Page 65 of Obsessed

“You lived in the same house and had sex almost daily, that’s marriage,” Tommy deadpanned.

Rain gave him a look that was met with a smirk.

“Okay, so has there been any contact since youdidn’tbreak up?”

“No.” Rain pursed his lips. “And I had to change my number because of my mom, so now he can’t get in touch with me even if he wanted to.”

“Do you want him to?” Invested, Tommy’s eyebrows rose.

“Kinda.” Even though the conversation was grueling, Rain needed this. He’d spent most of the last five months with Mason and hadn’t seen Tommy nearly enough. Texting and video chat didn’t replace dinner, or gaming, or just hanging out, and Rain needed to make more of an effort to travel the hour to see his brother.

“Then why did you not break up?” Tommy pushed in just the right way.

“I know he has feelings for me but...” Rain didn’t know how to explain the altar, his reaction to it, his long nights awake, and his indecision about contacting Mason again. He missed Mason, but were there still stars in his eyes or was he just blinded from the aftereffects? He needed a sounding board, an objective ear, and Tommy was the perfect candidate. “But he’s kind of obsessed with me.”

“In a stalker way?” Tommy asked, and they both lapsed into silence as the waiter brought over their food, their conversation pausing while they dug in. After a few bites, Rain put down his burger.

“No, not in a stalker way.” Rain gave the room another glance but thankfully the other patrons were seated out of earshot. “In a taking creepy pictures and making a giant photo collage of me on his darkroom wall kind of way.”

“That’s…nice? I mean, aren’t you his model?” Tommy had already demolished a third of his plate.

“It’s not nice.” Rain picked at his fries. “Because he started it before I moved in and some of the photos are of me with Caden and Bryce in The Pointe’s storage room, something Mason wasnota part of.”

“What?” Tommy hissed, dropping his fork, but Rain wasn’t done.

“And when I moved in he just put a sheet over it and a shelving unit in front. Didn’t even take the thing down.”

“Oh, so itisin a stalker way.” Concern lurked in Tommy’s light brown eyes.

“Don’t worry, he’s not dangerous. He’s just…he’s a sweet, introverted artist who fell in love with me.” Rain still felt the need to defend Mason because there was a difference between being malicious and being foolish, and Mason’s eager obsession had fallen into the latter. It didn’t excuse the violation but it softened the blow. “And honestly, I can forgive the whole threesome voyeur thing-”

“Because if you knew he was there you would’ve shown him your asshole too,” Tommy stated matter-of-factly.

“You know me so well.” Why hadn’t he talked to Tommy sooner? “And I can even forgive the wall altar.”

Tommy coughed through a laugh, swallowing his food. “Because you’re fucking full of yourself.”

“When you’re right, you’re right,” Rain shrugged with a smile that quickly fell. “But with him running hot and cold on admitting his feelings?” He sighed, shaking his head.

“Do you have any idea why he won’t admit them?”

Drawing up a knee between him and the table, Rain stared down at it. “Because he’s scared. He’s been bullied his whole life, by his family, by other kids. And, um, it turns out that Gage used to torture Mason in high school.”

Tommy opened and closed his mouth like a fish before finally finding some words. “That’s…I don’t even know what that is. What the fuck?”

“Right?” Rain took another bite of his burger. “Mason froze up the minute he saw him.”

“Aw, the poor guy.” Reaching over, Tommy stole a few of Rain’s fries, stuffing them in his mouth as Rain put down the burger again, his stomach twisting. Between the foyer incident, the fire, and the collage, things had gotten messy and Rain had a lot of regrets.

“I can’t figure out if missing him this much - if hurting this much - is normal, if I might’ve overreacted to things, if I’m stupid to want to forgive him and go back to him. Am I nuts?” Rain blinked as his eyes blurred. “I just don’t know what to do.” Great, they’d come full circle.

Tommy grabbed a few more fries. “You know I can’t tell you what to do. That’s something you have to decide for yourself, but for what it’s worth? I’ve never seen you this torn up about anyone. Usually, you’re the one in control. You never pine over men. You never care. You’re not nuts, you’re obsessed too.” He grinned. “Besides, you abandoned me for this dude, so he must be fucking amazing. I mean, aside from the stalker thing.”

Rain let out a humorless chuckle.

“Yeah…aside from the stalker thing.” But he found himself with even more questions. If he did decide to contact Mason again, when should he do it? And even if Rain wanted to work things out, Mason might not, and he might never want to share his feelings. Was Rain setting himself up to fail?

“Are you going to the show?” Tommy scraped his plate clean. “Youarehis model.”

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