I made the popcorn and poured it into a bowl. Mason was flicking through the channels when I got back. I put the popcorn on the table and gave the chair a look. After a slight hesitation, I perched on the edge. It was uncomfortable and despite knowing that the chair had been scrubbed to within an inch of its life, I still didn’t want to sit on it. The only one who was ever game enough to do so was Willa.
But I didn’t know where Mason and I stood after the awkward and mortifying conversation this morning, and being close to him but not touching him would be torture. Today hadn’t exactly given me the warm and fuzzies.
Mason shot me a look that I couldn’t decipher but didn’t say anything about my awkward crouch.
I stayed in the exact same spot, until I heard the front door open and Nora walked inside. She looked from me to Mason, and I could tell she wanted to hold back a grin but didn’t quite succeed.
We said good night to Nora, who shot me a wide-eyed look that meant we would talk about this later, then drove back to his house in silence.
“Thanks for the lift,” I said, walking into the house ahead of Mason. I was tired, cranky, and my back hurt from the awkward position I had forced it in tonight.
“We both live here. No need to thank me for something that didn’t require any effort on my part,” he said and walked to the kitchen.
“I was just trying to be polite,” I mumbled and went straight to the stairs. I needed to put a closed door between myself and Mason. If sitting in the same room as him all night wasn’t enough torture, I also had to endure him ignoring me all night long. It was infuriating. And I had absolutely no idea what to do about it.
I stopped at the bottom of the stairs and took a deep breath. I could do this. It was just one eensy weensy staircase. My back would just need to do this one thing for me, and it could rest on a nice soft bed. It was hard enough getting down the stairs at Nora’s place. But at least I could discreetly slide down those. Since Mason hadn’t spared me a glance all night, he didn’t notice. Going up, however, required a little more effort.
My hesitation must have been obvious because Mason changed his direction and came to stand next to me instead.
“What’s the problem? You suddenly scared of stairs?”
I huffed, not dignifying his comment with an answer. Another deep breath in and I put my hand on the banister to pull myself up.
I suppressed the groan trying to escape when I lifted my leg up and leaned heavily on the banister.
“Why the fuck didn’t you tell me you were in pain?” Mason growled at me. Before I knew which side was up, I found myself in Mason’s arms and being carried up the stairs bridal style.
I winced at the pain in my back the move caused but stayed quiet. This would be the quickest way to get up there, and I really needed to lay down. Damn you poop chair, you not only have an unfortunate name, you are also uncomfortable enough that I put my back out.
He didn’t stop at the second floor, but instead took me all the way up to his room. He sat me on his bed, and I winced at the pain in my back from the movement. Mason kneeled down in front of me to take my shoes off, and I shuffled back on the bed, suppressing a pained groan.
“I am capable of taking my own shoes off.”
“Doesn’t look like it from where I am. You couldn’t even get up the stairs. How are you going to bend down to pull your shoes off?”
“Not sure if you noticed, but they’re boots. I can just slide them off.”
Mason stood up again and waved toward my boots. “Come on then, take them off.”
He crossed his arms over his chest and watched me.
I tried to use the opposite leg to push a boot off my foot, but the sharp stab in my back when I lifted my leg stopped me.
“You were saying?” the jerk asked and went back to helping me.
“Thanks,” I said, low enough that I still felt like I could hold on to my dignity.
“Turn around,” Mason ordered and walked over to stand next to the bed.
“What?”
He made a circular motion with his hand. “Lie down on your stomach.”
“Why?”
“Why do you think?”
“So you don’t have to look into my eyes when you finally kill me?”
He didn’t respond just kicked his shoes off.
I still hadn’t moved, too confused to do anything but frown at him.
His knees hit the bed, and he took my left arm and lifted it up. “I’m tired. I want to go to bed. So it would be great if we could do this now, rather than in an hour, when you finally decide that you can’t sleep because your back is too sore.”
I let him guide me onto my stomach and relaxed into the bed. I just hoped this wasn’t payback for my proposal earlier.
He got something out of the nightstand and pulled my shirt up.
“Hey,” I protested but he shushed me.
“Don’t shush me,” I complained into the pillow, but it was unlikely he could make out what I was saying.
He put some lotion on his hands and started rubbing my back. And holy mother of god, I was dead. Dead and gone to heaven, because I could hear
