The Price of Mason (Forbidden Men 10)

“Yeah, but that would only work if you…” He started to snort and look away only to pause and swerve his gaze back to me, his eyes widening with realization. “Holy shit, you’re into Reese.”

Wow. I honestly thought he would be brighter than this. The good news, though, was that he hadn’t targeted her to hurt me; he just genuinely liked her.

“Of course I’m into Reese,” I snapped. “You knew I was into Reese. You didn’t seem surprised at all when you moseyed up to our lunch table and gave us both a cheerful little hello.”

“But I thought you two were just friends. She said you were only friends.”

“Hell, yes, we’re friends. That’s all we can be.”

He studied me for a moment, and I must’ve given way too much away in my expression because I could tell he saw more than he should’ve. “You really do like her,” he murmured as if fascinated by that fact. “And yet I’m the one she agreed to go out with.”

Bitterness swelled in my stomach like acid.

“Just don’t treat her like you do your mother,” I warned, pointing a finger at his nose. “Actually listen to her when she talks. It shouldn’t be hard; she’s pretty damn amusing.”

Riker nodded vaguely as if still trying to process everything. Then he lifted his gaze, his expression seeking and earnest. “Okay,” he said. “Anything else?”

Yeah, I wanted to answer, don’t kiss her. Don’t touch her. Don’t even get too close to smell her. And whatever you do, don’t listen to her laugh. Her laughter was mine.

But what I said was, “Don’t hurt her, or I’ll fuck you up.”

Confession #26: Even I was a sucker for those three little words.

I skipped my last class of the day. There was no way I would’ve been able to concentrate through a lecture with thoughts of Reese and Riker floating through my head.

I wondered how much she liked him. Did she really go for the new-age geek type? What did he have that I didn’t? Did it matter? Because the real question was… Could I honestly just stand aside and let some clueless dick take the girl I was crazy about?

Fuck, I was going to have to. She’d made her choice, and it wasn’t me.

I went home and watched Hawaii Five-O with Sarah until I needed to get ready for work. I didn’t want to go to the Country Club either. I just wanted to zone out in front of the television with my sister and pretend the rest of the world didn’t exist, forget I was the kind of person who could never ask Reese out, forget everything I’d ever done, forget what I could never be.

Once I had my brown shoes on and my pale blue collared shirt tucked into my pleated khakis, I sat on the edge of my bed and began to scroll through old messages between Reese and me. I was playing a video she’d sent me of herself on repeat and loving that mischievous twinkle in her eye and quirk in her lips when I felt a presence at the open doorway of my bedroom.

I glanced up, and my breath caught when I saw her there, leaning her cheek against the doorjamb as she watched me watch her on the screen of my phone.

I jumped to my feet. “Reese! What’re you doing here?”

“It’s Friday,” she answered, squinting at me as if confused why I would even ask such a thing. “I always babysit on Friday.”

“Yeah, but...” I usually left before she showed up. Glancing down at my watch, I realized I’d totally lost track of time. “Shit. I’m running late.”

Scrambling to collect my wallet and keys, I put off meeting her gaze until I turned toward the doorway where she blocked the exit.

God, she looked sad. And beautiful.

A glorious kind of maudlin.

“I thought you might like to know,” she said softly, “I canceled my date.”

Oh, fuck. Oh, shit. About a million emotions roared through me. She’d picked me after all. Didn’t mean we could be together, but still… She’d thrown him over for me.

Yet, even as a part of me cheered, thrilled by this news, another part of me grew cold with dread.

I clutched her elbow. “What? I told you that you didn’t have to do that. Why did you cancel? Did he do something to you? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” She blinked at me as if I were crazy for even asking. “I just… I can’t go out with him.”

“You…” Damn, I wanted to kiss her. Or hug her. I wanted to claim her as mine. Unable to help myself, I stepped close. “Why?”