Текст книги "When You're Back"

Автор книги: Abbi Glines

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Текущая страница: 10 (всего у книги 15 страниц)

Reese

I was tucked into bed and holding my phone in my hand, waiting for Mase to call, when it finally rang and the image of his cowboy boots showed up on my screen.

“Hey,” I said, sitting up, excited to hear his voice. When he got home, I was going to tell him about my picnic with Henry and Captain; it would be too hard to explain over the phone.

“Hey, baby. I’m heading home in the morning. I spent the day with Kiro. We had a breakthrough this afternoon once he finally got out of bed, but he’s so volatile. I decided to stay and make sure he was good. I miss you.”

“I miss you, too. I’m glad things are better with him. Was it hard?” I wished more than once today that I could be there with him.

“It wasn’t easy, but I think I understand him better now. He’ll never be my dad. I have one of those. But I felt something today I’ve never felt for the man before. Compassion.”

Mase was a compassionate man. I couldn’t imagine how awful his father had to have been to not get any compassion from his own son. I knew he hadn’t spent much time around him growing up, but still. “Then the trip helped you, too,” I said.

“Yeah, I think it did,” he agreed. “But I want to be home with you.”

“I want that, too.”

“Are things OK there? The job still good?”

“Yes. The job is great, and I’ve been fine here. I ate dinner with your parents tonight.”

“Good. I love you, and before you say you love me more, that’s not possible.”

Smiling, I tucked the covers under my chin. “I don’t think so.”

He chuckled. “I’ll be on a plane first thing in the morning. Expect a lunch guest.”

A sick knot settled in my stomach, reminding me of my other lunch guest who always popped up. I would have to tell Mase about all that when he got home. I wanted to keep my job, but I also didn’t want Mase in the dark about anything.

“I’ll look forward to it,” I told him. “Love you.”

Once we hung up, I lay in bed staring at the ceiling, wondering if Mase would react badly to Captain showing up at my office regularly with lunch. He hadn’t done anything wrong, really, but would I be OK with a woman bringing Mase lunch and eating with him? No. The answer was no way. I’d be jealous.

I had to tell Mase. There was no question.

By ten in the morning, I was getting anxious. I was ready to see Mase. It had only been a few days, but every time the office door opened, my heart sped up. Then Piper would be there, and I’d smile and pretend I wasn’t completely disappointed. He had said he’d be back by lunch.

Two more hours until lunch.

Just as I picked up the phone to return some calls, the door opened. Before I could get excited, Captain’s face appeared, and my face fell. Not who I was hoping to see.

“Don’t look so heartbroken. I’m not that ugly,” he said with a smirk.

I didn’t respond to that. Instead, I used my most professional tone. “What can I help you with?”

Captain cocked an eyebrow as he sat in the leather chair across from me. Not where I wanted him to sit. I wanted him to tell me what he needed and leave. Fast.

“Do you get to leave for lunch today?” he asked, leaning back and crossing his right ankle over his left knee like he was getting comfortable.

“No,” was my clipped response.

He looked amused. “I thought we called a truce. We were going to be friends. You aren’t acting very friendly.”

I had never said I was going to be his friend. “I agreed to work with you. I didn’t say I’d go out to eat with you.”

“You liked the picnic yesterday,” he reminded me.

“I liked Henry,” I corrected him.

He nodded as if he already knew that. “I knew you would. He’s a great kid.”

I also got why he had brought Henry to meet me. It had been a nice thing to do. I appreciated it, but I still felt wrong about having anything other than a working relationship with him. Something about the way he looked at me made me feel he wanted more. I didn’t care what he said.

“Why don’t you drive?” he asked, pulling me out of my thoughts.

“Because I haven’t been able to read and write until recently. Couldn’t take the driver’s test.”

He reached into his back pocket, pulled out two thin books, and leaned over to place them on the table. One was a driver’s handbook for the state of Texas. The other was a permit handbook. “You can read now. Read these.”

I reached for them. I had meant to get these. The idea scared me, but now that they were here on my desk, it wasn’t that terrifying. Captain had gotten them for me before I had even told him why I didn’t drive. Why did he have to do such nice things for me?

“I don’t expect a thank you. Just read them. You can pass the test, Reese. I know you can.”

He didn’t expect a thank you. I stared down at the books in front of me. I wasn’t sure what to say. He was going out of his way to help me. He didn’t need to be thinking about me. He didn’t need to help me. But he was, and I wasn’t sure how to stop that.

“Thank you,” I said, because he did deserve that. “I’ve been meaning to pick these up.”

He nodded. “Good. I’m glad you’re ready to take another step in that direction.”

I’d started to say something when the door opened, and I looked up to see Mase’s face. My heart leaped at the sight of him, but as his gaze swung to Captain, I went from giddy to sick to my stomach.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” he asked as he stepped into the room, filling it up with his presence.

Captain dropped his propped-up foot to the floor and stood up. He was at eye level with Mase. “Came to drop something off for Reese,” Captain said, as if he wasn’t bothered at all.

“Doesn’t look like that,” Mase snarled. He swung his gaze to me. “He bothering you?”

This was a trick question. If I said no, then Mase would think something that wasn’t true. But as I glanced down at the handbooks on my desk, I knew I couldn’t very well throw Captain under the bus.

“Mase, it’s OK. He was dropping off some handbooks he thought I might need. Nothing more,” I explained.

I shot Captain a quick glance, and he looked surprised that I hadn’t said he was bothering me. Mase was frowning—at me or my response, I wasn’t sure.

“Does he visit you often to bring you things he thinks you need?” Mase asked, his voice holding a warning. He wasn’t happy, and this was not the way I wanted to explain my relationship with Captain to him.

“I just bring her lunch a couple of times a week,” Captain said.

The fire that lit in Mase’s eyes didn’t bode well. Why had he said that? “You do what?” he asked slowly as he turned his glare to Captain.

“I have to bring her paperwork to file, and I sometimes bring her food, too. Better than those damn turkey sandwiches she eats.”

Mase stood so still I was afraid of what he would do next. “I think it’s time you leave,” he said in a hard, clipped tone.

Captain glanced at me. “Guess it is,” he replied, and winked at me. He freaking winked at me before walking past Mase with a smirk on his face. I wanted to kill him.

Mase turned to me. He just stared at me silently for several moments, and I started to open my mouth to explain several times, but nothing came out.

“You didn’t think that telling me another man brought you lunch was important? Or that he visits you so often?”

I had been planning to tell him. Tonight. I had planned it all out. “I wasn’t . . . I was . . . I didn’t . . .”

He held up his hand to stop me. “Never mind. I’m not listening to this. I just went through some emotional shit, and I don’t need this right now. I need a fucking break,” he said, then turned and stormed out of my office.

I stood there, watching the door slam behind him as tears spilled free and ran down my face. What had I done?

Mase

My heart was pounding in my ears as I stalked from my truck down to the stables. What the fuck had I just walked in on? Was I overreacting? I’d given Reese a chance to explain herself, and she’d stammered. She hadn’t been able to explain. She had almost seemed to be defending that asshole.

Did I trust her? Yes! I never had a reason not to. She was my Reese. She was so damn sweet. How the fuck did this happen? What was wrong with that motherfucker that he thought it was OK to bring her lunch? He knew she was taken. What was the purpose behind it?

He wanted what was mine. I picked up a saddle, slung it against the wall, and shouted a string of curses. This was not what I had wanted to come home to. I should be kissing Reese and holding her close so I could smell her. But she’d been hiding something. I could see it in her eyes.

Fuck me. Was I that blind? Did I assume because I had found her lost and broken that she would never want to explore more? Had I just been a way for her to heal? Was she curious about others? I felt sick as I even thought about it. I didn’t want her to be fucking curious about other men.

That stupid motherfucker wasn’t ugly, either, and he knew it. He was using his looks to rattle her, too. And she was rattled. It was working. I leaned back against the wall and inhaled a painful breath. I was her first everything. She’d never let anyone else get this close.

Was I being selfish to not let her go, if that was what she wanted? Was I caring for her like a possession and ignoring her needs? “Fuuuuuuck!” I yelled as pain sliced through my chest.

I wanted to be overreacting. Was it because I was mentally exhausted from dealing with Kiro? Everything replayed in my head.

“I just left her there,” I whispered out loud, knowing she had no way to come after me and explain. I hadn’t even given her a moment to get her thoughts together. She had looked as surprised as I was.

I couldn’t leave her there all day to worry about this. She hadn’t done anything wrong. Sure, she hadn’t told me that she was having lunch brought to her by fucking River, Captain, whoever the hell he was, Kipling. But demanding an answer from her and then storming out when she couldn’t verbalize one wasn’t the way to handle it.

This was Reese. My Reese. There had to be a reason she hadn’t said something before now. Maybe she was afraid I would react the exact way I just reacted. Or she could have been worried that I’d make her quit her job. She loved her job. She was proud of herself, and watching her blossom under Piper’s obvious approval was beautiful.

I had to go back. I stalked back to the door, only to be stopped by Major, who was looking at me like I’d lost my mind.

“Move,” I snarled, and started to push past him, but he grabbed my shoulders and stopped me.

“She’s not there,” was all he said. He sounded annoyed.

“What?” I asked him, shoving him back so he would let me go.

“She called Maryann. Your momma went to get her.”

Reese. “Shit. Is she OK?” I asked, moving fast to get around Major and head up the hill toward my momma’s house.

“She was crying so hard Aunt Maryann barely heard what she was saying. She ran for the door, then pointed at me and said, ‘Go tell my son he better get himself ready to fix this.’ ”

I had to fix this. Reese was crying. My stupid temper.

“What the hell did you do?” Major asked.

“River Kipling was in her office. He brings her lunch sometimes. She never told me.”

Major let out a low whistle. “He’s a smooth one. But has Reese done anything wrong?”

“She never told me!” I yelled, wanting to punch something.

“Well, hell, Mase, if she thought you’d react like this, I can’t say I blame her. You don’t get worked up like this. Never seen you become an ass in my entire life. So what the fuck has happened to you?”

This wasn’t me. I didn’t lose my mind over every little thing. I was careful, and I thought things through. I made calculated decisions. I wasn’t this off-the-handle insane man who had taken over.

“Stop yelling, and listen to yourself. You’re acting like a nutcase over something that isn’t that big of a deal. So he brought her food. Did she fuck him for it? No. I can answer that. She loves you. You . Snap out of this.”

Snap out of this. Those words replayed in my head. Words I had just said to Kiro. When he was losing his mind over a woman.

I was acting like . . . my father. My entire life, I’d tried so hard to emulate the man who raised me. He was a solid man. A man who was careful and thoughtful but strong. Yet in one moment, I forgot all that and became the man whose blood ran through my veins.

I didn’t want to be this man. But I understood him. I hadn’t even lost Reese, and I was going crazy. What if I were faced with actually losing her? Could I recover from that? Would I become the man I looked like instead of the man who had taught me everything?

“I have to see her,” I said, feeling helpless.

“Yeah, well, your momma will be here soon enough with her, and I wouldn’t want to be you when she gets here. She’s not happy with you.”

I wasn’t happy with me, either. I’d let Reese down, but I’d let me down, too. This man wasn’t me.

My mother’s truck came into view, and I took off running toward it. I wasn’t waiting for Reese to get to me. I needed to see her now. Momma stopped when she saw me getting closer. I didn’t even make eye contact with my mother; I kept my eyes on Reese. Her face was red and splotchy from crying, and that was all because of me.

If it was possible to truly hate yourself, I did.

Reese

Once the tears started, I couldn’t stop.

After Mase left, sobs wracked my body, and I doubled over. He’d left me. I’d messed up. I couldn’t lose Mase.

All I had known to do was to call Maryann. Staying at work was impossible. Telling Piper what was wrong with me was also impossible. She was gone for the day, and I would have to apologize later. Right now, I had to get to Mase.

Maryann hopped out of the truck and rushed to me. “What’s wrong?” she asked, pulling me into a hug. I clung to her and cried harder.

Having any kind of motherly affection undid me. It wasn’t something I knew, but I craved it. Maryann’s arms around me made my tears come harder. Because I’d let her son down. She was comforting me and didn’t know what I had done.

“Shhh, now, it can’t be all that bad. Let’s get you back home, and you can tell me what happened. I know my son, and when he knows you’re this upset, he’s going to be furious with himself.”

No, he wouldn’t. He was furious already. With me.

Maryann led me to her truck, and I got in obediently. Once she was in the driver’s seat and pulling out of the Stouts’ ranch, she glanced over at me. “Can you tell me what happened?”

I could, but would she hate me, too? Probably. I hated me. I should have told him after the first time. I shouldn’t have kept it a secret.

“I let Cap– . . . River Kipling bring me lunch several times. I didn’t ask him to, he just—” I let out a small sob. “He would just show up with food, and I would eat with him. I don’t even like him most of the time. He’s arrogant. But I have to file paperwork that he brings me.”

“And Mase is upset because River brings you food?”

“No . . . yes. He’s mad because I never told him. I was afraid he’d be upset. And I kept telling River to stop. Sometimes he just came with paperwork for me to file, but a couple of times, he brought food. I should have told Mase.”

Maryann didn’t say anything at first. I began to think I’d made her mad at me, too. “Do you like River Kipling in any way other than as a friend?”

I shook my head. “No! I don’t even like him as a friend. He assumes too much and ignores the fact that I don’t want him to be in my office. I love Mase.”

Maryann nodded. “I know you do, sweetheart. But it appears my son has let jealousy take control of him. It’s not like him, but then, that just means you’re different from any other woman who has been in his life. Give him time to cool down, and then he’ll fix this.”

“He was so angry with me,” I whispered.

“No, he was scared of losing you. He was terrified that he wasn’t enough for you. He wasn’t angry at you.”

He wasn’t enough for me? He knew better than that. The look in his eyes was definitely anger. But I didn’t argue with his mother. She would see soon enough. He wasn’t going to be happy to see me. I had to explain. Getting all tongue-tied and panicking wasn’t going to save us.

“I never should have gotten a job,” I said, thinking that none of this would have happened if I’d just stayed home.

Maryann made a tsking sound. “Don’t start that, girl. You deserve a life. Mase doesn’t have to be your world. He can be the most important part of your world, but you need to live, Reese. You need to feel accomplished and make your mark on this earth. I love my son, but I don’t want you giving up your dreams for him.”

I let her words sink in, but they didn’t matter. “But he’s in all of my dreams.”

She nodded. “As he should be. But they’re your dreams. You have control over them, not his jealousy. He knows that, too. He just needs to get his head straight.”

We drove past the gate of the ranch, and I wiped my damp face as I prepared to face him. I was so used to seeing him smiling at me and wanting me. I didn’t know how to deal with a Mase who didn’t want to even look at me.

“There he is,” Maryann said, slowing the truck. “Guess I should stop if the fool’s gonna come running straight at me.”

I glanced up to see Mase running toward the truck and panicked. Was he going to demand that I leave? Oh, God. What if he wouldn’t let me on his property? I had to explain myself.

Maryann opened the truck door and started around the front to meet her son. I death-gripped the seat as if he was going to open the truck and yank me out.

When Mase saw his mother, he shot her a look. She said something to him and then slapped him on the back of the head, before walking toward the house and leaving me alone in her truck, just sitting there. I didn’t want her to leave.

Mase took several long strides to my side of the truck and jerked the door open. I closed my eyes tightly and held on, thankful that I was wearing my seat belt. It wasn’t much, but it was a form of protection.

A warm hand touched the side of my face, and my eyes snapped open to see Mase looking at me intently. His eyes weren’t full of the anger I’d seen earlier. He looked . . . sorry. Worried.

“I am so sorry,” he whispered. “So goddamn sorry.”

Tears of relief filled my eyes, even though I didn’t think I had any more tears to cry.

“I didn’t . . . I don’t even like him. I try to get him to leave. I’m rude to him. He just doesn’t care.”

Mase leaned in and kissed my mouth gently as he unbuckled my seat belt. “I don’t doubt it,” he said softly. “I was an ass. I let him rile me up, and I took it out on you. I was jealous, Reese. You’re mine, and I can’t lose you, baby.”

I wrapped my arms around Mase tightly and buried my face in his neck. Inhaling deeply, I felt safe again. He was here. He wasn’t mad at me. “I’m sorry. I should have told you. I was afraid you’d be angry.”

His hand ran over my hair, wrapping the long strands around his fingers. “Guess I proved that theory correct,” he said, sounding amused.

I nodded. “But I should have told you. He says he’s not flirting, but I don’t know what he’s doing. I’ve told him to leave me alone.”

Mase took a deep breath. “I want to kill him.”

Right now, I wanted to kill him. He had done it on purpose. “I think it would be better if I quit my job. That way, I don’t ever have to see him.”

Mase didn’t reply at first. I stayed in his arms, thankful to have them around me. I didn’t care what I had to do to keep this. “No. You love your job. I won’t let my fear and that asshole take it away from you. But from now on, I’ll be bringing you lunch.”

Smiling, I looked up at him. “Really?”

He cupped my face with one hand. “Really. And I’ll bring you Momma’s food. It’ll be better than any restaurant shit he brought you.” A small laugh escaped me, and he grinned. “You’re just so damn beautiful inside and out, Reese. I’m going to have to get used to men wanting what I have. They can’t help themselves.”

My cheeks heated, and I put my head on his shoulder. “I don’t think that’s the case. Captain is just . . . annoying.”

“You call him Captain. Do you know who he is?”

“He’s Blaire Finlay’s brother. He was at Lila Kate’s birthday. I found out his nickname then.”

Mase frowned. “I never saw him.”

“That’s because we talked when you were inside with Harlow. Then he just disappeared. I figured he went inside.”

“But he found you and talked to you,” he said, sounding annoyed.

“I was with Blaire,” I reminded him.

“Still, the dude is a dickhead.”

Yesterday, I would have been ready to disagree. But after what he did today, I couldn’t deny it. He had told Mase about our lunches for a reason, and it wasn’t an innocent one.

River “Captain” Kipling had just become my enemy.