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“Yes! Absolutely. You’re a great guy, Mason. And you’re, like…oh, I’d say…at least a seven.” If I was being completely honest, I’d tell him that he’s objectively a ten, but I don’t want it to go to his head.
That makes him laugh again. “Uh, thanks?”
“Seven is good,” I say. “Besides, I saidat least. I’m sure some women would rate you higher. Anyway, my point is that maybe one of them was actually a good match for you.”
“Yeah, I don’t know,” he says. “I think I would’ve had a gut feeling.”
I’m dying to ask him about the check mark I saw on his card, but I don’t want to admit that I snuck a look. Oh, well. Whatever. I guess I should just let it go…
An unfamiliar voice comes from behind me. “Wow. That issomedress.”
I look over my shoulder and see a stranger looking at me like I’m a piece of meat. My skin crawls as I cross my legs tighter, even though that doesn’t do anything to get me out of his view.
“Please don’t look at me like that,” I say tightly.
The stranger laughs. “Oh, sweetheart. Don’t act like you don’t like the attention.”
I shift on my stool closer to Mason at the same time that he stands up to shield me from the stranger.
“Get the hell away from us,” Mason says, nearly growling the words. “Now.”
The stranger laughs again. “Okay, man. But your woman should know that she can’t go out in public like that and expect the rest of us to act like we don’t wanna look.”
I catch Mason’s arm before he lunges toward the guy. I know that if he really wanted to, he could yank his arm out of my grasp and punch the guy, but he doesn’t. And—huge sigh of relief—the other guy walks away and leaves us be.
“Asshole,” Mason mutters as he turns around to face me. “You okay? You want to leave?”
“I’m okay.”
“You sure?”
I nod. Mason breathes out an irritated breath as he sits down again. “I can’t believe people actually think that way. It’s fucking disgusting.”
“I know.”
“Nobody has the right to look at you like that or say things like that. It doesn’t matter how you’re dressed.”
“I know, Mason.” I reach out and touch his leg. “Thanks for standing up for me like that. You’re a good friend.”
He takes a swig of his drink and shakes his head, obviously still worked up about what just happened. I’ve never seen him like this, and it’s comforting to know that he’s so protective of me. I know I can defend myself, but it’s really nice to have someone like him, too.
Well, notsomeone like him.Just him. No one else in this world could replace Mason.
People are always surprised when they learn that my best friend is a guy. But for us, it’s never been weird. At the end of the day, we’re just two people who really like spending time together. Okay, so I might have had a pretty big crush on him when we were younger, and for a while there I secretly hoped we would eventually turn into more.
But those days are long over. We’ll always just be best friends. I know that even when we both find the loves of our lives and start our own families, we’ll still be super involved in each other’s lives.
“Hey, were you serious when you said you wanted six kids?” I ask. I don’t know why, but the idea of Mason having six kids makes my stomach feel a little weird. Actually, thinking about him being a dad to even one kid makes me feel that way.
Is this…jealousy?
It sure feels like it. But how dumb is that?
Mason’s face finally relaxes. He laughs and gives me a look. “Nope. Just two, maybe three at the most. I only said six because I was trying to distract you from being nervous, Hales.”
I shake my head. “I should be annoyed at you, but you know what? It worked.”
“You’re welcome.”
