I’d been on the road, and crying, for the last two hours. And the farther I got from Rocktown, from my friends—from Mase—the harder I cried, which led me to believe that maybe leaving wasn’t what I wanted to do after all.
That maybe I’d made a terrible mistake.
Gran told me to find happy, to hold on to it, to ride the wave until the end and move on, searching for more. What if my wave didn’t have an end? What if all the happy I’d ever need or want had been back in Rocktown? And I was running away from it?
I won’t let you down. I promise you, I won’t let you down.
I can wait, kitten. You go, but come back to me when you’ve done what you need to do, okay? I’ll be here. I’ll always be here.
His words from the night before were on repeat in my head. Deep in my own pain, I’d had too much to drink last night, and I’d…god, I’d sung to him, not so subtly asking him to love me.
Mase had come after me, he’d told me he’d wait for me. You didn’t say something like that to someone you didn’t care about.
Jimmy whimpered and rested his head on my lap as I looked down at Gran’s letter. I’d read it so many times the paper was crinkled, and now the ink was smudged as well from my tears.
Be happy, whatever it takes.
That’s what she said at the end of the letter. She loved me with everything she had, and that was all she truly wanted for me. Happiness.
But I was running away from it instead. So afraid of being hurt again. Of letting someone down or being let down that I’d chosen to tear myself out of a life that I’d loved, that I’d only dreamed of as a kid. Friends, a found family that I’d always longed for.
I’d been willing to give it up, to give them up, rather than take a risk on love.
On letting someone love me.
My phone chimed, and I dug it out of my bag. My breath caught in my throat.
Mase: We didn’t get to talk properly last night, but I meant what I said. I’ll wait, Trixie. When you’re ready to come back, I’ll be here waiting for you.
I read it and fresh tears filled my eyes, spilling over. My phone chimed again.
Mase: And just so you know, kitten, you don’t have to make me love you, because I already do. I love you. Stay safe x
I sucked in a wild breath.
I’d known it, hadn’t I? I’d tried to convince myself it was only sex to him, but it’d been there in the way he looked at me, the way he touched me. It’d been there for a while now, and I’d been too scared to allow myself to believe in it.
I sat there for several frozen seconds, then I started my car.
“Hold on, Jimmy.”
Mase
Tilting by head back, I sipped my beer and closed my eyes.
She hadn’t texted back.
My seat creaked as I shifted and dragged my hand over my face, then stared into my empty backyard. Fuck, this sucked. I missed her so badly, and she’d been gone less than a day. I thought the last two weeks had been shit, but this was fucking torture. How the hell was I going to do this? Carry on living my life, not knowing if she was okay, missing her, craving her. How the hell did I do that?
I finished my drink, stood, and tossed it in with the recycling. If she’d just message me back or call so I knew what she was thinking, feeling, so I’d at least know she was okay—
An engine roared down the street, followed by a dog barking in the distance.
I stilled.
The engine grew louder, the barking more excited.
Until it was right outside the house.
A door slammed.
“Mase!”
I spun around.
“Mason!”
I ran across the yard toward the front of the house. The gate opened, and then she was there, standing in front of me. Trixie in a white sundress, one side hanging off her shoulder, her blond hair down, wild around her face, and those red lips, they were trembling.
Jimmy barked and tore across the grass toward me, jumping up. “Good boy,” I said to him as I patted him, my eyes not leaving Trixie.
She started toward me, her trembling lips curling into a wide smile, then she was running and I opened my arms.
She collided with my chest, and I held her tight to me, lifting her off her feet, my heart banging in my chest. “Kitten,” I rasped against her ear.
Lifting her head, she took my face in her hands. “I made a mistake…” She swallowed convulsively, eyes glistening. “…my happy, it’s here, it’s already here…with you.”
I held her to me tighter. “You’re not leaving? You’re not leaving me?”
She shook her head. “I love you, too, Mason Parker. God, you have no idea how much I love you.”
Then we were kissing, hanging on to each other for all we were worth.
“Take me upstairs,” she said against my lips. “I need you.”
I was already striding back to the house, pushing the door open, and carrying her up to my room. We stripped each other and tumbled into bed. Trixie wrapped her legs around me and then I was inside her. Bodies straining, kissing, touching, not able to get enough of each other.
I thought I’d lost her, but I had her back. She came back to me.
“I love you, Trixie,” I said again, wanting her to hear it, believe it, never doubt it.
She looked up at me with tears in her eyes. “I was scared. I’m not scared anymore. I know…I know you won’t hurt me.”
“Never,” I growled and thrust deeper.
I took her mouth again and
