“Yeah, but I don’t want it.” I drop it to the desk and leave the office, making my way to the kitchen. I stand at the coffee machine on autopilot and switch it on.
I’ve been here alone the past two days, and he has been out looking at new studios?
“What do you mean you don’t want it?” he fumes, following in after me. “It’s ten times better than your old studio.”
My eyes lift to look at him.
I don’t want to argue.
I don’t want to yell.
I want to run because I know what comes next.
“I don’t want you buying me things,” I tell him, my hand shaking as I pour the coffee. “I’ve told you this so many times.”
“Fucking this again. I thought we were past this? Nina, you won’t be able to afford the start-ups on a new studio now. Let me help you.”
“No. Drop it, please. I will figure it out. I always do.”
“So, what? You’re going to mope around here all day until a studio miraculously lands in your lap?”
“I’m not moping, thank you, asshole!” You’d know if you’d been here. “Leave me alone, I’m not doing this now.”
His anger is pissing me off, and I don’t want to say something I will regret later, but the more he pushes, the more my walls go up.
“No, you’ve not been moping because you are too busy playing house with my fucking family!” he roars.
My eyes go wide, my heart thumping almost painfully in my chest, which is dumb because I knew it was coming. The nasty slap that stings with each syllable that penetrates.
“I thought you said you didn’t care that I went to Lowerwick? Why are you throwing it in my face now?”
He drops his head, his hands spread wide on the worktop. “I just want to fix this. Let me fix it!”
“I don’t need you to fix it, Mase, don’t you get it? Whilst you’ve spentdayslooking for a new studio, I’ve been here alone dealing with the hurt that comes with losing the one I’ve built from the ground up. I’ve been alone when you promised me I wouldn’t be again. You. You promised me that. I told myself I was being selfish, and I’ve tried to put on a brave face, but you don’t deserve it.”
Tears well in my eyes, but I blink them away. He doesn’t deserve them either. “This isn’t the Mase I know,” My eyes drop down his hunched form. “and you are not the man I thought I was falling for. He wouldn’t hurt me like you just have.”
“Nina,” he warns, his jaw ticcing as he braces himself.
“Get your shit together, Mason.”
“Where are you going?” he asks as I walk from the kitchen.
“Anywhere but here.”
I hear a bang and glass smashing as I jog up the stairs. I gather up my things and change into my tights, then slip from the penthouse.
I just want my Mase back.
* * *
The girls areboth asleep when I get to their apartment half an hour later, so I let myself in with my key. I didn’t want to call and wake them, but I also didn’t want to be alone. I’ve felt alone for days. As quiet as I can, I start making the coffee, not wanting to wake them but knowing they will be up soon anyway.
“Hello?” Lucy’s voice calls out from the lounge.
I spin around, squinting as I try to make her out in the darkened room. “It’s me, babe,” I call out.
“Oh, thank god.” Megan flicks on the main lights, and we all cover our eyes. She stands with a flip-flop in her hand, shrugging when I eye it. “I thought you were a burglar.”
