CHAPTER 27
“You moved out?”
Trembling, I’d sought Mason out
first thing when I got to school Monday morning. I’d woken to find he was gone.
That he’d taken all of his stuff. Everything.
He didn’t turn around from his
locker. “I had to.”
My lip quivering, I closed my eyes.
Squeezed them shut tight. “Why?”
Mason shut his locker, finally
looking at me. “You know why.”
I swallowed. “O-kay,” I stammered,
my heart falling to the floor. Shattering. I choked out, “It was my fault. I
know that. I get it.”
I was almost crying, terrified for
once Mason wasn’t going to give me what I wanted. But this time I needed him to
the most. This time, to me, it was life or death. Because I
couldn’t breathe without Mason. “I’m sorry, Mason. So sorry.” My eyes welled with tears. “I don’t want you to move
out. I want you to move back in.”
He gave me a
sardonic look like , I was being dumb . “Why? So,
I can ogle you and make you uncomfortable in your pajamas?”
My breath hitched. His reality was
obviously completely different than mine. “Just come back. You’re mad. It’s
totally my fault. I’m sorry.”
“Summer, I’m not mad—well,
yeah I’m mad. You were being a tease. You went to that party to mess with me.”
Heat sizzled through me.
I opened my mouth, then closed it. Then opened it again, feeling the desperate
need to remind him, “You did all that groping just to prove a point.”
“I did it to prove a point, yeah …
but I liked doing it, Summer . I can’t live with you. I
want to make-out with you. I want to kiss you blind.”
THE PRESENT
CHAPTER 28
The day after the Sabrina
fiasco—you know, where she’d been exposed (to the whole school) cheating
on her boyfriend and making-out with Mason—I find myself on a school bus.
One filled with rowdy kids. I’m taking my brand-new little stepbrother, Danny,
on this campout for youth that his dad was supposed to take him to—but
the loser cancelled. (Okay, the “loser”—my new step - dad [grrr!]— had to work, but still. Whatever. Cancelling on his son?? LOSER .)
Danny had been looking forward to the activity. So much. I’m
not a camper. Even slightly. But I’m a sucker for my
new little brother’s puppy dog eyes. So, I here I am. On a
bus. Going camping.
But THEN! I almost choke on my gum.
‘Cause guess who shows up right before the bus takes off? If you guessed Mason,
you’re right.
Mason had looked shocked when he
saw me on the bus. He tilted his head, his eyebrows drawing together. For a
moment, he just stood there—frozen. But he recovered quickly, asking what
I was doing—going camping with a bunch of kids. He asked it with a little
laugh as he slid into the seat behind Danny and me. Probably the chuckle was
because he knows me—camping is not my thing.
“My stepdad cancelled on Danny, so
I’m filling in,” I explained, though I figured Mason already put all that
together. Things weren’t so easy to figure out on my end though. I mean , Mason doesn’t have a little brother. Or
any siblings—unless you counted me. Which you
really couldn’t do. Unless there is such a thing as an
ex-sibling.
I muttered, “I think the better
question is, what are you doing here?”
“Civic hours,” Mason answered. “A
punishment from the principal.”
A tiny grin
quirked on his lips. “Apparently he didn’t quite believe my innocence yesterday.”
I rolled my eyes. “I wonder why
that is?”
He twitched a devilish grin. “I
have no idea. But here I am—going to give kids a lesson on using a
knife.”
The irony danced in his twinkling
eyes as well as in his sardonic voice.
I gaped. “Seriously?”
Okay, the knife usage lesson was
probably only for wood whittling or something, but still. Giving a guy in anger management a knife ?— as punishment? It just seemed wrong.
Mason nodded, still grinning. He
laughed, “And not only a
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