Why would he?Maybe he’d been waiting for her to say something. But she’d been so keyed up about the wholebig relationship questionnothing else had penetrated her mind.
“Oh, fuck.” She hid her face in the cushion, as Mason’s comments last night echoed through her head. But this time they took on a whole new meaning. “He can’t think I’m still in love with Colton.”I was never in love with Colton.She pushed the cushion down just enough so she could see Peyton. “Can he?”
“Have you ever told him about Colton?”
“God, no. Of course not.” Even the thought of it made her stomach churn. “Why would I? They werebrothers.”
“It wouldn’t be a problem if they weren’t.”
None of this would be a problem if Mason weren’t Colton’s brother. She would never havemetMason if they weren’t brothers. There was a cosmic joke in there somewhere, and karma was a bitch.
“I need to call him.” Yes she did, but what would she say? Suppose his attitude last night had nothing to do with seeing those damn earrings? She’d make a complete idiot of herself, but the alternative was never knowing the truth.
She found her bag, and her phone rang. For a crazy second she thought it was Mason. Nerves danced in her stomach as she snatched up her phone, but she didn’t recognize the number.
Life was never that easy. She very nearly shoved the phone back in her bag, but she was already late for work. Another couple of minutes wouldn’t make a difference.
“Hi.”
“Is that Piper Thomas?” The woman’s voice was unfamiliar, and an uneasy shiver rippled along her arms.
“Yes.” She glanced at Peyton, who was frowning at her as though she shared the same sense of disquiet.
“It’s the Bancroft Memorial Hospital. I have some bad news. Mason Hunter was involved in a collision early this morning…”
Involved in a collision.
Mason.
She didn’t hear anything else. Her heartbeat slowed, magnified, and filled her mind, blocking out everything but the rising panic rushing through her blood.
No.This can’t happen twice.Not Mason…
“Jesus, Piper, what’s the matter?” Peyton’s urgent voice pulled her from the gaping void and she gripped her sister’s hand as though she was her only anchor. It was hard to breathe, and it seemed a great weight pressed against her chest, and still the woman’s voice droned on in her ear.
“…gave us your name…related to him?”
I’m going to be sick.She closed her eyes for a second, but this nightmare wasn’t going away. “Related?” Her voice was hoarse.
“We’ve put you down as next of kin, but if that’s incorrect can you let me have the right contact?”
“I’m,” the words stuck in her throat and ugly, jagged memories from the past slashed through her mind.
Colton’s father had told her parents about the accident, and they’d broken the news to her. Everyone but Peyton thought she’d fallen apart through grief, but although his death had been horrible and senseless, it was the guilt that had crucified her. Guilt that had caused her to flounder and drop out of school.
But nothing she’d experienced back then came close to the raw pain that gripped her chest and closed her throat. She clutched her phone and tried to breathe, but thunder filled her head and she had the terrifying certainty that she was about to pass out.
Don’t leave me, Mason.
She slumped forward, her stomach churning. “Christ, no. He can’t be dead.”
Peyton was by her side, eyes wide, her grip painful. “Give me the phone,” she demanded.
She very nearly did. How much easier to let Peyton ask the hard questions, and filter the facts for her. Except she was no longer a naive seventeen year-old whose overprotective parents had tried to shield her from hard reality.
“Hello?” The voice at the other end of the line was urgent. “Ms Thomas, I’m sorry. You misunderstand. Mason is in surgery now. I called you as you’re the contact name we have here on our records.”
Relief slammed through her, making her dizzy.He’s not dead.“I’m on my way. I’ll be there in half an hour.”
