Chatper Three
Harper
I stopped looking at myself in the mirror. My dark lavender dress, cut short just above the knee with a slight slit on the right thigh, hugged my curves tightly. It wasn’t often that I felt I looked perfect, but tonight was definitely one of those nights. What would Mason think? He had seen me dressed up and dressed down, and not dressed at all. But I still wanted to impress him, to make him desire me. There was nothing compared to the thrill of Mason wanting me.
The door swung open as Avery made her way into the room, her face flushed. “Something just isn’t right, Harp.” Avery said by way of her greeting.
“What’s up?” I turned to her, concerned.
“I don’t know, he just seems suspicious”
“He who? Asher?”
“No, Mason. There was this girl in there, a blonde, who was obviously trying to flirt with him, and you know what he did? Gave her a big smile and I swear he was trying to flirt right back.”
I rolled my eyes. “Avery, that’s his job. He has to make people feel comfortable.”
“I don’t trust him.”
I bit my lip, deciding to change the subject. “What was Asher like?”
“I didn’t see Asher,” she complained. “Mason did the introduction for us. I even asked both him and Natalie where he was. They both blew me off.”
“Maybe Asher couldn’t make it.”
She sat down on the bed in a huff, crossing her arms. “Just seems off to me.”
“What are you trying to get at?”
A knock on the door interrupted us. Hunter’s voice echoed through the door and I could feel my face flush, remembering our embarrassing encounter at the pool this morning. “Harper, we need you out downstairs.”
“Coming!” I yelled, and then turned to Avery. “Do you think you can handle everything yourself? I’m not sure I’ll have time to come back up.”
“That’s fine.” She paused, looking me up and down. “You look hot, girl. Just be careful, okay?”
I frowned at her as I opened the door, leaving her behind to find Mason waiting in the hallway. He had changed into his suit, complete with a tie. He looked a lot like he had the first night I had seen him, handsome and mysterious as ever. “You look absolutely beautiful.”
I grinned, feeling a bit timid for some reason as I fumbled for the right words. “I’ll try not to spill wine on you tonight.”
He chuckled. “I wouldn’t care if you did. Are you ready for this?”
“I think so.”
“You’ll be fine.”
His reassuring smile comforted me. I wanted to touch him, but didn’t dare as I glanced at the dark tinted camera mounted on the ceiling. I wondered if Asher was watching now.
“Harper,” he whispered in a low voice. “I need to tell you something, before this begins.” I froze, looking at him curiously. He seemed distant, withdrawn. His eyes traveled back over to me, his face serious. “Harper, I didn’t expect things to have gone the way they have, especially so quickly...”
“Yes?” My heart stopped. A thousand thoughts ran through my mind as I stared at him, hanging onto his every word.
“I think we need to talk about—”
“We need to talk, now!” A flurry of cologne and testosterone dressed in a navy blue suit whirled past me, grabbing Mason by the arm.
“Henry, what’s up?” Mason asked, his voice much calmer than the bachelor’s.
I looked at Henry, only vaguely recognizing him. He was tall, with bleach blonde hair and a decent fashion sense.
“Come with me,” he ordered.
“Okay, one second. You go ahead.” Mason’s eyes lingered on me as Henry stalked away, waiting impatiently down the hall. “Listen to me, Harper. I just want you to remember this afternoon, okay? No matter what.”
“What?”
Mason gave me a crooked smile as he walked away, drinking in the sight of me. “It will make sense later, just remember.”
The vineyard, the picnic, the wine. Every scent, sound, and sight came flooding back into my memory. I raced through the memories, trying to recall what I may have done wrong or what Mason may have thought that I missed. Why the mystery? Why the need for a serious talk?
“Harper, come with me.” A voice behind me tore my eyes away from Mason as reality came in full force. “Are you ready to go?” Natalie’s bright purple hair bounced as she approached and quickly grabbed my hand, pulling me downstairs toward the main room.
I hesitated, feeling nervous now that Mason wasn’t near me, helping me to learn the ins and outs of my new job. Natalie’s face was serious, all business. “Yeah,” I finally said as we approached the stairs. “What do you need me to do?”
We walked down the stairs, our heels clicking on the smooth, polished wood. “It’s pretty simple. I want you to be part of the social, make sure everything goes smoothly. Listen into Henry and the girls’ conversations; if they start lacking, you need to help. Talk about anything, the weather, politics—anything to help them connect. Got that?”
I nodded, tingles traveling up from my toes as my nerves increased. “Yes.”
“Otherwise, you just need to observe, make sure everybody has everything, that sort of thing. We’ll be starting in about two minutes.”
“Got it.”
We had reached the foot of the stairs, where Henry and Mason were talking in a corner. Henry’s face had reddened a little as Mason spoke to him calmly. I tried to catch his eye, tried to figure out what was going on with him, but he was completely absorbed in his conversation.
The girls milled about, holding glasses of champagne in their manicured hands as they spoke quietly to each other, casting glances over at the bachelor. Avery came down the stairs, giving me a grin. I gave her an inconspicuous thumbs up as she joined the other ladies. Wouldn’t it be kind of amazing if she found true love tonight?
“Ladies,” Mason’s voice echoed throughout the room.
I saw him on the stairs, his hands folded calmly in front of him as the girls and Henry gathered just at the bottom of the stairway.
“So tonight’s the night. As I mentioned to you each earlier, Henry has picked each of you and you will each get to spend some time alone with him this evening.” Mason paused as he observed the group for a moment, giving them his million-dollar smile. “Afterwards you will…”
“Alright, Asher,” Henry chuckled from the middle of the group of girls. “Enough already, let’s get to the good part.”
I immediately searched the room and then realized exactly what I’d heard. Mason’s eyes met mine and I felt my stomach sink. In my periphery, I could feel Avery’s gaze flash my way as well, but I was too focused on Mason to look her way.
“Yes, Henry, I’m getting to that.” Mason faked a smile as he held my stare. For the first time, I saw his face flush, almost embarrassed at what had just happened.
My heart had stopped. I couldn’t breathe. Mason. Asher. Asher. The creep behind the cameras. The owner of this magnificent mansion, the mysterious man behind all of this. I heard his voice drone on, but I couldn’t listen. My mind raced as my heart beat out of my chest. A sickening feeling filled my stomach.
He had connections, I had thought. Perks of working at the mansion. Everything that had gone on, everything that he had done with me; he had told me it was nothing. Never once had he mentioned that this was all his, Even worse, I had been suspicious of him from the start, but his words had seduced me. I had wanted to believe him so much that I had disregarded the truth right in front of my eyes, just as I had in every other relationship I’d ever been in.
He had lied to me and I had fallen for it willingly. Just so he could get what he wanted.
Angry, hurt tears filled my eyes and I quickly wiped them away so the small crowd wouldn’t notice. He had acted so much more righteous than Jake, but was he really any better? How many times had he told me to trust him, to trust that he would never hurt me in this way? If he had known anything about me, anything at all, he would have known how much I hated lies, how much I needed honesty and truth.
And, the worst question was still yet to be answered: What else had he lied about?
Suddenly everyone was moving. I blinked the tears out of my eyes. I wouldn’t let him see me cry. Hell no. Avery caught my eye, trying to keep her attention on Henry while she mouthed, Are you okay? I nodded, not wanting to spoil her evening.
“Harper, I can ex–”
I turned to see him standing beside me, a pitiful, remorseful look in his eyes. He knew exactly what he had done. “You bastard.”
He frowned, cocking his head a little at the tone of my voice. “What’s wrong?”
I could immediately tell he was trying to play it all off. It reminded me of Jake’s response after accidently calling me by his ex’s name. “You’re Asher.”
He shrugged. “Mason, Asher. I’m still the same person you’ve come to know.”
“Yeah, sure. Except you outright lied about who you really are.” I could feel my face begin to redden with anger.
He stepped closer and lowered his voice, but he didn’t touch me. “Harper, that’s not true. I just wanted you to know me for who I am, before you knew about the money and all of this,” Mason opened his arms and motioned around the room. “I’m still the same person.”
“Do you think I’m an idiot?” I barked, sobs attempting to bubble through. I wouldn’t let them. “You lied, you intentionally deceived me. How could I ever trust you again, after this? How do I know our whole relationship—or whatever the fuck this is—isn’t a lie? You’ve been in control since day one, and you didn’t even have the decency to…”
“Harper, settle down, you’re making a scene,” he interrupted me, his tone calm.
“Fuck you. I’m leaving.” As I walked away, I could already feel hot tears beginning to seep out the corners of my eyes. I made my way up the stairs to grab my things before making a quick exit.