15. Mason
MASON
“I think you’re in trouble,” Candy says as I push her arms away from me again.
“You need to leave,” I tell her for the tenth time. I never put my hands on a woman, but she’s refusing to leave the office or the party. “Lizzy will be here soon.”
“I can’t believe you’re moving in with someone.” She pouts, but it’s bullshit. Candy hasn’t dated a man since high school and is too in love with breasts to ever go back to dicks. “I thought we’d be single together forever.”
“Well, you’re going to have to deal with the fact that I’m leaving you in the game solo. I found the one for me.”
“She’s a stunner too.” Candy waggles her eyebrows. “That sunshine hair and big tits are just…” She groans.
I sober a little. “How do you know what she looks like?”
“Like I said, you’re in trouble.”
“Candy,” I growl. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“She was here.” Candy ticks her chin toward the doorway. “Stood right there and saw us.”
“Fuck,” I hiss and push myself away from Candy. “You’re such an asshole.”
Candy chuckles as I run into the hallway. I always knew Candy was a mean bitch. Her name makes her sound sweet, but there isn’t a sweet bone in her body. She loves to play with people’s feelings and watch the fallout afterward.
We were close in high school but have grown apart over the years. Though every now and then, she pops in to say hello and catch up. And unlucky for me, today was the day she strolled into the bar.
Fuck.
I glance both ways, debating where Lizzy went after she saw us together. I doubt she went back into the dining room and continued with the evening like nothing happened.
I make a beeline for the alley, hoping like hell she will be out here so I can explain. I can imagine the things flying around her pretty head right now. I could kill Candy for having the world’s worst timing.
I slam open the door and rush outside. I look right and then left, finding Lizzy leaning against a car in the back lot.
“Lizzy,” I call out as I run her way.
Her entire posture changes as soon as she hears my voice. Her back straightens. Her shoulders rise. Her jaw tightens and her lips flatten.
“It’s not what you thought,” I tell her, slowing my steps as I come nearer.
“Really?” She raises an eyebrow, crossing her arms over her chest. “It looked like you were holding a woman.”
“If that’s what you want to call her, but I wasn’t holding her. I was stopping her.” I so badly want to reach out and touch my girl, but I don’t.
Her eyes are red, cheeks smeared with makeup from tears she shed over me. “Stopping her?” Lizzy scoffs as her lips curl. “Is that what you call what I saw?”
“She was trying to touch my hair, and I didn’t want her to touch me. I asked her to leave, but Candy likes to play games.”
“Candy,” Lizzy whispers. “How fucking perfect.”
“Sweetheart,” I say, taking a step forward.
Lizzy juts out her arm, flattening her palm against my chest. “No closer.”
“Baby.”
Lizzy shakes her head. “I don’t share, Mason, and from what I saw in there, you don’t feel the same.”
“Lizzy, Candy doesn’t want me.”
“But you want her.”
I rock back and chuckle. “I’ve never wanted Candy. I’ve known her forever. We became friends in middle school.”
“Um, that doesn’t mean you two haven’t—” Lizzy waggles her eyebrows “—you know.”
I can’t stop more laughter from bubbling out of me. “I don’t have the right parts for that to happen.”
Lizzy stares at me with her face all bunched up. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“Candy likes chicks. Always has, always will. She’s had a thing for Zoey for over a decade, and when she heard she was getting married and about our party tonight, she thought she’d drop in and take one more shot. I tried to get her to leave, but the woman is stubborn.”
“She likes Zoey?” Lizzy asks, her eyebrows drawn together, forming small lines between them.
“Uh, yeah. Totally into her tits.”
Lizzy scrunches her nose. “You two haven’t slept together.”
“Never,” I say, drawing out the word. “I swear. You can ask Zoey. She knows Candy all too well.”
“How well?” Lizzy asks, quirking an eyebrow.
“Not in that way. Stop.” I chuckle again. “Candy always shoots her shot and always walks away when Zoey turns her down.”
“But you were between her legs.”
Well, shit. She has me there, but I wasn’t trying to get in Candy’s pants. I’m not even attracted to Candy. The woman is pretty, but nothing about her personality would ever make me want to sleep with her. Even if she were into dudes.
“She was trying to wrestle me to the floor. She swears she’s stronger than me. I wanted her to go. She wouldn’t. She figured if she could wrestle me to the floor, she could lock me in the office and talk to my cousin without me interfering.”
“Do you know how ridiculous this all sounds?”
I nod. “I do. God, I do, but I’m telling you the truth.”
A moment later, Candy walks into the alley with Zoey at her side. “Hey,” Zoey says, staggering a little before steadying herself on impossibly high heels. “What’s wrong?” Zoey’s gaze moves between Lizzy and me.
“Candy being Candy,” I say to my cousin. “Lizzy thought she saw something she didn’t.”
Zoey turns an icy glare on Candy. “Tell her.”
Candy sighs before she toys with the ends of her hair. “Fine. I don’t like Mason. Nothing happened.”
“And?” Zoey says, putting her hands on her hips as she sways.
“I like Zoey,” Candy says softly. “I always have.”
“You don’t like penis. You never have,” Zoey adds. “You almost ended their relationship because you’re an asshole and like to fuck with people.”
“I didn’t do anything. I smiled. Is that a crime?” Candy shoots back.
“You knew what you were doing when you smiled,” I tell her, shaking my head. “Now that Zoey’s getting married, I don’t know of any reason for you to ever come back here, Candy. Not after that shit you just pulled.”
“Zoey’s getting married, but Lizzy looks like fair game—unless you can’t take the competition, Mason,” Candy responds with a cocky smile as she gazes Lizzy’s way.
“I prefer someone with a penis,” Lizzy replies.
“I have a strap-on.”
Zoey snorts but then lays into Candy. “I think it’s time for you to say goodbye, Candy.
You shot your shot and struck out twice.
I’ve told you a million times over the years to fuck off, but you never seem to get it through your thick skull, and you won’t be doing the same thing to Lizzy.
You’re banned from the Hook & Hustle going forward.
Find another place to pester the female customers because you’re no longer welcome here. ”
Candy kicks at the dirt. “Fine,” she sighs. “You were never any fun and way too haughty for me. I prefer my women not to be stuck-up bitches.”
“Off you go,” I tell Candy, motioning for her to get moving.
She stomps away, lifting both arms in the air before throwing us her two middle fingers.
“Well,” Zoey says when Candy finally rounds the building and disappears, “I’m going back to my party. You two good?”
Lizzy doesn’t answer, so I do. “We need a few.”
“Got it. Get your shit sorted. You two are meant to be together. Lizzy, don’t be too hard on him because of Candy. She’s a bitch.”
“I can tell,” Lizzy says, giving my cousin a small smile. “We won’t be long.”
Before Zoey has a chance to make her way back inside, Lizzy walks my way. I open my arms, pulling her into an embrace. “I’m sorry,” I say against her hair.
“You didn’t do anything wrong. I jumped to conclusions,” she says into my shirt.
“Shit happens.”
She peers up at me with her big green eyes. “I should’ve given you a chance to explain what happened before I ran out of there.”
“Nah. I would’ve done the same.” I probably would’ve marched into the room and knocked a guy out if he was being handsy with her, but I don’t want to tell her that.
“Will you forgive me?”
I smile down at the girl who captured my heart the very first time I laid eyes on her. “There’s nothing to forgive.”
“I didn’t trust you.”
“I think it has more to do with how you feel about yourself than trusting me, sweetheart. If the last twenty-four hours of worshipping your body haven’t shown you how I feel, another twenty-four hours are required.”
Her lips part as her eyes search mine. “I couldn’t…”
“You can and you will,” I tell her. “I don’t want there to be a single doubt when you get back on that plane.”
“I don’t know how I’m going to get on that plane if I can’t walk right.”
“Sounds like a good problem to have.” I tilt my head, taking her mouth hard and fast. “Mine,” I whisper against her lips as I inhale her moan.
“Yours,” she breathes back.
We are okay. Everything is fine. We weathered our first storm. Even though everything could’ve quickly sunk, we were able to make it through.
A few minutes and a lot of kissing later, we’re back inside the bar. My parents clock us as soon as we walk into the dining room.
“Everything okay?” Mom asks, always the first to see the slightest bit of change in mood.
“All good,” I tell her with Lizzy tucked under my arm and her fingers tangled in my belt loop. “Just had to deal with some trash.”
“You sure?” Mom asks again, her gaze moving between Lizzy and me.
“Yes, Mom.”
“Baby, they’re fine. Come on. Let’s have a drink,” Pop says to her. “Let the kids have fun.”
Lizzy chuckles. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been called a kid.”
“When you have some of your own, you’ll understand they’ll forever be kids in your eyes,” Pop explains. “When I look at Mason, I still see the little guy sitting on the bar, kicking his feet, and eating all of the cherries meant to be garnish for the drinks.”
“Those were some good times,” I tell him, remembering the countless hours I sat here as a little one and the thousands of cherries I consumed. “Funny enough, I now hate cherries.”
“You ate a lifetime supply,” Pop replies, setting his hand on my shoulder and squeezing.
Lizzy leans against me, placing her head near my shoulder. “I’d love to see pictures of him as a little boy.”
That’s all that needs to be said to make my mother’s face light up. “Oh, I have albums and albums. Come over for brunch tomorrow, and I’ll show you. We don’t want to send you home with an empty belly.”
I don’t argue with my mom about already having plans tomorrow because it’s pointless. Keeping Lizzy in bed all day wouldn’t be a good enough excuse to miss having a meal with the family.
“I would love that,” Lizzy replies with a big smile, and everything that happened earlier seems to be forgotten. “What can I bring?”
“Only you, darling,” Mom replies. “We got the rest.”
“Let’s leave them be. They want to dance and drink and be young.”
“I miss those days,” Mom replies as she slides her arm around my father’s middle.
“We’re not old, baby,” Pop tells her. “And I plan to…” He leans over and whispers something in her ear.
Mom leans back and gawks at my dad. “Tonight?” she whispers with her eyebrows high.
He nods with a wicked gleam in his eyes.
“Can you two not?” I blanch, repulsed and also impressed.
“Go,” Pop says, ticking his head for us to get moving and leave them be.
“Come on, Lizzy. Let’s leave the old folks to talk.”
“I love them,” she tells me as I lead her away from my parents and their dirty talk. “I hope we’re like that someday.”
“We will be,” I tell her, and I’m hopeful that the words I’m saying are true.
“I need a martini,” she announces as we get closer to the bar.
“What kind? I’ll make it.”
“Surprise me,” she replies, placing her hand on my chest as she’s tucked against my side. “Make it sweet.”
I lean over, kissing her lips gently. “Your wish is my command.”
I don’t know when I became this corny, mushy guy, but I don’t hate it. Not because I like the softer side of me, but because I like the look Lizzy gets when I’m that version of myself.
She makes me a better man.