I feel like some of these chapters just get shorter and shorter but my next ones are intense and long so I can't wait for you to read them! I will update this chapter sometime soon with the date for the next lot of chapters!
Love you guys! Enjoy!
"What was that?" Asked Mason through gritted teeth. He wasn't looking at me though I was watching him. His face had paled slightly though it was now gaining a slightly red tinge to it
Claire looked between us, confused and awkward.
"I was thanking Ashley for her dad giving you a job?" Her brows crinkled as she wondered why Mason was so angry.
I placed my hand on his knee under the table and he swatted it away, reefing his chair with a scrape from under the table to stand and run his hands through his hair.
"Mason, I was going to tell you-" I began but when he turned to me his eyes were filled with fire and it made me recoil.
Still watching me he spoke to Claire.
"Go to your room." He said, attempting to keep his composure but I could see it breaking a the seams.
"But Mason I'm the one who-"
"For god sake Claire, go to your room!" She left as silently as she could, leaving Mason and me in a wild staring contest.
I refuse to be dragged through the mud. I thought to myself. What I had done was out of support and love. I would do it for Mel, I would do it for anyone I cared about.
We continued to stare at one another for a few minutes longer, not saying anything simply letting our breathing fill the room. His eyes never gave up the fire that was burning beneath them and I hadn't realised I'd risen from my chair.
"Mason, if you let me explain-"
"I asked you not to get involved and what did you do? Go behind my back. Do you feel the need to mess up every situation you get into? I mean first Lucas starting shit in our lives, then Dr Ross which is potentially gonna get me expelled from O'Brien, " His voice was more composed yet there was a sting in his words that I tried to ignore.
"Mason, you're upset and you don't mean anything you're saying,"
"Oh, don't I?" A menacing smirk crept onto his face and he started to pace. I could feel the stinging behind my eyes but pushed it away, crossing my arms over my chest and widening my stance.
"I didn't do this for you, Mason. I did it for Claire. Do you realise that?" I raised my voice and I think this surprised him because he stopped pacing and looked at me with unreadable eyes.
"It impacts me though, doesn't it? I knew this whole situation was too good to be true." He laughed a menacing and sarcastic laugh causing me to grimace.
"Mason, please I just wanted to help- this is my way of saying that I will stay with you through thick and thin- please Mason, try to understand," I begged, stepping towards him and taking a handful of his shirt in my fist and trying to get him to look at me.
He looked everywhere other than me and I could feel the tears breaking through my lashes. I hated making him mad and for some horrible reason, it felt as though I had really messed up this time.
"You know what," he removed my hands from his shirt and pushed me away gently. "Since you've got it all figured out around here, I'll let you be. You take care of everything, just like you always do." He brushed past me and walked out of the apartment leaving the door open behind him. I chased him, my voice becoming hysterical as I called after him.
"Mason, please! Please don't leave like this, let's just talk this through!" I followed him down the stairs and when I caught up to him onn the second landing, I grasped hold of his hand pulling him to me and cupping his jaw so he was forced to look at me. "You promised you would never leave me. Remember? In the hospital, you said you would stay with me forever. You can't leave!"
His eyes were red around the rims and they became slightly glassy as he looked down at me. He gave a slight nod before pulling himself easily from my grasp and continuing down the stairs without looking back.
Leaving me. Alone.
When I entered apartment number 4, Claire was waiting by the dining table looking so incredibly guilty that it ruined any composure I had managed to gain on the way back up.
"I'm so so so sorry, Ashley, I honestly thought he knew." I nodded in response, gripping her hand but excusing myself to sit in our... my room. I pulled a t-shirt of his from the hamper in the corner and brought it to my face inhaling his scent, bringing a fresh new wave of tears.
I pulled it over my head and sat on the bed fumbling around for my phone.
"Mel, I need to talk to you."
The next day, after leaving hundreds of voicemails to Mason and a sleepless night, Claire was collected to be taken home. I held her in a tight hug as she apologised profusely. I explained to her that I held no grudge but there was a slight twinge in my stomach now when I looked at her.
Mason hadn't tried to contact me and Mel said she'd let me know as soon as she'd heard from him and as the sun began to dip at 5:30 pm I could be found on the couch in Mason's clothes, a tub of ice cream in one hand, a pack of Oreos in the other and watching the news for the god-awful event that there was a teenage boy found in the wreckage of motorcycle accident.
What if he doesn't come home? What if I've actually blown it this time?
Each thought brought a fresh wave of tears. At a quatre past one in the morning, keys in the door made my head snap up and I saw Mason walking through to the entryway.
I found myself by his feet with my legs wrapped tightly around his waist and my face buried into his neck as I sobbed out apology after apology in a flat second.
His hands stayed stunned on my waist before giving in and flexing around me, holding me so firmly against him that I thought he was trying to make us one.
"I just came to get some things but I don't think you'll let me leave a second time." He chuckled into my hair, his warm breath tickling my neck and I laughed sadly, sniffing and sliding down him so my feet were on the floor but never letting my touch leave his body.
"I'm so sorry, Mason. I don't know what I was thinking, I should have respected your decisi-" he cut me off by pressing a finger to my lips. He sighed deeply, removing his finger when he thought I understood the need for me to shut up and brushed a piece of stray hair that was sticking to my tear stained cheek.
'I've been thinking, well, I was originally coming to get a change of clothes before going back to Ethan's... well, that's what I was telling myself anyway, wasn't entirely sure I'd go through with it." He rested his hand on my hip and the corner of his mouth turned up in a lopsided smile when he noticed I was in his tracksuit pants and Tshirt. "Anyway, if it's alright with you, I would like to keep working for your dad and earning the money-"
I opened my mouth to begin ranting but he clamped his other hand down and closed his eyes in frustration but I noticed that his smile didn't disappear.
"- but, I will pay him back in the long term. I'm not going to just take that money, I see it as a loan."
Tears of happiness filled my eyes and I pushed his hand away to wrap my arms around his waist until he had to push me away because I was ''cutting off his circulation''.
He looked around, pulling me close and sliding his hands into the pockets at the back of his pants that I was wearing.
"I'm sorry I hurt you so often, I'm going to try to clean up my act from now on," he whispered and I just nodded in return, hoping that he'd keep this promise from here on out.
"You weren't here sulking and eating ice cream... were you?" I stared guiltily up at him and he laughed, throwing his head back. "Surely you knew that I was going to come back eventually, right?" His brows pulled together in concern and his lips parted into a pout as he stared down at me.
"Well after what you said, this time I really wasn't sure."
He tilted my head up with his finger under my chin and stared into my red eyes before pressing his lips ever so gently to my swollen ones.
"Do you still not believe me? I told you, remember, I'm never going to leave you."
So, the series of new chapters which I have drafted ideas for, are going to be intense. I would really like to know if anyone wants to have chapters in Mason's point of view or if you'd rather I potentially (NO promises at all, this is just an idea) would prefer like another installment with just a few of the key chapters in Masons pov rather than in this book? Idk let me know!
Love you guys so much! xxxx