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Mason takes one firm step in her direction. “I’ve said everything I need to say to you. You and me, we’re over. And you need to leave. Now.” The boiling fury in his voice, I’ve never heard it before. Damn, that’s hot.
“…But I made you a sandwich.” Zara holds out her food offering and whimpers. Clearly, this little gimmick has always worked for her in the past. Mason’s disinterest tonight makes it clear that it won’t work anymore.
“Zara. Leave.”
“I’ll give you a blowjob…?”
“Leave. Now.” Mason stomps.
“A really good one?” she bargains.
I blink.Is this chick for real, though?I slap my hand over my mouth and snicker. I can’t help it.
Her eyes shoot to me, like she didn’t notice me standing here before. Her brows crinkle in annoyance. “Who the hell is this bitch, Mason? I had to stand by and watch you parading her around The Hot Sauce all night! It was torture! Donottell me that you’ve been running around with someone new! We should be working on our relationship!”
“She just called mewhat?!” I shout. “Oh, let me at her!”
I lurch forward, but Mason’s arms are already around my waist, effortlessly pulling me back. “Stay. Put. Karli.” His eyes go to his ex. “I don’t want your sandwich, Zara. And I don’t want your blowjob. In fact, the idea of you getting anywhere near me gives me the ick.”
Zara gasps in dismay. “After everything we shared, you’re just gonna throw it all away? For some stranger?”
When Mason responds, the disgust he feels toward her is palpable in the air. “That’s the thing, Zara. She’s not a stranger. We haven’t known each other all that long. But she’s someone who’s taken the time to get to know me. She listens to me when I have something to get off my chest. She volunteers to help me when I’m down and out. She gives a fuck when I’m in pain. She shows me that she appreciates the things I do for her. Every day, she goes out of her way to try and make my life better. Those are things you never did.” His nostrils flare.
“But after all these years.” She fake-sobs into her hands. “I gave you all these years.”
“Something has become clear to me recently. If your partner isn’t invested in getting to know you, those years you spend together aren’t an investment. They’re a loss. The whole relationship is a write-off. I’m ready to just cut my losses and move on. That’s what I’m doing now. I’m moving on from you.”
“How could you say that after everything we’ve shared?”
“We shared nothing, Zara. There was no sharing and that’s the problem. Our relationship was years and years of me giving, and you taking. It was fucking draining. And I’m done with it now. So you’re going to leave. And you’re not gonna fucking contact me again. Understood?”
Her expression is stunned. It seems like she’s used to wielding power over Mason, and now that he’s taken that power back, she doesn’t know what to do with herself. She stands there in the pink-light of the driveway, looking completely mystified and disoriented by the fact that he’s no longer willing to bend to her every whim.
Mason takes my hand in his, and turns for the house.
His angry, pink-faced ex calls out after him. “Fuck you, Mason.” Venom spits from her lips. “Fuck. You.”
He pauses. “No, Zara. Your years and years of fucking me are done.”
Then without a glance back, he guides me up the walkway. I dare to throw a glimpse over my shoulder at the woman standing in the middle of the drive. She shoots poison arrows at me with her eyes.
Gesturing to the leaky sandwich in her hand, I fake a sympathetic tone. “Ooh, girl. Watch out. Mayo’s dripping all over your pretty shoes.”
With a roar that shakes the whole neighborhood, she turns and heads down the driveway. As she goes, she launches her sandwich at the side of Mason’s car. It splatters against the passenger window and slides down to the pavement, bread and tomatoes and lettuce spilling everywhere.
“What a waste of good bacon,”I mutter, shaking my head. “Who does that?!” A monster, that’s who.
Mason lays a hand at the small of my back, pushing me into his house. “You just had to get that last little dig in, didn’t you?” His nostrils twitch with suppressed amusement.
“Yes. Yes, I did.” Standing just inside the foyer, I take his pretty face in both of my hands. “That woman put you through hell. For years. You didn’t deserve that. You deserve someone who’s good to you.”
For a moment, he searches my eyes with his brilliant brown orbs. The look on his face makes butterflies tussle inside my belly. It’s almost like he’s searching my face for the answer to a very important question.Can I be that someone to treat him right?
Panic pierces through my heart like a torpedo.
The things I feel for this man are getting stronger and stronger with each passing day. And when he looks at me like he is now, I know that I mean something to him, too. It was never supposed to be like this, though.
Feels like we’re hurtling toward the point of no return.
