33. Sophia
Chapter 33
Sophia
I don’t recall how I get back into the mansion.
Mind in complete disarray, I shamble over to visit Donatello and April—the hope being that their grazing might soothe my mind.
Bad idea. They’re humping, which painfully reminds me of my favorite activity involving Mason.
“Is everything okay?” Dr. Kelpcon asks.
Wow. How bad must I look that the good doctor is able to focus on me instead of her favorite charges mid-coitus?
“I’m fine.” The lie of the century. “I’m going to go inside.”
I do that, then pace the mansion like a captive, my mind replaying the entirety of the cruise and the most recent encounter with Mason on a torturous loop.
“I thought there was something between us,” he’d said. “Something real. Something special.”
At the time that he said those words, I wasn’t fully listening, but now it’s all I can think about because they feel so true.
What happened between us felt like more than just a guy trying to get something from me.
It felt like something real.
Felt like love… at least for me.
But that’s the problem. I thought I loved Rupert too, and look what happened.
In hindsight, I don’t think what I felt for Rupert was love. It was simply that I was craving love after Mom’s betrayal, and I stupidly thought he might provide it. At most, what Rupert and I had was a friendship with some infatuation on my end.
With Mason, it’s entirely different. It has been from the first moment we met. Maybe that’s why I felt so hostile toward him. It wasn’t just the brief conversation I overheard. It was him. I felt the threat to my heart, and I put up my shields. Shields that didn’t hold.
Despite all the care I took to nurture my defenses, Mason managed to penetrate them—and I should’ve known he could.
He is so fucking good at penetration in general.
I halt in my tracks.
Did I just admit to myself that I love Mason?
Yes. I did. Because I do, despite the fact that he threatened Abigail’s job.
No. Not despite that. I simply don’t believe that he would do that.
But what if he does?
I should at least warn Abigail of the possibility.
Taking my phone out, I try calling her, but then I realize it’s still in airplane mode.
Crap.
As soon as I disable said mode, a flood of missed calls, texts, and emails arrives—mostly from Mason in regard to my sudden departure from the cruise.
Oh, and tellingly, there are zero after the conversation we just had.
My stomach sinking, I call Abigail.
“Hey,” she says. “Are you back? I’ve been trying to reach you.”
“Yeah. Just got back. I wanted?—”
“No, me first,” she chirps excitedly. “I’ve got the job. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!”
My chest squeezes. Abigail’s already gotten the job. And Mason must’ve known this—but he didn’t use the information to his advantage, just like he never brought up delaying the cruise ship when I was seasick.
“You there?” Abigail asks.
“Yeah. I’m happy for you,” I say. “It’s just that… I think I fucked up. Big.”
“What happened?”
I tell her, and when I finish, she confirms what I already thought: Mason must have known she got the job for at least two days now, via his friend, which means what I interpreted as a threat was simply a point Mason tried to make.
“Can’t he get you fired?” I ask, but I don’t believe that anymore.
“Extremely unlikely,” she says. “For starters, when you join Octothorpe, you get shares in the company as a sign-on bonus—and they cost a fortune. If they terminated me for no reason at all, I’d get to keep those. Furthermore?—”
“I’ve got to fix this,” I say, more to myself than to her.
“Yes, you do,” she says sternly. “Now go and do that. We’ll talk after.”
I hang up and dial Mr. Cohen to make the necessary arrangements before telling Richard to get my fastest car ready.
I’m going to Mason’s place, and I’m going to make this right.