The Price of Mason (Forbidden Men 10)

And what did my mother do in reply? She actually thanked her.

“Oh, Reese, you’re a saint. Thank you.”

I rolled my eyes and muttered as soon as she was gone, “Thanks for volunteering me.”

“What?” she gasped before demanding, “What did I do?”

“Where were you?” I finally asked, unable to hold the question in a second longer.

“I told you,” she bit out. “I was at home, writing a paper.” Opening the refrigerator, she found the punch mix and brought it out so she could fill the bowl. “It’s actually a pretty interesting subject for my Brit Lit class. We had to read Chaucer in Middle English, which totally sucked monkey butt, and then translate it into today’s English. But let me tell you, The Canterbury Tales is not just some sweet, innocent fairy tale. I mean, I’m still pissed the rapist ended up in a happily ever after romance, but—”

“I don’t care about your paper, okay,” I exploded. “My sister is about to cry in there. I wanted this to be the best birthday ever, but she hates it.” Plus, Patricia was probably going to burst through the door any moment now.

Reese blinked at me dumbly. “Oh my God, Mason. Breathe. It will be the best birthday party ever. I swear. We just need to get past that first stage of awkwardness and everything will be fine. Trust me.”

I gripped my hair, actually feeling myself lose my cool as she calmly moved from the punch to the cake, cutting it in choppy, uneven rows.

For some reason, watching her horrid cutting skills centered me. It showed me her flaws, her truth. So if she also said to trust her and things would be okay, then that had to be the truth too.

Right?

It was all kinds of wonky reasoning but it worked for me. Letting go of my hair, I clutched the back of a chair, bending slightly at the waist to blow out a long breath. And I relaxed.

“I’m sorry,” I told her. “It’s just… After that thing with Eva this morning, I wasn’t sure if you were going to come at all. Then you were late, and I thought—”

“Hey.” She immediately stopped what she was doing and took my hand, causing me to lift my face and meet her blue, blue eyes. “Don’t worry about Eva, okay? We talked. She isn’t going to go to the police. I swear to you, you don’t have to worry about her.”

“That wasn’t the part I was worried about.” I squeezed her fingers and wished she could just see everything inside me so I wouldn’t have to explain.

She seemed confused a moment before she let out a harassed breath. Rolling her eyes, she promptly smacked me in the side of the arm. “Oh, whatever,” she muttered. “You know you can’t get rid of me that easily. I’m going to be that annoying friend who never leaves you alone.”

“Promise?” I asked, watching her closely.

She winked. “Cross my heart and hope to die.”

I sniffed out my amusement, and the tension in me drained some more. Until I remembered the last reason I was so disjointed. “That’s not all,” I added on a wince. “Mom went and invited our landlady to the party. And she said yes.”

Reese immediately smiled. “Oh, that’s nice,” she started, flopping the first piece of cake ungracefully onto a plate and getting frosting all over her index finger in the process. But a second later, she froze, then looked up at me. “Wait. Is this the same landlady who was your first—?”

Christ, why had I ever told her about that?

Because I was an idiot, that’s why.

When my silent gaze answered her, she winced. “Right.” She drew out the word miserably before lifting her eyebrows. “Well… This should be fun.”

Fun.

Like a proctologist exam, maybe.

“I hate it when she comes over,” I muttered, beginning to pace the kitchen. “She always manages to find a way to corner me somewhere and talk. It makes my skin crawl.”

Reese grabbed my arm, stopping me in my tracks. When I looked into her face though, she was busy frowning at my hair. Reaching up, she smoothed out a piece that must’ve gone wild while I was losing it.

Liking her hands on me, I stood there, letting her do whatever she wanted.

When she was finished, she finally met my gaze. “Do you want me to protect you from the mean old cougar?” she asked a little too seriously.

With a grin, I lowered my face and rested my forehead on her shoulder. “Yes.”