Page 73 of The Young & the Sinner

“Cool.”

His lips twisted in a smile. “Cool,” he repeated. “Yes. I hope you like Thai food. There’s this great place just around the block that delivers.”

“Sounds good.”

We stared at each other in more awkward silence, and I had never wished I had successfully learned social etiquette as a kid more than I did right now. Perhaps then I would know what to say to him.

“How was your first day of school?” Mason asked.

I thought about lying, but there was just something about Mason that made me want to tell him everything.

“It was alright. It was hard not to see Lorenzo’s ghost there, though. I mean, I know he’s not even in the city anymore, yet every time I turned around, there was always something that reminded me of him.”

Mason nodded in understanding. “Yeah, I get that. It’ll be a while before you’re truly comfortable with your setting.”

“I know. I just wished thoughts of him would go away completely. I hate how much power he still has over me. It’s like I’m letting him win by thinking about him.”

Mason moved a little closer to me and placed his hand on my shoulder. When I looked at him, he nodded reassuringly at me to go on. I looked away, not wanting to see the look in his eyes when I told him the next part.

“I can’t wear makeup anymore,” I said in a whisper.

“Okay.” I could tell he was confused about that statement, but he didn’t say more, just waited for me to elaborate.

“Every time I try to make myself look pretty, I get a sick feeling in my stomach and I… I just can’t do it. Everyone keeps telling me it’s not my fault, that I didn’t ask to be attacked, and I know that. I really do. But I’m also scared to go anywhere with my face made up. I’m scared that if I somehow looked decent in any way, I’m asking to be assaulted again.”

From the corner of my eye, I saw Mason’s fist clench tightly. He released it the same time he released his breath on a slow exhale. Then, carefully, he wrapped his arms around me. Our eyes met for a long moment before I was pulled in close, my face buried in his strong chest, and it felt as if nothing and no one could ever hurt me again.

“Mason,” I whispered into the fabric of his shirt, my arms coming up around his waist, hesitantly at first. But when he didn’t do anything more than tighten his arms around me, I grew confident in my touch.

“It’s okay, Livie. No one is going to hurt you again. I promise.”

I nodded. I believed him. I felt his lips brush against the top of my head softly. I didn’t want to leave. I wanted to stay like this with him, forever.

Would he let me?

Then three loud knocks pounded on the door, and I knew it wouldn’t be possible. That must be the food. There was no way that was twenty minutes, and I cursed fast-food delivery when Mason pulled away from me.

He stood up and looked down at me on the couch, and I couldn’t be sure what it was that he saw, but I swore I saw his blue eyes turn soft right before he walked away from me.

I sat there in silence, taking in my surroundings. I still couldn’t believe I was sitting in Mason’s apartment. The hour that I’d been here didn’t feel real.

When Mason walked back toward me, he was carrying a large box. He set it on the ground by the coffee table and started pulling out boxes and boxes of food. My stomach grumbled from the smell alone, and Mason shot me an amused smile.

“Hungry?”

I cringed and answered softly, “A bit.”

“Good. Because I bought a lot.” He handed me a small bowl and a plastic fork, then opened all the containers, revealing the food. I didn’t know what everything was called, but at least I could recognize noodles and chicken when I saw them.

“Take a little bit of everything. I want to make sure you’re eating enough, okay?”

I looked at him, and his eyes twinkled with something I couldn’t identify. “Okay.”

He winked and I nearly went into cardiac arrest. No man should ever be this good looking. No man should ever have this strong of an effect on anyone, period. It made him dangerous in ways I’d never thought of.

Mason took a seat next to me, and though there were some space between us, it wasn’t as huge as before. He even helped me picked the chopped scallion out of my bowl and put it on his own. I smiled into my fork and took a bite of the chicken.

The day was turning out to be not so bad after all.

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