Page 51 of Like Sugar

What should have been a twenty-minute drive turned into over an hour between the rain and the traffic.I pulled onto Candace’s street and my pulse skyrocketed.Despite my impatience trying to get here, I sat in my car for a long time trying to get my shit together.

I went up to the front door and rang the bell.Mr.Rodriguez answered.“Hi, Senator.To what do I owe this surprise?”

Of all the people to answer this door, he was the last resident of that house I had hoped it would be.Using my politician voice, I answered, “I’m here to see Candace.Is she here?”

“Sure.Step inside while I get her.It’s raining cats and dogs out today.”

I stepped just inside the door, but not off the mat in front of it.I didn’t want to have this conversation in front of Candace’s father, so I hoped he wouldn't lurk about while we spoke.

Candace came down the stairs until she saw me at the door.“Mason.Is everything okay?Where’s Wyatt?Cee?”She sounded panicked.

“Everyone’s fine,” I reassured her.“I was hoping we could talk.”

“Unless it’s about Wyatt, I don’t think there’s anything to say.”She didn’t move any closer.Her father looked between the two of us and slid out of the room.

“Candace, please.I need to apologize for the way I reacted.It was completely unfair to just shut you out like that.I was an asshole, and I’m sorry.”

“Fine.You’ve apologized.You can go.”She pointed to the door.

“I miss you.”

“I miss Wyatt,” she countered.

“He told me he calls you on his ‘hi-pad.’He misses you too.”The corner of her mouth lifted.“But not like I do.”

She turned away.“Mason, I may be young and immature, but I’m too old for games.Just tell me what you want and go.”

Ooof.“I’m so sorry for calling you immature.It was not my best moment.I was trying to push you away.”

“Well, it worked.So go.”

“Having you so close but not being able to touch you was killing me.I thought putting distance between us would fix everything and all I did was hurt both of us more.I was wrong and I’m sorry.I’m so fucking sorry.”

She came down the last half of the stairs toward me.Her arm went out, and I thought she may reach for me, but it was the doorknob she grabbed.“Go, Mason.I have no interest in being your side chick.”

“Cand—”

“Go!”

I stepped out onto the stoop.“Please, Candace.I want so much more than casual.Can we please just talk about this?”The rain poured down my face as I looked at her dry inside the house.

“We’ve talked.We don’t share priorities.I don’t give a fuck what your dad thinks, and you do.And that’s always going to be an issue for us.I’m always going to be scandalously younger.I don’t want to spend my life hiding a relationship.”

“I don’t either.I want everyone to know how much I love you, Candace.Please come home with me.”

She stilled, a tear building in her eye.“Don’t do this, Mason.Please.”

“Don’t what?Tell you I love you?Beg you to come home?Because it’s all I want to do.I want to pick you up and drag you back to my car and kiss the fuck out of you.I don’t want to spend another day without you.Please, come home with me.”

“The press—”

“Fuck the press.I’m standing on the sidewalk begging you to come home with me.Does it look like I care about press?”

She looked around her quiet neighborhood.“It’s pouring, and this is a pretty secluded area.Pretty sure there aren’t press lurking about.”

“Then call the press.Let’s go somewhere public and I’ll beg you again.I don’t care who knows.”

“Until they do, Mason.Then you’ll realize—”

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