“Baby, I said I’m sorry,” I whined. “But that’s why I’m calling. I need you to come and get us because we can’t drive.”
“Us? Who’s ‘us’?” His words were getting more clipped and I knew it was going to take a while before he calmed down.
“I called Jason and he said I shouldn’t be driving while I was upset, so he drove down and we probably should have stopped after the last pitcher,” I confessed, hoping that I’d get points for knowing that I’d screwed up.
“Jason?” he asked, a tinge of jealousy creeping into his voice.
“Klein. Are you coming or not?” I asked, more than a bit nervous standing in the alley where anyone could eavesdrop.
“Fine, text me where you’re at and I’ll be there as soon as I can,” he grumbled. “And Sean?”
“Yeah, babe?”
“Drink some water. A lot of it.” This time, there was no doubt that he’d disconnected the call, so I headed inside to let Jason know our savior was on his way. I had some seriously groveling to do once I sobered up.
Mason was quiet on the way back to his house. Too quiet. It was the type of silence that left me wondering what had happened while I was getting plastered.
Jason was passed out in the backseat, but I didn’t trust myself to ask Mason what was going on, knowing that if I didn’t like what he had to say, I’d lose my shit and probably wake up my friend.
I watched Mace help Jason into the spare bedroom while I grabbed another huge glass of water. I shouldn’t have left him to pick up the mess on his own, but I was in no shape to guide anyone anywhere. I’d be lucky to get to Mason’s room without bouncing off the walls like a pinball.
“Come on, you damn lush,” Mason teased. “You two are both royally fucked tomorrow if you don’t sleep off this drunk.”
Other than the one night, Mason and I hadn’t spent much time at his place. He said it was because my place felt like a home, where his was just a place to stay. I understood that. I also wondered if he still felt that way. I didn’t like the idea of him staying here, knowing that Teresa had managed to get a key to the place.
When I flipped on the light on my side of the bed, I stumbled and fell to the bed. Sitting on the nightstand was a picture I was certain I’d never seen before, yet I remembered that day vividly. While it sounded melodramatic, the day Mason got married was one of the shittiest days of my adult life.
The framed image next to his bed was of the two of us, both dressed in tuxes, playing a game of catch in the snowy courtyard behind the church. It was the only time that day I saw a truly carefree smile on his face.
“I’ve never seen this before,” I slurred, holding the frame over my shoulder so Mason knew what I was talking about.
“My dad took that picture right before he told us it was time to head inside. I asked my mom to print off a copy a while back,” he told me. He took the simple black frame out of my hands and stared at it. In my drunken fog, I rested my chin on his shoulder because I wasn’t ready to stop looking myself. “I never told you, but I was so pissed while we were out there. The first few times I went to throw it to you, I had to remind myself that, as much as she didn’t like you, Teresa would have kicked my ass if you’d had a black eye for the rest of the pictures.”
“I wouldn’t have blamed you if you had thrown one right at my face,” I admitted to him. “Whether I felt it or not, I should have kept my mouth shut. It was your day and I was a jerk.”
Mason turned his head to place a tender kiss on my forehead. “No, you were looking out for me. I know that now.”
“Still wasn’t right. I hated her because she had you. I’d never wanted a relationship, but there was something about you that drove me crazy, even back then,” I confessed.
Mason slid away from me and pulled back the sheets. “Come on, babe. We both need to sleep,” he reminded me. “There will be plenty of time for both of us to apologize tomorrow.”
12
Sean
Mason sentme a text message shortly after the game ended to let me know they were stuck in traffic. Apparently, he and Abi had stayed in Chicago later than they’d intended and he hadn’t considered the post-game traffic jams. It irritated me at first to know that they weren’t home, but I decided it wasn’t worth the aggravation.
Besides, after a shaky road stretch, it was impossible to be in a foul mood while sitting around the locker room. The guys played a hell of a game tonight, and were in full celebration mode. Most of the single guys were going out for a while, but the rest of us wanted nothing more than to get home to our families.
I stopped in my tracks at that thought, because my mind seemed to have accepted that that’s what Mason was to me. With or without the sex, he was a part of me. And he’d be home soon, as long as my sister didn’t kill him with her driving.
“Signal that stop next time,” Jason scolded me as he ran into my back, shoving me forward so my shin connected with the bench in front of me.
“Sorry,” I apologized.
“No worries,” he assured me with a slap to my back. “I figured you’d be out of here the second you were able. What are you doing hanging around?”
This afternoon, I’d admitted to him that I’d driven down to pick up Mason as soon as we’d landed last night. He didn’t seem terribly surprised, and even suggested that we get together before Mason headed back to Chicago for good.
