Page 43 of The Art of Dying

He glowered down at me, familiar rage darkening his eyes. The mask fell, and the real Mason surfaced.

I brushed past him and hurried up the stairs, but just as I pulled on the screen door, Mason held it closed.

I could feel his breath on my cheek as he spoke. “We’re not finished.”

“I have nothing else to say,” I said, keeping my eyes on the door handle.

Mason grabbed my arm and yanked me around, pressing my back against the door. “You think it’s been easy for me to stay away? You think I’m not still in love with you?”

I closed my eyes, trying to force down the panic welling up inside me.

“I’ll tell my mom it was my fault,” he offered.

My eyes shot up at him.

“I’ll tell her to cut you some slack at the hospital.” He smiled for a moment. I’d never noticed how crooked and fake it was. When he didn’t get the reaction he was hoping for, his face crumbled. “I can’t stop thinking about you. We have this connection I can’t find with anyone else. I don’t want to. The way I feel about you, Mack? I don’t think I’ve loved anyone until I met you. We can’t just throw that away.” He leaned in to kiss me, but I held him at bay.

“I have a boyfriend.”

His expression turned severe. “A boyfriend.Kitsch? Really? You’re saying that as if it’s something to be proud of. People are laughing at you, Mack. Worse, they’re laughing at him. You knew the second I got back you’d break his heart. Why even bother? I stayed gone. I haven’t said anything, waiting for you to come to your senses and then I hear you moved in with the guy.” He glanced up at the house before looking back at me. “I can’t stand by while you pretend with him just to hurt me. You don’t really want him. You’re just trying to make me jealous. What a shitty thing to do to someone.”

“Leave,” I finally managed. “Now.”

“See?” he said, laughing once. “You can’t even deny it.”

“Stay away from me!” I screamed in his face.

He grabbed both of my arms, jerked me toward him and then the door opened, sweeping my hair with the suction.

“What the fuck?” Alecia said. She opened the screen door and wrestled me away from Mason. She didn’t have to try very hard.

He took a few steps back as she positioned herself in front of me, but just as he opened his mouth, Alecia screamed at him.

“GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE! Leave! Now!” She screamed so loudly her voice broke with each word as she pointed to the street, shaking with anger.

With an amused smile, Mason leaned over to meet my eyes. “We’ll talk later.”

“No the fuck you won’t!” Alecia called after him.

She rushed me inside, locked the door and then pulled me to her chest, her entire body shaking. “Oh, my God. Oh, my God, Mack! Are you okay? Did he hurt you?” She released me, looking me over.

I shook my head quickly.

We both stood, staring at each other in shock, breathing hard.

Alecia’s eyes suddenly filled with tears, and her next words were so quiet they were almost a whisper. “He’s never going to stop, is he?” When I didn’t answer, she forced a smile. “Go to California,” she said, wiping a tear from her cheek. “Marry Kitsch, move away, and you never have to worry about him again.”

“I can’t marry Kitsch just to get away from Mason.”

“You said it yourself. You love him. Finally escaping Mason is just a bonus.”

I hugged myself for a moment—something I hadn’t done since my days with Mason—and then glanced at the clock. “We’re going to be late.”

“You’re really going to try to go to work today? Be around Nita? What if Mason comes to see her at work? I’ll tell you what you’re going to do. You’re going to stay home and pack, and I’m going to tell Nita yesterday was your last day, tell her what I saw this morning, and if she warns Mason and doesn’t give you a glowing letter of recommendation, you’re going to press charges against her psychopath of a son. I’ll take your car to work and have Lucas help me with my car and getting your car to you later. Then we’ll be by to help you pack and see you off.”

I looked around. “I… I can’t just leave.”

Alecia hugged me. “Yes. Yes, you can. And I’m going to miss you like crazy.”

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