Cassie
A few days had passed since my kidnapping. The Cartel hadn’t shown up yet and Mason was out dealing with business, leaving me with plenty of time to think.
A fire was glowing in the fireplace and I caught myself staring into it, just thinking about Mason and what had happened over the past few days. I barely noticed that I was no longer alone.
A throat cleared. I looked up and found Khloe standing in the room.
I blushed, wondering how long she’d been standing there, watching me gawking at the fire.
“Hello!” I stood up and she smiled.
“Please, remain seated,” she said.
I slowly sunk back down in the chair, feeling a little awkward at just sitting there with someone I barely knew. Then Khloe spoke up.
“A penny for your thoughts,” she said.
I turned my head to look at her.
“I’m sorry, what?” I asked.
When she smiled, her eyes lit up. It really wasn’t hard to see why Mason enjoyed being around this woman. She was pleasant and friendly, and I soon realized how easy she was to talk to.
“You looked like you were deep in thought. If you want to talk, then just know I’m here.”
I smiled. It was nice to hear her say that.
“Oh, well,” I said, chuckling softly. “My thoughts aren’t worth a whole penny.”
“Nonsense, my dear,” Khloe said. “Everyone’s thoughts are worth at least that.”
I shook my head and turned away from her wandering stare. At that moment, I wasn’t sure that revealing my thoughts would be the wisest decision. But, as it turned out, I didn’t really need to. Khloe was pretty perceptive and had worked them out for herself.
“You know, Mason believed in love once,” she began.
I frowned, unaware of why she was telling me this.
“This has nothing to do with Mason,” I replied.
She tilted her head and gave me the I’m not buying that look.
“He was deeply in love with Dana,” she continued
“Dana?” I asked. I thought back to the tattoo and listened intently as she went on.
“Dana was the love of his life and Mason was happy, crazy about her, until…”
Her voice fell away.
Khloe had hooked my curiosity. I was eager to learn more about Dana, but I didn’t want to seem too pushy.
“Until what?” I whispered.
“Dana was killed, and it seemed like Mason’s ability to love died right along with her.”
My mouth opened slightly, but no words would come out. That was so tragic. My heart was breaking for him. But, now that I knew this much, I wanted to know even more.
“How did she die?” I asked.
Khloe opened her mouth to reply, but before she could continue Mason’s voice rang out.
“Khloe? What are you doing?”
His voice boomed, causing me to shoot a glance towards the door. There he stood, his face red with fury.
“Get out of this room!” he said through gritted teeth, glaring in Khloe’s direction.
Khloe glanced at me before doing as she had been told.
I stood to face him. My feelings toward him had softened even more since learning that he’d lost the love of his life. I couldn’t imagine having to go through something like that. I thought it hard that Josh had been fucking my sister. But to have had him die when we were at our happiest… that would have been unbearable.
His eyes darkened, and I looked nervously around, everywhere except at him.
“What was going on in here?” he asked.
“Khloe was just talking. It was small talk. No big deal.”
I tried to brush it off, but he did not want to hear it. So, I took the sympathetic approach.
“I’m sorry, Mason. That had to have been hard.”
The lump in my throat grew as I looked at him, wanting to reach out and touch him, kiss him, and tell him everything would be alright.
He shot me a look that read quite the opposite.
I swallowed and slowly moved towards him, thinking that, if he would just let me, I could comfort him. That was all I really wanted to do.
His eyes followed me. I reached up and touched his shoulder and, for a moment, I thought we could get close again, perhaps share another burning kiss. But that thought was lost when he grabbed my wrist and pulled my hand away from him.
“I’m warning you, Cassie. You shouldn’t get too close to me. I’m no good for anyone.”
He dropped my hand. I couldn’t read the look on his face, but my heart was beating fast as we stared at one another.
Then another feeling hit me. As much as I wanted to soften to him, he was pushing me away, and that royally pissed me off.
“Fine… I get it,” I said.
He was being an asshole and I was kicking myself for believing my situation could be any more than what it was.
“Are you here to fuck me again?” I sneered. “I know that’s all you want!”
His jaw dropped, but he didn’t deny it. He grabbed my hand, a little harder than I anticipated, and pulled me after him. He said nothing, and I didn’t know where he was taking me. But I had no choice other than to follow him.
He took me down a hallway. He opened a door and pulled me in after him. It was a room, not much bigger than the one I was staying in. He let me go and I turned to him. I assumed it was the room he wanted to use to make good on my question.
Instead, he backed away from me.
“This will be your room from now on.”
He nodded once and moved to the door.
“Goodnight, Cassie,” he said.
He scooted out into the hallway and shut the door behind him. I looked around the room and sunk down into the bed.
It was still early, and I didn’t want to go to sleep. I couldn’t get the story and Mason out of my mind.
He had a past, like we all do. But there was something missing from his story, and I needed to find out what it was.