36. Chapter 36 #2
Mason’s hands found their place in mine as I pulled her to her feet before we left the apartment. Together, we snuck through the still house, careful not to wake anyone else. While I was growing more and more accepting of the dynamics of the house, I wanted alone time with Mason.
And I thought I’d get it, that was until I noticed Cameron in the reading nook.
God fucking dammit.
His massive frame was slumped slightly as he clutched a thick, hardback book in his hands. There was a pair of reading glasses perched on the end of his nose. I couldn’t tell why, but it almost felt like an insult.
As we stepped into the main part of the house, Cameron looked up. The moment his attention settled on us, he slipped the thin-rimmed glasses off.
“Why’re you two up?” he asked, placing the book on the end table.
Just as I prepared to tell Cameron to mind his fucking business, Mason swooped in to answer the question.
“I’m hungry,” Mason explained, resting a hand on her stomach.
For the first time today, Cameron smiled. My chest tightened as if I’d forgotten how to breathe, causing me to look away. Slowly, Cameron grew to his full height, and my spine ratcheted straight .
It wasn’t that I thought I could be taller than Cameron if I stood the right way, but it was still bizarre when someone was taller than me.
“You’re always hungry.” Cameron chuckled, extending his hand to rest on Mason’s stomach.
He touched her as if she were the gossamer threads on a dandelion seed. For example, if he made one wrong move or even brushed her too harshly, she would be gone in the wind even if he begged her to stay.
Cameron’s love for Mason was one of the few things I liked about him. She deserved people content to let her shine, ones who never dulled her glow or caused her barely mended heart to fall apart like my brother did.
“Do you want me to cook?” he offered as his thumb ran across the blue cotton of her sweatshirt.
Mason shook her head. “Seb’s taking me out to get snacks… Do you want to come with?”
When Cameron accepted Mason’s offer, I didn’t protest. I didn’t even fuss when he grabbed his keys and offered to drive before I could. Staying silent wasn’t my strong suit, but somehow, I managed to bite my tongue as I watched the two from the back seat of Cameron’s truck.
When initially looking at them, nothing about Cameron Cole and Mason Albright seemed to belong together.
He was pushing seven feet tall while Mason hadn’t even cleared five feet.
Mason was covered in tattoos and dressed in dark clothes, but he was a good ole boy.
Cameron was friendly, and Mason preferred to stay to herself.
Despite all of that, something in the way they spoke to each other made their differences seem nonexistent.
Conversation between the two came easily like they’d known each other their whole lives. If I hadn’t been acutely aware of their situation, I’d have assumed the two had been together for years .
My attention turned to the world outside the truck’s window. The moon hid behind a thick blanket of clouds, making the world seem darker than usual. That was until we hit a line of cars all headed in the same direction.
Hartwood wasn’t much for traffic, but we’d occasionally get an influx of vehicles if there were a concert in Bar Harbor. They all seemed to be heading in the opposite direction of us, and I was thankful. The more people there were, the higher the chance there was for Mason to be recognized.
But, my hopes for an easy trip were dashed when we pulled into the packed gas station.
Cameron glanced around as he threw the truck into park.
“Hey.” His words came slowly as he focused on Mason. “Do you know what you want, pretty girl? I can run in and grab it for you.”
Was that even a question? Mason would probably get the same thing she always did.
She liked the gas station nachos, the type that came in a plastic container that you could put your own concerningly yellow cheese on.
If the area they kept their hot dog toppings in was open and clean, she’d then pile as many jalapenos on as she could before getting a blue raspberry slushie to wash it down.
She’d probably also complain about having heartburn an hour later, but that was neither here nor there.
Mason stared at the building, completely focused on the constant flow of people. It’d be safer if she stayed in the car, but it didn’t seem like she was partially worried about that.
“I uh…” Her gaze dipped to her pajamas.
She didn’t even have real shoes on, electing just to wear slippers so she could just slip them on. It didn’t take a PR specialist to know the public would have a field day if Mason were caught in public like that.
She swallowed hard as she looked back up. “I’ll text you.”
Cameron nodded before giving her a quick peck on the cheek and heading to the store .
Mason’s fingers drummed out a familiar rhythm on the plastic part of the passenger side door. I knew it was part of one of her songs, but I wasn’t sure which.
“Are you alright?” I called, hoping to distract her.
Mason’s head flicked up, almost as if she’d forgotten I was there.
“Yeah,” She forced a smile, one that hid her teeth. “I just… I’d gotten so used to no one recognizing me that I’d forgotten just how suffocating it can be.”
“Yeah… But being a celebrity has its perks, right?” I suggested, hoping to cheer her up even if I didn't believe it.
Mason would be happier if she’d never gotten famous. She’d said as much. That’s why I was a little shocked when she agreed with me.
“Yeah, I like that I can make a difference in people’s lives…. And recording music in the studio is fun.”
I scoured her expression, hoping to see a hint of anything that would prove she didn’t mean the words she spoke. Instead, I found myself blinded by the genuine light behind her eyes.
“But you hate going on tour… Isn’t that half your job?”
I wasn’t sure why I posed that question; maybe it was meant to make myself feel better. Especially because, as of late, I’d found myself hating my job. Something about one of my conversations with Cameron caused me to examine my life.
I loved the idea of saving people, the knowledge that I’d stopped someone else from getting hurt. But the idea of killing someone else now had me a little squeamish.
Mason tapped a finger to her full lips as she mulled over my question. “I hate it at the moment… and I don’t like how loud it is. But, now that I think about it, being on stage is kind of fun.”
My teeth rubbed together as I watched the woman in front of me and completely forgot how to blink.
So, even Mason, who’d constructed a living out of her own personal hell, found something about her job to enjoy… but I couldn’t .
“If you didn’t like it… Would you still do it?” The question slipped before I could think better of it, and a sick feeling infested my stomach.
Mason went stiff as a statue as she watched me. “Do you not like your job anymore?”
“I–No. What? Of course not.” I waved her off with a fake laugh.
Her discordant gaze pierced through me like a rapier, skewering my heart as her lips clenched into a look of pity.
“If you don’t like your job, you can quit,” she offered. “I make enough to support us.”
The sincerity in her tone made my chest tighten as I mulled over the thought.
I was fairly certain that I’d completed the years required for my boss not to turn me in for murdering Mason’s mom.
But… What would I do without my job? That would result in a lot of downtime, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to rest with idle thoughts for that long.
Plus, Mason was potentially in danger, so until a more pressing issue arose, being jobless wasn’t an option.
Sure… I’d thought about asking my brother for a piercing apprenticeship, but that very thought felt like an insult to my intelligence.
“I’ll think about it,” I mumbled.
Her lips parted as if to argue with me, but before she could, Cameron returned with a slushie in one hand and a bag of snacks in the other.
“You never told me what’cha wanted,” he said, passing both to Mason before hoisting himself into the truck.
The vehicle seemed to sink under his weight as he settled into the driver’s seat.
“I wanted to see what you’d surprise me with.” Mason’s teeth glistened in the light.
Cameron shook his head. “Well, the chips with cheese, slushie, and gummy sharks are yours.”
Mason inched close enough to rest her hand on his cheeks, and Cameron grabbed her by the palm before kissing her wrist.
“You know me so well.” Love dripped from Mason’s tone, and my stomach twisted.
“I’m a good listener.” Cameron responded the same way .
A strange magnetic sensation prickled across my skin, and I wanted nothing more than to be between them.
But I wasn’t allowed to feel that way toward Cameron.
He was too far beneath me, so I decided to believe the feelings I harbored toward him were misplaced.
Instead, it was the love I felt for Mason bleeding onto him.
Still, I wasn’t ready for this night to end, to just go home and pretend tonight didn’t happen.
So, instead of letting Cameron drive home, I proposed a different idea.
“Hey… Why don’t we go look at the stars for a bit?”