I Hate Stupid Mason (Again)

(Mason)

Three hours ago, she threw a drink in my face. She had been in my way all goddamn night and I was tired of her shit. I wanted to hit the bar and get walloped with my buddy, Hunter, but everything went to hell pretty quickly. Hunter got stuck at the shop - the shop I used to own but signed over to him after some legal bullshit. Granted, Hunter had offered it back to me a dozen times, but I was on my own quest. A quest that was based on self-destruction but made me look like every woman’s greatest dream and every man’s worst nightmare.

When I couldn’t get to the bar, I slipped my hands around her curvy little waist and moved her. She let out a yell and swung at me. She called me an asshole but then quickly stopped to eye me up and down. Tall, wide, ink on my arms, a thick beard, long hair. The complete opposite of the version of me Violet used to know, which was all part of my plan.

That Mason was dead.

That Mason that had been dumb enough to let a woman into his heart. And that would never happen again.

I told her she was in my fucking way. She said she hated me. I laughed.

Some asshole grabbed my shoulder, trying to come to save her. I turned, hit the guy in the nose, and that was the end of his night.

When I turned back, that’s when she threw the drink at me.

Some fruity, apple-flavored garbage. Syrup mixed with vodka, lime green, probably paid ten bucks for the damn thing.

I licked my lips, ‘stache, and beard, tasting the drink.

Then I asked her if she tasted just as sweet.

She was appalled.

Bouncers came to toss me out of the bar, which was fine by me. I threw some cash on the counter, made sure to pay for the woman’s drink she wasted on me, and then I was gone.

But I didn’t go far.

I hung around the side of the building, sitting on my motorcycle, savoring a fresh smoke. I blew rings into the air, trying to line them up with a streetlight. All I had in my life was time, and all I did was waste it.

It took her ten minutes to appear from the bar, her heels clicking on the pavement as she walked toward me.

“Hey, you. Asshole.”

All I had to do was grin.

She squinted her eyes at me and then word-vomited all over me. That she and her boyfriend had been struggling for six months to save their relationship. How she wanted a diamond ring but when he finally ponied one up she realized he wasn’t the one. She was guilt-ridden and wanted to get tossed around a bed for one night to forget it all.

Well lucky for her… when it came to one night stands, she’d just hit the fucking lottery.

* * *

She was fast asleep when I climbed out of the bed. I could still smell and taste a mix of that fruity drink and her willing body. I peeled the covers all the way off her body and looked at her.

Not too bad at all.

That tight little ass of her’s had fit just nicely in my hands. Pushing and pulling at her, making her scream my name. Looking at the wall shared with Violet’s old apartment, wishing she was there again to hear the pleasure-filled cries of another woman.

Just like when we first met and before things got way too fucking serious.

Before she found out I had a goddamn wife.

Yeah, I know, hate me all you want.

Technically, on paper, I was married. Yeah. Shit happens when you jet out to Vegas for a little fun. A couple guys got tattooed. A couple women got very delicate places pierced. And for me? I got married. Big fucking deal.

Tell that to Violet, though.

I walked through my apartment and grabbed a beer bottle on the counter. It was piss-warm and tasted skunky. I wasn’t sure if the beer was from an hour ago or a week ago.

I killed the nasty beer and left the apartment.

The hallway was empty, clear of any life.

I walked down to the door on my left. I grabbed the doorknob and twisted it.

Locked.

I made a fist and started to knock. In the quietness of the hallway it sounded like a wrecking ball smashing against the door.

I waited as though someone was going to answer.

Nobody was going to answer the fucking door, though.

The apartment had been empty since Violet gave it up.

She was moving in with me one second… and then the next, she was gone.

I put my hand flat against the door.

“Gone,” I whispered.

I looked at my left arm. There was still room for more ink. Plenty of room.

More ink. More pain. More of this nightmare story to tell.

I backed up and slowly slid down the wall until I was on the floor.

There I’d remain. There I’d sleep.

I’d wake to the tip of a blood-red shoe against my throat, cutting off my air.

* * *

“Is there a whore in your bed?” my wife asked as I opened my eyes.

“What do you think?” I said in a hoarse voice.

Stacey - my wife - was in a black skirt and her long legs gave way all the way up her body, making it pretty obvious she wasn’t wearing any panties. She only came around when she needed something from me. Shit, I hadn’t seen her in three months.

She took her foot away from my throat and laughed.

I watched her walk to the apartment and I felt bad for the woman in my bed.

She was about to wake up to the worst-case scenario for anyone after a one night stand.

I started to laugh.

I wasn’t drunk. I wasn’t hungover. I was just tired. So damn tired.

I stared straight ahead at the door to the other apartment. I thought about all the crazy shit I did to Violet to get her attention, keep her attention, and show her how beautiful and wild she really was.

And with three words, she was gone and that was the end of that.

I counted down in my head and when I got to two, I heard the first scream. Then a second. Then some muffled yelling. I thought I heard the sound of a smack in there, too.

I climbed to my feet right there in the hallway, wearing nothing but a pair of jeans.

My apartment door opened and out ran the woman from last night.

Honestly, I didn’t even know her name. And I didn’t care.

She was holding her pants, shoes, and bag. She looked right, then left. Her eyes met mine and she squinted. I figured at the very least she would come running my way to slap me. I deserved it. I’d take it.

Instead, she just took a deep breath.

Then she said, “I fucking hate you, Mason. You’re a piece of shit, asshole.”

She left as I stood proudly and took a bow.

My reputation was still there.

They all hated me.

And that included Violet.