“What you having, girls?” Lance asks as he places six glasses on the bar top.
I stand in the doorway with my arms wrapped around myself. It doesn’t feel right being here without Mason. How will he feel when he comes home and finds us all here?
Findsmehere.
“I don’t want anything, thank you,” I say.
Alcohol is the last thing I need right now.
“Good,” Elliot whispers so only me and Charlie can hear. I turn, finding him at our backs out in the hallway. “He will need you when he gets home, Pix.” He brushes past us, joining the girls at the bar and leaving me with a growing pressure in my chest.
Is that why he brought me here. To make Mason feel better? To distract him from whatever has dragged him away?
Charlie squeezes my shoulder. “He’s right. It’s probably the smartest idea he’s ever had.”
“Will he be mad?”
“Not at you.”
“At Scar?”
He frowns at my question. “No. Never at Scar.”
“Then who?” I ask, confused.
Seemingly not wanting to answer, he steps into the room and grabs a pool cue from the wall. “Fancy a game?”
I purse my lips, rounding the table. “You like losing?”
* * *
It’s goneone a.m. when we finally relent. Mason is still not home, and the thought of him not wanting me here makes me grow more and more anxious by the second.
Lucy and Megan bounce up the hallway to ‘their room’, Elliot loving his new role of being their tour guide.
Luckily, there is room for us all to stay with the penthouse’s multiple bedrooms. It’s massive. Far more space than one person needs, that’s for sure.
The girls begin opening and closing all the bedrooms’ adjoining doors before flopping down onto the bed in pure elation. I smile as I look at Elliot, and I get the feeling he likes having the girls around. They are gorgeous, fun and give back his banter tenfold.
“Nina hunny, remember to shag his brains out,” Lucy calls from her spot on the bed, her head dropped to the side as she points at me. “And I mean completely. We don’t want any cerebrum left getting in the way of us and that marriage proposal.”
“This will be my room,” Megan states.
I shake my head at the idiots I call my friends. What happened to ‘No kissing him, Nina.’?
“Pixie,” Elliot calls, summoning me as he heads back to the room at the top of the stairs.
The master bedroom.
“He won’t be long. I’m sure you’re familiar with this room.” He pops a brow, walking backwards and then disappearing inside a bedroom farther down the hall.
My feet flush hot against the heated floor as I stand on the threshold of Mason’s bedroom. I want to go inside, but I have to force my feet to move forward. My head not quite caught up with my heart.
I step inside, closing the door behind me.
Everything is as I remembered, which surprises me for the amount of alcohol I had consumed the last time I was here. His super king bed sits dominantly in the large room, dressed with fresh white sheets. Thoughts of Mason watching me as I drift off to sleep rush through me, and I quickly walk past the bed, feeling like an intruder in his private space.
I contemplate going downstairs to sleep on the sofa, but the idea of being alone in such a colossal space has me heading towards the en suite instead. I strip down quickly before stepping into his walk-in shower, the spray hitting me hard.
