knew who he was. He was definitely older.”
Hannah got up and splashed water on her face at the sink. “Chelsea, I have to know who it was. I need to thank him. What if he sees me on campus next year, and I don’t even acknowledge him?”
“Trust me. He would understand. You were out cold.”
Hannah covered her face with her hands.
“Thank God the semester just ended.” She caught a whiff of something and lifted her dress up to her nose. “I can smell his cologne. I don’t even know his name, and his cologne is all over me.”
“He acted overly concerned about us keeping an eye on you, too.”
“I have to find out who it was and thank him,” Hannah said.
Chapter Four
Brett was off work for a few days while some of his coworkers brought equipment in to cultivate the yard. It was too big of an area to dig up by hand.
He pulled up to the gate at nine o’clock in the morning on Thursday to start work at the Masons’. He was still mesmerized by the property as he drove around to the back. He didn’t think that would change no matter how many times he went there.
After an hour of working, Brett saw a man approaching him.
“Hi, I’m Hudson. I’m the driver for the Masons, and I’m in charge of security.”
“Hi, sir. My name’s Brett.” He took off his gloves and shook Hudson’s hand.
“I heard you’re going to be spending a lot of time here, so I thought I’d introduce myself. I like to get to know people who are on the property. I’m pretty protective over the family.”
“I have no intentions of bothering anyone, sir. I do my work and go home.”
“Good to know, Brett. I’ll let you get back to your job. Let me know if you need anything or have any problems.”
Brett and Hannah (Soul Mates 101 Series) Page 2
