My breath caught hard in my throat.My body locked up, and every ounce of warmth drained from my limbs.Andrew.My mind screamed it before my heart even had the chance to start racing.
I backed up a step, keys clenched tight between my fingers like some makeshift weapon.“What the hell are you doing here?”My voice cracked halfway through, raw and sharp.
The figure stepped into the weak light from the hall fixture.
Not Andrew.
Mason.
He looked… wrecked.Like someone had wrung him out and left him to dry.His hair was a mess, his clothes creased, and his usually tan skin was pale and blotchy.His blue eyes, normally so steady, were rimmed red, like he’d been crying.
“Mason,” I said, my voice hard despite the relief crawling up my spine.“What the fuck are you doing here?”
“Cass…” His voice cracked around my name, splintered and unsteady.“Please.I need to talk to you.”
I stared at him, caught between anger and confusion.“You show up at my apartment, after everything with Clara, and think this is a good idea?”
He scrubbed his hands over his face, shoulders slumping.“I didn’t know where else to go.I need...I need help, Cassidy.”
For a long moment, I hesitated, every protective instinct screaming to shut the door and lock it behind me.But something in his expression, raw, desperate, broken, stilled me.
With a sigh, I unlocked the door and stepped aside.“Don't make me regret this, Mason.”
Inside, I dropped my bag by the couch and turned on the lamp.He hovered by the door, rubbing the back of his neck like he wasn’t sure if he should sit or bolt.
“You’ve been drinking,” I said flatly.
He winced, shoving his hands into his pockets.“I went for a drive after I got the latest from Clara’s lawyer.Ended up at a bar for… longer than I meant to.Then I remembered you live nearby, and I…” He trailed off, shaking his head.“I’ve been sitting out there for an hour trying to figure out what the hell to do.”
I walked to the kitchen, grabbed a bottle of wine, and popped the cork.Because, of course, this was my fucking life now.Without looking at him, I poured two glasses and handed one over.
“You want to explain why you’re here, Mason?”I asked, moving to the door and bolting it before sinking onto the couch and pulling a cushion tight against my chest like a shield.
He dropped into the armchair opposite me, looking smaller somehow, like the weight of everything was crushing him.He turned the glass in his hands, not drinking, just… stalling.
Finally, he whispered, “I fucked up, Cass.I fucked up so bad.”
“Yeah,” I said, sharper than I meant to.“You think?”
His gaze shot up to mine, watery and wrecked.“I need help.”
I waited, letting him come to terms with what he needed to say next.
“I’m going to loseeverything,” he said, his voice cracking on the last word.“Clara.Jackson.The house.The business.Everything.”
My jaw clenched, anger and sympathy warring in my chest.“Start talking.”
He put his glass down on the side table and dragged both hands down his face, on a choppy exhale.“I thought if I worked hard enough, made enough money, gave her everything, I could keep her, that she’d never want to leave me.She's got it all backwards, Cass.I love her so much, so fucking much.But I never really felt good enough...like I didn't deserve her.When she got pregnant, I was… happy, Cass.Really fucking happy.Because I thought, ‘She won’t leave now.’I married her, thinking I could be the man she deserved.But the more I tried to be enough, the more I kept falling short.”
I gripped the cushion tighter, my nails digging into the fabric.I wanted to lash out at him, but part of me understood.I knew what it felt like to not be enough on your own and want to be something, prove your worth.
He kept going, words spilling like he’d been holding them back too long.“I hired Mel...Clara’s convinced I’m sleeping with her, but I swear to God I’m not...I hired her to help clean up the mess at the company.I was drowning, Cass.We were behind on deals, and I couldn’t keep up.She was supposed to fix it.Instead, it got worse.And when I was about to fire her, she offered to work for half her salary if I kept her on.Said she’d make it right, Clara never had to know how bad it had gotten.”
My stomach turned.“How bad, Mason?”
His silence was enough to make my heart pound harder.
“How.Bad.”
