Page 46 of Fun and Games
Mason had taken a photo exactly like it at the safari. No, not like it. This was the exact same photo. It had to be. The angle, the composition, the pose. It was an exact replica, pixel for pixel.
Why hadn't I noticed the similarities before?
Mason was Rogue.
I lowered my phone, stunned, and stared off into nothing.
Why hadn't he told me? Why hadn't he mentioned he had this secret double life, with thousands of online followers? He'd talked about running the bar, and about being in the music industry, and about enjoying travel. But he'd never mentioned this.
That first night at the pub, during my trivia dispute, he'd pulled out his phone and shown me his own blog to prove his point.
If I had known then who he was…
It didn't matter, though, because I hadn't known. I'd thought he was just a hot bartender. I had no idea Mason was the guy who helped bring joy and laughter and comfort to so many thousands of people.
A buzzing sensation ran through my veins. I couldn't stand to sit still any longer. Energy was beginning to rush through me, a kind of adrenaline spike that made it impossible for me to stay there, staring down at my phone.
I needed to see Mason. I had to hear it confirmed from his own lips.
I'd been following this guy for years, hanging onto his every word. The things he wrote had inspired me. Comforted me. And from the amount of followers he had, he'd done the same for others as well.
In the aftermath of losing David…
He'd made me feel just a little bit less alone.
Eighteen
I didn'tquite barge into Sin and Tonic, but I did bust through the doors with enough force to make the bar patrons closest to me turn their heads with raised eyebrows.
A quick scan of the room didn't reveal Mason's presence. If it weren't for the fact that everyone apparently had to nag him to take a day off, I might have thought he wasn't at work. As it was, I knew he must have been in a back room.
I made my way over to the bar counter where a pretty young blonde in a cute dress stood behind it washing glasses in a sink. She was familiar enough, and I thought I recognized her from one of my previous visits to the bar.
"Excuse me," I asked politely. "Where can I find Mason?"
The girl looked up from the sink briefly, then her honey-colored eyes went round as she stared at me. A slow smile crossed her lips.
"Oh, you're Mason's—" she cut herself off with a cough. "I mean, I've seen you with Mason before. Bree, right?"
"That's me."
"It's nice to meet you," she said, sounding more enthusiastic than I thought was necessary. "I'm Lizzy."
Maybe it wasn't only Connor and Quinn who Mason had told about me. Maybe everyone who worked at the bar knew about us as well. Did all guys tell their friends about the girl they were casually sleeping with? It was just one more instance that made me wonder what exactly Mason and I thought we were doing together. Were we fuck buddies? Friends? Something more?
"I was hoping to catch Mason tonight," I told Lizzy. "Is he in?"
"He's around in the back somewhere," she said. "I think he said he had to do some accounting paperwork. Boring manager stuff, you know?"
Lizzy walked around the counter and gestured for me to follow her down a hallway. One of the doors lining the walls was half open, and I saw Mason sitting at a small, cramped desk, his head bent over a laptop. The glow of the screen cast shadows across his face, highlighting his strong jawline and reflecting in his green eyes.
Lizzy rapped her knuckles on the doorframe.
"Mason, you've got a visitor," she said in a sing-song voice.
He lifted his head from the screen. When he saw me, his eyes lit up.
"Hey, what are you doing here?" he asked, sounding surprised but pleased.
