I duck down and step into the car, the door slamming shut as I turn to look at Vinny in the driver’s seat. Whipping my head around, I see Mason striding back across the street and towards the café.
Shit! I go to open the door, and the lock clicks.
“Vinny! No! You didn’t see him in there. He is fucking wild,” I cry, adrenaline making my hand tremble on the handle.
“Mason is only acting out of concern for you, and keeping you out of harm’s way. You need to trust him,” Vinny replies flatly.
I widen my eyes at him. He has gone mad. “Vinny, Please. You go, and I will wait here.” I try to reason with him. “But please do something. One of them is going to get hurt.”
He doesn’t budge, doesn’t answer me, doesn’t even acknowledge I’m in the car. I sit staring in the direction Mase went, waiting for him to reappear.
It’s only a few minutes later that he emerges from the café, his face like stone and muscles taut as he strides towards me, looking every bit of the god that he is. I scoot across the seat as he yanks open the door and squeeze’s in next to me.
He doesn’t say a word, his knee brushing mine as he widens his legs, sinking deeper into the leather. His tongue runs across the front of his teeth, and he sits, staring straight ahead.
“What the fuck was that!” I yell as Vinny pulls out into traffic.
“Don’t.” Mason raises his finger in the air, nodding towards Vinny.
“Vinny doesn’t give a shit! He clearly knows what a headcase you are!” I proclaim, my anger getting the better of me.
His nostrils flare as he continues to try and calm himself. I don’t think I’m helping the situation, but I’m not about to roll over and take his bullshit. He runs his hand back and forth across his mouth, his silence only heightening my annoyance.
“I only met up with him to apologise and make sure he was okay. Why did you have to make such a big deal about it, and why do you even care?” I ask.
His glare turns on me. “You went to apologise? For what?”
“Everything that happened on Friday night. Your friend Elliot made a fool of him at the bar, and then you ended up choking him and—”
“He almost hit you! You…” His hands ball into fists as he pauses, shaking his head. “You don’t know him, Nina. You need to be more careful.”
“I don’t fucking know you, Mason! But you seem to think I should obey your every word.”
“You’re right. You don’t know me,” he scoffs. “You’ve just confirmed my point exactly.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I squint at him.
“Well, it didn’t take a lot to get you to go home with me, did it?”
Did he just say that?
I hear Vinny tut in the front seat, obviously a lot fucking smarter than his boss. “Vinny, take me back to the studio, please.”
Mason’s head snaps between us. “What now?”
I stare out the window, not wanting to speak or look at him when he can so easily cut me with his words. He came to me last Friday at the club, not the other way around. He came to me at the studio this week, and he came to the café today. For him to sit and judge me on my actions is infuriating.
Wait.
I whip my head around to face him. “How did you know where I was?”
He averts his eyes to the front of the car, it’s quick, but I don’t miss it. I look to Vinny, but his eyes are focused on the road.
“You followed me?” I shout.
“Vinny was in the area and saw you, then notified me,” Mason says dismissively as if it isn’t weird.
“Why? Why would he do that?” I frown.
