Page 156 of The Young & the Sinner

Mason

I was nervous.

In a lot of ways, being in a relationship with Olivia was a brand-new experience for me. In other ways, it wasn’t.

I’d been in some relationships before. Casual ones, mostly. Ones that lasted a couple of months, ones that only lasted a couple of weeks, and even ones that lasted only one night, though I wouldn’t exactly call my one-night stands a relationship.

I was the experienced one out of the two of us, and that meant Olivia looked to me to lead her. That meant that it was me who controlled the pace of our relationship, though I didn’t mind one bit. Call me a controlling bastard, but I liked being in charge.

And having Olivia cede that control to me was a gift I would never abuse. But because of how young she was, I was afraid of pushing too hard. Of crossing some sort of line I had no business crossing in the first place.

I stood inside the empty home and could feel the slight tremors running up and down my legs and the dampness of my palms. I wasn’t even this nervous taking the bar exam.

My phone pinged with an incoming text. I looked down at the screen and read her message.

Late.

Olivia was usually punctual, but not today.

And my nerves were getting the better of me. Was I too presumptuous? What if she wasn’t anywhere near as ready for this as I was?

It wasn’t that I expected her to pack up everything from Max’s place and move in with me right away, but I wanted her to know that this was here for her, whenever she was ready.

I paced around the empty house, imagining what I would do and how I would go about filling this place up with furniture. Surely Olivia would like a voice in the matter.

And she would get it.

Hell, she could paint every room in this place pink and I wouldn’t mind as long as it made her happy.

I nearly dropped my phone when it rang.

Taking in a steady breath, I answered. “Hey.”

“Hey, so I just got home. But you’re not here. What is it that you wanted to show me?”

I smiled at the excitement I heard in her voice. My girl liked surprises. She wasn’t one of those girls who pretended not to love getting presents. No, Olivia was like a little kid on Christmas Eve when it came to surprises. I could almost imagine her jumping up and down.

“Why don’t you come outside, sweetheart. I’ll be out in a second.”

“You’re here? How come I didn’t see your car in the driveway?”

That was because I had parked in the garage. “Just come out.”

“Okay, okay. I’m going.”

I ended the call and put the phone away, my stomach feeling like it was about to drop all the way down to my feet. I let out a small sigh that turned into a laugh in this big empty house. I was being ridiculous. I felt like a fourteen-year-old boy again, about to see a pair of tits for the first time. But I was far from that boy.

I don’t think I had ever been that boy. Not since I had my innocence stolen from me.

Shaking away the depressing thought, I left the house through the front door. I didn’t close it all the way, seeing as I would be returning with Olivia shortly.

And there she was.

Her back was to me, as she stood on her driveway, looking out to the street, probably looking for me. But how could she know I wouldn’t be coming from that way?

I hadn’t told anyone about the house. Not even Max.

Especially not Max.

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