“Hmm, I had to get some things sorted for the day. I have something to show you.”
“Yeah?”
He reaches forward and picks up a folder from the desk. I frown, stilling on his lap as he flips over the page and hands me the top sheet. “You can have your pick, but I think this one is perfect,” he whispers into my shoulder.
My heart rate begins to pick up. “I don’t understand; this is for sale and won’t be in my budget—ever.”
“The price is because of location, it puts you close to my office.” He squeezes my hip, watching me for a reaction.
I think he’s trying to suggest this as a new studio, but that would be ridiculous because I could never afford it. “I need to find someplace forrent, Mase. This is ridiculously big, and completely out of my budget.” I laugh nervously.
“I know. Which is whyIplaced an offer.”
“You what?” I utter, standing and staring down at the sheet of paper in my hands.
“I’ve been looking for days. I viewed a couple, but none of them were right. Then this one came up just yesterday. Do you like it?”
I’ve been looking for days.
“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.”
“Fuckingthisagain. 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’ll regret later, but the more he pushes, the more my walls go up.
“No, you’ve not been moping because you’re 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? While 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.
