Page 62 of Boundaries

In the taxi on the way to mine, I checked my phone again. Mason had sent me two messages that sat there without replies.

I said I can explain

Please don’t do anything I know you’ll regret.

I pushed my phone into my clutch and withdrew the card Adam had given me. It was plain white with gold embossed lettering on it.

ADAM STYLES - Accountant

His mobile number was on the back. It was classy and looked professional and I drew my thumb across the wording.

He was nice and interesting and I was attracted to him, he just wasn’t Mason.

*****

Living in the country meant pitch-black after eleven, even during the summer. It was just after eleven thirty, as I checked my phone before stuffing it into my skirt pocket. The cab driver pulled up the dirt road and drew up outside the gates into our property. It was quite a hike up to the house, but I asked him to pull up outside. The walk would clear my head of cobwebs. Nixon and Jenna were probably still at his place, sorting out his fabricated shit, Mattie was with Alex, and Chrissy would be staying with Betty. Therefore, I had the house to myself.

Opening my bag, I drew out a twenty-pound note. As I pulled the money out, Adam’s card fell onto the seat and so I picked it up, thanked the driver and left the vehicle. I checked my phone was still in my pocket and I held my clutch and the card. I always did second checks when getting out of a taxi in case I left something in there. The chances of you getting anything back were slim to none.

Replaying the night’s events back in my head, I rechecked Adam’s card again. Thinking how nice it would feel to have a normal relationship with a boy. I didn’t have to worry about losing my virginity now and so had one less complex thing to think about.

As I continued to walk up our driveway, I’d left the porchlight on earlier when I’d locked up, so I could at least see without using the flashlight on my phone. Talking of phones, I withdrew it to see that I’d had a message from Betty.

Home safe XOXO

So, they couldn’t have stayed much longer after I’d left. I keyed in a thumbs-up emoji and then stopped at the bottom of our porch, which led up to the front door.

“I thought you were staying out tonight?” Mason’s voice made me jump and I dropped my phone and Adam’s business card. It fluttered toward the ground like an ironic flag of surrender.

Mason was sitting on the top step of the porch of my house, his large arms resting on his knees. He wore jogging bottoms, something I had never seen him in and a white vest top; those large biceps were on display. His body looked mouth-watering. Smoking hot.

A jet of relief swam around my stomach that he was there and had obviously been waiting for me.

“I changed my mind,” I said with a shrug, attempting to hide the tremor in my voice. My eyes drank him in like I had the strongest of thirsts. I couldn’t mask that look as the feeling was just way too strong.

Breaking contact, I bent to retrieve my phone and the card and as I came back to my feet, Mason’s eyes were honed in on my hand.

“What the fuck is that?” he barked, pushing to his feet, and leaping down the rest of the steps with athletic grace. His body bristled with annoyance and I stepped back before I was wearing him.

Mason snatched the card from my fingers and viewed it critically before his eyes shot back to mine with an accusatory element. He seemed to grow before me in size and rolled his shoulders as if the tension there had suddenly doubled in the space of a second.

“What the fuck is this?” he growled down at me. Shaking the card in front of my face.

I shoved my phone into my clutch and then dropped it on the floor at my feet before folding my arms. My eyebrows were sky-high.

“What does it look like? It’s a business card with a man’s phone number on it.”

“Really, well you’re fucking wrong about that one.”

My brow scrunched in confusion as I watched helplessly as Mason tore the card into pieces, “It was a business card,” he snapped out.

The thread on my temper also snapped!

“Who do you think you are?” I barked out at him as I bent to my hands and knees to grab the torn shreds of the card. I wasn’t that bothered about losing Adam’s number, it was the fact that Mason thought he could just destroy something that was mine.

“Leave it,” Mason shouted at me, taking me roughly by the arm and dragging me up. He drew me to stand and released me so quickly, as if touching me had offended him. Either that or he was worried about losing control and doing something he’d regret. I could feel the beast in him lurking by the surface. Ready to attack.

I rubbed the flesh; his grip had hurt. Like he’d forgotten how strong he was for a split second before coming to his senses. We’d done so many things to each other during our childhood, some of those physical but never to hurt. Not really.

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