City of Sin - Chapter 60
Mason
I placed the last box in the truck I had rented and pulled down the door, locking it in place.
I thought Bee would be devastated when she got fired.
Especially since she thought she was going to get a promotion.
And I had let her believe she was getting it when I knew the company she worked for was folding.
It felt like our relationship was a ticking time bomb that was quickly approaching zero.
Me stealing clients from her former company wasn't a big deal.
I wasn't sure why I ever thought that it would be.
She'd probably be happy to screw over her pervert of a boss.
She hadn't told me exactly what happened today, but she hadn't mentioned anything about Kruger going bankrupt.
It seemed like her boss had tried to pull something on her.
And it made my blood boil. I wanted to beat the shit out of him.
I shook my head. Like I could protect her?
I was the one that had screwed her over.
I had stolen her advertising idea for Sword Body Wash.
Which in itself didn't matter. Except that I got the account.
John Landry had called me this afternoon and said that they liked my pitch the best. Bee's pitch.
She had lost her job and I had just gotten enough money to keep my apartment without my dad's help. She was going to hate me.
It was like I could hear the clock ticking down to our demise.
I should just tell her right away and apologize.
It was an accident. I just said the first thing that popped in my head.
But I had read her notebook without her permission.
I ran my hand down my face. Fuck. I couldn't talk my way out of this one.
I had already gone over every possibility in my head.
Each choice ended up with her leaving. And she couldn't leave.
"Done!" she said.
I almost jumped. I hadn't seen her walk out of her apartment building. "You turned in the keys?"
"Yup. I'm officially homeless." She laughed. "Maybe I should make a sign and join all the homeless people who I gave tons of money to."
I laughed. "You're adorable." I wrapped my arms around her. I didn't want to let go. I wanted to hold her like this, with her smiling and happy, forever. Forever. I felt the tightness in my chest. We only had a little time left.
"I do have one more favor to ask," she said and pulled back. "On the way to Kendra's can we stop by Goodwill? I have some stuff to drop off."
"Sure." I reluctantly let go of her. I watched her climb to the passenger's side of the truck, leap onto the step, and slide into the seat.
I just needed to keep thinking. There had to be a way where she ended up with me. There had to be. I walked around the truck and climbed into the driver's seat. I put the key into the ignition, bringing the truck to life. "What are you giving away?"
"Just some things I don't need anymore." She smiled at me.
"Do you want to tell me what really happened today? You said that you had a disagreement with your boss?"
"It's not a big deal. I didn't want that job anyway. Like you said, most ad executives don't start out as secretaries. I was approaching the whole thing wrong."
I gripped my hands on the wheel. "What did that asshole do?"
"Mason?" She lightly touched my arm. "Are you okay? You've seemed a little on edge tonight. Are you still not feeling well?"
"I'm fine." I was never sick. I just couldn't face her last night. But when I had made her cry it felt like a part of me was hurt. I never wanted to see her upset. Then I shouldn't have stolen her idea. Fuck! I gripped the wheel even tighter.
"I really appreciate you helping me move."
I nodded. Of course I was going to help her move.
I'd do anything for her. My grip eased on the wheel a bit.
That was it. I'd tell her it was time to make things official.
Maybe that would make telling her the truth better?
I knew she wanted me to be her boyfriend.
Isn't that what every girl wanted? To take the next step? I wanted that too.
"You can turn in here," Bee said and pointed to the Goodwill on the corner.
I hit the turn signal and pulled into the donations drop off section.
"I'll grab it. You can just stay in the car."
"All the boxes are heavy. I'll get it." I turned off the car and hopped out onto the pavement.
I heard Bee's door shut and she appeared next to me as I unlocked the door and lifted it up. I picked up the box marked "donations." It was one of the heaviest ones.
"Really, Mason, I can get that." She put her arms out.
I laughed. "Lead the way."
She pressed her lips together and then turned away from me. We walked together toward the drop off door. She opened it for me. As soon as we were inside she rushed past me and started talking to the person standing there.
"Okay, we just have to look through it to give you a tax credit," the lady said.
"Oh, no need," Bee replied. "It's just a bunch of junk."
The lady made a funny face.
"I mean, not junk. It's nice stuff. CDs, DVDs, and some old clothes. Someone will definitely want to buy it. But it's just stuff. Nothing valuable or anything. Just give me the smallest tax credit possible."
Why was she being so weird? I set the box down. We weren't in any rush.
"Nonsense," the lady said. She walked over to the box and opened up the lid. "Wow," the woman said and pulled out a wedding dress.
Is that why Bee was acting strangely? Did she not want me to see the dress?
I knew she was engaged. Maybe a small part of me didn't realize how far she had almost made it down the aisle with that ass of an ex of hers.
But it didn't matter. She was mine now. At least for as long as she didn't know about what I had done.
The thought I had earlier returned to me, about making things between us official.
Bee was the commitment type. Patrick had been her only other boyfriend.
If I told her I wanted to make it official, was I basically asking her to marry me?
I thought I'd want to run. But I didn't. Maybe I was just desperately clinging on to anything I could think of.
Maybe I was losing my mind. Or maybe that was what I wanted.
A white picket fence, two kids, and a smoking hot wife?
That didn't sound so bad to me. Actually, it sounded kind of perfect.
I peeled my eyes away from the dress and looked at her.
She looked embarrassed. No, she looked sad. And it wrenched my gut. I wanted to make her happy. I'd do anything to make her happy.
"How much did this cost?" the woman said and turned to her.
Bee shrugged.
The woman looked back and forth between us. "Oh, I see. Your husband didn't know you were parting with your dress? That's very sweet. You should resell this, though, not give it away. You can make a pretty penny."
Bee didn't say anything to correct the woman about her assumption between us. "That's okay, it's not about the money."
Husband and wife? Now that someone had said it out loud it didn't sound nearly as appealing. I wasn't ready for that. One day maybe. And maybe it would be with Bee. I wasn't ready yet, though. I couldn't have kids. And I didn't want a picket fence. I loved living in New York.
"If that's what you want." The woman wrote something down and handed the paper to Bee. "Definitely worth more than the smallest tax credit. Someone will get good use out of this."
"I hope so." Bee walked past me and out the door back into the cold.
"She must have looked beautiful in this," the woman said to me.
"Yeah." I quickly followed Bee. She was already getting into the truck.
I didn't say anything as I climbed into the driver's seat and started it back up. I pulled out of the parking lot and back onto the busy streets of the city.
"I'm sorry about that," Bee finally said. "I was just trying to get rid of it."
"It's okay. I get it."
She turned toward me. "Mason?"
"Yeah?" For some reason the way she had said my name made my heart beat faster. Had she already found out what I had done?
"I really like you."
I sighed with relief. "I really like you too." Instead of following the GPS, I continued going straight. I knew exactly what I wanted to do.
"Kendra's place is that way," Bee said.
I ignored her. I felt awful about stealing her idea.
But I didn't feel awful about getting the Sword Body Wash account and jump starting my ad agency.
It was hard not to tell her about it. I wanted to share my good news with her.
But I couldn't. Not yet. The least I could do for now was share that success with her.
"Mason?"
"I think you should move in with me," I blurted out before I could change my mind.
"You want me to move in with you?"
"It feels like you already have." I smiled at her. "I'm not sure when the last time was that we didn't fall asleep together."
"It's still a big step," she said.
"It's one that I want to make with you."
"I don't want you to ask me just because I lost my job and you feel sorry for me."
"I don't feel sorry for you." I pulled up in front of my apartment and cut the engine.
I reached over and grabbed her hand. "I like falling asleep with you and waking up next to you.
I'm asking you because I'm greedy. I can't get enough of you.
" I ran my thumb along her knuckles and over the tan line on her ring finger.
She nervously touched that spot all the time.
Like there was something there that nothing else could fill.
She probably didn't even realize she was doing it.
But it broke my heart a little every time I saw her do it.
I felt guilty about what I had done. But everything else I said was true too. I wanted to fill that spot on her finger. Not with a ring. Not yet, anyway. I wanted to be enough for her. Just me. Because she was enough for me.
She looked up at me. "I can't get enough of you either."
"So is that a yes?"
"Of course it's a yes!" She unbuckled her seatbelt and moved onto my lap. She grabbed both sides of my face and kissed me.
I thought I had already felt guilty. But the way she was kissing me? I was going straight to hell.