“Does this have cheese in it?” I asked while looking over at the older woman.
“Of course,” she nodded. “What kind of lasagna doesn’t have cheese?”
“I’m lactose intolerant.” I faked a smile and pushed the plate away. “I’m sorry.”
For half a second I thought Riley was going to stabmewith the fork.
“That’s fine, dear.” Mrs. Kessler waved her hand through the air. “We have plenty of food without dairy.”
Damnit.
Riley straightened up and shot me one of the smuggest smirks I’d ever seen. Maybe the fork idea wasn’t so bad after all. That thought didn’t last long, because I heard footsteps coming our way. Determined and angry footsteps that could only belong to one person. My pulse picked up before Mason’s deep tone echoed through the room.
“Harper can eat later.”
I didn’t have to look at him to see Mason was mad. I just like I could feel his stare boring into me.
“We have some business to take care of.”
Riley was quicker to respond than I was. “What kind of business?”
“Let’s go, Freckles,” he barked out, blatantly ignoring his brother’s girlfriend.
As much as Riley wanted to stick up for me, she couldn’t. Besides, defying Mason would just make things worse. But that didn’t stop her. When I moved to get up, Riley reached out and pushed me back into the chair.
“She’s not going anywhere.”
Why was she antagonizing him? His grandma wasn’t poking her nose into things. She was singing quietly while stirring something in a bowl. Was that her way of coping? Paisley hid everything behind a smile. Maybe Mrs. Kessler cooked her feelings away?
Mason’s green eyes darkened, making me drop my head. “Now, Freckles!”
Once again I moved to jump up and Riley intervened.
“You listen to me, Mason Kessler, I’m pissed off, full of food I didn’t want to eat and armed…”
His next statement caused my eyes to snap to his.
“I talked to your father, Freckles.”
What did Daddy say to him? What did he say to Daddy? Did Mason know? Did he threaten him? This was bad. He had no idea what Daddy was capable of.
“I should go,” I whispered, and slipped away before Riley could stop me.
Every move I made was weighed down and tense. My muscles seized while my mind screamed to run away and hide. By the time I stepped up to Mason, my heart was ready to burst out of my chest. I flinched when he reached out and pulled me in close to him.
“You’ve been a bad girl, Freckles.” I couldn’t tear my gaze away from the darkness in Mason’s eyes. Not even when he shoved me out of the room. “Get your ass moving.”
“You’re on my shit list, Mason Kessler,” Riley called out after us.
But it didn’t matter what she said. It didn’t matter what anyone said. The time I dreaded had come. There’d be no more secrets or lies. This was it. One of us was going to break.
And I had a feeling it wouldn’t be him.
Apparently I wasn’t walking fast enoughfor him and his long strides because he growled, “Hurry the fuck up,” and gave my shoulder a shove.
I was trying, but my legs couldn’t move any quicker. And his pushiness wasn’t helping. It was kind of hard to speed walk when I was tripping over my feet half the time. I wanted to get away from him and the oppressive weight of his glare. Every corner we turned, I prayed to find a secret door or hole to drop into.
The only thing I found was a staircase filled with an impending sense of dread. Every step brought me closer to a door at the end of a familiar hallway. A door that taunted me with the dark desires that had happened the night before. I didn’t like how Mason made me feel in there, or the how my knees trembled at the possibility that he would do it again.
