Chapter 7 #3
We skipped down the stairs together and the sight of Mason’s dark gray 4Runner idling at the curb made me want to vomit, but I just gritted my teeth and breathed through my nose.
Everything switched to slow motion as he got out of the car and walked around the hood to the passenger door, every second that ticked forward combining parts of my life that probably should’ve stayed separate.
His eyes flicked past my face, landing on Mila’s, then came back.
“Hey,” I said, time speeding up again.
“Hey.”
“This is my friend, Mila. She just wanted to say hi,” I explained, feeling jittery.
Mason looked at her again. I turned my head to see her expression, which was some combination of shock and nervousness.
I understood it completely. It’d taken me a while to get used to seeing him up close.
I wondered if she could sense his darkness the way I could.
“Hi,” he said.
“Hi,” Mila responded.
He opened the door and I moved to get in the car, but Mila grabbed my arm, holding me firmly as she leaned in to whisper in my ear. “Please be safe, Kota. Text me if you need me. Okay?”
I pressed my lips together and nodded. “Love you.”
“Love you more.” She released her death grip on my forearm after another moment, then started walking back towards her apartment, thumbs already flying over her phone screen. I felt my own phone buzz in my pocket with each incoming notification from her.
Mason drew my attention to his face, cupping my cheek with his hand.
“That’s your friend, baby?”
“Yes. My best friend.”
“You seem nervous. Don’t be nervous. I do know how to behave sometimes.”
“I don’t believe you,” I grumbled as I hopped into the passenger seat and grabbed the handle, trying to yank the door shut—but Mason held it open.
He leaned in and grabbed my chin, pressing his mouth to mine.
The second I softened to him though, he pulled away and shut the door.
I crossed my arms, irritated as he climbed in the driver’s side.
“What the fuck is your problem?” I asked.
“We’re in public. I’m behaving. Like I just told you I was capable of.”
I stared at him, unamused. He seemed different, in some way. There was some new air about him, a shift in his expression I didn’t recognize.
What are you hiding from me now?
“Where are you taking me?”
“My place. Well—yours first, then mine. So you can get some shit to wear tomorrow, and your swim suit,” he explained as he navigated to the exit of Mila’s apartment parking lot.
“I seriously do not want to go to the beach right now, Mason.”
“Good thing we’re not going to the beach.” He sped onto the two-lane road, darkness swallowing the sky above us, the moon hanging low over the road. The tinted window glass was cool on my temple when I leaned my head to the side, grabbing my phone to read Mila’s texts.
“Then why do I need a swim suit?” I questioned, eyes skimming my notifications.
“You’ll see.”
I glanced away from my glowing phone screen to glare at him for a second, then turned my focus back to Mila, tapping out a response to her long string of fragmented messages.
Exhaustion clawed at my consciousness, threatening to pull me under, almost tempting me.
It was strange to think that I’d woken up in Micah’s bed this morning, that he’d gotten mad at me earlier.
Those things felt like they happened a million years ago.
“Can I see your phone?” I asked after a few minutes of quiet, my thoughts only accompanied by the rumble of the road under Mason’s tires. We pulled up to a red light and Mason grabbed his phone out of the cup holder, tilting the screen away from me, putting me on edge.
“Not right now. Why?”
“For music? Why not?”
He was quiet for a second as his thumbs moved over the screen. The traffic light switched to green, the light illuminating the angled planes of his face, deepening the shadows over his eyes.
“Okay.” He offered the device to me, staring at my face. “Now you can look through it.”
“Did you just delete something?” I asked incredulously.
“Yeah.”
“What the fuck?” I sat up straighter. Mason turned back to the road and began to accelerate through the intersection. “What did you delete?”
“Why would I tell you that, baby? Then it would’ve been pointless for me to delete anything.” We were picking up speed now, the hum of the engine spurring on all my bad thoughts.
I jammed my thumb on the button to roll the window down and threw Mason’s phone outside as hard as I could, watching it disappear somewhere among the ferns as we sped down the road. Wind funneled into the car through the open window, whipping my hair around, shoving exhilaration into my lungs.
“No need to delete anything now,” I shouted over the wind.
“You just threw my phone out the window?”
“Yes.”
Mason slammed on the brakes so hard I was thrown forward against my seatbelt, my wide eyes flicking rapidly to the side mirror to make sure we weren’t about to get rear ended. There were no other cars in sight, though. We jerked to a complete stop, my heart slamming on my sternum.
I looked at Mason.
“Go get it,” he said.