Page 62 of Obsessed

And since he’d ruined Rain’s contentment, he had to make amends by doing whatever he could to protect Rain, even from afar.

“Yes.” He took out the card, putting it on top of the file. “Can you help me find someone’s parole officer?”

17

RAIN

“Okay,letmegetthis straight.” Tristan looked up at the ceiling, concentrating. “Because you argued with Bryce and Kate threatened him, Bryce switched out her pan, she hurt her hand, and The Pointe burned down?”

“You’re almost right.” Rain got a water bottle from the fridge, still buzzing from his texting session withtheLucy Loudspeaker herself. “The Pointe didn’t burn down. According to Kate, the main room, the foyer, and some of the offices were destroyed but the rest of the building only had smoke damage.”

“Wow,” leaning back against the counter, Tristan let out a long exhale. “I’m so happy you got out of that alive, kid.”

“Me too.” Averting his gaze, Rain uncapped the bottle. He’d told Tristan an edited version of everything, leaving out his mother and Gage’s visit, the argument with Mason, and Rain ignoring the alarm, because the real story would give him a heart attack.

“Is Bryce going to be charged?” Tristan asked as they walked to the living room. Rain got comfortable on the couch while Tristan sat across from him in the overstuffed chair. “Do they have any proof?”

“Yeah, like, seven people noticed him do it since he’s too dumb to be stealthy, but no one knew it was the wrong pan, stuff gets changed all the time.Butsomeone casually mentioned it in the group chat and things took off from there.” Rain made anoh boyface. “Then I remembered that Bryce had been skulking around when Kate said that pan burned her hand, so I texted Marci and that’s when it got really wild. John had me and the other witnesses write statements about it. On the bright side, at least Bryce won’t be back when the place reopens.” The fire and Bryce’s part in it had everyone forgetting about Rain’s family drama and by the time the place was fixed it would be very old news, so Rain felt comfortable about returning to The Pointe.

Tristan shook his head, invested and shocked, his presence even more soothing post-hike. Staying with him after living in Mason’s cavelike sanctuary had been an adjustment, but thankfully the transition had been easier than expected and Rain needed that. After being humiliated at his job, barely surviving a fire, and leaving Mason, he’d maxed out on stress and couldn’t take any more.

“From Kate’s latest update, Bryce hasn’t been arrested yet, but if he is, I’m sure she’ll let me and everyone else know. Besides, he also burned her on purpose, so she could file charges too? I guess? She didn’t say anything about it. I think she’s too busy enjoying her vacation.” Rain sighed, snuggling into the corner of the couch. “I can’t believe that Owen and Marci went to bat for us, threatening a strike if John didn’t give everyone full pay.” He snickered. “And John gave inquick. It’s nice having an all-expenses-paid break for the next few months.”

“It must suck for him though, losing his building,” Tristan stated, stroking his beard, which he’d tamed down after the trail. Tall, with sandy brown hair and eyes to match, Tristan got almost as many stares in public as Rain did, and while he was still ruggedly lean in a way that told people he’d been through an athletic feat, he’d started filling back out.

“John is okay with it. He’s been wanting to remodel but when you’re booked solid for years?” Rain shrugged. “You can’t just take away the main room.”

“Whatdidhappen to everyone getting married there?” Tristan asked, lounging back, both of them enjoying a lazy Tuesday afternoon.

“I know this is gonna sound crazy but trust me, it’s true.” Rain tried not to giggle. “There’s a pastry chef network throughout the area. Kate reached out to her legion and they worked with their halls to fit in whatever clients they could. A bunch of people got refunds on their deposits but The Pointe won’t be down for long.”

“He won’t be able to rebuild too quickly,” Tristan pursed his lips. “They have to do an investigation, there’s insurance-”

“Tristan, he’s stupidly rich and knows, like, a million people. I’m sure he’s paying off everyone he can.” Rain took another swig of his water.

Thankfully, the wedding hall drama was a great distraction because while he felt quite safe at Tristan’s he wasn’t happy; he was heartbroken. Even though he and Mason had started at a hundred miles an hour by immediately living together, over the months their spark had built into a raging bonfire, scorching Rain’s soul with heated memories and bringing him right to the edge of love, only for the flames to die out, leaving behind nothing but smoke.

He wished he’d never felt anything at all because the ache in his chest was almost too much. Suddenly, all those songs about broken hearts were true and Rain had been streaming them on his headphones as he’d moped around the apartment.

Even Mouse seemed to miss Mason, whining at the door and howling at night, keeping Rain up, and he’d spend hours staring into the dark, thinking about how Mason had held onto him after the fire and the pain on his face when he’d walked out.

Over time, Rain began to wonder if he’d overreacted. He couldn’t deny that the altar and its contents were a creepy violation, but not to the extent he first thought it to be. At the time, if Mason had walked in and asked to join the threesome, Rain would’ve said yes. It’s not like he’d been private or modest in the past so why be freaked out about Mason capturing something semi-public? He knew from the start that sneaky photos were part of the package and that Mason wouldn’t do anything nefarious with them. He also knew that neither of them approached love in any normal way.

Now that he had some distance, maybe this obsession with RainwasMason’s type of love and Rain would be lying to himself if he said that he didn’t like it.

When he’d first found the altar he’d panicked and jumped to conclusions, accusing Mason of using him, of lying to him, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Rain’s nightly ruminations showed him all the little things that Mason had done, the ways he’d shown his affection, and they piled up into an irrefutable truth - Mason had cared; whatever they’d had wasn’t a lie. Sure, Mason had made a few mistakes but Rain hadn’t been perfect either, and if Mason had been using him, then that meant he’d been using Mason too, just like his mother had used Tristan and then Gage.

But Rain was different from her because what he felt for Mason was deep and soul-changing, yet it didn’t matter. He’d left, causing a rift that he didn’t know how to cross.

In the past, he’d coped by using busy hands and extra shifts to dissociate, but he didn’t want to do that anymore. So, instead of picking up a side job, he decided to use his break to unpack some trauma, and thanks to Mason, he had a clear starting point.

“It’s not harassment. It’sabuse, sexual abuse.”

Ever since Mason had uttered those words they’d picked at Rain like crows, lingering in the back of his mind, and over the last few weeks he’d had nothing but time to figure out if there was truth behind them.

Sadly, it didn’t take Rain long to confirm that there was, finding stories on the internet that mirrored his own, and buying books that explained so much of his feelings and behavioral patterns that he’d felt personally called out. He’d only started the exercises, so he hadn’t seen much change; however, he’d made a decision not to sleep with anyone for a while because he could only fill the void in his heart with Mason.

Sitting up straight, Tristan grimaced and then stood, shaking out his knee.

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