Page 168 of Mason

Brando steps forward. “Mywife,” he bites out. “In a place like this, cleaning up after your mess because her sorry excuse for a father can’t keep it together. Come on, man,” he snaps. “This isn’t her job. It’s not Maxine’s, either. They can’t keep cleaning your shit. You’re burning down, and they’re standing in the wreckage.”

“I didn’t ask them to come,” I snarl, not even sure what the hell I’m saying anymore. My voice feels far away.

Mia pulls back like I hit her.

“I don’t want to be babysitting a grown man either,” she says, voice trembling with anger. “But this is what I get forgiving a damn.”

My jaw tightens until my teeth ache.

“She left me,” I rasp.

“Shelby left,” Mia hisses, “and you’ve been acting like shedied. You think this—” She waves a hand at me, at my bloodied clothes, my slurred words, my entire pathetic existence. “You think this is what she’d want to come back to?”

“She’s never coming back,” I mutter.

“She left because she’sbroken,” Maxine says softly. “And you—you’re making it all about you.”

I flinch.

Iactuallyflinch.

“You loved her,” Maxine continues. “I know that. But she’s not dead, Mason.Youare. You’re dying piece by piece and taking everyone down with you.”

I look down at my hands. At the blood. At the bruises. At the rage I thought would make me feel alive.

And for the first time in days, something else creeps in.

Shame.

“You’re not alone, you idiot,” Mia says, folding her arms across her chest. “You still have us. You still have people who care.”

And maybe that’s the worst part.

Because I don’t know what the hell todowith people who care.

I was supposed to protect Shelby.

I was supposed to be her shield when the world went dark.

But I watched her tremble under my touch.

Watched her walk away.

Watched herchoosea life without me, because being alone was safer than being mine.

And I let her.

Because I thought maybe she needed space.

Now?

Now allIhave is space.

And regret.

And this goddamn war inside me that no amount of bloodshed can quiet.

The second thefront door clicks shut, silence floods in—thick, accusing, heavy as hell.

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