Chapter Thirteen
Piper cut theengine and peered through the windscreen at the three-story brick building in front of her. It was late afternoon, it had started to drizzle, and this area of south London wasn’t the best place to be alone when it was dark.
She’d spent all day at the hospital, sick with terror that Mason wouldn’t make it through surgery. They’d given her his personal effects for safekeeping and when she saw his keys she’d had the crazy idea to go to his flat and pick up the stuff he’d need. As if that would somehow make things right between them.
Had he even known it was her, when he’d come round? His injuries were bad, but not life-threatening. Not that she’d believed the doctor until Mason had come out of surgery and she’d seen him with her own eyes. Livid bruises covered his face and chest and her throat ached with unshed tears,but at least he was alive.
Hadn’t done much for the guilt eating through her, though.
She took a deep breath and made a run for it. Once she was inside the entrance hall it was easy enough to find Mason’s ground floor studio, but she hesitated for a moment, the key hovering over the lock.
Would he be mad with her for doing this? It was obvious he hadn’t wanted her here even when they were seeing each other, so why would he want her here now, when he was laid up in hospital?
Stop second guessing yourself.She opened the door and fumbled for a light switch.
The studio room was large, and he’d divided it into two with an open plan, shelving unit between the sleeping and living areas. The walls were bare, the furniture basic, but his shelves were crammed full of books, biking memorabilia and odds and ends. And on his leather sofa was a cat carrier.
He has a cat?Why hadn’t he told her? She glanced wildly around but could see no sign of the elusive creature. There was a cardboard box next to the carrier, filled with cat bowls, kitten food and toys. She crouched down and peered under the sofa, but there was nothing but dust bunnies.Where is it?
She didn’t have time to search, but she couldn’t ignore the evidence. She picked up the plastic bowls and a tin of food and took it into the small kitchen area. “Kitty?”
Nothing. She quickly mashed the food into one of the bowls and filled the other with water before placing them on the floor. For a moment she stared at her handiwork. There was something weird here, because if he had a cat why had everything been packed into the box?
Feeling like the worst kind of intruder she gingerly made her way to the back of the room and tried not to stare at the messy double bed, or think about how many girls he might’ve had there.
I should’ve waited until tomorrow. She could’ve bought what he needed then, but she hadn’t thought any of it through. Just acted on the need todosomething, right now, to help. Why did her common sense always vanish when it came to him?
She picked up a backpack discarded at the end of his bed and clutched it against her chest. The longer she stood there, surrounded by Mason’s belongings, the worse this idea became. Maybe she should just forget about it, and leave.
That won’t change the fact I’m here now. Uninvited.
It didn’t take long to pack a few essentials. She kept her eyes half shut, as if that’d make up for the fact she was riffling through his drawers. His tiny bathroom led directly from the bedroom area, and despite her best intentions she couldn’t help glancing at the shower and imagining his big, powerful body under the water jets.
Stop it.She dragged her attention back to the job in hand. The sink was an old white pedestal type, and a single toothbrush and tube of toothpaste were in a mug set between the taps.
The mug.Disbelief thudded through her.It’s the one I gave him that Christmas.The one Colton had laughed at, and Mason had frowned at when he’d opened it.
It was nothing special. A run of the mill red ceramic mug with a print of a motorbike on the front; and on the back it said:
I don’t feel like a ride today.
Said no motorcyclist, ever.
She’d thought it cute until Mason read it and then looked at her with those drop dead gorgeous green eyes. Then she’d just wanted to melt through the floor and die with mortification. Because for the first time she’d got the double entendre and there was no mistakingthatwas the meaning Mason had picked up on right away.
It probably wasn’t even the same mug. Except she knew it was. Which meant he’d kept it, and why would he keep it unless…
She groaned and snatched up the toothbrush and paste and shoved them into the backpack. It didn’t meananything.
Just like the fact he remembered the first day they met didn’t mean anything. Or that when she was seventeen she’d told him she planned on becoming a vet.
How many nothings does it take to mean something?
*
Mason let outa relieved sigh when his parents finally left. It was unnerving being the focus of their attention, when it wasn’t tainted by censure. Although now he thought about it, it’d been years since they’d had a dig about his lifestyle.
Whatever. His head hurt too damn much to figure it out. He couldn’t even figure out what was going on with Piper. Had she said she was coming back or was that another twisted dream?
