Chapter 8 #2
I trembled at the realization and stepped back to put some much-needed distance between us. “Listen, I need to go if I wanna finish my schoolwork and be ready on time.” Why was my voice sounding weak? Gosh, I hated how Mason still affected every particle of me nowadays.
He shut his eyes for a long second before returning his attention to me. “Is he like…your boyfriend or something?” He spoke the words as if they scorched the tip of his tongue.
We stared at each other. Something close to annoyance, or rather anger, banked low in his irises. Soon, it switched to curiosity.
“What happened to Clarke? Did you guys call it quits?”
His nosiness wasn’t welcome. I had no intention of explaining anything to him. No, scratch that. I had no obligation to explain myself to him.
Creating some physical barrier between us, I folded my arms over my chest. “Whatever is going on between Jayden and me is none of your business.”
He mirrored my stance. Thank God he was wearing jeans with his varsity sweatshirt, or else we would have been dressed almost identically.
“How long have you known this Jett guy? Where did you meet him? I’m not sure Clarke would appreciate your dating other guys when he’s not around.
” He tapped his foot on the linoleum floor, looking restless.
He raked his fingers through his hair a few times before cracking his knuckles, something I’d never seen him doing before.
He scanned the space around us twice before looking at me again, his jaw locked.
“Are you sure it’s a good idea? Are Clarke and you having an open relationship?
Is he fucking other chicks on the side?”
Wow, the audacity. “Again. None. Of. Your. Business. And Jett and I, we met…last night. He’s my friend’s older brother.”
Mason kept his eyes trained on mine, the expression painting his face impossible to read.
I felt naked under his stare. I wasn’t sure what to do or say as the truth floated between us. Instead of holding him back earlier, I should have let him leave. His reaction was my fault. I brought it on myself. I was the one who had opened this can of worms and told him about Jett.
“Oh.”
I straightened my posture. The little Oh that left Mason’s lips rubbed me the wrong way. It could mean a thousand different things. I should let it go, but again, I couldn’t seem to do so.
“What do you mean by that?” I asked.
He cocked one brow. “By what?” Was he playing innocent on purpose? “No idea what you mean.”
“You make me so angry sometimes.”
He smirked, and I wanted to rip it off his gorgeous face with my nails.
“You know exactly what I’m talking about. I know for a fact how smart you are. Stop playing dumb.”
He pointed to his chest with a thumb. “Me, dumb? Did the chlorine water make it to your brain earlier? I really have no idea what you expect me to say here. Please, enlighten me, Shepard.”
“Don’t call me Shepard. You lost that right.”
He snickered. “Since when? I’ve always called you Shepard.
Aren’t you being a bit overdramatic? You’re acting like I’m the enemy here, Shepard.
Want to tell me why you’re upset right now?
If you need a good lay to calm your nerves, I can help with that too.
Or I can feed you my dick if you need to be shut up. ”
I blinked half a dozen times, unsure if I’d heard him right. “Who are you? What have you done to the Mase I used to know?”
“He wasn’t good enough for you, so I guess he’s not useful to me anymore.
I’m taking a card from Clarke’s playbook.
Don’t you like it when I act all alpha and shit?
I thought that was your type? Unless guys like Nichols, dickheads who talk to you like you’re a side piece, are more your type these days? ”
If only I could murder him with my eyes, pieces of Mason Pierce would be scattered all over the floor right now. “Is this your new college persona?”
“What?”
“Arghhhh. Why do I need to spell everything to you today? Is exasperating me your thing now? Oh, sorry, want me to spell it for you? It’s a bit of a complicated word. E-X-A-S-P-E-R-A-T-I-N-G.” I winked as if we were both in on the joke.
Mason’s face remained impassive. “Is this your attempt at making jokes, Shepard? You should work on it because it’s not very funny.
Ha. Ha. See? It’s not working. Even I am not impressed.
It says a lot because I used to drink every word you spoke like it was the best fucking thing I’d ever heard.
My own fucking poison. Until it killed me. Well played, Shepard.”
Our fight no longer had anything to do with my date tonight. It was the sum of everything that had happened between us in the last year.
Without doing it on purpose, we had both erased the space between us while we bantered about stuff that didn’t matter, and I couldn’t even recall how it had all started.
We shared the same air, our gazes fused together, neither of us backing down.
His irises turned a dark shade of blue, looking like two abysses that could swallow me whole if I weren’t careful. His lips appeared pinker than usual. I didn’t know why, but right now, I was more attracted to him than I’d been in a long time.
His gaze flicked between my mouth and my eyes as if he couldn’t decide which one he preferred.
My entire being vibrated with awareness.
I chewed on my bottom lip, feeling vulnerable when he watched me like he could eat me up and swallow me whole.
“I kinda hate you right now.” My hand flew to cover my mouth. I didn’t mean to speak my thoughts out loud. “It’s not really hate, I—”
“I kinda don’t hate you right now.” His gaze shimmered with a hint of mischievousness. “I’m just trying to figure you out.”
“I’m not the same girl I used to be.”
“I can see that. I love the spikes you’ve grown since our last face-off. They suit you.”
Mason erased all the distance between us, and I stepped back until I bumped into the wall behind me, his gaze never leaving mine.
The air thickened around us.
My brain went blank. My breathing hitched.
He leaned in, his mouth a hair’s breadth from mine.
All my senses woke up. This was bad. I wasn’t allowed to be attracted to him. And he shouldn’t make a move either. It would only complicate things even more than they already were.
Time stopped.
We stared at each other—or rather, Mason eye-fucked me. Every cell in my body vibrated, and I had no idea what I should do now. I had to think, and fast.
“By the way, Jayden isn’t a douchebag.” These were the first words that came to my mind.
Mason smirked. “If you say so.”
My admission didn’t make him recoil like I’d hoped it would. I was encountering a new version of Mason Pierce for the very first time, and I had no playbook for how to navigate the situation.
His irises were an even darker shade of blue now—almost black.
His scent clung to me, making me lightheaded, when he grazed my cheek with his rough one—another thing that was different from the Mason I used to know.
I shivered down to my toes at the slight contact.
His mouth hovered over mine, so close I could kiss him without even having to move my head.
An ache stirred low in my belly. Goose bumps blossomed all over my body.
It was still as traitorous as it had always been around him.
“Mason. I—” All my words deserted me. The urge to mold my lips to his became hard to resist. I had to force my brain to recall why I had pushed him away last winter. Still, right now, it didn’t seem to care.
We stayed like that, almost kissing, but our mouths not touching, our bodies pressed together. A wave of heat filled me, only to realize it was Mason’s warmth seeping through my clothes. The rigid planes of his body felt wonderful against the soft curves of mine.
When I thought he would claim my lips, unable to resist the tension developing between us anymore, he opened his stupid mouth, his words acting like a cold shower. “Still thinking about going on that date, or did I succeed at making you change your mind?”
“Wh…what?” It took me a few seconds to register his question and how I’d just been played.
“You heard me.”
“You’re an ass. What am I to you? A joke? Are you trying to get back at me? To make me pay for what went down between us?”
“Mel, you should know I’m not a player.”
I snorted. “Yeah, right. Did you forget I’ve been there all along? I know how you roll, Mase.”
“What does that mean?”
I pushed him back with both hands flat against his muscular chest, and he stepped away. “You know exactly what it means. And it also means you’re a jerk, and I’ve lost enough time with you today.”
“You’re lying to yourself.”
“Wanna bet? I’m not wasting any more of my time on you. I gotta go.”
“Who said I was ready for you to go?”