Chase turned quickly, surprised by the voice coming from behind him. It was a deep voice, and as he saw who it was—the twenty-something guy in the nice clothes—he was shocked.
The man passed him and hugged Mason.
Chase could tell as Mason pulled away and how his gaze shifted uneasily what that guy was to him—or what he had been at some point.
“Hey, Brody,” Mason said. “This is Chase.”
Brody turned to Chase and shook his hand. He had green eyes that Chase felt like would blind him if he looked in them too long. Brody and Mason were about the same build and height. They looked like a better couple than Chase and Mason ever did.
“Hey, man. So you’re the infamous Chase Rogan? Nice to meet you.”
“Nice meeting you as well.”
Brody’s gaze shifted back to Mason. “What have you been up to?”
Mason chatted with him about the dairy and what Pa was working on with the upgrade. The tension within Chase steadily escalated as he imagined them sharing the same moments he and Mason shared—Mason using the same lines, dominating Brody in the same way. He didn’t want to imagine them together, but he couldn’t help himself. The more he tried to fight back the images, the stronger they forced themselves into his awareness.
He kept reminding himself that Mason hadn’t done anything wrong—nothing any worse than what he’d done while they’d been apart, but that didn’t make him feel any better. Although he preferred Mason to have been with guys—or at least some special guy—than alone, the idea that someone else could make him happier and give him things that maybe Chase couldn’t was too much for him.
Emery walked between a few nearby racks and approached. Brody turned. “Hey, Emery.”
She glanced between Mason and Chase, an uneasy expression in her eyes—one that was as revealing as Mason’s. But it was so much worse because it meant the guy was more than some trick Mason had fooled around with.
Why had Mason told him there’d been no one else?
His cheeks burned with a rage that made his hands tremble at his sides.
Even though Mason hadn’t said anything about his relationship with Tristan, he didn’t have to. Chase could sense his judgment and frustration about it. What right did he have to judge him when he was clearly off doing far more than he’d let on?
Maybe Chase was blowing it out of proportion, but Mason’s guilty expression made him feel like he had a right to be upset.
“How is Jasper?” Brody asked Emery. “Excited about the wedding?”
“He’d better be,” she said with a smile.
“I’m sure he is. It’s gonna be awesome seeing you guys tie the knot. It’s about time.”
And he was attending the wedding??
So much for Chase’s image of poor, lonely Mason sitting on the dairy pining away for him.
He’d known the moment Mason had effortlessly pulled out that condom by the pond. He was only human, and of course he’d fucked around with other guys in the decade they’d been apart.
Chase bit his tongue as they continued talking with Brody, and when he finally left, Emery glanced between him and Chase. “I’m gonna try on a few more things.” By the way she said it, it was clear, even if she didn’t detect what Chase was feeling earlier, she couldn’t miss the signals he was giving off in that moment.
After she went into the dressing room, Mason said, “Sorry about that.”
“You don’t have anything to be sorry about.”
Chase couldn’t contain his frustration or his sadness.
They weren’t a couple anymore, he reminded himself. They were just friends.
“But you didn’t have to lie and tell me that you never had anything with anyone else,” Chase blurted out, glancing around the store to make sure no one was around.
Macy’s wasn’t the place for the conversation he wanted to have, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to hold it in for long.
“You know how that made me feel about my relationship?” Chase added, keeping his voice low. “Like a jerk.”
