“Hey, I’m sorry I didn’t call before now. I thought I’d let you know that I’m home and everything is okay.”
“I know, Vinny called.”
“Oh, okay.” I pause, waiting for him to speak. “Is your leg okay?”
He huffs out a laugh and I cringe. He’s so pissed off. “No, no, it isn’t actually.”
“I’m sorry, Mase, it was an accident. I shouldn’t have been so careless.” I really did let my emotions get the better of me.
“What were you thinking? You could have hurt yourself far worse than a scraped chin.”
The way he belittles me makes me roll my eyes. How do you tell someone they make you want to throw punches without sounding like a bitch?
Keep it civil, Nina.
“Surely you knew I’d be annoyed when you ambushed me at work? It was my first day, Mason.”
“Ambushed you? I was the one who was ambushed!”
I roll my eyes again. “Don’t be so dramatic.”
“You haven’t seen my leg.”
My phone chimes, so I switch it to speaker to look. “What the hell is that?” I stare at the screen.
“My damn leg!”
I screw up my face, trying to work out what way the phone goes.
“Oh, wow.” Ouch, that does look nasty. His entire thigh is a reddish purple, the bruise still coming out.
“Yes, wow. I’ll see you when I pick Ellis up on Wednesday.”
“Mason.” He hangs up.
I look at the picture, his gym shorts are pulled up to his groin and it looks so damn painful. Guilt eats at me.
Nina
I’m sorry Mase. Really really sorry. It was an accident.
I sit and wait until three little dots bounce across the screen.
Mason
Just forget about it.
Do you have ice?
You should ice it.
Nothing. For the longest time I don’t get a thing back from him and I end up going to bed, completely knackered after a busy and chaotic first day.
My chin throbs as I lie back in my bed, and I wonder if it will scar. Why am I such an idiot? I should have left him to it, he wasn’t hurting me. I managed to cause a scene and injure us both.
My phone chimes with a text and I reach for it quicklyto silence it, not wanting to wake Ellis.
I have ice.
