Leave it to Mason to consider the side of his face being split open as cuts and scrapes.
He covered my hands with his own and I felt the searing heat of his skin, the feverish pace of his heart racing against my palm. My eyes drifted closed and I felt his ragged puffs of breath against my lips—
“Mason… Sean…” a sweet, lilting voice called from the downstairs. The only thing that kept me from tripping over my duffel bag in the middle of the room was Mason’s hands holding my hips. I heard two sets of footsteps echoing off the high ceilings as I stared at Mason, trying to get some clue as to what he’s thinking.
“Yeah, be right there, Mom,” Mason called out, leaning back against the wall with his hand still clenched over his heart. “This isn’t over,” he warned me before pushing me out of the room so he could get dressed.
I pinched the bridge of my nose, wondering how long I’d be able to restrain myself for the sake of Mason’s health. The doctor said he wasn’t allowed to do any strenuous exercise until he was checked and cleared. While he hadn’t specifically stated that sex was off-limits, Mason and I weren’t exactly the type to take it slow and easy when we were together. And with me leaving before long, I’d never forgive myself if I allowed him to push himself too far and something happened to him.
When I turned around, I saw Mason’s mom standing at the bottom of the stairs watching me. “Hey, Ginny. I was going to get lunch started, but then I realized I have nothing to make in the house,” I told her as I bounded down the stairs, trying to come across unaffected by the past few minutes. “If you want to make a list, I’ll run to the store. I’m sure you and Bill haven’t gotten any rest since yesterday either.”
“Oh, don’t be silly. I’m sure you have other things you should be doing. Bill can go,” she said dismissively.
“It’s no trouble. I don’t have anything to do today…”Other than sit here and hover over Mason.“I was supposed to go in for a light workout, but I already talked to Stu and he excused me for the day as long as I don’t need to see the trainer. I’m hoping to get a run in, but that won’t be until later.”
I needed to find a way to come clean with Stu. I couldn’t imagine spending any more time than necessary away from Mason right now, but it wouldn’t take long before Stu started questioning the changes to my routine. Before I could do that, I needed to talk to Mason to make sure he was okay with Stu knowing the true nature of our relationship.
“Well, if you’re certain. You’ve already opened your home to us, I don’t want you thinking you have to take care of us as well,” she said sweetly. God, Mason was so much like his mom that it was scary. He’d deny that, of course, but it was easy to see her influence in the way he was always trying to help others and resisted accepting help for himself. “Is there anything in particular you’d like for dinner tonight?”
“Why don’t we take it easy and make sandwiches or something,” I suggested. I didn’t want her going to the trouble of preparing anything special since Mason wouldn’t be able to eat anything solid until he was well enough to have the dentist take care of the teeth I knocked out. It’d be cruel to fill the house with the smell of his mom’s home cooking and then eat in front of him.
“Sure, if that’s what you want.” She busied herself opening cupboards, muttering to herself about how it’s a miracle we hadn’t starved to death without someone to take care of us.
Rather than argue with her, I went to the basement to check on Abi. Other than a quick phone call last night to tell her I was staying up at the hospital with Mason, I hadn’t talked to her. She had been spending more time every day holed up in her bedroom, only coming upstairs when she knew I wasn’t home. That hurt, but I understood that the only thing I could do was give her time to believe I wasn’t going to kick her out for getting pregnant.
“Hey Sean, how’s Mason?” she asked, not glancing up from the textbook in her lap. She’d decided to take some summer term courses since she had no clue what the future held for her.
I hadn’t said as much to her because I didn’t want her to think of me as a parent rather than her big brother, but I was proud of her for the way she picked herself up after a few days of sulking. She still wasn’t sure if she would keep the baby or put it up for adoption, but I had faith that she’d do what was best for both of them. She might not think so right now, but she was going to be just fine.
“He’s doing well, for the most part,” I told her, taking a seat next to her on the couch. I lifted the book to see what subject she was working on. Sociology in Urban High Schools. That was something I couldn’t help her with. It surprised me at first that she was taking such a specialized course, but it made sense when I thought about the people she hoped to help someday. “He’ll be out of it most of the day thanks to the pain pills they have him on, but the doctor said he should have a full recovery. If you want, why don’t you head upstairs and see him before he passes out?”
“Yeah, maybe I will,” she said, nose still buried in the text she was reading as she resumed gnawing on the end of a pen. “Are his parents staying here?”
“Yeah, they are.” I hoped that was okay with her. Even though it was my name on the deed, I wanted her to feel as though this was her home, too.
“Cool. I want to chat with Ginny.”
“Sounds good,” I told her when I realized her lack of attention was her attempt at dismissal. I wandered back upstairs and let Ginny know Abi wanted to talk to her before heading to check on Mason again. With him passed out and snoring in the recliner, I decided it was a good time to run to the store and get in a quick workout.
23
Mason
I paced backand forth across the plush carpet in our bedroom, wearing nothing but my crisp blue button down shirt and boxers while I waited for my mom to finish pressing my dress slacks. I told her they looked fine, but she insisted that they needed to be perfect, at least when I walked out of the house. She was probably right, but having her dictating my attire did nothing for my demeanor.
I didn’t want to do this press conference. I didn’t want anyone to see the kaleidoscope of color on my face or the Frankenstein stitches at the corner of my mouth. The only thing I wanted to do was stay holed up at home, where baseball and everything else that had been bogging me down for months didn’t exist. And after having some time to think about everything, I realized that I’d been stressed most of the season, knowing that changes were coming but not wanting to admit how drastic they’d be.
“Hurry up, we have to get on the road, otherwise we’re both going to have our asses in a sling,” Sean grumbled as he threw my pants at me from the door.
I looked up at him and he diverted his gaze quickly. It was cute to see how he blushed when he worried my parents would see him eyeing me. One of my missions in life was to make him see that not every family was like his, and they wouldn’t care. Hell, from what they’d told me, I was certain they’d be ecstatic as long as I was happy.
I smirked, as I looked him over as well. There was no way anyone, gay or straight, could deny what a gorgeous guy he was. His suit coat was tailored to perfection, broad across the shoulders and narrow at the waist. His dark blond hair had so much product in it that I’m pretty sure tornado strength winds couldn’t touch it, but in a way that didn’t make him look as though he was trying too hard. And those eyes…Jesus, they should be considered a lethal weapon with their translucence near the pupil and a ring of deep blue at the edge of the iris.
I may have joked that he hit me so I’d be as ugly as him, but that’s only because there’s always been something about his looks that has drawn me to him, and it all started with those damn fuck-me eyes.
“Dude, are you going to stand there or finish getting ready?” he scolded when he caught me ogling him. I really needed to get my head where it needed to be, otherwise we’d be outed the second we walked into the ballpark if I couldn’t stop thinking about stripping that suit and tie off of him one piece at a time as soon as we got home.
“Give me five and I’ll be ready,” I told him as I slipped into my slacks.
