I am preparing to pull away, to tell him that the dance was fun but it’s over, then I plan to run away as fast as I can to the safety of Sarah and if need be, I will hide behind Jed. All of those plans fly out of the window when I look ahead and see Mason making his way across the room and he has one destination in mind, me.
“Shit!” I mutter under my breath and then in the blink of an eye he is dead in front of me, him and Sarah.
“Olivia,” he says curtly.
“What? I…” I stammer before Will speaks from behind me.
“Who’s this?”
I try to break free of his grip, realising that I can’t bear to think of Mase viewing me as being with someone else or that my current predicament might confirm his earlier inference that I am a bit slutty.
Will is attempting to renew his grip on me, a move Mason sees immediately.
“I am none of your concern unless you don’t take your hands off her, now.”
God, he is so fucking arrogant and imperious and as much as I want to hate him for it I can’t. They’requalitiesI have seen too many times to want in a man and yet I have to admit they’re very attractive in the man before me, in Mase.
“Hey, I didn’t know she had a boyfriend. She didn’t mention one,” Will says defensively, somehow making me sound a bigger slapper than Mase had a few days before.
“I don’t have a bloody boyfriend,” I snap at them both. “Let’s go,” I tell Sarah who seems to be rooted to the spot and then the penny drops; the VIP access, the texting and her encouragement to consider all options professionally and personally. “You two have cooked this up between you.” I ignore Will’s departure. “You are supposed to be my friend,” I accuse a worried looking Sarah.
They both stare at me, although Sarah’s expression is less sure than Mason’s.
“We need to talk,” he says calmly.
“I don’t,” I reply childishly.
“No, you need to listen.” He reaches for my arm, a move I evade.
“Not to you, either of you!” is my best retort, before I turn on my heels to bolt for the door via Jed who has my bag.
“Liv,” I hear Sarah call after me, but I am in no mood to talk, although I will once I’ve calmed down and got my head around seeing Mase again.
I have my bag and have just reached the door when I feel every hair on my body stand on end a split second before a hand cups my elbow and leads me away, through the door and down a maze of corridors. Every step of the way I am attempting to shake him off but he’s not allowing me to do that. If anything, his grip tightens on me until we reach a door with a keypad that Mason punches the code into. The door swings open and we enter to find a man already in there, a couple of years younger than Mason and slightly shorter but he looks similar.
“I’ll leave you to it,” he says getting to his feet with a smile on his face. “Nice to meet you,” he says with a bigger grin still. “Later bro,” he calls, which explains the resemblance and then the door is closing behind him, a door Mason is locking.
“What are you doing?” I ask nervously.
“Ensuring you listen.” He gestures to a low, comfy seat at the far side of the office, an offer I accept by dutifully sitting down on the sofa.
Mason grabs a couple of bottles of water and offers me one before taking a seat in the chair opposite me.
“What do you want?” I ask with complete confusion as I really do not understand what has happened tonight.
“I told you, to talk and for you to listen to me.”
“Why? Why now? You haven’t seemed keen to talk for the last two days,” I accuse.
“You think? I went to your home from the office after you injured my security man,” he tells me with a wry smile. His mood mercurially switches when he asks, “Did he hurt you?”
“What? No, he didn’t hurt me, but forget him, what do you mean you went to my home?” I’m more confused than ever.
“Exactly as I say. I went to your home, to see you, but after three hours and a numb arse, you were a no show, unlike Sarah.”
“Ah.” Now I fully understand the connection between the two of them. “So that is where you and she decided what?”
“This. And for what it’s worth, Sarah dictated the terms because she was worried about you. I was also worried about you but couldn’t push for my own terms.”
