“When was the last time you saw your mother?” he asks, completely changing the subject. I just hope he’s listening.
“Two years ago. She overdosed. Ended up in hospital for a week.”
He shakes his head at my confession, my honesty shocking me. “You shouldn’t have to deal with it alone. What you’ve been through...” he says, fiddling with my bangle.
What I’ve been through?“How do you know I was alone?”
“Were you?”
Asshole. My body locks up as I resist the urge to bolt. “Mase, what’s my mother’s name?” I ask, looking down at him.
“What?”
I wait, not saying a word.
He knows I know.
“Sarah Leigh Anderson,” he eventually says, his eyes wild as he gauges my reaction.
I drop my head to his chest, looking away from him. His muscles relax in what I presume is relief as his arms come around me.
He thinks he knows. The arrests, hospital admissions, the tip-offs from neighbours to social services—it’s only the half of it.
“Say something,” I whisper.
“I’m sorry.”
“What are you sorry for, Mason?”
“Everything you have been through. Everything you continue to go through.”
I roll my eyes, already over this pity party. “My childhood wasn’t all bad, you’ve just invaded the bad bits—and that’s exactly what you’ve done so don’t try to deny it. I lived with Lucy’s parents, Maggie, you met her, and John. They took me in at eight. I was between my mums and theirs until uni after that. They made sure I was sheltered from it, somewhat.”
He tucks a strand of hair behind my ear, his lips in a tight line. “If she mistreated you so badly, then why do you pay her? Why not cut her off?”
I recoil at his words. “What? Jesus, Mason. How deep did you go?” I yell.
“I wasn’t going to look, but I had no way of getting hold of you. Nina, you’ve transferred your mother nearly fourteen thousand pounds in the last four years!”
He goes to grab me, but I’m already up, the blanket wrapped around me as he tries to do what they all do. Lucy, Maggie, John they think they know best.
They don’t.
“Leave it, Mase, it’s none of your business!” I head for the kitchen, knowing I need to calm down and put some space between us.
It’s only because he cares, Nina.
They all care. It’s my biggest war, and I fight it against myself: To defend someone who doesn’t care to people who only want what’s best for me.
“Fair, it’s not my business. But you’re going to run your studio into the ground if you don’t start paying more off your business loan soon, you’re struggling to keep your head above water as it is.”
The sharp slap of my hand against his cheek resounds off every inch of the penthouse. We stand toe to toe, his nostrils flaring as his rage seeps out of the red on his face.
“Fuck you!” I roar, tears stinging my eyes. “Mason, by all means, fuck me. Fuck every inch of me until I have nothing else left to give, but stay the fuck out of my life. My studio. My business.”
He scoffs, looking up the stairs then back to me again. “So you’ll give me your body, but that’s it, that’s all I get? I guess the apple really doesn’t fall far from the tree.”
He drops his head to his chest the moment the words are out. And that’s the thing with words; once they are spoken, they can’t be unheard, forgotten.
