Chapter 10 Family Expectations #2
Trying not to look for the younger man every few minutes.
All three attempts failed.
By lunchtime, he finally cornered Rick Lawson near the administration office.
Rick looked uncomfortable the moment Mason approached.
Another bad sign.
"What?"
Rick sighed.
"You hear about Harold Bennett?"
Mason's stomach tightened.
Immediately.
"What about him?"
Rick rubbed the back of his neck.
Apparently everyone in town knew except him.
"Word is he came down pretty hard on Eli."
The knot in Mason's chest tightened further.
"Why?"
Rick gave him a look.
The answer was obvious.
Mason hated that.
"The rumors."
There it was.
The word he'd been expecting.
Rumors.
Small-town poison.
Fast.
Persistent.
Impossible to control.
Rick shifted awkwardly.
"Apparently Harold doesn't like the company you're keeping."
The statement landed harder than Mason wanted to admit.
Not because it surprised him.
Because it made sense.
People like Harold Bennett always saw people like Mason the same way.
A risk.
A mistake.
A problem.
The categories never changed.
Mason had spent most of his life fitting neatly inside them.
"How bad?"
Rick hesitated.
Then sighed.
"Bad."
The answer told him everything.
The conversation ended shortly afterward.
Unfortunately, the information stayed.
The rest of the afternoon passed in a blur of paperwork, equipment inspections, and safety meetings.
Mason completed every task automatically.
His body worked.
His mind remained elsewhere.
By evening, he finally found himself alone.
The brickworks had emptied.
The last trucks had left.
The sun was beginning to disappear behind the horizon.
Mason stood near one of the storage yards staring across rows of finished brick.
Red clay stretched endlessly before him.
Usually the sight calmed him.
Today it didn't.
Because no matter how hard he tried to ignore it, one thought kept returning.
Harold Bennett was right.
The realization tasted bitter.
He hated it.
But it remained true.
Eli deserved more.
A lot more.
The younger man had his entire life ahead of him.
College.
A career.
Possibilities.
Opportunities.
A future untouched by most of the mistakes Mason had already made.
Meanwhile Mason was nearly forty.
A former foster kid with a long history of bad decisions.
A recovering alcoholic.
A man carrying enough baggage to fill several lifetimes.
The comparison wasn't fair.
It wasn't even close.
Mason leaned against a stack of bricks and closed his eyes.
The memories arrived immediately.
A younger version of himself sitting in the back of a police car.
The smell of cheap whiskey.
Hospital rooms.
Broken knuckles.
Court dates.
Apologies.
Failures.
Regrets.
Years spent hurting himself because he didn't know what else to do.
Those years might be behind him now.
But they still existed.
Nothing changed that.
Nothing erased them.
Not sobriety.
Not hard work.
Not becoming someone better.
The scars remained.
And the truth was simple.
People like Eli shouldn't have to carry scars they didn't create.
A familiar voice interrupted his thoughts.
"Mason?"
He opened his eyes.
Of course.
Eli.
The younger man stood several feet away holding a notebook.
His expression immediately softened when their eyes met.
That smile appeared.
The one that somehow made every day brighter.
The one Mason was becoming dangerously addicted to.
And suddenly the decision became much harder.
Because seeing Eli always reminded him of everything he stood to lose.
For a few minutes, they talked.
Nothing important.
Research.
Work.
The weather.
Normal things.
Yet even those simple conversations felt different now.
He knew about Harold's ultimatum.
And because he knew, every smile felt painful.
Every laugh felt dangerous.
Every moment together felt borrowed.
Eventually Eli left.
Unaware of the battle happening inside Mason's head.
The younger man walked toward the parking area.
Sunset painted the sky gold behind him.
For a second, Mason simply watched.
Then something inside him settled.
Not peacefully.
Not happily.
Just inevitably.
He finally understood what needed to happen.
The realization hurt immediately.
Because it meant giving up something he desperately wanted.
Maybe the only thing he'd wanted in years.
But wanting something didn't mean it was good for you.
Mason knew that lesson better than most.
He had learned it repeatedly.
Painfully.
And now he needed to learn it again.
The truth was brutal.
Eli loved possibilities.
Stories.
Dreams.
The future.
Mason loved him enough to know he shouldn't become the reason those things disappeared.
If staying together meant Eli losing family support, opportunities, and stability, then eventually resentment would follow.
Maybe not tomorrow.
Maybe not next year.
But someday.
And Mason couldn't survive being the reason Eli regretted his choices.
Not after Liam.
Not after everything.
He cared too much.
Which was exactly why he had to let go.
The irony would have been funny if it didn't hurt so much.
For years, Mason had believed nobody would ever get close enough to break his heart.
Then Eli Bennett arrived in Blackthorn carrying a notebook and a thousand questions.
Now here he was.
Standing alone beneath a darkening sky.
Planning how to walk away from the one person who had made him believe happiness might actually be possible.
The decision felt like tearing something apart inside his chest.
Yet he made it anyway.
Over the next few days, he would create distance.
Keep conversations professional.
Avoid being alone together.
Do whatever was necessary.
Because Eli deserved a future filled with opportunities.
Not complications.
Not sacrifice.
And certainly not a man with Mason's past.
As the last sunlight disappeared beyond the horizon, Mason stared across the empty brickworks and made himself a promise.
He would end this before anyone got hurt.
Even if it meant hurting himself first.
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