“Jesus Christ,” I jumped, literally feeling my heart skip a beat.
I went to the front door, trying to calm my nerves, and opened it to see Mason standing there. Even though he was the only person who had explicit permission to come over and knock without warning me he was headed this way, it still scared the crap out of me.
“How are you, sis?” he said.
“I’m fine.”
Mason brushed past me, took a seat at the chair across from where I had my computer, and looked at me in disbelief.
“I mean, how are you really?”
“I said it the first time; I’m fine.”
Mason sighed.
“I know, I just want to make sure—”
“How do you think you’d feel if you were all fucking work and no play?”
My brother bit his lip, bowed his head, and leaned back in the chair, pushing it to just the back two legs. I felt the temptation to turn my attention to my work, but I was no longer the bratty young teenager whom he’d had to take care of far too early. I could at least have the self-control to hear him out, if not the self-control to not cuss him out in response.
“You know that ratio will flip eventually,” he said. “You’ll work your ass off now so you get a chance to play, and then—”
“I’m not looking for it to flip, I just want it to slide,” I said. “And at the rate I’m going, I may just take it into my own hands.”
“With what?” he said. “You know we’re using Dad’s money to pay for your schooling. If you’re not in school, that money’s…”
Not going to further us.
“I don’t need to go to New Mexico State’s campus and turn into a sorority bitch,” I said. “I just want to get out a little. Feel like I have a life. Feel like I have friends.”
Because the ones I had got the fuck out of here as soon as they could.
“It’s that bad, huh?”
“It’s what I’ve been telling you for some time now, Mason.”
I understood my brother wanted to protect me. But there was a difference between protection and probation. And I often felt like I was under the latter with him.
“Tell you what,” he said. “You’re coming to the club party on Friday, right? For the first part?”
“Why only the first part?”
He put his hands on the table and groaned.
“Because, Hannah, these parties turn into utter shitshows, and I don’t mean the cool kind that you see in movies at the beaches and such,” he said. “I mean the guys turn into fucking animals of the worst kind. Grabbing ass, groping, making out—”
“You say that as if I would have no say in the matter,” I said. “You really think I wouldn’t slap someone who did that?”
No, he doesn’t. Because someone under his eye is under his eye for a reason.
“It would make me feel a lot better if you weren’t there after the first hour,” Mason said. “I can’t force you to leave, obviously, but—”
“You’d highly recommend it.”
My brother nodded.
“I’m a big girl, Mason. We’re not trying to survive on our own anymore. I could go get a second job and quit school now if I wanted. I’m only listening to you because I feel like it’s best, but at some point, you have to let me be myself and have some freedom.”
