“But, what if there’s an emergency…” I countered and stopped speaking when I detected the whine in my voice. My instructor demanded steel from me and resented when I reverted back to what she called a “bratty teenager.” Her rules were finite and my begging never budged her.
Stella kept the house phone locked up in her bedroom and office. It was even more doubtful that she would leave me with a set of keys while she’s away.
“Mason will be here. I’ve asked him to keep an eye out for you,” Stella retorted. I forced myself not to roll my eyes. I had tried to start a conversation several times with Mason with no luck. Although we lived on the same property, the majority of glimpses I had of him were from my window when I heard the turn of his truck’s engine. He left the estate most nights and I was fast asleep before he returned. I was interested in where he disappeared to, but never had the opportunity to ask him.
A few hours later, I waved to Stella from the porch. The client had sent a limo to take her to the airport. As I watched her drive away, the tension in my neck and shoulders eased. Stella was my puppet master and it felt good to have cut the strings—albeit temporarily. I headed back inside to crack open the spell book given to me.
Stella had left the workshop unlocked so I passed most of the day in there. As the sun began to descend in the sky, I closed the book and traveled to the kitchen to look for something to eat. A banging to the rear of the house grabbed my attention and I hurried to the kitchen window. Pulling apart the curtains, I saw Mason putting away the lawn tractor in the shed. His black t-shirt and torn jeans were dusty and sweat glistened off of his skin. The August heat grew more stifling each passing day.
Mason lifted the hem of his t-shirt to wipe the perspiration from his forehead and I tried to avoid swooning from the sight. Every inch of him was formed of lean muscle. His chest was broad and his abs ripped. His body betrayed his strength and masculinity. The hard work around the estate had obviously paid off more than a gym membership ever could.
I tried to talk myself out of approaching him, but ignored my inner voice. Before he could make it inside his front door, I hurried out back and called out to him. Turning at the sound of my voice, he gave me a lazy grin. His smile was disarming and he was handsome in a way that could lead a lamb to slaughter.
“Hi, what are you up to?” I could hear the eagerness in my voice and wanted to kick myself. My desperation for companionship may end up being my undoing, I thought as I returned his smile.
“Um…going to shower,” he said and gestured to his filthy clothing before saying, “and then probably eat dinner and watch some TV.”
“Can I join you?” His eyebrows shot up suggestively and I coughed to hide my embarrassment. I sputtered, “Oh god, not in the shower…I meant to eat dinner and watch TV.”
An awkward moment passed, as he seemed to give the question careful consideration. He rubbed his chin, bringing my attention to his sensual mouth. My heart belonged to someone else, but it didn’t stop me from fantasizing over how it would feel to kiss Mason.
The minutes dragged on as I waited for Mason’s reply. Was the suggestion of my company that revolting? I almost turned on my heels to hide back inside of the house. Finally, he nodded and said, “Okay, I guess you know what they say. Why the cat is away…”
I laughed and followed him into his cottage. Unashamed, I began to wander around and take inventory of Mason’s cozy living space. The cottage was small, but had a large living room attached to a modest sized kitchen. The microfiber couch was in an L-shape and centered in front of an impressive entertainment center. The shelves were overflowing with movies, game consoles, and video games. The eat-in kitchen had an even smaller table than Stella’s and only two wooden chairs pushed against it. I spied through a doorway and noticed a sparsely furnished bedroom. The room was dominated by a king size bed covered with an aquamarine comforter.
Mason smirked at my snooping. “Will you be asking to use my bathroom next so that you can snoop through my medicine cabinet?”
“Hey, it’s not my fault that your aunt deprives me of human contact,” I said and breezed over towards the entertainment center. After browsing through the titles, I let out a snort.
“What?” he asked coming up behind me. I tried to focus as I felt his body heat against my back. I hoped he didn’t notice the stiffening of my joints at his nearness.
“You must be a big Lord of the Rings fan. I see you have all of the special collector’s editions of the movies and the books,” I observed.
“So what?” he demanded defensively. “It’s a good series.”
I turned to face him. “It’s just sort of geeky. You come across as the mystery man of the manor and you’re actually probably just sitting home and saying things to yourself like…” I paused and said in a deep rattle, “Filthy little hobbites. They stole it…my precious.”
“And I’m the geek?” Mason scoffed. “Who is the one quoting Gollum?”
“Good point,” I conceded. I noticed a laptop on a small corner desk in the room. I tried my best charming smile. Mason frowned in my direction. I asked, “Do you think I can use your computer?”
Mason shook his head in disbelief. “You’re going to get us both in trouble. Did you know my aunt put a hunger curse on me for a week after I ruined one of her crops?”
I squirmed over the admission, but begged, “Please. I won’t say anything, I swear.”
“Fine,” he agreed. “I’ll be out in a few minutes. I’m going to take a shower.”
Once he left, I quickly logged onto my email and Facebook accounts. I frowned when I noticed that most of it was junk mail. It felt like the longer I was away—the more my friends were erasing me from their memories. I scrolled through pictures on the feeds of my social networks and sighed as I looked at several photos taken at Tanner’s house. I was worried about my boyfriend. In every picture, he appeared intoxicated with a devil may care look on his face. His usually shorn blond hair was wild and blond curls looped around his ears. It was hard to remove myself from the role of the girlfriend who always had the job of reining him in.
When I saw Tanner was online, I composed a quick message to say hello and that I missed him. After a minute of no response, I sent another message to let him know I was borrowing a friend’s computer to write him. Without a reply, he logged off. I gasped in surprise.
I hadn’t heard Mason come up behind me. I was very aware of his closeness as he leaned down to look over my shoulder. I breathed in his scent and was surprised to feel desire coil in my belly. His scent was natural and woodsy and utterly captivating. It even had the ability to make me momentarily forget my annoyance with Tanner.
“Is that your boyfriend?” Mason questioned pointing to the picture of Tanner I had up on the screen.
It wasn’t the most flattering picture of Tanner, which made me hesitate. Tanner and Mark were both sweating and holding cans of beer in their hands. Their eyes were blurry and unfocused as they laughed at the camera. I didn’t know why I cared what Mason thought, but for some reason I did.
“Yes,” I replied and after a brief pause I admitted, “I just wrote him on Facebook and he logged off.” When Mason didn’t say anything, I asked, “Can I use your phone?”
“For what?”
“To call him,” I responded. “He’s been weird the past couple of times we’ve talked and I just want to get to the bottom of what’s going on.”
I understood I was pushing it with Mason, but I was pleased when he handed me his cell phone. I texted Tanner to let him know I would be calling from a weird number. Soon after, I dialed his number. I waited as the phone rang several times. At a mid-ring, his voicemail came on.
I disconnected the call and gave Mason a look of utter disbelief. “I think he just screened my call.” I tried his phone number again and this time it went right to voicemail. By the end of this call, I was fuming. “What the hell?”
Mason gently removed his phone from my hands. “I really don�
�t want to get involved in your relationship problems.”
“I didn’t know I had any,” I muttered. If Tanner wanted to end things, I needed him to man up and admit it to me. The situation was difficult—there was no denying it. However, I gave him every opportunity to break things off. Each time he sounded distant on the phone, I begged him to open up to me. I urged him to be honest and give me the chance to grieve the end of our relationship if that’s what he wanted. Tanner assured me I was imagining a conflict between us that simply didn’t exist. We were together a year and avoiding me was not the proper way to breakup.
Mason had headed over to the fridge and was scourging through the contents. “I’m starving. What are you in the mood to eat?”
“Can I borrow your truck?”
Mason turned to face me. His expression was resigned and I imagined that I was throwing a wrench into his plans for the night. “Why?” His down-turned mouth told me he really didn’t want to know the answer, but suspected I would harass him until he gave in. I was bull-nosed when I wanted something.
“I want to go see Tanner. He’s obviously avoiding me and I need to know why.”
He crossed his arms in front of him. His biceps strained against the fabric of his t-shirt. “How do I know you won’t just take off?”
“I guess you don’t. But I know Stella will go after my mother if I left, and I would never put her at risk. She’s the only family I got.” I walked over to him and pleaded, “Listen, I’ll just go to Harveys Lake and talk to Tanner. Once I see him, I’ll turn around and come right back. I swear.”
His eyes bore down on me and I could see his mind whirring as he assessed the situation. I tried to avoid focusing on the feelings Mason was stirring inside of me. I wondered if the tension with Tanner was what made this man in front of me more alluring by the second.
He studied me and I tried not to flush under his penetrating stare. “I’ll take you,” he stated flatly. “At least if I drive you, I guarantee you’ll come back. Not to mention, I don’t know you well enough to trust you with my truck.”
“Thank you,” I said. Mason looked perturbed by my proclamation of gratitude and I felt the wall come up once again between us.
“Lock up the main house and I’ll meet you at the truck in ten minutes,” he told me.
He walked away from me without another word and I concealed my exasperation with his shifting moods. If he wanted to be rude, I would tolerate it for the time being. At least long enough until we arrived in Harveys Lake.
The thought of home had filled me with longing over the past few weeks. Yet, as I pictured my confrontation with Tanner, a dark and dreadful feeling crept over me. My gut told me that whatever Tanner had to say to me would most likely leave me heartbroken and single by night’s end.
Chapter Twelve
“So, have any good road trip music?” I asked Mason as we drove away from the Chadwick House. He didn’t answer me, which forced me to question him, “What’s your deal? Do you not like me or something?”
“I am driving you almost four hours to see your boyfriend,” he reminded me. I swallowed hard and before I could apologize, he admitted, “Aunt Stella told me to stay away from you.”
“She did?” I couldn’t hide my surprise over this revelation. It enraged me how Stella insisted on controlling every aspect of my life. Why couldn’t she allow me to at least have a friend in her nephew?
Mason sighed, “She didn’t explain the reasons why, but when Aunt Stella tells me something, I listen.”
“Why do you put up with her crap? You’re not being forced to stay with her like me, are you?”
Mason shook his head emphatically. “No, but I’m her sole heir. The estate and all of her assets go to me.”
“I don’t know if all of the money in the world could make me stay with her indefinitely,” I replied and leaned back into the truck’s upholstery.
“She’s not as bad as you think…”
I cut him off. “How can you say that? Didn’t you just tell me she put a hunger curse on you? And dictates who you’re allowed to talk to?”
“I’ll admit she’s a huge pain in the ass and she uses her magic to bully people. But she took me in and gave me a purpose when I had no one else looking out for me. I owe her a lot for that.”
The tension in his jaw detailed how hard this was to admit to me. I was eager to learn more about him, but didn’t interrupt him. The best tactic with him seemed to be to let him share things with me when he felt ready. He glanced over at me. The twilight cast shadows over his chiseled features and I marveled over how much I wanted to unlock the mysteries of this captivating man. Mason added, “I think you should also consider the fact that your predicament isn’t her fault. Your mom made the deal.”
I flinched at the harshness of his words. The truth about my mom stung, but I had to hold onto the belief that she was really trying to protect me. A terrible thought froze my body in place. “Do you know what happened to me when I was a kid?”
I hated the pitiful look he gave me. I never wanted him to feel sorry for me. For once, I wanted someone in my life to show me respect and treat me like an equal. I wasn’t this fragile and pathetic thing that couldn’t handle whatever trauma had happened to me ten years ago. I could never move on with this huge secret, always in the sidelines, threatening to obliterate my world.
“I don’t,” he responded. He must have noticed my disappointed expression because he added, “I’m sorry.”
“Would you tell me if you did?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “Maybe your mom had a good reason for doing what she did.”
I was disappointed by his sentiment. As horrible as the past may be, I was still entitled to know the truth. Not telling me anything was only prolonging my pain and postponing my healing.
His mouth was in a tight line as he said, “I didn’t even know about you until the week before we picked you up. Aunt Stella said you would be staying with her for a year to learn her spells. She asked me to stay away from you so that you could focus completely on her teachings. It wasn’t until we came to your house that I found out you weren’t living with her voluntarily.”
I believed him and decided to drop the subject. Pestering Mason wouldn’t increase my chances of uncovering the lies I had been fed by my overprotective mother through the years. We made small talk as we headed south, but Mason was certainly cagey about divulging too much about himself. He seemed more interested in hearing about me and I squirmed at his questions about Tanner. He didn’t say anything outright, but I sensed his disapproval over my boyfriend. By the time, we pulled passed the welcome sign to Harveys Lake, I was a bundle of nerves.
Mason let out a low whistle as we pulled through the curved driveway leading up to Tanner’s massive house. I had tried to call him a couple of times on our way, but his phone went to voicemail each time. My anger threatened to boil over when I noticed Amber’s car parked in his driveway. He must have been partying with Mark and Amber and decided he didn’t have time to talk to his long-distance girlfriend.
“Do you want to come in with me?” I asked Mason.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. Won’t your boyfriend be put off if you’re showing up to his house with another guy?”
I nodded although he probably couldn’t see me in the dark interior of the cab. It was almost eleven o’clock and Mason had gamely driven the whole time with only a brief stop for gas and food. “I’ll try not to take too long,” I promised as I opened the door. He said nothing and I slipped out of the truck with a short wave in his direction.
As I rang the doorbell, I was relieved that the Blacks weren’t at home. I didn’t know how they would feel about me showing up on their doorstep at this time of night. Tanner had mentioned a few days ago when I last spoke to them that they were taking an end of the summer jaunt to Europe for two weeks. His parents’ lackadaisical parental skills seemed to always get under my skin. My mother was more of a parent than the two that T
anner still had.
I was annoyed when Tanner didn’t answer the door after several buzzes at the doorbell. Although the night was quiet, I figured the trio must have been hanging out on his back deck. The evening was warm and the patio was our typical spot to entertain. I hoofed it around the perimeter of his house and arrived at the rear. The flooding of lights indicated I was correct in my assumption that my friends were partying outdoors. I took a few more steps forward before coming to an abrupt standstill.
My brain couldn’t register what my eyes were seeing. I had to be in a nightmare and not actually witnessing my boyfriend and best friend alone in the hot tub together. Unless he was performing mouth to mouth on her, there couldn’t be another logical reason why he had his tongue lodged down her throat. He was shirtless with the water glistening from his chest. The water reached their neckline, but if I wasn’t mistaken, Amber didn’t have a bathing suit top on. Tanner was groping Amber in a way that illustrated the heat between the two of them. This wasn’t their first kiss. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that they were familiar in the biblical sense.
I let out a strangled cry, but the two of them were too engrossed in each other to notice me standing at the edge of his deck. My eyes registered a six-pack of beer resting on the floor near my feet. I grabbed a can and flung it as hard as possible in their direction. This betrayal unleashed a fury inside of me that had been building up since the start of the summer.
My aim was off and the can burst open as it hit the edge of the hot tub. Beer foam squirted in every direction before the can fell with a crash onto the deck. I had to physically stop myself from picking up another can and launching it at them. They pulled apart with a startled jerk. Tanner’s eyes found me first. “Quinn?” His voice was uncertain as if I was an apparition standing in front of him and not the girlfriend he avoided all night in order to hook up with my best friend.
“Yes, it’s me, you low-life,” I sneered. His mouth hung open dumbly as words escaped him. I fumed, “You both can go straight to hell.” I ran from the scene and wished I could scratch my eyes out of my skull to erase what I had just seen. Or at the very least, down one of Stella’s potions and forget Tanner ever even existed.
The Memory Witch Page 8
