I wasn’t surprised when my phone showed that it was almost eleven when I finally woke up. I had been exhausted after such an action packed, emotion filled night. I was surprised however by the 20 missed calls and text messages that were waiting for me on my phone. I hadn’t noticed that it was on silent. A lot of the calls were either from Damon or Eric, but there were a few from a number I didn’t know. I ignored all of the messages. I didn’t want to deal with Eric on a good day, let alone a day that followed a night like last night.
My thumb hovered over Damon’s name. I wanted to call him, to tell him that I forgave him, but something held me back. Maybe it was the familiar way that Selena touched him, or the look of shock on his face when he noticed me in the doorway as she was knelt in front of him. I just wasn’t ready yet to deal with him. I got up and decided to go for a run. I knew it would remind me of Damon since he had become my running partner but I needed the outlet for the nervous energy that was thrumming through me.
As I walked out the back door in my workout clothes a figure stepped out of the shadows. I jumped in surprise. Mason peeked out from beneath a hooded sweatshirt that he had pulled almost over his eyes.
“Eva,” he said, saying my name like it was a prayer.
“How did you find me?” I asked stupidly.
“Rockstar remember,” he said, with a cocky smile that sent a surge of lust down my body. “I wasn’t going to let you get away,” he continued. “Come with me somewhere private so we can talk?”
I wasn’t sure that was a good idea. The whole point of me ignoring all of Damon’s calls was to think everything over…by myself.
Being alone with Mason and Damon was maddening and all encompassing. It was impossible to think straight when they were around me. I must have been a masochist though because I couldn’t say no. I wouldn’t have been able to say no if it was Damon instead of Mason standing here either. He must have seen my decision in my eyes, because he grabbed my hand and started walking to the road where I saw a gorgeous gunmetal grey convertible parked by the curb. He led me to the car and opened the door.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“I want to show you New York,” he replied. “Don’t ask any more questions, it’s a surprise,” he said with a wink.
We drove in a comfortable silence for awhile until we arrived near the edge of the city, where it met the Hudson. I got out of the car and looked around in surprise. We were surrounded by cargo ships and freight buildings. “Is this what you wanted to show me?” I asked.
“Shhh,” he answered, taking my hand and pulling me forward.
We walked around one of the cargo buildings and I immediately stopped in shock. A large black helicopter was waiting for us on a pad located right on the edge of the concrete dock. A man who I assumed was the pilot by the headset he had around his neck, was standing in front of the helicopter talking to an older man dressed in navy coveralls. They both stopped talking when they noticed us. The pilot greeted us with a smile and walked towards us.
“Mr. Shaw, it’s a pleasure to have you with us today,” he called as he walked closer, reaching to shake Mason’s hand. His eyes drifted to me. Mason pulled me into his body proprietarily.
“This is Eva,” he said stiffly, obviously not liking the way the pilot’s eyes were drifting up and down my body.
“I’m Len Morgan,” he said with a smile, reaching out to shake my hand.
Allowing our hands to touch for a second, Mason then pulled me past Len to the helicopter. “We’re flying on that?” I said shakily.
“I told you I was going to show you the city,” he said with a smirk.
I stopped and pulled on his sweatshirt. “I’ve never flown before,” I told him softly.
“You’ve never flown in a helicopter?” he asked, still grinning.
“I’ve never flown at all,” I told him, still whispering for some reason. He looked shocked for a second, and then pulled me into his arms.
“If you don’t want to do this love you don’t have to, but its going to be amazing. You can hold my hand the whole time.”
I melted at his use of the word ‘love’. No one important in my life had ever had a sweet word for me and now Damon and Mason threw them at me all the time.
“I want to do it,” I said, getting more excited now after getting his reassurance.
“Come on,” he said, smiling widely again and pulling me into the helicopter.
Once we were inside he helped me buckle up the harness and put my headphones on so we could hear the pilot and talk back and forth. After shaking hands with the man in the coveralls who Mason has told me was his private mechanic, the pilot started up the helicopter and soon we were rising in the air. My stomach dropped as we got higher and higher but I soon forgot my fear as I stared in awe at the view of New York City I was getting. Len maneuvered the helicopter down the coast, pointing out sites along the way. Mason explained that some parts of the city we wouldn’t be able to fly over but that we would get as close as we could to some of the main sites.
An hour passed quickly as both Mason and Len pointed out famous landmarks around the city. My eyes would tear up from time to time as we went along. I couldn’t believe that I was in a helicopter above New York City, sitting with one of the most gorgeous men I had ever seen. I realized as Len turned the helicopter back that Mason had been holding my hand the whole time. I blushed when he looked at me at that moment, looking away from his gaze awkwardly.
Once we landed Mason helped me unbuckle and then assisted me out of the helicopter, pulling me into his arms and sliding me down his body as he helped me down. A rush of heat pulsed down my body, puddling into my core, and Mason’s eyes darkened with a look I hadn’t seen before. We stared at each other for a second before Mason seemed to shake himself out of it. He smiled at me before pulling me towards the car.
“Thank you Len,” I called out behind me as I was pulled along. Len had of course been checking out my butt as Mason pulled me away and chuckled when he saw that he had been caught.
Once we were in the car and out of sight of the helicopter and Len, Mason pulled off to the side next to one of the cargo buildings.
“Eva, I know this is sudden, but I really want you to be my date to the Grammy’s tonight.”
My mouth opened in shock. That was about the last thing I could have ever imagined him saying to me. “I can’t go to the Grammy’s,” I said, now panicking because I saw that he was serious.
“Why not,” he asked. “You will be hundred times more gorgeous than anyone there I guarantee it.”
“You barely know me,” I said, stating the obvious. “You can’t just take a stranger as your date to the Grammy’s. I could be a serial killer,” I said firmly. He was smiling that gorgeous smirk of his at this point.
“Are you a serial killer?” he asked, pretending to be serious.
“Well of course not, but that’s not the point,” I answered him, still believing that he had lost his mind.
Mason got out of the car, walked around to my side, and opened my door. He got down on his knees and asked dramatically, “Eva Taylor, are you really going to make me embarrass myself by going to the Grammy’s alone? Please take pity on my poor pathetic self and be my date tonight.”
I was laughing hysterically at this point. Mason, in all of his rockstar badassness glory, was on his knees in front of me, acting like a complete lunatic. I looked at my phone. “It’s already 1:00pm and I don’t have any clothes with me,” I said, pointing out the obvious. “How are we even going to make it in time?”
“Leave that to me!” he said excitedly, getting off his knees and surprising me with a quick kiss before closing my door and jogging back to the driver’s side. He looked so excited as he started the car and grabbed my hand, peeling out of the dock area.
Faster than I thought possible we had arrived outside the city at what Mason explained to me was a private airport that the band frequently flew in and out of when they were visiting New York. A large jet was waiting for us. It had a giant The Riot logo painted on the side. As we walked into the plane I suddenly realized once again how just out of my league I was with these men. The interior was a mix of cream and black. There were groups of six large comfy chairs with tables in between them. A few black leather sofas were near the back of the plane and there were large flat screen televisions everywhere playing various shows. Mason still hadn’t let go of my hand from holding it in the plane. He had stopped and was staring at me expectantly, as if he were waiting for my opinion. “You know this is amazing right,” I said smiling. He seemed almost relieved by my answer and pulled me to one of the couches.
More snacks than I had ever seen were laid out on a table by the couches, and Mason started pushing food towards me. A smiling woman dressed in a professional all black skirt suit came up to us and asked if we needed anything to drink. I noticed she couldn’t take her eyes off Mason and she was staring at him hungrily. Mason didn’t look at her and requested two waters.
“Do you want anything else?” he asked me.
“I’m good with water,” I answered. “Thanks.” The woman continued to stand there expectantly until Mason told her gruffly that was all he needed. At that point she glared at me as if seeing me for the first time and stalked off. Mason cleared his throat and launched into a story about his first time going to the Grammy’s. It was obvious that he had some kind of history with the flight attendant. I smiled and settled back into the couch to listen to his story. It was cute that he was so flustered.
As Mason continued with this story my thoughts drifted to Damon. A flash of guilt went through me. I had left him on such bad terms and here I was flying across the country with his roommate. I was a terrible person. I wanted to come clean to Mason but didn’t know how to explain my relationship with Damon. We hadn’t even kissed and had never ventured very far from anything that could be construed as more than friends. Except for the night before I met Mason I mused, remembering how right his arms had felt. Mason’s touch brought me back to his story, along with the sudden movement of the plane.
“Did I lose you?” Mason asked me with a grin.
“Sorry” I said bashfully, pushing my thoughts about Damon out of my mind and vowing I would think about it later on and give my full attention to Mason for the rest of the trip.
As the plane began to takeoff I looked out the window and watched the city get smaller and smaller behind us. Mason pulled me into his arms and put on a movie. The humming of the engines, the lack of sleep from the night before, and the warmth of Mason’s arms around me soon had me slipping into a deep sleep.