“If you’re sorry, in the future stay away from us. If you’re not really sorry, in the futurestay away from us,” I growled.
She went to the counter, grabbed her backpack, and hurried out the door.
“Well?” Jolene snapped, her arms folded.
“Well what?” I asked.
“Go after him!”
Duh.
My brain was too rattled to be of any logical use. “You’re right. Thank you. Sorry about all of this.”
She put her hand on my arm. “In school I wasn’t really all that nice to Mason. I don’t think most of us were. We didn’t actively bully him, but I didn’t try to be his friend either. They told us he was an Omega and we needed to take care of him, but we didn’t. I will always feel guilty over that. When I heard the two of you were together, I thought it might go a long way to making up for the shitty people we’d been. So thank you for being there for him.”
I said my goodbyes and got the hell out of there.
I had a mate to reassure.
All the way home, my mind raced. My parents were on me to talk to Mase about my secrets, but this was why I hadn’t done it yet. We weren’t in a spot where there was enough trust between us for me to drop anything like this on him. We needed to get comfortable with each other, to find a place where we could discuss anything. This whole fucked up episode told me we hadn’t gotten there yet.
If anything, it probably set us back.
I stood at the stove making macaroni and cheese. I wasn’t the wiz in the kitchen that Mase was, but I could manage a few staples. I scrolled through my phone looking for tips on how to be a better Dominant, because I was floundering here. I wanted to do right by Mase, but I didn’t know what he needed from me. As the pasta boiled, I read a couple of articles about praise and punishments. I was interested in the praise, hoping it would build his self-esteem.
I read quickly, then saved it to my reading list. Afterward, I finished making the macaroni and cheese, then sprinkled crumbled bacon bits over the top because I knew Mase lovedit that way. I made two bowls, then grabbed a couple of forks and took it all upstairs to him. When I opened the door he was quiet, but I could tell he wasn’t asleep.
“I’m sorry,” he said again. “I know I’m a bad submissive, but?—”
“Who said you were bad?” I kept my voice low and even.
He turned and I could see how red his eyes were. “I didn’t trust you.”
“Lemme tell you something, but you have to listen while we eat, because I made some awesome fucking mac and cheese, and I don’t want it to go to waste. Agreed?”
He sniffed and his stomach growled again.
Goddamn you, Allison.
I used to love the memories of things I did when I was a teen, but now? They disgusted me, and I had to wonder if I’d hurt anyone else with my bullshit posturing.
Mase took the bowl from my hand and nibbled on the pasta. “It’s good,” he said, his tone lifeless. I sat beside him and took a mouthful. Then I put my bowl down and faced him.
“You know, I think I understand now why my parents gave me all that rope when I was younger. They wanted me to learn the hard lessons, and today I think another one of them finally got through my thick head. I was shit to people. As long as I got what I wanted, I thought it was all good.”
“No, you didn’t do anything wrong,” Mase insisted. “I shouldn’t have gone off on you. It’s not my place to question what you do.”
I sighed. “Look, baby….”
“I like it when you call me baby,” he admitted. “It makes me feel loved.”
“Because you are,” I assured him. “I’ve said it before, and I’ll repeat it as often as you need me to. There is no one else. Not now, not ever. I have no interest in having more than you in my life.”
“But Allison?—”
“Was a mistake in my past that’s come back to haunt me. I told her to stay the fuck away from us.”
“You did?” Hope laced his voice.
