Page 23 of Love Obscene
“Look at this,” he gestured to the screen again, this time showing me a web page with my father’s house displayed. I watched the screen move down to a part that said ‘Pricing and History.'
One click of a button had me even more confused. The house had been sold July Twenty-Sixth of the same year. Almost two months exactly after that phone call.
Rubbing my chest, I began trying to sort through this information in my head. It was pointless, because I had no idea what his intentions were, and the voice in my head was trying to rationalize everything at once.
As if reading my mind, Mason began to explain.
“She owes me a substantial amount of money. And you’re her pretty little lump sum. Your father ensured you would be well provided for. Why do you think she had her claws in you so deep?”
“Wait.” Rubbing my forehead, I struggled to make sense of the situation, “Are you trying to tell me this was planned? And what lump sum? I don’t have any money.”
“She knows I have you, if that’s what you’re asking. That little trip to meet your extended family was bullshit. She doesn’t have any family. I’m guessing she was going to get rid of you and collect the profit.”
Looking up at him, I couldn’t understand why he was so callous about this.
“You don’t even care,” my voice cracked on the last word.
“You’re right; I don’t care, and neither should you. That woman treated you like dog shit not even worth wiping from the bottom of her fake designer shoe.”
His words cut deep, but only because they were true. No one wants to admit their mother hates them for reasons unknown to them. I suppose I always knew it. The girls on television and in town had completely different relationships from the kind my mother and I had.
My father, the tutors, and my nanny always treated me better than she did.
“Is she coming here? Why did she need to see you? What is it you aren’t telling me, Mason?” I questioned.
“We can discuss this another time. I didn’t have you dress up so we could sit around and talk about the past. I just wanted to give you some clarity on what’s going. I know that head of yours can get ahead of itself.
“You don’t have to worry about your mother. I won’t let her hurt you anymore.” He reached for my hand and pulled me up from the chair, closing the discussion without giving me any answers.
Chapter Twenty
When we entered the dining room, a wisp of a girl disappeared through the other doorway. If I had blinked a second slower, I would have missed her.
“Who is she?” I asked, peeking over my shoulder at Mason.
“Kendra. She’s been cooking for me for years. Don’t worry about her; she’s harmless.” He pulled a chair out for me, and I sat down.
“What do you mean, she’s harmless?” I mumbled absent-mindedly, partially lost in my head.
“Well, she doesn’t have a tongue,” he chuckled.
I almost dropped the water I’d just picked up, gaping across the table at him. I didn’t dare ask why or how that happened. Not that I didn’t want to know, but she was possibly in the next room, and I had decent mannerisms if nothing else.
“Mason.” Sighing, I placed the glass back on the table, “Why did you save me?” It was a simple question I plucked from the dozen circling in my mind.
“I was lonely, and so were you. We don’t ever have to be that way again.”
I thought that would be the extent of his answer, but then he further elaborated, leaving me with nothing else to say.
“I wanted you before I even met you. You’re strange like me; it's clear as day. I have been waiting for someone like you for a very long time. If you haven’t figured it out by now, I’m pretty fucking enamored with you in every way.” He cut into his steak and took a bite.
Why would he be enamored with me?
Because you’re a perfect match. You just won’t accept it.
I wanted to, though. I wanted to be with him in every way there was to be with someone, but I couldn’t tell his truths from his lies, and I was proving to be a weak-hearted fool when it came to him. All he had to do was touch me, and my body would detonate.
Even then, I should have been more focused on whether or not he’d lied to me about my mother. Instead, I was thinking about what he’d just said. We ate in silence for a while before he spoke again.
