Hannah
I was having an unusual Saturday.
Unusual in that I was lying on the couch, a bag of popcorn in my lap, watching cheesy Lifetime movies until I wanted to gouge my eyes out.
It was sort of perfect.
Mason and I had plans for later. Of course we did. Things were going according to plan.
The plan…
I sighed, not liking the strange pull in my chest. The knot in my stomach. What in the hell was wrong with me?
It’s Mason.
Maybe.
Our talk the other night had been eye-opening. I hadn’t expected him to hand over so much of himself so easily.
I was digging in. Planting myself. It would take an act of war to remove me.
He had no idea how far I’d penetrated.
And slowly he was giving me exactly what I wanted.
His trust.
Which would ultimately lead to access.
That’s what I wanted.
Right?
I thought of my sister and the commitment I had made to keep her safe and happy.
That was all that mattered.
I couldn’t let myself be swayed by anything else.
Yet…
I had revealed a little bit during that late-night phone call. I had told him about Charlotte, though I had found myself lying about insignificant details in order to keep him from knowingtoo much.
Charlotte had never been a gymnast. She had been into other sports. Particularly basketball. Just like his brother. Maybe I could have used that to further our connection, but I hadn’t wanted to.
Why had I felt the need to alter such random, trivial information about my sister?
Because I could.
Because it kept that degree of separation between the truth and the fiction that I was finding so integral in dealing with Mason.
I needed the lies to remind me of the truth.
Yet as I had listened to him talk about a brother I already knew about, I had felt compelled to give him some of my pain. Pain that for years had belonged only to me.
I wasn’t used to sharing.
It was a strange sensation.
