“I don’t want to talk about Drew Riley.” I know my words are cold, but hell, I hate that guy and talking about him with Chloe—my Chloe—it’s too much.
Chloe purses her lips. “I’m not asking you to do anything you don’t want to do, Mason.”
Smirking, I ask, “Then why do you look like you want to smack me upside the head?”
“Because you’re being a guy. I mean, you just brought up an ex-girlfriend and aren’t going to tell me about that?”
I run my hands through my hair. “Who wants to talk about shit from the past? I want the here. The now. I want you.”
She softens then, lacing our fingers together. “I want you too, so badly.” She licks her lips looking me over. God, she is so fucking beautiful and I want her so much.
But I know what kind of pain meds I’m on, how my body is still in recovery mode, and as badly as I want to toss her on her back and give her everything I’ve got—I have to wait.
“I also want to know more about you, Mason. I know your family asks a lot from you. I also know you do what you can to help them, but who has been taking care of you?”
“I’ve been taking care of myself, Chloe.” I run a thumb over her knuckles.
“But I’m here now.”
I close my eyes. “I want to be the one taking care of you. Having you do everything for me? It kills me. And that’s why I’m gonna see if my sister can come to LA to help while we’re in LA, so you don’t have to worry about me.”
Chloe is silent and she runs her fingers over the hem of her tank top. I can see she’s working over the words I’ve just said, but I want to know what’s going through her mind.
“Say something, baby,” I urge her.
“Mason,” she starts, then shakes her head. When she lifts her face I see there are tears in her eyes. “I’m scared to meet your family—your sister. I don’t know if I’m ready for that.”
“I can’t let you spend all your time with me. The other guys need you too.”
She sniffles, wiping her nose. Not saying any more.
“My sister has been asking for months to come hang out, you’ll love her.”
“So, that’s what you’re going to do then? Have your sister come?”
“I think so.”
“Fine,” Chloe says, her voice even and her mouth in a straight line. I haven’t seen this side of Chloe before—the one who is mad. “Then I’ll let you call her and make your plans. I’m gonna go…”
I pull her back to me, not wanting her to walk away like this. Angry.
“Chloe, my sister, Amy, is really sweet. And she isn’t going to judge us.”
Chloe snorts uncharacteristically. “And you know that how? Do other people in your family have this kind of arrangement, Mason? In case you forgot, I’m one woman sleeping with four men. It’s not exactly traditional.”
“Why do you care so much about what people think?”
“This isn’t random people. This is family. Your family. And in case you forgot, I haven’t exactly had positive experiences with family.”
Her words hit me hard and I feel like shit for hurting her, but she’s also not realizing something important.
“Not all family runs away, not all family judges, Chloe.”
She shakes her head. “I need time to think this through, Mason. It’s been a long morning and I need to breathe, okay?”
“I love you, Chloe, and if you don’t want my sister there, I won’t ask her. I’d never do that if you didn’t want me to.”
“I love you too, Mason,” she says, leaning over and giving me a soft kiss.
When she walks away, I wish I were in better shape so I could pull her right back to my lap, hold her close, and make her forget her worries for a while.
Maybe it’s good she has the room to leave when she needs to, to have the space she needs to process.
But damn, I’m missing Chloe; craving her. And the last thing I want is to hurt her.Chapter 28ChloeI crawl into bed after the conversation with Mason, my head throbbing and just wishing things were more simple.
The fact that Mason has a sister to call, to come help when he needs it, brings all these feelings of mine to the surface. Feelings I usually try to squash.
A few hours later, Enzo comes to my hut, carrying Advil and offering me his ears.
“Tell me the problem, Bella,” he says, handing me a glass of cold water.
I swallow the pills and then sink into his open arms. The curtains of the hut are open and the warm sea breeze begins to clear my head.
“I feel a thousand things all at once, Enzo.”
He pulls me to the bed, cradling me. “Let’s start with one thing.”