Chapter 27 #2
Satisfied he’s home and safe, I go to the kitchen and make him a protein shake, then I leave it on the side and go back to bed.
Mase
My arms surround her, sweat dripping from my body and landing on her delicate throat. Her lashes fan out over her cheeks, and I watch as her chest rises and falls, full of life.
“Nina,” I whisper.
She stirs slightly, then jolts awake when she sees me hovering over her. I know she hasn’t been sleeping long.
“Mase?” Her hands push back my damp hair, her eyes searching my face. “What’s wrong?”
“I need you.” I drop my mouth to hers, pulling on her bottom lip before sweeping my tongue inside.
“Hmmm,” she moans, making my cock grow stiff.
She pulls at my vest, and I adjust my knees on the bed, leaning back to pull it over my head while she whips off her T-shirt.
“Baby,” I hum, my mouth wrapping around her nipple. “I have missed this. Us.”
Her back arches off the bed as she pushes herself farther into me. “Me too,” she whispers.
I pull her pyjama shorts from her legs, chucking them to the floor with our discarded tops.
With the need to feel her, I thrust forward, filling her. A sound rumbles from deep in my chest as her heat sheaths me. She calls out my name, my jaw slack against her neck as I hover over her, unable to move.
I roll my hips. Slowly. “Fuck!”
“Mase,” she pants, writhing on the stark white sheets.
She looks like an angel.
Lifting her leg around my waist, I slide in deeper, and we both moan out loud. I drop my head to hers, rocking into her, savouring the feel of her after being deprived so long.
Why did I keep myself from this?
Nina
“Morning, Pix.”
The hairs on my neck stand to attention as his arm wraps around my waist. I’m standing at the sink washing up my breakfast dishes, and the feel of his body at my back warms me to my core.
I don’t know what changed last night, but I woke this morning to find him asleep and next to me in the bed.
I thought it was progress, but this right now is a complete one-eighty from yesterday.
“Morning, is everything okay?” I ask, looking down at the hand that rests on my waist, noticing the navy cuff of his dress shirt and his Rolex watch. “You’re going to the office?”
I turn in his arms.
“Yeah. It’s about time.”
Reaching up, I smooth out the deep line that forms on his brow. “That sounds like a great idea.” I smile, pleased that he wants to go back. I thought I’d have to push him into it, and I don’t think I would have had the heart.
He nods, and I turn, carrying on with the dishes.
“Will you come with me?” he asks me, reaching for the cereal as a small smile tugs at his lips.
I get what feels like a zap of electricity right between my legs.
Shit. I didn’t realise how badly I needed him back.
“You wish, Bossman.” I wink. “If you’re going to the office, I will go see your sister. If you don’t mind.”
He juts out his chin, not answering me with actual words.
“If you don’t want me at the house, I won’t go, but I know Scar wants to sort through your father’s things, and someone should help her.”
I panic the moment the words are out. Why am I bringing up his dad?
Baby steps, Nina!
“I know,” he snaps, running his hand through his hair. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be.” I go to him, slipping my arms around his waist. “I won’t go today.”
“Me neither.”
“What? No, Mase, go to the office.”
“I don’t want to. I just thought maybe I should.”
Dropping my head to the side, I smooth a hand down his shirt. He looks so put together in his suit, yet inside he is still so broken.
“You should go to the office,” I tell him, placing a kiss on his smooth jaw.
He nods, knowing he needs to. “You’ll help Scar? Please.”
I wrap my arms around him, needing to get closer than I am, but knowing it’s physically impossible. But if it were, I’d follow my soul into the depths of his. “Of course, I will.”
It’s nine a.m., and Mase is still here. He refused to let me shower alone, telling me he needed ‘a good luck fuck’ for his first day back at work. My man is back, and with that comes his insatiable appetite for me. Not that I’m complaining.
He hangs from my lips, pulling them between his teeth as he walks us to the elevator. “Come with me,” he says between kisses.
“No. Go, now!” I laugh.
He pulls away from me, and his eyes grow hungry, but I see the hesitation lurking in the back of them.
“I spoke to George when you were dressing, told him you were going in today.”
He quirks a brow. “Did you now?” He shakes his head, knowing he can’t back out. “What would I do without you?” He leans in, giving me one more chaste kiss. “Tell Scar I’ll see her soon.”
I bite my lip, a feeling of contentment settling over me. “Okay.”
He winks, stepping away from me and entering the lift. “I love you, my beautiful Pixie.”
I’m foolish to spend my time doing anything other than actively looking for a job or studio, but in all honesty, I think I’m in denial. I don’t want to be working right now, not when I feel like Mase needs me.
Scarlet doesn’t answer the door, so I wave Vinny off and let myself in. I find her in the main living room, her hair covered in purple hair dye.
“Hey!” I frown, moving around the sofa to pull her into a hug.
“Thank god you’re here! Have I got the back?” She fans a hand around her head. “Dad normally checked—it’s the small things.” She tuts.
Spinning around, I check her hairline and see that she’s missed a chunk. “Here, give me the brush.” I paint the area she missed and hand it back. “How have you been? Are the Montgomerys not here?” I ask, frowning as I eye the blob of dye on the rug beneath my feet.
That isn’t coming out.
“No, they left two days ago. Frey is a babe and like a mother to me, but god, she is just too much.”
“That’s a bad thing?” I smile, happy to see her so upbeat.
“Uh, yeah. She offers me food when I already have food, a coffee when I’m sat with a tea. I swear they’re waiting for me to break.”
“And are you—going to break? ‘Cause that would be okay.”
“Nina, I’m okay. Honestly.”
I eye her sceptically but she only evil eyes me back. “Okay, you sure you want to do this today?” I ask, pointing to the pile of things belonging to her dad that she has gathered on the table.
“Yes, it’s got to be done.”
“Right, I will put the kettle on.”
Four hours later
We are only halfway through the piles of clothes and boxes. I look to Scar, noticing her beautiful, full smile. We have taken our time, pausing when needing to relish in anything that catches her attention. A photo that evokes a memory or a jumper that still smells of Anthony.
I just wish Mase could have been here.
Scarlet powers up the TV as she sits in a sea of boxes. Some will go into the attic and some to charities. Scarlet wants somebody to use the items and not have them sat, but insists the sentimental stuff stays—which is why we’re watching their home videos.
“Nina, look at this.”
“Is that you?” I laugh, taking in the image on the screen.
A little girl with dark hair is sitting naked in the kitchen sink.
“Yup. Dad always said I was the feral child.”
“I can see that.”
She eyes me with a scowl. “I can just imagine you with your perfect princess dresses and frilly socks,” she mocks.
“God, no. I was lucky if I got a pair of leggings that fit.”
“Shit. Sorry, Nina.”
“Don’t be.” I chuckle, reaching into the box at my feet and pulling out a smaller rectangular one.
“Here,” she calls. “Ha! Look at how chubby Elliot was.”
I carry the box with me, moving to stand behind her at the back of the sofa.
“No! That is not Elliot,” I snort out.
“Yep, that’s Mase next to him.”
“I can see Mase, but that does not look like El. I need to send this to the girls.”
I pull my phone out and snap a picture, sending it to Lucy and Megan with the caption ‘guess who?’
Sliding my phone back into my pocket, I bring my attention to the next box. Lifting the lid, I find a picture. It’s the same photo that Mason has in his home office. A photo of the Lowells before their heartache.
I pass it over Scarlet’s shoulder. “Here.”
“Oh, Dad told me about this day. Mason was stung by a bee seconds after this photo was taken.” My hand wraps around the notebook in the bottom of the box.
It looks like a diary. It’s thick, heavy and worn around the edges.
Scarlet carries on, “Apparently his face ballooned like it does when he’s near a dog.
” Scarlet laughs as I swipe my hand across the cover, clearing the dust that coats it.
“Poor fucker. I hope we find that picture. Dad always said there was one, but Mason would hide it.”
“What’s this?” I ask, my thumb brushing over the initials that mark the bottom right corner.
“What’s what?” She asks, still staring at the photo in her hand, reliving memories of the past.
My brain misfires, trying to figure out what I am seeing. Without thought, I flick open the diary and begin to read the first page.
November 16, 1993.
Dear Mason.
My darling boy,
Snapping the book closed, I swallow the bile that rises in my throat. “Your mother’s name.”
“Ellis,” Scarlet tells me with a frown.
“Ellis. Marie. Lowell.” I remember Mason telling me after I danced for him that night.
“Yes, Ellis Marie. What’s wrong, Nina? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“The initials.” I trace them like I have many times before. The gilding and font exact. Unique and yet so familiar. “EML.”
“What about them?”
“I’ve seen them before, but on a piano.”
“Yeah, Mum’s. She was an incredible pianist. Dad said she would have played for the world someday, but she never wanted to leave this place.”
I suck in a breath as I lift my gaze to her. “Where is the piano?”
“Mason has it. Are you okay?”