The Price of Mason

by Linda Kage

  Reese looked up and blinked before smacking a hand to her chest and gasping out fake shock. “What is this?” she said. “You’re sitting with me…in public? Have the horny guy urges subsided then? Have I lost my seductive appeal completely? Say it ain’t so.”

  I laughed, missing her sense of humor. “No,” I answered as I sat. “They have not subsided. I’ve simply come to the conclusion we’re going to have to accept that the urges will probably be a permanent facet of our relationship from here on out. And if you say you can control yours, then I’ll try to control mine.”

  She sniffed, unimpressed. “Big of you.”

  Shaking my head, I continued to chuckle. “That and I can’t see your nose wrinkling from all the way across the courtyard. You have no idea how much I’ve missed that.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” She fluttered out an unimpressed hand. “I bet you’re just falling behind in calculus and need my help.”

  “Well… Since you mentioned it…” With a shrug, I pulled my calculus book from my bag and flipped it open. Searching for a pencil, I asked, “What’re you feeding me today?”

  In answer, she tossed a small bag of chips to me. Sweet.

  “Nacho cheese.” I approved. Getting myself a handful, I asked, “Turn in your English paper yet?”

  Her eyebrows shot up. “Oh, so you care about my English paper today, huh?”

  Oh, damn, I’d forgotten I had snapped at her about that on Sarah’s birthday. “Reese. Come on,” I begged. “I’m sorry I said that to you at the party. I was in a mood.” Setting my hand over my heart, I swore, “I care about everything you do.” And that was the honest-to-God truth.

  Reese groaned, probably over the cheesiness of my answer. “Okay, enough already. The bullshit around here is getting too deep to wade through.”

  “What?” I yelped. “I’m serious.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Whatever. So let me guess. Your landlady thinks you and I are riding the baby-making train together, doesn’t she?”

  I sighed, not wanting to discuss Patricia, but when I tried to evade and then downplay the topic, Reese kept at it, guessing and asking what Patricia had said to me when she had sat next to me on the loveseat during the birthday party. I groaned in agony over the whole inquisition.

  “Oh my God.” Reese’s eyes widened with worry. “How bad was it?”

  “It wasn’t even true,” I argued, “so… Just drop it. Please.”

  Yeah, I should’ve known better than to even suggest that. “If it wasn’t true,” she started, “then why can’t you tell—”

  “Fine.” Damn. I always gave into her way too easily. “She said you were an attention seeker. Okay? She said you were stealing the limelight away from Sarah on her own birthday, which wasn’t…”

  I swear, Reese’s face drained of even more color. She pressed her hand to her chest and asked if she really had stolen all the attention from Sarah.

  “No!” I told her unequivocally. “I told you, what she said wasn’t true.”

  “But—”

  “Listen to me.” I stood and leaned over the table toward her so she would look at nothing but my face and she could see I meant nothing but the truth. “Before you showed up on Sunday, my sister was absolutely miserable. The next morning, she said it was the best birthday she’d ever had. And that was because of you, got it? You made those other girls interact with her. And now, that tall one, Sorcha, she’s even coming back on Saturday afternoon to spend the day with Sarah.”

  “Really?” Her face lighting with cheer, Reese bounced on her bench seat. “That’s great. Oh! I liked Sorcha.”

  I shook my head and gave her a slight grin. “You are the least selfish person I know.”

  “Well…” She cringed guilty. “I can be a little selfish.”

  “I don’t see it,” I insisted, shaking my head. “That day in the library, with Dr. Janison and Eva… Every woman treats me that way, Reese. I’m not a person to them. I’m just a good time or something vile to be avoided at all costs. And then you came along and you…you hugged me. You are the first person who sees me, Mason, not sex for sale. And that kind of compassion is not the sign of a selfish person. At all.”

  “I…” She seemed to have trouble swallowing. And blinking. “Well, thank you,” she rasped out, meaningfully. “But you are a person, and—”

  I lifted my hand to stop her. “We’re not talking about me. We’re talking about you. And you are…you’re…” I paused to shake my head because I wasn’t sure if an amazing enough word had been invented to describe Reese Randall properly.

  “I’m…?” she said, looking a little alarmed, as if she thought I might possibly have a single negative thing to say about her.

  As if.

  “You’re quirky,” I started, loving that most about her. “And yet conventional. Innocent but worldly. Reserved yet outgoing. Candid yet guarded. Trendy but also practical. And childlike while still managing to be mature. It’s like you’re the perfect contradiction.”

  With all that said, she just stared at me, like I was some kind of hero, or…or worthy guy, or something. Which I wasn’t.

  Feeling suddenly awkward, I thrust a book her way. “Anyway...here. I think I can officially say I’m addicted to Harry Potter. Sarah and I couldn’t wait to borrow The Goblet of Fire. We bought our own copy and started it yesterday.”

  Reese’s gaze fell to the book, then back up to me. Suddenly, she cleared her throat. “Wow,” she said, her voice cracking slightly. She swiped at her cheeks as if to dispel tears and then took The Prisoner of Azkaban back. “You and Sarah are just cruising through the series. I’m impressed.”

  “That going-back-in-time scene was really cool,” I tried, hoping to bring back her smile somehow. “I couldn’t put it down.”

  And there, yes, she smiled and hugged the book to her chest. “It was always one of my favorites too. Especially when they saved Buckbeak.”

  “I ended up reading it twice,” I admitted. “Once when I read ahead, and then again when Sarah wanted me to read it with her. Which reminds me…”

  I stood and retrieved the trinket I’d been carrying around all week to give to her.

  Reese frowned in curiosity and straightened, trying to see what I was holding. “What do you have there?”

  I just smiled. “Something for you. I had it made. This guy I know takes an advanced metal crafting class and put it together.”

  She sat back, her eyes wide with shock. “You did what?”

  I handed it over, feeling suddenly bashful. “I know it’s pretty crude, but I thought it might fit on your charm bracelet.”

  She focused on the silver charm in my palm and gasped. It was a small lightning bolt with Harry Potter’s HP logo on it.

  “Oh my God.” She accepted it slowly, worshipfully. “This is amazing, Mason.”

  “I had one made for Sarah too,” I told her. “Yours was actually the prototype. So I think it might contain a few more mistakes.”

  “What mistakes?” she demanded, hooking it to her charm bracelet. “It’s flawless.” Then she held up her arm to show it off. A swell of pride filled me. I liked seeing her wear something I’d given her. “Thank you.”

  I opened my mouth to say… Hell, I don’t even know. I just knew this was a big moment and I didn’t want to screw it up. I needed to say something awesome and important.

  Except I didn’t get the chance. I was interrupted by a shadow that fell over our table and a voice that said, “Hey.”

  Reese and I looked up at the same time, and I was completely boggled to find Ethan Riker standing there, smiling.

  Yes, I said he was smiling as if he hadn’t accosted me in the dark last night, pushed me three times, accused me of his mom’s near-death, and then threatened revenge against me.

  The worst part was that he wasn’t even smiling at me. His grin was all for Reese.

  As she met his gaze, she immediately started to stutter. “Umm. Hi…Ethan. I…I’m not used to seeing you
on a Friday.”

  Holy shit. Was she blushing?

  Why the hell was she blushing?

  At Riker?

  And how the hell did they even know each other?

  In return, he let out a small, perceptive laugh as if he knew the power of his appeal. “I know,” he said conversationally. “But I saw you over here and thought I’d say hi.” Then he finally glanced my way. “Hey, Mason.” Giving a friendly wave, he seemed nothing but congenial and courteous.

  What…the…fuck?

  “Riker,” I damn near growled, trying to figure out why he was standing there, smiling as if the night before had never happened? And why the hell was he talking to Reese? Like he knew her?

  “Oh!” Reese blurted out her surprise. “You two know already each other? Great.” Only she didn’t sound as if she thought it was great. She sounded more like she’d just gotten caught doing something wrong. “That saves me from making introductions because obviously… I forgot to make introductions.”

  A nervous laugh bubbled from her, and Riker smiled as if amused. I just gaped at her, wondering, seriously, what the fuck was happening?

  She caught my stony stare and instantly sobered.

  Then Riker went and dropped the big bomb when he told Reese he couldn’t wait until tomorrow night, right before he asked her where she wanted to go.

  I frowned in confusion, glancing back and forth between them, because it sounded a hell of a lot like they were making plans for a date…together.

  With me sitting right there between them.

  When Reese glanced guiltily my way before answering that she had no idea where she wanted to go, since she wasn’t familiar with the area, my suspicions were confirmed.

  She was going out with this dipshit. On a fucking date.

  Not sure how to process that, I just watched them as they finished making arrangements. Riker told her he’d see her tomorrow, and then he leaned down to stamp a kiss to her cheek.

  She pulled back immediately, obviously surprised by the move, because she murmured, “Whoa,” which told me he’d never done that to her before. The only relish I found from the last thirty seconds was when Riker blushed, embarrassed about getting such a rejection. Then he glanced my way and hurried off.

  That’s when his words from the night before echoed through my head.

  You’ll pay for this. I’ll hit you where it hurts the most.

  I focused on Reese’s flushed face and realized he really had hit me where it would hurt the most. He’d done what I couldn’t do; he’d asked Reese for a date.

  And she’d fucking said yes.

  Son of a bitch. Was Riker feigning interest in Reese in an attempt to get at me?

  I’d kill him.

  Confession #24: I might’ve possibly flipped my shit when Reese made her own confession.

  “You’re going out with him?” was all I could think to explode. “Tomorrow?”

  “Umm…” Reese cringed and guiltily met my gaze. “Yes?”

  Holy shit.

  Holy shit.

  I suddenly couldn’t breathe so well.

  If Riker hurt Reese because of me…

  Oh, fuck. I’d been so worried about Patricia and watching for an attack from that direction, I hadn’t even thought of Ethan Riker angling to use her.

  I was such a fucking idiot.

  Reese looked so worried, so guilty, and I wasn’t sure how to handle that. I wanted to reassure her that I wasn’t mad at her—even though, dammit, I was kind of hurt and pissed after watching her make plans with another guy, right fucking in front of me. But I knew she and I couldn’t be together—I was a prostitute—so I fully supported the theory that she should live her life however she wanted, dating whomever she wanted. Except theory and reality were suddenly polar opposites, and this shit just sucked.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked.

  “I…” She didn’t know how to answer. That hurt too. She’d purposely been hiding this from me. “Well, for one, I haven’t seen you since Sunday. Then I… I completely forgot about it until he showed up just now, and…” She shrugged. “By then, you already knew.”

  “When?” I demanded.

  She looked totally confused. “When what?”

  “When did he ask you out?”

  “Oh. Um…” She spent a moment thinking it through before saying, “Tuesday night. Why?”

  Okay, maybe this date thing really didn’t have anything to do with me. Riker had threatened me last night and he’d asked Reese out two days before that. Unless, he’d decided to strike back before even bothering to threaten me. Dammit. I wasn’t sure what his ulterior motive was here. Did he just like her—which wouldn’t be hard to believe since she was amazing—or was he using her to hurt me?

  Suddenly, another thought struck me. “I thought you had study group on Tuesday nights.”

  She’d purposely not told me about setting up a date with another guy, what else had she kept from me…or straight-up lied about?

  Dammit, Riker was already coming between us, making me doubt and question everything.

  “I do,” she blurted. “I mean, I did. He’s in my study group.”

  I don’t know why that made me flinch, but it did. It just hurt knowing piss-ant Riker shared a class in common with her. And her Tuesday night study groups were for her virology course, which was her major. She and Riker both wanted to go into the medical field together. They already seemed to mesh more than she and I did.

  Not that I should even think about a me-and-her scenario because that could never happen. But shit…it was all I ever thought about.

  “When the library closed,” Reese went on, explaining everything to me in hyper speed.

  “We weren’t finished with our assignment, so he came back to my apartment and we worked on it—”

  “He did what?”

  Oh, Jesus, he’d been to that cozy little apartment of hers above the garage, the one I’d fantasized about living in with her? The same place where I’d envisioned breaking in every surface and piece of furniture with her? Fuck, what if Riker took her out and it went so well that they had sex on that couch under the blanket she had draped over the backrest? Or in the bed of that little room that smelled so strongly of sweet pea? Or against the kitchen cabinets next to the fruit basket where I’d stolen an apple?

  The haunting images struck so fast I felt physically ill.

  And why in God’s name had he asked Reese out less than a week after his mother’s suicide attempt? Jesus, what a stellar son he was.

  “Hey, what is wrong with you?” Reese asked, looking pissed.

  “Oh, I don’t know,” I snarled, unable to stop myself. “Maybe it’s this irresistible urge I have to break Ethan Riker’s face.”

  The bastard wanted to steal my happy place from me. He wanted to take away my Reese.

  Reese’s mouth gaped open incredulously before she hissed, “Excuse me?”

  “You heard me,” I shot back, wanting to go find Riker right that moment and do him some serious lasting harm.

  I got that his mom was hurt and he was upset, but that did not justify messing with Reese.

  “Mason,” she muttered, lowering her voice conspiratorially, “what the hell? It’s not like I have to babysit Sarah that night.”

  “This isn’t about Sarah. And you know it.”

  Even though most of my anger was directed at Riker, I was still hurt that she’d omitted the details of her date from me.

  Tears swam in her eyes before she hoarsely rasped, “You said we were just friends. I thought—”

  Oh, God. Now she looked as miserable as I felt. Shit!

  “We are.” I had to close my eyes and turn my face away against that depressing reality. “Damn it. We are, but the only reason we’re just friends is because there’s no way we could possibly ever be anything more.”

  “You want…” Her eyes went wide, and her voice went hushed before she whispered, “Do you really want more?”

&nbs
p; I stared at her, not quite able to believe she’d just asked me that.

  The truth was so obvious to me, I figured anyone who’d ever looked at me already knew. Patricia certainly did. Monica knew. Eva knew. Even that fucking prick Riker knew.

  “Don’t you?” I whispered back. Then I realized what I’d just asked, and I shook my head, laughing bitterly. “Or is this only sexual attraction for you?”

  That would be my luck. I’d been falling for this girl—falling hard and fast—and she just liked my smile or some shit.

  But she looked sad when she confessed, “You know it’s not.”

  God. Oh, God.

  Hearing that was as relieving as it was painful.

  “Then why the hell are you so confused about why I’m flying off the handle?” I had to know.

  “I don’t know.” She winced. “Because it’s easier to play dumb.”

  “Well, you’re not dumb. Don’t play dumb.” Realizing I was only making things worse instead of better, I shoved my calculus book back into my bag to leave.

  But that only seemed to panic her. “Mason? What’re you doing? Where are you going?”

  “I’m leaving.” Like I should’ve done five minutes ago, as soon as I’d realized she was dating other people. “What does it look like I’m doing?”

  I shoved things so haphazardly into my bag that a paper fluttered free and started to blow off across the surface of the table between us. Reese smacked her hand down on top of it, saving it, only to hold it ransom when I went to reach for it.

  I sent her an impatient glance, to which she glared right back at me, refusing to give me the page back.

  “So if you can’t have me, then I’m not allowed to date anyone? Is that what you’re saying? My God, Mason. Do you realize how much of a douchebag you sound like right now?”

  “Yes, damn it!” I exploded. I knew just how wrong I was about everything.

  The admission threw her off-balance, and she didn’t have a ready answer.

  “I realize exactly what I sound like,” I said. “And I’m trying to stop, Reese. I’m trying here. Jesus, why do you think I’m taking off right now? If I stay, I’m only going to say something worse.”