Page 152 of The Grand Ruin: Lance & Scarlet-Part One

“Wait. Nina let you in the house?” I stare at Mason in surprise as he finishes the last of his reps.

He places the barbell down. “Don’t get too excited. It was awkward as fuck.”

Good. This is good. “It’s a start,” I tell him, nodding.

“Too right, it’s a start.” Elliot claps Mason on the back, his chest heaving. “You’re both too stubborn for your own good sometimes. We all needed this.”

Elliot isn’t wrong. After Nina gave birth to Ellis, she didn’t want to see Mason, and without even discussing it, we became the bridge between the two of them. It’s easy when the kid has us wrapped around his little finger.

If Nina and Mason can stick being in the same room as one another, it’ll take the weight off everyone. Especially Lucy and Elliot. They seem to do the most out of us all.

For months things have seemed to level out. I’ve even started to let go of what happened last year. What I did. I’ve watched Nina raise Mason’s son. Watched her become important to my friends—to me. And through every second of it, I tried to tell myself that she was the one in the wrong. What I did was beyond fucked up. That’s on me. But she took that money. She’s never admitted what she did, and neither have I.

I don’t really know what sort of person that makes me.

Nina isn’t a bad person, though, and if there’s one thing I’m sure of, it’s that I made a mistake. I’d give anything to take it back, but I can’t.

“I agree that we need this.” And I mean it. It feels good, the idea they might figure it out.

I rarely allow myself to think about Scarlet Lowell for long, but I can’t help standing here now and wondering if Nina and Mason working their way back to one another might bring Scarlet back to me.

That maybe if they’re okay, it’s okay for us to be okay too.

Again, I don’t know what sort of person that makes me.

Charlie nods, scrubbing a towel through his hair. “You’ll come out the other side of this, Lowell. Give it time.”

If only time could heal all wounds.

It can’t.

It won't.

Not when it comes to her.

She deserves the world.

Mason shakes his head and sniggers. “You make out like we’re getting back together. Which isn’t what I want.”

No one bothers to respond to his bullshit.

I push down my wandering thoughts, not needing to torture myself thinking about Scarlet.

He lifts the barbell again, his muscles rippling. “She walks away whenever shit gets hard. And she didn’t give me a chance to figure out what was going on when I begged her to stay. With or without those pictures, she would have walked eventually. I’mdone.”

I shouldn’t let his words ease my guilt, but they do.

Logan, the owner of the gym, crosses to where we’re working out and tips his chin at us. “Gents.” His eyes move to Mason. “Lowell, the room above this place, we’re still keeping it for Nina? I have some equipment coming in today and could do with using it for storage.”

Charlie looks away.

Elliot grins.

And I stand, hands on hips, trying to slow my throbbing heart. Still, after all this time… one lost thought to her, and I’m fucked.

“Leave it the fuck alone, Morgan,” Mason grunts, doing another rep.

Logan nods, already accustomed to Mason’s colourful mouth, and walks away.

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