Page 56 of Obsessed

“I knew about you two before he told me,” she continued in her hushed tone, her eyebrow quirking. “And I can see that you treat him right.”

“…I don’t,” Mason grumbled after a minute. Why was he even spilling his guts to her? Probably because she reminded him of his Gran - warm and nurturing with a decent portion of sass.

“Wrong. You do. What happened upstairs affected both of you and I’m sure emotions were high after that. But it doesn’t erase the fact that Rain has looked downright happy these last few months. That boy was carrying some things when he started here, but now? He shines.”

A plate dropped in his lap and Mason looked up at the burly head chef, who stood in front of him, arms crossed.

“I’m Angelo and,” he jerked his head at Emma, “ditto to everything she said. Eat up. You need fuel to slog through the next few hours. And we’re not going to stop looking for Rain.”

Although Mason didn’t feel hungry, he ate a few forkfuls to be polite, amazed by how much these people cared about Rain, enough to want to offer him a place to stay and make sure he was safe, and Mason thanked his past self for speaking up in the state forest and letting Rain move in. Not only had it changed Rain’s life, but it had changed Mason’s too.

Mason wanted to tell Rain that; he wanted to tell Raineverything.

Sound rose in the kitchen as the cake-cutting loomed and servers began running back and forth, so Emma and Angelo left Mason to himself. Quickly forcing down half the meal, he stood, knowing that he had to get back to the party and wondering where to put his dish when the chef with bright yellow hair walked in with a cart. Pushing it close to where Mason sat, she smiled at him and then wandered to the back.

“I need an assistant for the bananas Foster. I don’t wanna burn the place down,” she laughed.

Mason put his dish near Angelo’s station, nodding at him.

“Thank you.” It was somehow easier to say that now.

“No problem, pal.” Grinning, Angelo nodded back, and Mason turned, squinting at the amount of people swinging through the main doors. Looking around, he headed toward the other exit by the dessert cart, squeezing by the floppy-haired server that had been part of Rain’s storage room threesome. Was he the one who’d called Mason names? It didn’t matter because he wouldn’t even look Mason’s way; he was too busy trading out the big pan on the cart.

The reception music came to an end and the MC’s voice echoed through the building, easily heard over the cacophony of the kitchen.

Ladies and gentlemen, get your cameras ready because the bride and groom are about to cut the cake!

Breaking into a run, Mason launched himself into the main room, making it to the center spot just in time, and he kept one eye on his camera and the other on the door in case Rain decided to walk in. Unfortunately, Finn and Dylan were the only ones to grab his attention, both giving him a slight shake of their head as the cutting of the cake finished up.

Even though Mason’s heart had already sunk into the floor it managed to fall another level and his eyes misted again. Gritting his teeth, he looked around, trying to distract himself by studying the crowd.

Because of the earlier chaos, Marci and Owen were in the room, posted on either side to make sure things ran smoothly, and Liam stood beside Owen, talking to a few of the servers. Finn went over to Ollie as the bananas Foster cart rolled in, high-fiving the yellow-haired chef who pushed it, and the two employees she had in tow helped her set up.

With a heavy sigh, Mason prepared to get his regular shots, dragging himself to the bride and groom as they stood on the edge of the dance floor, anticipation in their eyes.

“Can we move it up?” The pastry chef looked down at the floor in front of the DJ setup. “There’s some kind of carpet here.”

Pushing the cart further away, she nodded at the DJ and he started the cheesy techno music that always accompanied this display, his multicolored lights flashing before they dimmed, leaving only her station lit.

Under the spotlight, she poured liquor around the edge of the giant pan, lighting it on fire to the oohs and aahs of the crowd. Flashes snapped everywhere, making it difficult for Mason, but even with his brain in chaos mode, he managed to grab a few amazing shots, especially when she added bananas to the pan and began to flip it. The fruit curved high a few times and Mason got it all, how it formed an arc before it fell, the gentle splash as it hit the pan, and the way the chef shrieked in pain, dropping the pan on top of the bottle of alcohol, which shattered as everything spilled to the floor.

In theory, there shouldn’t have been a fire but the bottle had just been filled, the cart hadn’t been moved up enough, and the DJ’s backdrop was completely flammable, going up in seconds.

That’s when people started screaming.

“Everybody out!” Owen roared, grabbing Liam’s arm and waving towards the doors as smoke started to billow across the room, causing the sprinklers to go off and the fire alarm to screech through Mason’s head, and he lurched in panic.

Was Rain still in the building? He’d never had a chance to search but it wasn’t too late.

Shoving his cameras into his bags, he made it into the foyer, where Marci, Dylan, Ollie, and Liam were all guiding people outside, keeping the mass hysteria at bay. Wiping water out of his eyes, Mason took a few steps away from the crowd, trying to slip around the back of the giant stairwell when a hand clamped onto his arm.

“Wrong way!” Finn shouted over the ringing.

“Rain might still be in here,” Mason yelled back, freeing his arm.

“And he’s not hearing this?” Finn gestured at the ceiling. “Or getting soaked? You won’t be any good to him if you’re dead.”

A roaring whoosh rang through the building as the fire grew and the last few people hurried out, leaving Finn and Mason behind. Tearing over to them, Ollie grasped Finn’s shirt, pulling him toward the door, shrieking. “We have to go!”

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