“I can find my own way home tonight.” I decide.
He stops fiddling with the bangle on my wrist. “You said we would start afresh?” The vulnerability in his voice has my eyes gravitating to his.
Guilt fills me. Maybe he needs me just as much as I do him.
I unbuckle my belt and climb into his lap, hiding my face in his neck like a child. I breathe him in, his woodsy scent grounding me.
“I meant what I said. I want to start fresh, but this” —I gesture between us— “it’s all too much. I have my showcase coming up, and you said yourself I need to get on top of the studio. So much threatens my dreams Mason, and not physically but mentally I can feel myself slipping.” I shake my head. “We don’t need to be one of those things. Just give me time.” I pull back to look at him. “Please?”
“Can I see you tonight?” he asks, pulling me closer.
I smile softly. This beautiful man wants to spend time with me. He’s known me barely two weeks and shows more concern for me than most have in my lifetime. “No. But I will call, just give me a few days.”
His shoulders drop, and he lets out a heavy sigh. “I don’t like this.”
“I know. But…” I roll my lips, giving him an inch. “I want to be ready for us, Mase, and right now, I don’t feel like I am. Just give me some time.”
He smiles down at me sadly as he leans in to kiss my temple. “Alright.”
Vinny followed me home. I’m not sure if he was trying to be discrete, but the Audi was always within a short distance behind me each time I looked back.
Running always allowed me time to think, so the urge to stop and get a lift was strong.
Knowing it was Mason being overprotective, I didn’t stop and bitch at Vinny for following me. If I’m honest, I don’t know how I would feel if the Audi hadn’t been outside the studio after I finished work.
Mason’s thoughtfulness and need to keep me safe only makes me want him more. I’ve never had someone take such concern in my whereabouts. Maybe that’s one of the things that’s holding me back.
I bend, my hands planted on my knees as my lungs gasp for air. Tilting my head up, I stare up at my building.
“You’re quick, girl!” Vinny smiles at me from the front seat.
He leans down on the passenger side and grabs a bottle of water then holds it out to me.
“Vinny, my apartment is right there. Tell your boss he needs to ease up on the plastic. He’s already putting unnecessary emissions into the air by following me home.”
“I’ll be sure to tell him.” He smirks.
I know he won’t.
“See you later, Vinny. Thank you.” I wink, jogging up the steps.
The moment I get to my floor, I hear them, and I close my eyes in anticipation, wondering if I should go back to the studio.
Why are they even here?
I push into the apartment and find the entire living space in smoke. “What the hell?!”
“Nina! Hey, you’re home!” Lucy shouts.
I flap my hand in front of my face as I try to make them out through the smog. Lucy is on Megan’s shoulders, flapping a tea towel at the smoke alarm.
I begin to cough, the smoke being drawn into my lungs. “Jesus Christ!”
I rush to the window, opening it as far as it will go, then stalk to the kitchen where I grab the oven glove and throw the smouldering baking tray into the sink.
“Seriously?!”
Megan ducks down, letting Lucy fall to her feet.
