10. Mason
TEN
MASON
“What’s dat one?” A sticky finger presses on the inside of my forearm. We’ve been at this for the past hour, Lily’s kid pointing out my art and asking about each individual one.
He’s a cool kid. Polite, listens, and I can understand about 60 percent of what comes out of his mouth.
My eyes widen. “That one?” I blow out an exaggerated breath, my cheeks puffing from the motion. “That’s from when I met my first dragon.”
He sucks in a breath. “A dwagon?”
I nod slowly. “Yeah, dude. A big one. A mama. I was traveling off the coast of Spain and went cliff diving.”
His nose scrunches. “What’s dat?”
“Cliff diving? It’s where you stand on the edge of a tall rock and jump off.”
His eyes widen.
“Anyway, after I dove into the crystal waters below, I saw an opening.”
“You did ?”
I nod. “Mmhmm. A secret one…” Movement from my peripheral catches my attention, and I glance over to where Lily is leaning against the booth across from us. There’s a small smile on her face as she pushes her purse up her arm and waits patiently for me to finish my story.
“Naturally, I had to go explore,” I say, leaning back against the booth and stretching out my arm. “And guess what it was?”
“What was it?” Chase whispers, staring down at the dragon breathing fire that decorates my arm.
I lean in. “A cave .”
He sucks in a breath.
“That’s right. And there was a beautiful dragon inside. Gorgeous.”
“Dwagons ugly, though.”
I shake my head, tsking. “Noooo, who told you that? Dragons are beautiful.” My eyes jump back to Lily’s. “Strong. Independent. Fierce . Especially this one. She was a mama dragon, and there’s something special about mamas.”
“Like mine?” Chase asks.
Lily grins, a glossy sheen coasting across her eyes.
I nod again. “ Exactly like yours.”
Chase’s finger trails up my arm and stops on a different one, pressing down. “Thwee. One. One.” My eyes drop, but I already know what tattoo he’s reading before I look. A weight drops in my gut, pain lancing through my esophagus and wrapping around my throat. He asks something else, but I can’t focus enough to decipher his toddler talk.
“What?” I rasp.
Lily walks closer, scooching into the booth on the opposite side. “He’s asking what the numbers mean.”
My heart stutters. “They don’t…” I clear my throat. “They don’t mean anything.”
Her mouth opens and closes, her eyes searing through the ink on my arm. But she nods and focuses her attention on her kid.
Chase .
It’s no coincidence she named him after her brother, which makes me wonder why the hell I’m still fucking around here instead of just reuniting them. But I need to know why she left and hasn’t gone back.
“You ready to go, baby?”
I smirk. “Well, we went pretty quick from strangers to pet names, but I’m ready whenever you are.”
She frowns, but there’s a twitch at the corner of her lips. “I was speaking to my son.”
My grin grows. “Whatever you say, little bird.”
“Speaking of pet names…why do you call me that?”
I shrug. “Why not?”
A giant sigh coming from next to me interrupts our conversation, and both of us turn our attention to Chase, who is yawning and rubbing little fists in his eyes.
“Okay, sleepyhead,” Lily says. “It is way past your bedtime. Let’s get you home.”
“I’m too sweepy to walk.”
She stands up, leaning down and gathering him in her arms. “I’ll carry you.”
My brows shoot to my hairline. “You’re gonna carry him all the way to your place? That’s like half a mile.”
“So?” She cocks her head. “How do you know where I live anyway?”
Shit. “Just a guess. There’re only so many square blocks in this town.”
“That’s true.” Her eyes are calculating. “Why did you say you’re here again?”
“I—”
Another yawn interrupts me, and she runs her hand over Chase’s back. “Never mind.” She turns to walk away but then turns back. “You have to come with me, you know. We’re closed.”
“Oh, shit— shoot —my bad.” I jump up from the booth and follow her out.
She stops on the sidewalk, glancing at me and pursing her lips. “I guess I’ll see ya when I see ya.”
“Don’t miss me bad while I’m gone.” I grin.
She rolls her eyes and starts to walk down the street.
I head to my bike but turn around at the last second, something tugging at my insides. “Hey, wait,” I huff out as I jog to catch up to her.
Damn, she’s a fast walker.
She spins around, Chase already asleep on her shoulder.
“Do you have a phone?”
She shakes her head, her jaw tightening.
“Okay, well…hold on. Just…wait a minute.” Rushing back to my bike, I dig in the side satchel, finding a spare piece of paper from my notebook and a pen, scribbling down my number and then walking it back to her and pressing it into her hand. “Here’s my number.”
She glances down at the crumpled paper. “And what do you think I need that for?”
I shrug. “Just in case.”
“In case of what?”
I shrug. “Anything.”
She nods and then leaves, and I stand at the corner of the diner watching until she turns the corner and disappears from my view. A strange sensation fills me up once she’s gone.
Something I’ve only felt once before.
A thick, tumultuous wave of protection crashing through my insides.
There’s just…something about her that won’t let me treat her like everyone else. And now that I’ve met her kid, well…
Turning around, I slide onto my bike, the roar of the engine loud against the still of the air, calming my senses and letting me sink into familiarity—which is what I need right now, because the way Lily and her son make me feel are anything but . They bring up emotions I thought I had buried when I left who I used to be and everyone in it.
I wait a few more minutes before leaving the lot, wanting to be able to drive by Lily’s apartment and make sure they got home safe, without her seeing me. Once I see the light flicker on through her apartment window, I head back to the motel, going straight to my room and pulling up my computer to open her file.
And then I jot down everything that happened tonight.
I still have a job to do, after all.