Wasted (14 page)

“
Did you ever go camping
growing up?” she asked, looking at me thoughtfully.

“
Nah.” I scanned the
stream, thinking about my childhood. “My mother never had the money
or the inclination to take us on vacation.”

“
Never?” she
asked.

Hearing the pity in her voice, I didn’t turn
to look at her. I sure as hell didn’t want to see it in her eyes.
“Nope.”

“
Did your mother ever take
you anywhere? Like a staycation?”

“
She did take us to a
ballgame once.”

“
Was it fun?”

An amused laugh escaped my lips. “Yeah,
until she got drunk. It wasn’t long after that until we were asked
to leave—which she did screaming and cussing. It was a wonder they
didn’t call the police on her.”

“
I’m sure they would have
nowadays.”

“
Yeah, you’re probably
right,” I agreed, remembering the day my mother stumbled out of the
ballpark.

“
Is that why you didn’t go
to college? Because your mother didn’t have the money?”

“
Part of the reason why, I
guess. My mother never really talked about college, and I guess I
never thought much about going. It wasn’t until after….” Stopping
midsentence, I realized there were things I wasn’t ready to tell
her, things I didn’t want her to know.

“
After what?” she
asked.

I glanced at her and pasted on a smile.
“Nothing. I did eventually register for college, but I had to work
to take care of my responsibilities. In the end, I withdrew from my
classes. College just isn’t a feasible option for me.”

“
I’m sure if it’s something
you want to do….”

“
It’s not an option. End of
story.” I hated the gruffness in my voice. Lexi had no idea of the
shit I’d been through. It wasn’t her fault if she had parents who
wanted the very best for their child, parents who would never
imagine neglecting their child the way my mother had neglected her
children.

I was glad she didn’t understand. “Besides,
plenty of people are successful without a college degree,” I said,
softening my tone. “I really wanted to buy the bar from Spanky, but
even though he sold it to someone else, I still plan on opening my
own bar someday.”

“
In Creekview?” she asked,
rising up on her elbows.

“
I reckon. Who knows? Maybe
I’ll find me a nice little spot on the beach somewhere. I even had
a name picked out for it.”

“
What was it?”

“
Whiskey Nights. I’ve had a
lot of whiskey nights in my life, and I don’t know…it just seemed
to fit.”

I’d been banking on being able to buy the
bar from Spanky. That had been the only option of being anything
other than a bartender that I’d considered. I thought about the day
Lexi told me that sometimes we had to pursue options, that
sometimes we had to create them.

Gazing at her, I realized that she made me
think about things differently. I didn’t know whether she was
right, whether I really could create options for myself.

One thing I did know…Lexi Swafford made me
feel better about myself. Hell, she made me feel better about
life.

I was starting to think that I needed to
keep her around.

Chapter
11

Sweet Dreams

Lexi

Over the next couple of weeks, Mason and I
spent nearly all of our free time together. He had taken things
slowly, which I had appreciated, giving us the opportunity to get
used to the change in our relationship before it escalated into
something more.

Every night, I went to bed thinking about
him, and even though I was the one who’d wanted to slow our
progress, I often thought of the times when we’d had intimate
contact. He made me giddy and silly and incredibly aware of him.
With every touch of his hand, tiny shivers cascaded through my body
and my heart flipped in my chest, making me want to forget all the
cautions that would protect me from heartbreak.

I knew the pain caused by falling in love
with someone who wasn’t committed to me all too well. It was an
agony that I never wanted to experience again, one that I would go
to great lengths to avoid.

As I folded laundry, I thought about him and
our relationship, about what I wanted. I wasn’t sure if it even
mattered anymore. Perhaps it was too late. All he had to do was
shoot me one of his endearing grins, and I was lost, craving him
with a ferocity that I’d never experienced. What was it about him
that could render all intelligent thought useless? I already knew I
was letting my heart guide me, not my head.

A knock at the door pulled me from my
thoughts. I tossed a pair of his boxers back in the pile, crossed
the living room, and looked out the peephole.

Focusing on the pretty blonde that stood on
the other side of the door, I watched her as she pushed her hair
over her shoulder. She leaned toward the door, looked in the
peephole, and knocked again.

A twinge of jealousy ricocheted through my
body. Was this one of the women with whom he’d had sex? The thought
left me feeling queasy.

She knocked again, and I reluctantly pulled
the door open.

I could tell by her shocked expression that
she hadn’t expected a woman to be in Mason’s apartment.

Her mouth opened, closed, and then opened
again before she finally spoke. “I was looking for Mason.”

I recognized her from the photo in his room.
Was she an old girlfriend? “He’s not here right now. He should be
back in a few minutes, though.”

“
Oh.”

Having no idea who she was or whether Mason
would want to see her, I wondered if I should invite her in. A huge
part of me hoped that she would turn around and leave.

“
I’ll just give him a call
on his cell.”

“
Okay.”

She offered me her hand. “I’m his sister, by
the way.”

Relief flooded my body, and I immediately
relaxed as I shook her hand. “Haley?”

“
So you’ve heard about
me?”

“
Yes. Mason’s spoken very
fondly of you.”

She beamed, and seeing the resemblance, I
wondered why I had noticed it sooner. Her hair was lighter than
his, but she had the same easy smile, the same dimples.

“
He better speak fondly of
me. I’m his favorite sister.” Her smile widened. “Of course, I’m
his only sister, but that’s beside the point.”

Realizing that I’d left her standing
outside, I quickly motioned for her to enter the apartment. “Come
in.”

She stepped inside and glanced around.
Turning to face me, she said, “I’m sorry, but are you a friend of
his?”

I splayed my fingers across my chest. “I’m
his roommate, Lexi.”

“
I didn’t realize that he’d
found a roommate. I have to admit that I’m kind of
surprised.”

“
You are?”

“
His roommates are usually
guys.”

“
I needed a place to stay
temporarily, and he was kind enough to help me out.” We sat
silently a moment, while I tried to think of something to carry on
the conversation. “Mason tells me that you’re a nursing
student.”

“
Yeah, this is my last
semester, so I’m pretty excited about that. Hopefully, I’ll be able
to get a job as soon as I graduate.”

“
That’s the good thing
about being in the health care field. You’ll always be in demand. I
just graduated myself with a business degree.”

“
Have you found a job
yet?”

“
Well, right now, I’m
working at the bar, but I’m definitely keeping my options
open.”

Haley checked the time on her phone.

“
He shouldn’t be long. He
told me that he wanted to pick something up before our date tonight
and that he should be back in half an hour.”

Haley’s mouth dropped open. “Your date?”

I realized that Mason hadn’t mentioned me at
all to his sister. The front door opened, and Haley and I both
looked at it expectantly.

“
Lexi, where are you,
love?” he called as he came in the living room, carrying a colorful
bouquet of flowers.

I walked toward him, unable to hide the
smile that forced its way across my face. “Are those for me?”

“
Just a little something to
let you know how much I’m looking forward to our date tonight,” he
said softly, handing me the flowers as he kissed me on the
cheek.

“
Who are you, and what have
you done with my brother?” Haley asked from the couch.

“
Haley!” Mason seemed
pleasantly surprised when he saw her. “You didn’t tell me you were
coming.” While I put the flowers in water, he greeted Haley,
tousling her golden tresses.

“
Mason, you’re messing up
my hair! I’m not twelve, anymore, you know.”

“
Doesn’t matter how old you
are,” he said, dropping into the chair beside her, “you’re still my
bratty little sister.”

“
I was going to surprise
you, but it looks like you surprised me, instead.”

As I joined them in the living room, he
grabbed my hand and pulled me into his lap. “You met Lexi,
huh?”

“
I did. Why didn’t you tell
me you had a live-in girlfriend?” Haley asked.

“
Oh,” I spoke up, “it’s not
like that. We barely even knew each other when I moved in, and I’m
not his girlfriend.”

“
Mmmhmm,” Haley murmured
with a hint of disbelief.

“
How long are you here?”
Mason asked, ignoring her comment.

“
A couple of
days.”

“
It’s hotter than Hades
outside. Let me go change into some shorts, and I’ll take y’all to
dinner.” I scooted over to the couch beside Haley, and Mason
disappeared down the hall.

“
Wow!” Haley whispered. “He
brought you flowers? This is serious.”

Suppressing a smile, I realized that her
comment pleased me. It was a tiny indication that someone who knew
Mason really well thought there was something special going on
between us.

“
Are y’all? Serious?” Her
green eyes studied me intently while she waited for me to
answer.

Excitement buzzed through me. I hadn’t
really talked to anyone about our relationship, but with each
passing day, he was becoming more and more important to me. “I
don’t think he would describe it as serious.”

“
What about you? How would
you describe it?” she asked, leaning forward.

“
I really, really like him.
It’s hard not to be happy when he’s around, if that makes any
sense.”

She clasped me on the arm and whispered, “He
brought you flowers. If he doesn’t describe it as serious, it’s
only because he’s a man. Sometimes, they’re the last to know just
how serious they are.”

Laughing at her antics, I could tell that we
could easily be friends.

“
You girls ready?” he
asked, walking into the living room.

Mason drove us to a casual steakhouse. As I
watched them interact, I found it uncanny how similar they were.
Not only did they share some of the same features, but they were
both quick to smile and tease each other.

Having lived with Mason for several weeks, I
knew that beneath his friendly, smiling façade, he was lonely and
hurt. Maybe the ordeal with his parents had been harder on him
because he was older. He knew the before and after. He knew what
had been lost.

As I watched Haley, I wondered if she was
suffering, too. Or had she managed to deal with it and concentrate
on things that were in her control?

“
Have you talked to Mom
lately?” she asked Mason.

He took a drink of his beer. “Yeah, I talked
to her not too long ago. She needed rent money.”

“
Again?” Haley asked, her
mouth dropping open.

“
Again. It took me a couple
of days to get enough tips to cover it, but I wired it to her
landlord.”

“
I tried to call her
yesterday, but her phone’s cut off.” The corners of Haley’s mouth
turned down in a frown. “I don’t think you should pay her rent. The
more you do for her, the more she expects you to do.”

“
Haley, we’ve been over
this. What do you want me to do? Let her live on the
streets?”

“
It’s her choice. She can
pay rent or she can….” Haley stopped midsentence and glanced in my
direction.

My line of vision instantly dropped to my
plate, and I had the strange sensation of eavesdropping.

“
You know what her choice
will be,” Mason told her.

“
Yeah, I know.” Haley’s
voice was flat, and I could tell that her mother’s choices saddened
her.

If Mason had to pay his mother’s rent
frequently, it was no wonder he’d been looking for a roommate. I
realized how glad I was that I had called him. While our living
arrangements weren’t permanent, it would at least help him out a
few months while I waited on my apartment to be ready.

It was also giving me the opportunity to
know him, really know him. From seeing him at the bar, I would have
never surmised he was lonely. He had tons of friends at the bar.
The patrons adored him, but when he was home alone behind closed
doors, the demons that tortured him clawed their way to the
surface.

I wasn’t sure if he drank to make them go
away or if they appeared because he was drinking. Either way, I
found it difficult to watch him when he was in intense emotional
distress.