Page 95 of Relapse
But this wasn’t some erotic tryst. The scowl on Mason’s face told me that. He wasn’t going to take me in there and make me feel so good it hurt. Judgment was the only thing I’d find on the other side of that door. This was my day of reckoning, and Mason was my executioner.
I peeked back over my shoulder, looking for something familiar in the glare watching me. A spark that I’d seen the night before. The green eyed little boy was in there somewhere. The flash I’d seen was brief, but it was there.Hewas there.
Maybe it wasn’t too late? I just had to figure out a way to take a step back and steer Mason in another direction. One that didn’t lead to Daddy’s wrath. Which would be a lot easier if I knew what was said. Did Daddy call him, or did he call Daddy?
“Do you still have my phone?” It was a redundant question. I knew he did, and I should’ve grabbed it before I snuck out this morning.
When I looked back at him, Mason shoved my shoulder again. “Why?”
I lurched forward, barely stopping myself from falling face first on the floor.
“Well if Daddy called on my phone,” I looked over at the door taunting me. It was getting closer. “Then he was probably mad that I didn’t answer.”
“What’s your point?”
At least he was responding. That was more than what I had a few minutes ago. I never realized how deafening silence could be. Yelling and anger meant bad things were coming, but silence was calm and peaceful. At least that’s what I thought, until Mason dragged me through his house without uttering a word. It was disturbing how terrifying quiet rage was.
I preferred the sound of his voice over the fear pulsing in my ears. But I didn’t know what to say. What was my point? That Daddy got mad? He got mad a lot, not that I could ever admit that to Mason.
I did the only thing I could think of and said something my mother used to tell me. “Sometimes when people are mad, they say things they don’t mean.”
Her words of wisdom helped me more times than I could count. This wasn’t one of those times.
Before I knew what was happening, I was slammed back against the wall and staring up at the very pissed off face of a green eyed demon.
“Is that what you tell yourself when you’re licking your wounds at night? That Daddy didn’t mean it because he was mad?” His hand shot out and wrapped around my neck. “News flash, little girl, your old man doesn’t give a shit about you.”
The truth behind his words stung so much that all I could say was a stuttered, “I… Uh… He…”
That wasn’t a suitable answer. Not in Mason’s opinion, anyways.
“He what?” Mason snarled, “Beat you? Pushed you down the stairs? Locked you in a closet maybe?”
Unable to risk looking him in the eyes, I ducked my head. Just because he was right didn’t mean he needed to see my pain. I would keep that to myself and stare at the swirls in the marble floor.
A determination I managed to keep until Mason bent over and added, “Or is it that he’s hiding somewhere in town?”
My brows furrowed as my head snapped up. What? Why would he think that? Daddy didn’t hide. Well, not physically anyway. It was only the darkness inside him that he kept secret.
“He’s out of town,” I said. “For business.”
“Your lies and betrayal are one thing, but this…” Mason shook his head and grabbed my wrist to drag me down the hall. “Just shut up.”
It felt like I was on a death march. Each step we took vibrated up my body to thunder through my head. Our feet clacking off the floor was all I could hear. It was all I could feel. The walls were closing in around me. They moved with my breaths. Sucking in when I did, then pushing out a little less each time, constricting the heavy weight of panic pumping through my veins. There was only one thing I could do.
Try and reach a softer side of the man dragging me to my doom.
“Mason…” If Riley could do it, why couldn’t I? “I don’t know what Daddy said, but…”
He cut me off. “Oh, stop protecting him.”
“I-I’m not.” Daddy wasn’t the one who needed protection.
“That’s right.” Mason’s hand tightened on my wrist as he stopped and glared back at me. “Not anymore.”
My heart dropped as the darkness in his eyes deepened the scowl on his face. Mason was beyond pissed. Beyond the enragement that the dark abyss of hatred brought. He was the beast.
Like Daddy…
