Page 27 of Freed By Fire
There are several retorts on the tip of my tongue, but I don’t say any of them.
He’s infuriating, and I want to bang my hands against his chest and throw something at him, but I also want to take him into my arms and kiss him soundly.
Mason has my emotions in a spin, but I still love him.
So much so that it makes my heart ache.
Even after we’ve been through together, he still won’t let me all the way in.
You can’t blame him, can you? At least not when it comes to this. Well-intentioned or not, you are hiding things from him.
I stare at Mason for a while longer, but he won’t look at me.
With a sigh, I reach for the glass of water on a nearby table and hold it up to Noah’s cracked lips. He licks his lips, clears his throat, and looks away from me.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper, before taking the glass away and returning with more water. “Just tell him what he needs to know.”
“Someday, you’re going to get tired of justifying his behavior. I know it, and so do you.”
As soon as he’s done with the second glass of water, I look at him. “You don’t know me anymore, Noah.”
Hurt flashes across Noah’s face.
I set the glass of water down on the nearby table, and I study the man I once envisioned an entire future with.
It’s like looking at a stranger now.
Mason comes to stand beside me, and I wordlessly follow him upstairs. He breaks the silence in the hallway outside the door.
My heart cracks a little as I reach for him, and he lets me.
“I’m sorry.”
Mason searches my face, and his expression hardens. “I’m surrounded by people I can’t trust, people who don’t know the meaning of loyalty.”
I frown. “I’m not one of those people, Mason. You can trust me.”
Mason raises an eyebrow.
“You can,” I maintain. “I know this is messed up, and with everything happening lately, you have every right to question people, but I am not one of those people.”
As soon as the words leave my mouth, I know I’ve said the wrong thing.
How can I stand across from him, look him in the eye, and ask him to ignore the warning signs?
Even I know this is insane, and for the umpteenth time, I debate whether to tell him the truth.
“You know how you told me there are things you can’t tell me because I wouldn’t be able to handle them? Why can’t you accept that this is similar?”
Mason scoffs. “Whatever you think this is, I assure you it’s not the same thing.”
“How do you know it isn’t?”
Mason’s eyes darken. “Because you’ve seen the world I live in, and what I have to handle. Don’t patronize me.”
“I’m not,” I reply a little too quickly. “I’m doing what I can to help. I know you don’t want to be worried about me, but you can’t ask me to sit around and twiddle my thumbs.”
“You are not twiddling your thumbs,” Mason replies gruffly. “You are keeping yourself safe. Don’t underestimate how important that is.”
