The Price of Mason

by Linda Kage

  Even Nia was here?

  I faltered, blinking at her. When she caught my gaze, she shrugged ruefully and waved back before pointing at Skylar as if to tell me my sister had been the one to orchestrate her presence. I chuckled, deciding I owed Sky big-time as I blew a kiss Nia’s way and jogged over to get into line for the tire run.

  The tire run was going to be the biggest test for me, since it involved more foot-eye coordination than anything else we’d be evaluated on. I knew I could run, and I knew I could throw. But I could only cross my fingers and hope that I’d gotten good enough with all the drills and dance steps I’d practiced with Nia that I could tire run too. If I could make it through this obstacle course in a decent time and without falling on my face, I knew I’d be in.

  And it’d all be because of my wonderful suck buddy.

  Once it was my turn, I met Coach’s gaze at the other end of the row of tires. He held a stopwatch as he scrutinized me intently, nodding to let me know he had faith in me. Then he blew his whistle and I took off, my feet dancing through the hole of each tire, so rapidly and gracefully it was like someone else had taken control of my body and was moving for me. Once I was finished, I couldn’t help it, I threw my head back and shot my fists into the air, shouting out my joy. I’d done it. I’d fucking done it. And I hadn’t fallen once.

  Noel gave me my time, and holy God, it was good. It wasn’t just good for me alone, either, it was good enough to get me on the team.

  Afterward, the family took me out to eat in celebration, and Nia came along. She got a pretty big dose of my world, but she handled it perfectly as if she came from a big family herself, even though for her, it was basically just her and her mom now.

  And speaking of her mom, today was Nia’s big day to surprise her mother with the anniversary dance she’d been practicing all summer.

  I texted her, anxious and nervous and excited for her. She’d really wanted to make this special for her mom; it made me wish I could’ve sat up in some stands and watched the way she’d watched me the day before to cheer me on.

  When she finally responded, her message confused the hell out of me.

  Nia: She’s on a date.

  Julian: She’s what?

  Nia: Um, yeah. I was all ready to surprise her after she got off work. But she just called to tell me some guy whose hair she cut asked her out for drinks after hours, and she said yes, so… She’s not coming home any time soon.

  My mouth fell open. I almost got ticked at her mom for doing this to Nia after she’d worked and slaved and really put herself out there to do something special to cheer the woman up, but then, if she was moving on from her ex-husband and accepting a date from some other guy, I guess she wouldn’t even need to be cheered up on what Nia had worried would be a sad day for her.

  But how had this affected Nia?

  Julian: For real?

  Nia: Yeah. I know. This was the last thing I was expecting. But it’s good. It’s great. I just wanted her to be happy today, and she sounded happy.

  Julian: But what about all that hard work you put into learning how to dance to that song for her?

  Nia: It’s okay. Really. I mean, I kind of feel silly now for putting so much importance on something that ended up being not a big deal, but I’m glad things worked out this way even more.

  Julian: It wasn’t silly at all. You worked your ass off.

  Nia: I know, but hey, it wasn’t a complete waste of time. It brought me to you, it helped you make the team, and now we’re both okayish dancers. I mean, at least we don’t suck anymore.

  Julian: Does this mean I have to stop calling you my suck buddy?

  Nia: Oh, God. YES! I wish you would forget that term for like ever.

  Julian: Not a chance. I love that term.

  Nia: But it’s AWFUL!

  Julian: Is not. Hey, do me a favor, will you?

  Nia: Anything.

  Julian: Open your front door so at least SOMEONE can dance with you on this special occasion you've been preparing for all summer long.

  A few seconds later, the door to Nia’s apartment flew open and she shrieked out her surprise when she saw me standing there, cell phone in hand.

  “Oh my God. Julian! What’re you doing?”

  Pocketing my phone, I grinned at her. “I hopped in my car and started over as soon as I heard you didn’t get to dance with your mom.”

  Tears filled her eyes and a huge smile overtook her face. “But I told you it was okay. I didn’t need to—”

  “Shh.” Stepping into her apartment, I drew my arms around her and kissed her long and gently. When I pulled back, her eyelashes fluttered open. “Sometime during this last month, that dance stopped being about you and your mom, and it became ours. So I’m actually kind of excited that she doesn’t get to have it with you, because I’ve been jealous all day that someone else was taking my dance partner away from me.”

  Shaking with laughter and tears and smiles, Nia just shook her head and grabbed me in for a hard hug. “Well, we can’t have that.”

  “Good,” I said drawing back, so I could pull my cell phone from my pocket and bring up the song that went with the dance we’d been practicing. “In that case…” As the first strains began, I held out my hand to her. “May I have this dance?”

  * * *

  The End

  Part Three

  Once Upon a Canoe Trip

  For Lindsay B.

  Who decided to email me

  one day in twenty-one-three.

  Thank you eternally

  for the friendship and tea.

  1

  JB

  I don’t know why I always ended up agreeing to camp overnight with my family following a day of canoeing with them. Even if I weren’t ready to escape their annoying drunk asses after being stuck on a river with them for ten hours straight, I was usually so dehydrated, sunburned, exhausted, and hungover to properly socialize that I crashed by seven or eight o’clock that night, anyway.

  It would’ve been so much nicer to just drive the two hours home, take a shower, and pass out in my own, comfortable, mosquito-free bed.

  But nope. Mom had looked at me with that look of hers, the one I could never turn down, and said, “You’re staying, right? We barely see you anymore since…since you started med school.”

  So here I was, waking up in the dark of night to people laughing and talking a foot from my head as they passed my tent, only a thin layer of canvas separating my skull from getting pancaked by some dude’s flip-flop.

  “What...?” I mumbled, disorientation clouding my thoughts until I remembered exactly where I was and what I was doing here.

  Groaning, I shifted on the hard ground because my brother had forgotten to load the inflatable mattresses—even though I’d asked him twice if he’d grabbed them when we’d packed for the trip this morning—and I gasped in pain when my sunburned shoulder scraped raw against the zippered inseam of my sleeping bag.

  Oh, God, that hurt. That really, really hurt.

  Waves from the river surged nearby, sounding close, so close that even though I knew better, it momentarily made me wonder if the water level had risen so much since I’d gone to bed that I was about to be swept downstream and lost forever.

  My semi-awake status morphed into way more awake than I wanted to be, and I shivered, burrowing deeper into my coverings. Damn, but I swear the temperature had dropped about thirty degrees since the ninety-degree weather we’d floated in all day. The damp, outdoor mustiness in my sleeping bag made me even more irritable, while my mouth was so dry it felt like a desert up in there.

  What the hell time was it? I was beyond ready to go home now. We’d finished our canoe trip at six this evening. Then a crazy, death-defying bus driver had shuttled us back to our campsite, where all the moms had roasted hot dogs, s’mores, and tin foil-wrapped corn on the cob over the fire pit.

  I hadn’t lasted much after that, stumbling my way to my tent and passing out within minutes. The last
thing I remember was my brother’s chuckle as he called me a lightweight and then reassuringly patted my shoulder, telling me it was okay, we could switch, before everything went blank. Switch what; I had no idea. I’d find out in the morning, I guess.

  Which hopefully had to be soon. Right? Please almost be here, morning.

  Patting my hand around my head in the dark until I found my cell phone, I winced against the sudden flare of light and checked the time only to groan when I learned in was merely eleven—probably too late to pack up and head home yet way too early for my peace of mind to stick around here for another seven hours until sunrise.

  God, this sucked.

  I turned my phone off, pitching the tent into darkness once again, and I rolled onto my back, trying to go easy on my sunburn, only to whimper when a load of sore muscles screamed in agony.

  Maybe if Luke, my canoe partner, hadn’t been so busy flirting with every unattached-looking female we passed on the water, he might’ve actually helped me with some of the rowing and I wouldn’t hurt so much right now. But nope, he’d been his typical turd brother self, and here I was, suffering for it.

  Man, I was really thirsty. I wondered if I’d brought a bottle of water into the tent with me earlier. That would be my saving grace, because I was too tired to crawl out and go searching through all the coolers for a drink. From the sounds of it, everyone else in my camp party had settled in for the night, too, so I couldn’t be lazy and just call for someone to fetch me a bottle, either. Damn. I guess I’d just have to hope to fall back to sleep sometime soon.

  If I were really lucky, maybe I’d never wake up. The way my life had been going lately, that’d probably be for the best.

  I shifted back onto my side and punched at the lump of clothes under my head that was doubling as my pillow, trying to mold it into a more comfortable shape but failing.

  Just as I closed my eyes, a zipping sound startled me alert. Not daring to breathe, I focused on the front of my tent where I swear I heard it being opened.

  Yep, it was definitely my tent. I could make out a distinct human-shaped form just outside, attempting to breach the entrance.

  It was most likely someone from my group. Every person I’d canoed with today was either family or they might as well be because I’d known them my entire life. None of them would have any qualms about barging in to borrow something or play a dirty trick on me.

  But there was still that slim possibility it was a stranger, intent to rob, maim, or kill.

  Every muscle in my body tensed when a head-shaped blob poked through the opening. If Luke was trying to prank me, I’d kill him. That’s all there was to it. I was not in the mood for fun and games at my expense tonight.

  “Psst,” the intruder whispered. “Luke. Hey, Luke? You awake?”

  I let out a silent breath. While I was grateful it wasn’t a stranger, I rolled my eyes dramatically because I knew that whisper. Oh, how I knew that whisper.

  Teagan Tenning wasn’t my sister—she wasn’t even related—but she might as well be from the way we’d been raised together. She was younger, yet I couldn’t recall a memory growing up when she hadn’t been right there, tagging along behind Luke and me, always trying to catch up so she could play with us. I think we spent more time trying to invent creative ways to avoid her than we did actually playing.

  Since it’d been Luke’s name she’d called, not mine, I resorted to one of my childhood tactics and pretended to be asleep so she’d go away. But I should’ve known better; that had never worked then, and it didn’t seem to work now.

  The brat came right on in.

  Damn, even if I were Luke, couldn’t she see I was asleep and wanted to be left alone?

  Apparently not.

  No one left me alone anymore. It was annoying as hell. Ever since my failed engagement, family and friends had been all up in my business, constantly bothering me and trying to drag me back into the herd to heal me or some such shit. But couldn’t they see it was too late for that? I was broken. Dead inside. And everything sucked. Even the fact that Teagan was here to see Luke, not me. Not that I wanted her to bother me. I just wanted to be left alone. But still… It sucked to be thrown over for my own brother.

  Once she made it inside, getting her foot caught in the opening and nearly tripping and falling on me, she rustled around, making enough noise that she would’ve definitely woken me by now if I’d really been asleep in the first place.

  What the hell was she doing? I couldn’t crank my head and look—not that I’d see much in the dark—because the movement would alert her to the fact I was awake, but whatever it was seemed to take a lot of squirming and cursing under her breath.

  Typical. Teagan had never been able to stay still. Or quiet.

  But couldn’t she go make a commotion in someone else’s tent? Say Luke’s? Since that’s who she’d been seeking in the first place. My tent was blue. His was red. They were impossible to mistake.

  She lost her footing, then cursed again, and stumbled around to right herself, only to step on my ankle.

  “Ouch,” I bellowed, jerking my foot away and making her yelp in surprise. “What the fuck, T?”

  “Oh my God! I am so sorry.” She patted around my leg as if trying to find my ankle and assess the damage. “Are you okay? I totally didn’t mean to do that.”

  “I’ll live,” I grumbled, tugging my foot out of her grip when she actually found it and latched on so hard it made the pain in my ankle spike instead of abate.

  “Oh. Good.” She blew out an audible breath and stroked my knee through the covers in reassurance. “In that case, let me in your sleeping bag, will you? It’s fucking freezing out here.”

  “What? Why? There’s no room. Why don’t you go find your own sleeping bag in your own tent?”

  She let out an aggravated sigh. “Because I’m conducting an experiment. Now would you please just let me in already before I get hypothermia?”

  I rolled my eyes over her typical dramatics but fumbled for the zipper of my sleeping bag even as I grumbled, “What the hell kind of experiment involves you climbing into my sleeping bag with me?”

  “I’ll show you,” she assured. “Just hurry before I freeze my nips off.”

  “It’s not that cold,” I argued, irritated she had to go and bring up her nipples, because now I was thinking about them, along with the breasts they dwelled upon.

  It really pissed me off that she’d gone and developed tits. And really nice tits at that.

  The worst thing about Teagan was that when she’d grown up, she’d grown up hot, like fucking hot, like “bite your knuckles while you groan and stare lustfully” hot. It wasn’t right at all. When I’d been twelve, she’d been six. When I’d been eighteen, she’d been twelve. And when she’d been fifteen, popping feminine curves like some kind of sex goddess, I’d been way too old to be looking. I had no idea how Luke had managed to tease her about it, snapping the back of her bra and laughing like a dork when she’d started wearing one, because I’d only been able to blush and clear my throat uncomfortably, looking away because I felt like some kind of lecher.

  But what the hell, nature? Seriously. Teagan was supposed to remain that annoying little tagalong who could in no way, shape, or form turn me on.

  The weirdest part about her grown-up status was that she was no longer too young. She was twenty now, and her cousin Beau had set me up on a blind date with a twenty-year-old just last month—his way of helping me get over Sonya. It hadn’t worked. But nothing did these days. I was firmly stuck in my funk.

  Not that I could focus on funks or failed relationships right now. Right now, all my brain could seem to register was: she’s twenty now.

  She’s twenty.

  Holy shit, Teagan was twenty.

  Don’t ask me why I kept thinking about her finally being in my dating range; I’d never once thought about dating her before, but she was currently crawling into my sleeping bag with me for reasons unknown and talking about her hard nipp
les, so it was kind of impossible for my brain to not go there.

  So…

  Yeah.

  There went my brain, along with a couple other body parts, going places they most definitely should not.

  “It’s not that warm either,” Teagan muttered as she crawled over me, nearly kneeing me in the junk as she opened the unzipped part of my bag—proving to me that it really was fucking freezing outside—and she started to shimmy in, her bare legs brushing against mine, which made even more unwanted things in me stir to life.

  “Careful,” I strained, sensing nothing but disaster in our future.

  “I’m being careful,” she hissed, clearly annoyed, a second before she got caught up in something and fell flat on top of me with a painful thud.

  I grunted through a wince. “Ouch.”

  “Oh my God,” she immediately gushed. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Are you okay?”

  I muttered a no, I was not okay—I was annoyed to hell and back—a split second before I realized, wow, she wasn’t lying about her nipples. They were really hard and cold enough to break right off her.

  Now ask me how I knew that?

  Well, I’m going to tell you.

  I knew because her fucking nipples were gouging holes into my fucking chest, flesh against flesh, as in…I wasn’t wearing a shirt any more than she was wearing a shirt. Or a bra.