Page 126 of Twisted Trails
Isn’t that the whole damn problem?
“Hey,” he says quietly, tenderly. “That’s not true.”
“Itis.” My voice cracks. “Everything keeps circling back to that. That I’m not enough, not strong enough, or fast enough. Not worth it.”
“Bambi.” Mason cradles my cheek with his rough hand, his thumb grazing the ridge of my cheekbone. I lean into the touch before I can stop myself. “You spent years in pain for this plan, and you’ve just hit a huge obstacle in it. One that might make the plan not work.”
My chin wobbles under his touch, and his eyes soften with something almost reverent as he continues.
“After all that, what has you here, wanting to crash out by yourself in this dingy bus, is that you think you failedme.” He holds me a little firmer, making sure I’m looking him directly in the eyes as he says, “You’re the best of all of us. This is not about you not being good enough.”
“But Isla?—”
“No.” He cuts me off. “Honestly, I don’t want you tomake her confess anything. I already told you once, I don’t want you to get in my shit and fight my battles for me.”
“But you didn’t do it! It’s not fair.”
“I know that,” he murmurs, still stroking me like he can soothe the words into my skin. “You know. Luc knows. Everyone who matters to me knows that, okay? And since I have you guys in my corner…” He exhales slowly. “It doesn’t feel so bad anymore.”
“But it still ruined your name and reputation. And there’s the sponsors and?—”
He slides his hand to the back of my neck and leans in, his mouth brushing my ear, sending a shiver down my spine.
“My name is just a name. I prefer beingnobody.” He pulls me in so our foreheads touch. “I’ll keep standing, keep doing what I’m doing, and with you guys by my side,I’m fine. More than fine, really.”
He moves his head and nuzzles against me, then grazes his lips over where my neck meets my shoulder, the touch so soft that I can barely breathe.
“Don’t do reckless shit for me,” he whispers against my skin. “Don’t get close to her, only to get found out. I’d rather you stay safe than have my name cleared.”
“But why would you?—”
He tilts up my chin and kisses me, full of quiet conviction, pouring every unsaid word between us into it.
“Because the secret of the girl I’ve just realized I’m madly in love with is way more important than the shit anyone says about me.”
“Mason,” I rasp, barely more than a breath, my heart stumbling over itself.
“You’re my nobody, Alaina. But I want you to be my everything too.” He cups my face in both hands, his eyes burning into mine. “I know we said we want each other ifLuc’s in the picture, but that’s not enough for me. I want us,you and me.Not just because we both belong to him, but because you want me too.”
I stare up at him, blinking through the ache behind my eyes as my heart flutters so fast it hurts.
“I do want you,” I whisper. “But Luc?—”
Mason’s lips tug into a crooked smile. “He already told me he wants that for us. Or, well,demandedit.”
I let out a short breath of laughter that’s half a sob because yeah,he so did.
“You know what that’s going to look like, right? To the media, to people, your dad? You being with me and him, and?—”
Mason raises an eyebrow. “Greer in the mix?” I glare, but he just grins like the smug bastard he is and presses another kiss to my mouth. “You live pretty freely when you’ve got no reputation left to lose. And honestly? I don’t give a fuck. I want you. Luc.This. I was unhappy long enough. If you want me?—”
I rise onto my toes and kiss him, my fingers digging into his chest guard as his hands slide to the small of my back over my towel and pull me flush against him.
We’ve never needed words, but I give them to him anyway. “You’re my nobody too,” I whisper against his lips, my voice trembling from everything I feel but can’t say all at once. “And I want everything with you.”
He kisses me again, deeper this time, less carefully. When I wind my arms around his neck and pull him down to me, the towel slips, hitting the floor with a soft thud, and my hands slide from him as I curl in on myself, panicked for half a heartbeat before I remember.
This isMason.
