Page 44 of Possession

“I haven’t been sleeping well.”

Mason smiled at him softly. “Me neither. I’m glad you came back though. I take it that means you want to make this work?”

Vinnie was grabbing his upper arms before he realized it, tugging him closer until their faces were only inches away. “I’ve always wanted to make this work. I know it might not have seemed like it lately. I’ve gotten lost in my head and I think a little complacent, like it didn’t matter what I did or how much we fought because no matter what, it was always you and me and it always would be, but you deserve better than that. I’m going tobebetter than that.”

Mason curled his fingers into the fabric of Vinnie’s T-shirt, a vulnerable look appearing in his eyes. “We both got complacent, but I think we both want it enough that we can make things work, that we can fix what was starting to break and maybe even be stronger than we were before.”

Swallowing, Vinnie nodded. “That’s what I want, Mase. No matter what else happens, no matter if we ever find a third or if you make millions of dollars a year more than I do, I want to make sure that we’re the priority.”

Mason rolled his eyes. “What do you mean if? Didn’t you see that hot Latino who walked out of here a minute ago?”

He bit back a laugh. “Yes, I saw him, but that doesn’t mean…”

Mason gave him a slight shake. “It can mean that if we want it to. I’m not going to rush you on anything. I just want you to know that I’ve been here for weeks, and I’ve gotten to know Tomas and the others personally, and everything Ollie told us about them, all of the good work that they do, the kindness, the accepting way they have of everyone no matter how different they are, it’s all true. You don’t have to be afraid.”

“Maybe,” Vinnie said softly. “But we’ve been let down so many times before.”

“None of those men were like Tomas,” Mason insisted. “Just give him a chance. Please, Vinnie, let yourself hope for it and be open to it. Don’t build up those cement walls of yours too high for anyone to get in, me or Tomas.”

“I wouldn’t do that to you,” Vinnie started to say, but Mason shook his head.

“I know you don’t mean to, but when you shut down and close yourself off to protect yourself, you close yourself off from me too, even when you don’t realize it, and there’s nothing that makes me feel more lonely than being alone with you and feeling like you’re not even there.”

Mason’s words hit him with a sledgehammer, putting a huge crack in his chest and those damn cement walls they were both so familiar with.

Back before they’d left his parents’ house, he hadn’t needed them, had been more open to things like Mason was, but when his parents found them in his bedroom a month before graduation and told him they would have to leave the day after they finished high school, the first block was put in place.

He built up his walls quickly, needing to protect himself from feeling that pain, that betrayal from the people who were supposed to love him no matter what. But when they looked at him and Mason, someone he had loved for as long as he couldremember, they were disgusted by them. They couldn’t and wouldn’t accept it. The only reason they’d let him and Mason stay was because they were more worried about what their church friends would say if they kicked them out early. Being gossiped about was more terrifying to them than living under the same roof as two gay boys.

Vinnie didn’t know how Mason had held on to his sweetness and his ability to hold his heart wide open after losing his parents to a car accident, and then after living with him and his parents for two years before getting kicked to the curb simply for loving his adoptive parents’ son. No matter what life threw at them, Mason always stayed warm and loving, whereas Vinnie had started to turn cold, apathetic.

He just hadn’t realized how much it had been affecting Mason as well, how much he’d been inflicting it on him.

“I’ll try,” Vinnie whispered, emotions thick in his voice. “I don’t want you to feel that way ever again.”

Mason cupped the sides of his face. “I should have said something before. Instead of getting mad and arguing, we should have just sat down and talked. I just didn’t know if you’d hear me.”

He wasn’t sure he would have either. The one thing he had heard loud and clear was the front door closing in their apartment, Mason on the other side. He hadn’t realized he wouldn’t come back in that moment, but it had still been excruciating to watch him walk away and know that he had played a large part in causing the divide between them.

Music started to play out in the main club area, and Mason’s smile widened. “Are you going to stay for the party?”

“I’m not sure,” Vinnie said, “but I want to help Knuckles finish up the cupcakes. I told him I would come back.”

Mason nodded.

When Vinnie started to step away, his hold on his T-shirt tightened. Vinnie turned back to him, furrowing his brows. “What’s wrong?”

“Are you going to stay?” Mason asked softly, his voice breaking. “I don’t want you to sleep somewhere else. Please, Vinnie, stay here with me.”

He wasn’t sure it was a good idea. He didn’t want them to just ignore the problems from before and go back to pretending like everything was fine. But just like Tomas, he couldn’t say no to Mason’s pleading face, especially when he didn’t really want to.

He was tired of being alone too.

“Okay. I’ll stay.”

The party had started out pretty normal, as far as Vinnie could tell. He hadn’t exactly been to a lot of adult birthday parties since, for the longest time, it was just him and Mason, and then him, Mason, Penny, and Ollie.

But when the Devil’s Hands put on a party, they put everything they had into it, apparently. The lights had been turned down low, with white twinkle lights strung up across the ceiling, zigzagging back and forth and giving a soft warm glow to the room. But the music was loud and boisterous, as were the many partygoers, most wearing leather, motorcycle boots, torn jeans, and flannels.

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