I close my eyes, trying to will the thought away. The fact that Mom is married to him makes it feel like daggers being thrown at my face.
Mason sees this and he immediately runs his hand down my cheek.
"Hey, babe," he says, his voice soft. "Look at me."
It takes me a moment, but eventually I open my eyes and look at him.
"I will never, ever touch that woman," he tells me, his eyes piercing into mine. "I will never be with her. Never have an intimate moment with her. I swear. You will never have to worry about that. The marriage wasn't even a ceremony … just paperwork. It's not even worth talking about."
Maybe it's the intensity by which he says it, or maybe it's how he's looking at me, but I believe him.
I do. I swear. I may not know all of what's going on, but I know at least that he's telling me the truth.
Please, don't worry about me, okay? Instead, just help me figure out what's going on with Mason.
"Why are you guys even married in the first place?" I ask him, my eyes flashing curiosity as he smiles. "I mean, what the fuck?"
He shrugs. "I'm still trying to figure out what she can get from me," Mason says to me, as his hands run idly down the curves of my body. "All I know is that I need to be careful. She's been after my company for a long time."
"Kane Price?" I ask. He nods.
"She's had her eye on it since before I went public," he says to me. "She had her fucking eye on it even while her dad was alive. She'll do anything to get it."
"She'll do anything to get what she wants," I say, and almost instinctively I scooch closer on the bed next to him. I wrap my arms around him. "Don't let her get you, please."
Mason wraps his arms around me.
"What did she ever do to you?" he asks, genuinely concerned. I mean, come on. The way I'm acting would concern anyone.
"There's too much hurt and too much pain with her, Mason," I tell him, nestling my face into his chest. "She's taken too much."
There's a pause from Mason as he kisses the top of my head.
"Has she ever taken someone you loved?" he asks me.
I draw my head back and look him in the eye.
I'm astonished, you know?
It's like this guy is so attuned to how I think. He knows me on a deeper level.
I mean, I didn't even tell you some of the things that Mom has done to me. But he seems to know just by holding me.
"Never anyone I loved," I tell him, speaking softly. "She never gave me a chance to fall in love."
Mason's quiet as I think back to the litany of relationships that Mom has reveled in ruining for me.
"My senior year in high school, on the night I thought was going to be magical, I walked in on her giving my prom date a blowjob on my bed," I recount, my eyes glazing over. "When I walked in she just looked at me and told me she was busy and would I mind waiting in the living room."
Mason is silent, holding me as I think back to my interactions with Mom.
"She's broken up every relationship I've ever had," I say to him. "I never brought a guy home from college because she'd seduce them. I knew. So instead, she would visit me at school."
I think back to those days, still relatively recent. Mom showing up in my dorm with a short skirt and tight blouse. Enticing all the guys. Ruining them for me.
"She knows exactly how I feel about it," I tell Mason. "I've told her before. But she doesn't care. She does it to hurt me. Because she sees my Dad in me. She keeps me around and hurts me to get back at him."
I would continue, but Mason pulls me closer.