“I can and I will.”
My nostrils flare. “Has your little stripper met my son?”
“Here we go.”
Unbelievable. The man’s an idiot. “How can you not see that she is the problem here? Things wouldn’t be like this if it wasn’t for her.” I’m deflecting the blame and I hate myself for it, but right now I have a whole load of fire inside of me that I want to unleash.
“Jasmine isn’t the problem,” he snaps. “You are the problem. You, and your inability to trust me! Take Jasmine out of the picture and we still wouldn’t be together. You would run, every fucking time.”
“You do not say her name in my home again,” I grit out, my blood nearly at boiling point.
“Jasmine, Jasmine, Jasmine!” he recites.
“You’re acting like a damn child. If she wasn’t in the picture of course things would be different.”
He stands, gathering up the folder and pointing to the door. “He doesn’t come into this house again. Got it?”
“Why?! Why the fuck not!” I counter, stepping up to his chest.
He grasps my throat, pushing me back into the counter before loosening his hand where he grips me, setting my pulse racing freely again.
His head drops, bringing him far too close and his lips mere inches from my own. I can feel the heat radiating off his body as it pushes up against me. Every solid inch of him. “Don’t push me, Nina. You may not be mine to fuck anymore, but you are mine in every other sense of the word. You’re the mother of my son and if you think I’ll watch you fuck around with that?—”
A throat clears at the door and Mason all but drops me like a hot potato.
THIRTEEN
Nina
“Everything okay?” Maggie asks, her eyes wide and laser sharp.
I watch as Mason pales. He knows how this looks.
“Everything is fine.” I step forward and take Ellis from Maggie’s arms, giving her a reassuring look.
“Maggie, I’m sorry, I?—”
“Will you get Ellis in the bath?” I ask Mason, needing him to stop talking and not make this any worse.
“Sure,” he mutters, nodding eagerly.
I give Ellis a kiss and hand him over to Mason. They disappear into the hall, and I know Maggie is waiting for me to turn around so she can interrogate me.
“What in the world? Nina, has Mason put his hands on you before?”
“It’s not like that, Maggie. Mason would never hurt me.”
“I beg to differ. I always thought he was such a gentleman.”
“Maggie, that man is anything but gentle.”
Her eyes widen, then her cheeks flush. “Oh. Oh!” She leans into me, clearly curious. “So, he wasn’t being aggressive, he was being… kinky?”
“Oh, god. We aren’t doing this!” I laugh.
She smiles wide. “I have to know you are okay. Goodness gracious me.” She places a hand on her chest. “I panicked when I walked in here.”
“He definitely wasn’t being kinky,” I explain. “But it wasn’t completely innocent either. He’s just annoyed that Joey is pissing on his carpet. But it’s not even Mason’s carpet anymore.”
