Chapter 28
“Zane! Zane, are you alive?” Grant’s shout jolts me from sleep.
What the fuck is he doing at my house?
“Your truck is here, but I’ve called six times with no response!” he calls out as footprints echo up my stairs.
“Fuck off, Grant,” I yell, glancing at my phone screen to realize it’s nearly ten o’clock. Mason is also just waking up now, still wrapped around me. I guess last night really did take a lot out of us since we must have slept through my alarm and all those notifications.
I blink a few times as the reality of what’s happening sinks in. Grant is here. With Mason. Mason, who has been my prisoner for weeks now.
Maybe I should be more concerned about the possibility of him finding out the truth, maybe I should be scrambling to hide Mason, refuse to let them see each other out of fear that Mason will tell him, but I don’t think he will after lying to the cop.
In fact, if I’m being totally honest, the only thing I’m worried about is my best friend meeting the guy I’m obsessed with. I want them to get along.
He knocks on my door. “Can I come in?”
“We’re naked,” I respond, and Mason’s eyes widen dramatically. He’s probably surprised I admitted I’m not alone.
“Holy shit, is audiobook guy here?”
Mason sucks in a sharp breath, sitting up in the bed before he turns and whispers frantically, “He knows about me?”
I bite my lip to hold back my smile as I nod. The blankets have shifted enough now for me to make out the marker all over him, and a wave of heat pools in my gut as I remember what he did and the fact that he didn’t want me to wash it off when we were done.
“So can I come in or not?” Grant asks again, and I chuckle to myself as I picture his reaction to seeing Mason like this. I don’t know what shit Grant’s into, but I don’t need him to see the evidence from last night. That’d be a hard one to explain.
“Give us a minute, and we’ll meet you in the kitchen.”
I can hear Grant grumbling to himself before his footsteps echo down the stairs. I get out of bed and head for my dresser, then my closet. I hand Mason one of my sweatshirts and sweatpants that will be too big on him.
“Here you are, Pet. That should cover the marker. As much as I love looking at it, I’m not sure if Grant would understand. It’s hot knowing I’m the only one who will know what you’re hiding under your clothes, though.”
“Oh fuck. Yeah, that definitely is,” he says with a smirk as we both get dressed.
“Ready?” I ask as I take Mason’s hand.
“Wait, you actually want me to meet him?” he checks.
“Yeah, Little Psycho, I do. But we should probably keep quiet about all the illegal shit.”
Mason laughs nervously, eyeing Pete, who doesn’t move from his bed to follow us as I guide him out of the room and down to the kitchen where Grant is waiting with a pot of coffee.
“Mason, this is my best friend, Grant. Grant, this is my boyfriend, Mason.”
“Boyfriend?” Grant asks, clearly surprised.
“Yeah, do you have a problem with that?”
“Obviously not. I’m super happy for you.” He rushes over to throw his arm around me and pulls me in for a tight hug. When he eventually steps back, he turns to Mason. “Hey, man. So great to finally meet you. I’ve been harassing this guy for weeks to get him to introduce us.”
Mason’s eyes look like they’re ready to bug out of his head. “You’ve known about me for weeks?”
Grant shrugs. “He only told me about being bi more recently, but I’ve been dying to meet the person he’s been so distracted by for that long.”
Mason laughs again. “Well, I’ve heard a lot about you too. Sorry I’ve been such a distraction.”
“No worries, man.” Grant waves him off. “I just like giving him a hard time. I’m dying to hear about how you two met. Zane has been so secretive.”
I look at Mason with a raised brow and nod, curious to hear how he’ll answer the question. A smile slowly takes over his face. “Well, Zane was my waiter at The Salty Duck, and I was immediately drawn to him. I was eating alone, and I had a book with me, so we talked a little about that.”
“Oh yeah, he told me about the audiobooks. Who knew that Zane was so into reading,” Grant teases.
I didn’t think Mason would say anything about how that night really went, but it’s still interesting to hear him tell a different version of events so readily.
He and Grant chat while I get everyone’s coffee poured with their preferred creamers.
Then I lean back against the counter, appreciating the moment.
Mason looks thrilled to be chatting so casually with someone else.
We should do this more often, invite Grant and Eric over, maybe even go out together.
I’m not sure how any of that would work.
I’m still processing everything that changed after last night.
I don’t feel the need to keep him locked in my room out of fear that he’ll turn me in if he escapes.
But I’m also not sure how to approach his new freedom.
I still want him here all the time, and I do think he wants to be here. Maybe I can give him his phone back?
I’m debating with myself how to handle the change when Pete decides to finally join us downstairs.
“What the fuck, man?” Grant turns to me, sounding pissed. “You have a dog, and you didn’t tell me? What other secrets are you hiding?”
My face burns at the accusation because there’s a lot he doesn’t know, but I plan to keep it that way.
“Uh, he’s actually my dog,” Mason explains.
Grant smiles knowingly. “Bringing the dog over. Things really are serious. So did you guys have a pretty late night? Is that why you slept through all my calls?”
“Yeah, we were watching a true crime documentary,” Mason lies smoothly, and I cough to cover up my surprised laugh at his chosen topic.
Grant perks up. “Oh yeah? Was it the one made up entirely from the home security camera footage? I keep seeing the commercials. It looks good.”
Mason smiles easily, going along with it. “Yeah, I won’t spoil anything, but it was really interesting to watch.”
That gives me an idea, and I turn to Grant. “Hey, do you still have that guy’s info who did the security cameras at the brewery? I’ve been wanting to add some here.”
Mason sits up straighter, beaming at me, and I think it’s safe to say he likes the idea.
Maybe that could be a way for me to still hold some control over him while I’m gone without trapping him in a room or restraining him.
A way for us to feel like I’m in charge, even if he can freely go.
Because even if we haven’t talked about it yet, that seems to be where we’re heading.
Mason proved to me that he’s loyal, he’s meeting my best friend, his dog lives here, and I know how to get into his apartment.
I can only hope what we have truly outweighs everything else, and I finally believe it does.
Grant nods. “Yeah, he seemed cool so I made sure to keep his business card. I think I took a picture of it, actually. Give me a second, and I’ll send it to you.”
He does, and I call right away, mentioning Grant recommended him. He’s available to come out later today for a consult. Perfect.
Mason asks Grant if he’s seen a different true crime documentary with similar footage that I had never heard of, and they launch into a detailed discussion of what happened and why they thought it might have actually been the neighbor.
“Well, I should probably go get groceries,” Grant announces a while later as he stands. “Do you want to come, Zane?”
“You cool if I skip this week?”
“Yeah, but don’t make it a habit,” Grant says without any heat before turning away from me. “So glad we finally got to meet, Mason. I’ll see you next weekend at the brewery launch party, right? You have to come.”
Mason’s eyes widen at the invitation, probably assuming I don’t want him to leave the house. “Oh, I’m not sure if—”
“He’ll be there,” I interrupt because I want him to come. I want Mason to be at my side all the time, but especially at a big moment like that. And if he’s not going to turn me in, maybe I really do still have a future with the brewery.
This morning might not have been how I pictured introducing Grant and Mason, but I’m so glad it happened. Seeing them getting along so well feels like even more confirmation that Mason and I might actually be able to make things work. That we could have a real future together.