CHAPTER 3 What He Never Told Me #3
His expression hardened.
“Fine.”
“Fine what?”
“You want the ugly version?”
“Yes.”
He laughed bitterly.
“I introduced Lily to him because I trusted him.”
His voice grew colder.
“I invited him to the party because we were friends, and I had no idea he was cheating on her.”
He glanced at me.
“I found out two days before the party.”
“Then why was he still invited?”
“Because I wanted to confront him.”
My anger faltered.
“What?”
“I planned to do it after our game.”
“You were going to expose him?”
“Yes.”
“Did Noah know?”
“Yes.”
I stared at him.
“Then why didn’t anyone tell Lily before the party?”
Mason’s face tightened.
“Because I wanted proof.”
I closed my eyes.
There it was.
A mistake.
Not malicious.
Not unforgivable.
But catastrophic in hindsight.
“You waited.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he denied everything.”
“And you thought if you caught him—”
“She’d believe me.”
Mason’s voice broke.
“She trusted him more than she trusted me.”
I looked at him.
“And while you were waiting for proof, she found it herself.”
“Yes.”
Silence filled the SUV.
I leaned back.
My anger didn’t disappear.
But it changed.
This story had no villain.
That was the worst part.
Just people making ordinary mistakes on the wrong night.
Noah going back inside.
Mason waiting for proof.
Lily trusting the wrong man.
A drunk man getting behind the wheel.
A dozen choices.
Any one of them different, and maybe Lily would still be alive.
“Mason.”
“Don’t.”
“I’m not going to tell you it wasn’t your fault.”
He looked surprised.
“Good.”
“Because part of it was.”
His jaw tightened.
I continued before he could shut down.
“But not all of it.”
He stared ahead.
“Does that distinction matter?”
“Yes.”
“To you.”
“To anyone who isn’t determined to punish themselves forever.”
He looked at me.
Pain flashed through his eyes.
“Careful, Emma.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re starting to sound like someone who gives a damn.”
My heart stumbled.
Maybe I did.
That was the problem.
The road widened as we approached Portland.
Traffic increased.
Buildings appeared.
Civilization.
Normal life.
Everything I had wanted twenty-four hours earlier.
Now it felt like an ending.
Mason pulled into the parking lot of the garage where my car had been taken.
Noah was already there.
Of course he was.
He stood beside his truck wearing a dark Stormhawks jacket, arms crossed, expression carved from stone.
Mason saw him.
“Fantastic.”
I exhaled.
“Don’t fight.”
“No promises.”
“Mason.”
He looked at me.
“Relax. I’m not getting suspended in a parking lot.”
“That is an alarmingly specific standard.”
He almost smiled.
Then Noah started walking toward us.
The atmosphere changed instantly.
Mason stepped out.
I followed.
Noah ignored him and came directly to me.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
He pulled me into a hug.
I hugged him back.
But something between us felt different.
Because for the first time in my life, I knew my brother had hidden something enormous from me.
Noah stepped back and looked over me.
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
His gaze moved to Mason.
“Thanks for bringing her.”
Mason’s eyebrows rose.
It might have been the first polite sentence Noah had said to him in years.
“You’re welcome.”
That should have been it.
Instead, Noah’s gaze dropped.
To the jacket around my shoulders.
Mason’s jacket.
I had forgotten I was still wearing it.
Noah’s expression changed.
“What the hell is that?”
I looked down.
Damn.
“It was cold.”
“I can see whose jacket it is.”
Mason slid his hands into his pockets.
“Congratulations.”
Noah ignored him.
“Emma.”
“Do not.”
“Did you two share a room?”
The parking lot seemed to become very quiet.
I could lie.
I didn’t.
“Yes.”
Noah’s face went blank.
Mason stepped forward.
“Nothing happened.”
That was the wrong thing to say.
Noah turned toward him.
“I wasn’t talking to you.”
“I know.”
“Mason,” I warned.
Noah moved closer.
“You had one job.”
Mason’s face hardened.
“What exactly was my job?”
“Get her somewhere safe.”
“I did.”
“Not get into a room with her.”
Mason laughed without humor.
“It was the only room.”
“Convenient.”
“Enough,” I snapped.
Both men looked at me.
“This is ridiculous.”
Noah pointed toward Mason.
“You don’t know him.”
“Yes, you keep saying that.”
“Because it’s true.”
“Maybe because you never told me anything.”
Noah froze.
The anger disappeared.
“You told her?”
He was looking at Mason.
“Enough,” Mason said.
Noah laughed bitterly.
“Of course you did.”
“Actually, you started it.”
I held up my phone.
“You sent me the message.”
Noah’s jaw tightened.
“I was trying to protect you.”
“From what?”
Neither of them answered.
I looked between them.
“Exactly.”
Noah stepped closer.
“Emma, this isn’t your fight.”
“I know.”
“Then stay out of it.”
Something inside me snapped.
“No.”
His eyebrows rose.
“No?”
“I’m tired of both of you deciding what I’m allowed to know.”
“Emma—”
“You don’t get to tell me Mason is dangerous, refuse to explain why, then act angry when I form my own opinion.”
Noah looked stunned.
Mason looked almost impressed.
That irritated me too.
“And you.”
I turned toward him.
His amusement vanished.
“You don’t get to feed me half-truths and expect me to understand you.”
“I never asked you to understand me.”
“Maybe that’s your problem.”
Silence.
Mason stared at me.
Noah looked between us.
And suddenly his face changed.
Recognition.
Not of what had happened.
Of what might.
“No.”
I turned.
“What?”
“No.”
His gaze moved from me to Mason.
“Absolutely not.”
Mason’s jaw tightened.
“Careful, Bennett.”
Noah stepped toward him.
“You stay away from my sister.”
There it was.
The command.
The rule.
The exact thing guaranteed to make everything worse.
Mason looked at me.
Not Noah.
Me.
“What do you want?”
The question landed between us like a match.
Noah stared at him.
I stared at him.
My heartbeat accelerated.
“What?”
Mason kept his eyes on mine.
“Do you want me to stay away?”
Noah swore.
“Mason.”
“Not asking you.”
“Mason,” I repeated.
He waited.
No smile.
No arrogance.
No pressure.
Just a question.
And somehow that made answering harder.
Twenty-four hours ago, the answer would have been obvious.
Yes.
Stay away.
Go back to Portland.
Go back to hockey.
Go back to being the man I was supposed to hate.
But twenty-four hours ago, I didn’t know how Mason looked when he talked about his sister.
I didn’t know he drank coffee black.
I didn’t know he hated marshmallows.
I didn’t know he blamed himself for things that weren’t entirely his fault.
I didn’t know what it felt like when his hand touched mine.
I didn’t know how close I had come to kissing him.
Now I did.
“No,” I said.
Noah went completely still.
Mason didn’t move.
I swallowed.
“I don’t want you to stay away.”
My brother’s face hardened.
Mason’s expression was harder to read.
Something warm flashed behind his eyes.
Something almost dangerous.
“Emma,” Noah said.
I looked at him.
“I’m not saying anything is happening.”
Mason’s eyebrow lifted.
I ignored him.
“I’m saying you don’t get to choose who I speak to.”
“This isn’t some random guy.”
“I know.”
“You have no idea what you’re getting into.”
“Maybe.”
I took Mason’s jacket off.
For one second, I thought I was proving Noah right by returning it.
Instead, I handed it to Mason and looked him directly in the eyes.
“Thank you for last night.”
His fingers closed around the jacket.
“Anytime.”
Two syllables.
That was all.
But I felt them everywhere.
Noah saw it.
That was the moment everything changed.
Not the lodge.
Not the almost-kiss.
Not Mason’s hand around mine.
This.
The three of us standing in a freezing parking lot while my brother realized his greatest rival was no longer just looking at me like I belonged to someone else’s family.
And I was no longer looking at Mason like an enemy.
I turned toward the garage.
Noah followed.
Before I reached the door, my phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
I opened the message.
**You left your camera battery in my car.**
Another message appeared immediately.
**I’m assuming this means I’m legally required to see you again.**
I stopped walking.
A smile tried to escape.
I looked over my shoulder.
Mason stood beside his SUV.
Phone in hand.
Watching me.
I typed.
**Or you could mail it.**
His response arrived instantly.
**Where’s the fun in that?**
I should have ignored him.
Instead, I wrote:
**You’re still impossible.**
Mason looked down at his screen.
Then back at me.
My phone buzzed.
**And you still don’t hate me.**
I stared at the words.
Noah called my name from the garage entrance.
I locked my phone.
But the smile stayed.
That should have scared me.
Instead, for the first time since the storm began, I knew exactly what I wanted.
I wanted to see Mason Cole again.
And judging by the way he was still watching me from across the parking lot, he wanted exactly the same thing.