When Its Least Expected (18 page)

Dammit, his mouth was in some serious ass trouble. “Shut it, Maisy. I meant to say,

what’s going on with you and
Harley.
”

“You know what, big brother? I didn’t think Mason Daniel
had
girlfriends, especially ones in Nebraska!” She smiled wickedly. Her eyes were filled
with naughtiness.

Slouching down further in his seat, Mason bounced his knee, wondering to himself why

he always seemed to dig himself into these messes. “She’s not my
girlfriend.
She’s just a girl and a friend, nothing more.” Although he
did
have a plan to remedy that situation soon, preferably with her under him as he kissed
her neck and ran his hands along her …

“Mason? Earth to Mason? Jeez, big brother. You’ve got it bad,” Maisy giggled, popping

her lips together. Mason cleared his throat, but he didn’t deny it. He no longer could.
There was no point in fighting the inevitable anymore.

“We’re talking about
your
sudden friendship with her, Maisy. Not my
relationship
status with her.” He knew he wasn’t going to get off that easily, but he prayed her
curiosity would be sated enough for a while.

She huffed and leaned forward, resting her elbows against the table. “Alright, fine.
Last

week during first period one day we met up in the bathroom and kind of sort of hit
it off. I told her I would call her if I needed to talk anymore about some stuff,
and she said that I should get her number from you if I wanted. I like her, Mase.
She’s funny and sweet. She’s one of the only girls I’ve met in this town who actually
seems genuine.”

Mason narrowed his eyes at his little sister, completely caught off guard by her

confession. He thought Maisy
liked
living in Hillsdale. He’d have to ask her about that. Later, though. He had a crisis
on his hands now.

“Okay, if you want to call her then let me write her number down for you.” Mason

grabbed her pencil writing Harley’s number down on the corner of her notebook paper.
Maisy

giggled. That stupid, know-it-all smile was plastered on her face. He growled.

“So … you have her number memorized,
and
you almost referred to her a few seconds

ago as your girlfriend. You, my brother, are a goner…” Mason balled his fist, fighting
the urge to shove that pencil up her tiny nose. “From the sounds of it though, Mase,
you’re not alone in this crush thing. I do believe Harley’s got it bad for you too.”

He froze as he stood to place the dishes at the sink, suddenly intrigued with his
sister’s

observation, so intrigued, that he barely noticed the dish falling from his fingers
until it shattered on the floor.

“Shit …”

“Yeah, uh, that was mom’s favorite too. You’re in for it now, buddy.” Mason turned
to

glare at Maisy flipping his all-time favorite finger at her, before bending down to
pick up the broken pieces.
Damn, know it all bratty sisters.
“Anyways big brother, you should have
seen
the way that girl blushed when I mentioned your name that day in the bathroom. She
lit up like a freaking star and stayed that way for the entire class period. She’s
crazy in love with you too, Mase. I can guarantee it!”

He frowned but didn’t respond. No, it wasn’t love; it couldn’t be. Deep like and maybe

even some lust thrown into the mix, but love? No way in hell was that even a remote
possibility.

Mason gave Maisy’s chair a kick as he walked by, snarling at her insinuations.

Annoyance rose in his chest as she whistled and stood. “I’ve changed my mind, Maisy.
I’ll call her myself, so don’t even
think
about dialing her number.” She flipped her hands up in mock surrender. Mason rolled
his eyes as he finished cleaning up his mess. He could only imagine what she was thinking.

* * *

water she could fathom, she heard the familiar chirping sound of her cell. Quickly,
she wrapped a towel around her, running to grab the thing from her purse in her bedroom.
She didn’t take the time to look at the caller ID, so she had no idea that it was
Mason until she heard his hypnotic voice respond.

“Harley? It’s Mason. How are you?”

“I’m good!” She spoke, her voice cracking. Silently, she flinched, praying he hadn’t

noticed. She slipped a t-shirt over her head and crawled under her sheets, nervously
gnawing on her lip as she waited for his response.

“Great. That’s good to hear.” He sounded nervous too; his own voice had raised an

octave as well. Harley grinned to herself. He sounded so … adorable. “I was kind of
worried when I didn’t see you the rest of the day today. Everything alright?”

Oh, God. Chivalrous Mason was back and messing with her head.

Biting her lip harder, cutting off any and all circulation, she decided that the best
and

quickest way to avoid the truth was to obviously lie about it. The last thing Mason
needed to know was that she was practically molested in the hall by Toby or worse
yet, that she had to go home like an idiot because of it. “I felt like throwing up,
so I had to leave and go home. I feel much better now. It must have been something
I ate for breakfast.” She slapped her hand against her head.
Stupid, rambling, moronic mouth!

“Ah … I see.” His voice was soft; he didn’t sound at all convinced. Seriously, what
he

didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. “So anyways … I was calling because I wanted to talk
to you

about our plans for this Saturday. I, um, needed to know what time I should, uh, pick
you up and stuff.” Harley sat up, panic consumed her, and she gripped her throat as
if
that
would make it go away.

“Um, whatever time works for you,” she squeezed her eyes shut.

“How about six-thirty?”

“Yeah, Mase. That sounds good.” An awkward silence passed between them, and Harley

reopened her eyes, nervously fiddling with her wet curls as she waited for him to
say something.

She’d never been one to handle awkwardness with grace, and it seemed as though that

was the main emotion she’d been feeling lately. “Umm … are you there, Mason?”

“Oh, yeah. I’m here, sorry. I was just thinking about … some crap, that’s all.”

Crap? Hmm? Did said
crap
have anything to do with their meeting this morning? Was he thinking about the way
their hands had meshed together? The way his breath blew against her cheek? Was he
thinking that he wanted it to happen again over and over like she did?

Mason Daniel had her on a rollercoaster ride that she was pretty sure she was going
to get

sick of riding if something wasn’t done to ease her nerves and nausea soon.

“So, are you going to tell me what you’re thinking about, or are you going to just
sit here and not say a word for the rest of the conversation?” She tried teasing him,
tried to make light of the uneasiness that had formed, but it only ended in more silence.

She threw herself back against her pillow again and harrumphed, but then she heard
it …

a sound on the other end of the line that sounded like a dog … a growling dog. She
gripped the phone tight in her palm, holding her breath as she waited…

“Okay, little beast, you wanna know the truth? You want to know what’s been pissing
me

off for two days now, for weeks even?”

Harley gripped the covers of her bed, pulling them tight under her chin, waiting in
her

frozen state of fear. “I’m thinking about us, Harley. I’m thinking about kissing you.
I’m thinking about touching every inch of your body. I thinking about making you mine.
Is that what you

were hoping to hear? Because I’ll tell you what, ever since I God damn met you, all
I
do
is fantasize about you. From the time I wake up until the time I go to bed, you’re
in my damn head, little beast, consuming my every waking thought, consuming my
body
and dreams at night. It’s freaking torture to feel like this, you know, as if your
world is constantly on the verge of cracking and you’re always hanging on for dear
life, praying to freaking God that he doesn’t let you fall. That right there, little
beast, is what I’m thinking about.”

Harley didn’t have an answer; her throat burned. Were those tears of joy forming in
her

eyes, or tears of regret and pain? She waited, unwilling to answer him because she
had no clue what to say, and then he started in again. “The truth is, Harley, I don’t
know how much longer I can go without consuming you in all states – body, mind, soul.
Do you need to hear anymore, or is that enough?”

Holy shit-balls! He did not just say what she thought he did … did he? She’d never
had a

problem with her hearing before, but she was thinking maybe a quick midnight trip
to the ear doctor was about to be in order.

She sucked in a breath, “I … um…” She was in a dream. It had to be or a coma that
she

couldn’t wake up from. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Yeah, it may have felt incredible
to hear his words, especially since she had been secretly starting to feel the same
way, but it was honestly the last thing she expected he would ever be telling her
tonight.

“Mase, I … uh … I don’t know what to say.”

“Well, little beast, you can start off by telling me that you feel the same way.”
She could hear a smile in his voice. She closed her eyes, imagining him there with
those dimples sucked deeply into his cheeks. She groaned. Yeah
that
vision didn’t exactly ease the burn in her throat.

“And that you desperately want to be with me as much as I want to be with you. That
sounds like a good start to me, don’t you think?” he chuckled while sounding painstakingly
nervous.

Her entire being was on the verge of collapsing and falling through a tunnel she couldn’t

dig out of once she was buried deep inside. The truth was she wanted to be with him
too, more than anything in her entire life. The problem being she wasn’t sure if she
could mentally do the whole
relationship
thing again. She didn’t deserve to be happy either, especially since every time happiness
would consume her, tragedy was soon to follow.

The past, it was just that though, right? She was supposed to properly place it in
the

closet for good, but this was what happened when she let herself feel again. Damn
skeletons –

they never failed to murder her chances at moving on to happiness. Maybe she wasn’t
meant to be happy though. Maybe just getting by in life would be her punishment for
not helping the

people she loved.

“Harley, talk to me here. I just put my freaking heart out on the line, and you’re,
uh, kind of leaving me hanging ...” Of course she was. She was in shock. Didn’t he
realize that? Her brain came out swinging like a mad woman, and her next words were
not
the words her heart had intended her to say…

“Mason, I’m flattered. You’re an awesome guy. I love spending time with you, but

having a boyfriend right now is not something that I can do. I’m sorry.”

She slapped her hand over her face and cowered into a little ball under her blankets.
Her

tears suddenly decided to make yet another appearance. She sure as hell wished they’d
warn her next time.

“Well, at least I know that it’s not me. It’s obvious you have feelings for somebody
else,

huh? Let’s just say, for example, the guy in that picture frame on your dresser? You
two looked pretty cozy together,” the anger in his voice was booming, cruel even.
He wasn’t backing down anytime soon was he?

“Does he go to a different school? I wonder what he would say if he knew how much

you’ve been throwing yourself at me.” She lost the battle with the tears. Hell, she
lost them decades ago, and as they fell, they left little, tiny prickles of pain along
her cheeks. She couldn’t wipe them away. She was too stunned with his next words to
do or say anything.

“Have you been leading me on this whole time? Why don’t you just take your little

boyfriend
to that dumb-ass dance? I don’t need this shit, and I certainly don’t need you either.”

“You don’t know what you are saying. Please, Mason. Just … stop …” she begged,

pleaded, the contents of her dinner fermented in her stomach. She moved to sit up
on her bed, her feet hung over the side as his words ran together.

“Well obviously I do, Harley, and I can tell you one thing. You are no less of a whore

than any other girl I’ve ever dated,” he snarled, her entire body shut down. “So much
for

thinking you’re any different from the others.”

Harley swiped her phone screen to end, threw it on her bed, and stood, running towards

the bathroom. Bile formed in her throat as she locked the door behind her. She pressed
her back against the door, her finger nails scratched against the wood. Her hands
shook as she placed them on her stomach, willing the nausea away, but the pounding
of the door only made her knees

buckle. She fell to the floor, helpless and broken.

She didn’t answer David’s pleas as he pounded insistently. She couldn’t do anything
but

roll up into a fetal position, hands wrapped over her head and stomach as the cold
white tile cooled her trembling body.

She cried big, sobbing tears over and over again for what seemed like hours, an eternity

even, and it wasn’t just over Mason’s cruel words but also the memory of that beautiful,
lost boy in the picture he had mentioned.

Shit!

Mason slapped his palm down onto his desk. His other hand ran carelessly through his

hair. Waiting sucked, especially today. Harley had yet to show up for class, and the
bell had just rung. It wasn’t like her. Not Miss Studious. Not the girl who panicked
whenever she got a tardy slip. He almost laughed at the thought, but then thoughts
of the night before came creeping back into his head. His hatred towards himself grew
with every, single breath he inhaled.