Chapter 32
Mason
I woke up that morning to the peaceful sound of the silent countryside. I stretched my limbs, feeling the emptiness of my bed as the heaviness of my heart slowly flooded back to the forefront of my mind. I’d finally called Tony back and told him I was alive. He updated me on some things with the business and told me some shit was going down in politics, so the media shit would finally be pushed from the forefront of the news. I was glad to hear it, but just hearing her name ached my soul.
But when I reached for my phone and saw the dozens of missed calls I had from her, I began to panic.
How the fuck did I not hear the vibrating of my phone? I never missed a phone call from her. Never. I always picked up when she called. Had something gone wrong? Was something wrong with Emma?
Was something wrong with her?
I immediately called her back, and my heart leaped with joy when I heard her pick up on the other end. Her groggy voice brought a smile to my face, and I slung my legs over the edge of my bed.
“Mason?” she asked.
“The one and only,” I said, grinning. “How are you feeling? Are you all right?”
“Mason, I-I need to talk with you, okay?” she asked.
“Anytime, anyplace. I’m so sorry I missed your calls. I didn’t hear my phone vibrating last night.”
“I talked with Emma. She told me something that I need to ask you about,” she said.
“What did she say?” I asked.
“She said you cared about me. That-that you were happy with me. Is that true?”
I felt my body freeze as my eyes looked out the window. The sun was rising high in the sky, illuminating the rolling hills of green as I closed my eyes. I couldn’t run from this any longer. We couldn’t do this dance any longer. I was tired of it, and all I wanted to do was get it off my chest.
“Yes. It’s true,” I said.
“So, you’re happy when you’re with me?” she asked.
“Happier than I’ve ever been, Sarah.”
“Okay,” she said. “Okay. Um, are we still, you know, spending time together?”
“I fucking hope so,” I said, chuckling.
“Then we need to talk. There are some things I have to tell you before we go any further. Because if we do, and the media catches wind of it, I want you hearing it from me before they dig it up and plaster it everywhere.”
This must’ve been the baggage Emma was talking about. I felt my heart pounding in my chest as I rose to my feet. She wanted to talk. Sarah wanted to meet up and talk about all of it. I strode into the bathroom and put her on speakerphone before I started washing my face with soap.
“When would you like to talk?” I asked.
“Are you free tonight?” she asked.
“I’m free anytime you need me,” I said as I dried off my face. “You just tell me when and where, and I’ll be there.”
“Is the press still hounding your place?” she asked.
“Nope. I think we’ve been officially bumped by politics this morning,” I said.
“Then how about I come over around six?” she asked.
“I’ll be ready and waiting.”
The entire day I spent trying to knock out work. If she came over and decided to stay, I wanted to have the morning with her. I wanted to make her breakfast in bed and lie naked with her until it was time for lunch. I wanted to wake up with her in my arms and be able to dote on her beauty as the sun streamed through the windows. I worked steadily through lunch before I turned in the last of my things around five thirty, and then I raced upstairs to get myself dressed.
I was coming down the stairs when Sarah knocked on the door.
“You look radiant,” I said as I smiled at her.
“I don’t feel radiant, but thanks,” she said, sighing.
We instinctively migrated over to our couch. She sat down as I grabbed her a glass of wine, her lips smiling with relief as she plucked it from my fingers. We sat there on that small love sofa that overlooked the backyard and sipped our drinks. The silence was uncomfortable, to say the least, but I was simply glad she was there. I was experiencing her warmth and her beauty once again, and for the first time since I’d met her, I hoped it wouldn’t be the last.
“When I was in high school, I dated this guy,” she began. “He was everything a high school girl could want. Tall. Dark. Captain of the football team.”
“Didn’t realize you went for that kind of guy,” I said.
“I didn’t. He pursued me. It was the first time I’d ever caught a man’s attention like that, and I loved it. He followed me everywhere I went, wanting to get to know me and asking me questions. It took him five tries before I finally agreed to have lunch with him in the cafeteria one day, and I thought I was hot shit.”
“So, I’m not the only one who had to track you down just for a meal,” I said, grinning.
“Nope. You’re not,” she said. “Anyway, we dated for a while. I lost my virginity to him. You know, the whole nine yards. But then, I got pregnant.”
I turned my gaze slowly over to her as her eyes locked heavily with the outside world.
“I got pregnant at sixteen, and he was so angry,” she said breathlessly. “He yelled and screamed. He blamed me for getting pregnant. Called me a slut and told me it couldn’t be his because we used protection. I tried to remind him of a party we went to, where we got drunk and had sex without any sort of protection. It was the first time he ever hit me.”
I felt my entire body lock up with anger as my blood began to boil.
“He would do little things. A slap in private here, a verbal jab in front of people there. One time, he intentionally pushed me down the staircase stomach first.”
“He fucking what?” I asked.
“I gave birth to this beautiful baby boy a couple months after I turned seventeen,” she said as tears welled in her eyes. “He was the most gorgeous thing I’d ever seen in my life. Full head of black hair. Hazel eyes like his daddy. An absolute vision.”
“Sarah. Where is your son?” I asked.
“With the family that adopted him, I suppose.”
She put her lips to her wine and didn’t let go of the glass until she had gulped every last drop down. I could see the tears threatening to spill forth as she tried to keep herself composed. My eyes danced along her features, taking in the strength that was hidden beneath the surface of her skin. A strength that could only come from walking through the fire of the underbelly of this world and coming out the other end walking, no matter how badly the body was bleeding.
She was opening her heart and bleeding in front of me, and all I knew to do was slip my arm around her and pull her close.
“Bouncing around in foster homes was the hardest thing I’d ever done. When my foster family figured out I was pregnant, they kicked me out. I went back to a home for a while until a family willing to take in a pregnant teenager took me in, but they didn’t give a shit about me. I came home with bruises on my face from that asshole, and they didn’t say shit about it. Just sent me up to my room and took me to my doctor’s appointments when I needed to attend them.”
I pulled her as close to my body as I could get her before I set our wine glasses down. I pulled her into my lap as she tucked her face into the crook of my neck, and I could feel the moment her tears released. She wasn’t heaving, and she wasn’t sobbing. Her chest merely hiccupped and then I felt a pooling wetness at my collarbone.
“Every other man I ever attempted to date after that cheated. Didn’t give a shit about me or what I had to offer. A couple used me to bolster their own growing social media bullshit. I think one tried to care, but I wouldn’t let him in close enough. I don’t know anymore. I try not to think about it,” she said.
“Holy fuck, Sarah. I am so sorry,” I said.
“I’m so sorry for not telling you sooner. I was trying so hard not to get attached to you. I really was. I just knew you were going to break my heart like the rest of them if I got attached and couldn’t let you go.”
“Ssh,” I said. “It’s okay. Come here. It’s all right.”
“I tried so hard, and I’m so sorry for dragging you into all this,” she said.
“You dragged me into nothing, okay? I enjoy the time we spend together. I enjoy the time I get to be in your presence. I enjoy your body, and I enjoy your opinions, and I enjoy experiencing things with you,” I said.
“I tried so hard but …”
“But?” I asked as I looked down at her.
Her beautiful eyes fluttered up to me, riddled with tears as I lost myself in them. She pulled herself up into my lap, straddling my legs with hers as I wiped away her tears. I slid my hands around her shoulders and down her waist, settling my palms on her hips as I saw the cogs turning behind her eyes. All she had to do was admit it. All she had to do was say it, and she’d never hurt again. She’d always be protected, she’d never want for anything, and she’d never be lonely.
Never again, so long as I was around.
“But I think I’ve fallen in love with you,” she said breathlessly.
“Funny you should say that,” I said as I tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Because I think I’ve fallen in love with you, too.”