Page 54 of Writing Mr. Wrong

A moment of silence. Then: “Has he saidwhyhe did that in high school?”

“No.”

“Whathashe said?”

Gemma sighed and switched the phone to her other ear. “He takes the blame and acknowledges I was hurt. But he hasn’t apologized. He’s never apologized, and that should be my signal to get out now.”

Her mother exhaled. “I’m not sure it’s that simple, baby. I get the feeling Mason is a lot more complicated than he seems. If he’s acknowledged the harm, then that’s an apology in his way. But you deserve an explanation, and I think you need to ask him for one.”

“Or just never see him again. That seems like a fine option right now.”

Silence.

“Mom? It’s okay to agree with me. To tell me that I should walk away.”

“I’m… not sure that’s the answer, Gem. You might need to work through this. Get answers about Mason and how you feel about him, either way.” A deep inhale. “But I’m not going to interfere any more than I already have. Just know that if you want to talk, I’m here. Whatever you decide, we’ll support you, unless we see yougetting hurt.” Mom’s voice cracked. “We already did that once. We saw you changing, slowly, and we worried, but…”

“I put up a good front, and I wasn’t letting anyone past it. Even you.”

“Which is no excuse. We should have pushed. That’s fair warning, though, that if we see something, wewillsay something.”

“Thank you, Mom. I appreciate that.”

MASON

Mason was sitting on his sofa, staring into nothing as he listened to the audiobook. His motorcycle helmet lay beside him, but he hadn’t taken out the earbuds since first putting them in. And he hadn’t stopped the audiobook.

He didn’t understand what he was listening to. Was calling it a romance one of those marketing things? Like those ads calling Mason “the player of his generation”? Hyperbole, that was the word for it.

Was that it? The publisher wanted to call it romance, so Gemma had to pretend it was?

So far, he mostly just had this governess—Edin—and her boss, Laird Argyle. The guy was some kind of Highland knight, a really good fighter… who knew exactly how good he was.

That part wasn’t bad—nothing wrong with well-earned self-confidence. The problem was how he bragged and acted like it made him better than everyone. He was rude to his staff, including Edin. And he seemed to be screwing everything in a skirt. Edin had already stumbled on him with two women, one of whom she’d laterfound crying because Argyle had sent her on her way with a necklace, paying her off like a sex worker.

The guy was a self-absorbed braggart who went through women like tissues and…

No, thiswasn’tthe hero. It wasn’t the guy Gemma based on Mason. It couldn’t be.

Another character had just appeared. A baron’s daughter who tore Laird Argyle a new one when he flirted with her at a masquerade ball. Fuck.Thiswas Gemma.

As Mason listened, he grinned, his discomfort falling away. Okay, this new woman wasn’t actually Gemma—they just shared a few traits. Still, Lilias was far more his kind of character, and far more what he expected Gemma to write.

Lilias must be the main character.

So who washerlove interest?

Could it be Laird Argyle?

No, because if her love interest was Laird Argyle, then Laird Argyle was based on him, which he could not—

Wait. What was happening?

It was still the masquerade ball scene, and Edin and Lilias were comforting a woman Laird Argyle had “cut.” That meant he’d ignored her, refusing her invitation to dance, while others whispered that Laird Argyle had bedded and abandoned her.

Edin and Lilias were comforting this woman when Laird Argyle walked over, bold as brass, and asked Lilias for a dance. Right in front of the poor woman he’d ignored. Lilias ran him off with the sharp edge of her tongue, and all that wouldn’t be more than extra proof—if he needed it—that Argyle was a jerk, except…

Eighth grade. The Halloween dance. Mason came dressed as a zombie hockey player, because everyone expected him to dress as a hockey player and he hated to disappoint. Also, it was an easy costume.

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