Page 28 of The Young & the Sinner

Great. Way to be subtle.

We set the table in silence for five minutes or so, me doing everything I could to avoid touching him. When he suddenly appeared at my side with the bowl of Caesar salad, I jumped so far back that I was thankful all the breakable plates had been on the table already.

Mason turned to me, his eyebrows furrowing. “Are you scared of me, Olivia?”

“What?”

“I know I gave you quite a scare the first time you saw me at the house.”

“I know. I’m sorry. I’m not scared of you. I was just surprised to see you.” Surprised to feel him so close to me, to feel his warmth, I didn’t add. Would I ever not be nervous in his presence?

“That’s good. I hope you know I wouldn’t do anything to hurt you.”

My shoulders relaxed. “I know,” I said softly. And I did know. There was just something about Mason—he was dangerous and intimidating, with his focused gaze and overwhelming size. I wasn’t blinded to that. But I also knew Max wouldn’t have invited Mason over to his house, brother or not, if he didn’t trust him completely.

And I trusted Mason to not hurt me.

“Good. Let’s get this all set up.” He smiled, and I could feel that smile all the way down to my stomach. I hated how I stopped feeling that way about Lorenzo’s smile ever since Mason entered the picture.

We finished setting up the table pretty quickly after that, mostly in silence, but I didn’t feel as uncomfortable as I thought I would. I didn’t feel the urge to replace the silence with words. Instead, I was happily humming along to a song that had been stuck in my head all day. I hadn’t been this content in weeks. Maybe it was because high school was finally over and done with, or maybe it was because I had the whole summer to do nothing but read plays and work, and that sounded pretty close to heaven to me.

Or perhaps the contentment was because I was finally able to move on from my mom’s abandonment. Not completely, of course—I didn’t think I would ever completely get over that. But maybe, just maybe, her actions didn’t have to hurt me so much anymore.

While we waited for Max, I caught Mason’s stare on me a few times, as if he couldn’t quite figure me out. I wanted to say I would tell him everything, if he’d only ask.

Max came down in casual jeans and a fitted white t-shirt. He patted Mason roughly on the back, so much so that I winced a little from the sound. But Mason didn’t seem affected; he only shot an annoyed glance at his brother.

“Hey, sweetheart.” He pressed a firm kiss on the top of my head before walking to the head of the table. “Everything looks good, Olivia. Let’s eat.”

“Okay.”

I had already decided I wasn’t going to bring up Lorenzo. Not with Mason here. That would just be weird. Maybe after dinner, I could catch Max in his office alone. I’d tell him then. I’d approach the topic like the mature adult I knew I was, and that was all there was to it.

So why was my heartbeat so fast at the thought?

I shook my head and took a bite of some grilled salmon.

Fifteen minutes into dinner, Max turned to me, his stare inquisitive. I fidgeted in my seat, wondering what I could have done to earn that look. My heart thudded for a brief second when I thought Max might know about my crush on his brother, but that couldn’t be it.

I took a sip of my water at the same time Max said, “I took a client out to eat at Lo Scoglio today and ran into Vincent Vitelli,” and I almost choked. “Oh, crap. Are you alright, Olivia?”

He called me Olivia. Not kiddo, or Olive, or sweetheart.

He knew.

“Yup. The water went down wrong, that’s all.” He raised a single eyebrow and I looked down at my plate. “Can Lizzie spend the night this Friday?” I asked, to change the topic. But I really did want her here. We hadn’t had a sleepover since I moved in with Max. Lizzie never said anything, but I thought it was because she was nervous about spending the night in the same house as Max.

“Of course. She’s always welcome here.”

I grinned. “Cool.”

Mason made a noise that sounded like a cough and a laugh. I looked at him and, sure enough, his eyes were glimmering in amusement. He winked, obviously catching on to my plan.

Max sighed. “Don’t change the subject, Olivia. Don’t you want to know about the interesting conversation I had with Vincent?”

“Not really, no.”

Mason lost it and laughed then. Max scowled at him, and even though I knew I was in trouble, I kind of liked that I was able to make Mason laugh.

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