I tear open the envelope, not being able to ignore the nagging feeling in my gut.
Nina, I’m so sorry about last night.
Call me. Joey
Joey?
Pain splinters through me. I toss the card into the bin and ram my hand down on top of the flowers, crushing them as best I can. The disappointment I feel at the realisation that Mason hasn’t bothered to contact me is more than I care to admit, which is stupid. Why would he contact me? It was one night—who am I kidding? It wasn’t even that. It was a couple hours of drunken stupidity on my part.
I ditch the wine glass and take the bottle back to the sofa instead, feeling foolish to think he would care.
Mase
I pace my living area for the hundredth time today, trying to work out what went wrong this morning and how I can fix it. I completely screwed things up with her, but I wish she’d given me a chance to explain.
She thought I was serious about the Elliot paying her thing. I wasn’t, and I shouldn’t fucking care this much.
Whydo I care this much?
Whydid I let her leave?
I run my hands through my hair as the elevator doors ping. Elliot strolls into my penthouse without a care in the world. “Where have you been all day, dickhead? I called you earlier.”
“Mase.” He smiles, walking to me and clasping my back. “It was a late one. I was sleeping when you called. You ready?” His eyes drop down my body, taking in my T-shirt and sweats. “Charlie will be here in a minute.”
“I’m not coming out. I’ve been calling you. Do you have Nina’s number? The woman from the bar. She was here last night and?—”
“The Pixie? Pixie was here?” he interrupts me in shock.
“She’s not called fucking Pixie,” I say, pissed off that he’s carrying this on.
He breaks out into a stupid, wide grin. “Look at you. You have yourself all worked up over this chick. This is totally like your Pixie,” he teases.
My fists clench at my sides as I fight the urge to punch my best friend in the face.
I continue to pace. “I was going to drop her home, but some asshole was waiting outside her building. He almost hit her. I wasn’t going to leave her with him lurking around, you know.”
“So, you thought you’d bring her here to show off your tower.” He laughs, clearly enjoying this.
“I didn’t touch her. She was drunk. But she made me promise that I would when she was sober.” I shake my head at the memory, knowing it sounds stupid even to my own ears. I’ve been over this in my head all day. “I woke up to my cock in her mouth.”
His eyes pop wide and he jolts his head back. He wasn’t expecting that. “Okay, tell me again the reason she isn’t your Pixie?”
I ignore his question, rolling my lip before telling him, “I asked her if you paid her.”
“You fucking idiot,” Charlie snaps as he walks into the foyer. “For a smart bloke, you really are a stupid son of a bitch sometimes.” He walks towards us with Lance Sullivan, our head of finance and close friend.
“Fuck off, Charles. I don’t want your opinion on this,” I tell him, knowing his advice will be the most valuable to me. Charlie is the most headstrong of the group. He knows how to handle the shit life throws at him—and the women. But I refuse to be made vulnerable by this woman.
“Sure, take that dickhead’s advice,” he snaps.
“Hey, what have I done?” Elliot throws his arms out at his sides smiling.
Sullivan steps forward, a bored look on his face. “If you girls are finished? Maybe we could grab a drink.”
My gaze flicks between them all as I contemplate whether I should sit here all night worrying about her, or if I should go get pissed with the lads.
I head upstairs to change.
