Page 12

12

MASON

Three Years Earlier

I’M ALREADY SPRINTING AHEAD when the ball lands in my hands.

A guy lunges for me and I slice past him, my lungs burning as I take off harder and faster down the field. Heavy footsteps pound behind me. I slide across the ground, touching the football down past the line. Cheers explode from the crowd, and I push to my feet.

Zayden is in front of me in an instant, gripping my forearm and yanking me towards him. He wraps his arm around me in a brief hug, clapping me on the back. Glancing up, my eyes scan across the clusters of people. They land on Anya, and a smile is stretched across her face from ear to ear. I can’t help but smile too. My eyes drop to her body, and the wind is knocked out of me.

She is wearing my jersey.

Even from this distance, I can see the pink in her cheeks and the dark hair tumbling down her shoulders. She is in a short skirt and dark, patterned stockings that make her legs look impossibly long. My God, she is stunning. In every single way.

‘Earth to Mason?’ A voice to my left says, and I blink back into focus, realising that everyone has moved back, and I’m the only one left at the goal line. Shaking the hair from my eyes, I jog down the field, trying to regain some sort of focus.

It’s been a week since the party. A week since the kiss. Multiple kisses . I’m doing my best to avoid her, but given I’m staying in her family home, that is a difficult challenge. I can’t believe I let my self-control slip like that. I can’t be that guy for her. I can’t lead her on when I don’t know what my future looks like right now. I can’t do this and risk ruining everything.

Rubbing the sweat out of my eyes, I try to rid my mind of all thoughts of her.

I manage to get through the game, and we finish with a significant lead. We have been unbeatable this season.

‘What the fuck?’ Zayden mutters, and I look up to see him glaring at the stands. Following his line of sight, my stomach lurches when I realise who he’s staring at. Zayden’s lips spread into a thin line. ‘Why is Anya wearing your jersey?’

Chewing the inside of my cheek, I frown up at the stands, acting as if I’ve only just noticed myself. I offer a non-committal shrug. ‘Don’t know.’

Zayden’s stare burns into the side of my face as I run my fingers through my hair.

‘There better not be anything going on, Mason,’ Zayden snaps, and I flinch at the bite in his tone. ‘I swear to God, I will kill you.’

‘You think I’d do that?’ I counter, feeling a flush sweep across my neck at the blatant lie. Guilt grips my stomach in an iron fist. We don’t lie to each other. Ever .

‘You tell me.’

‘There is nothing going on,’ I say, and the self-hatred I feel hits me like a tonne of bricks.

‘She is everything to me, and you are everything to me, and if anything was to ever happen ...’ He trails off, looking at me intensely as he tries to read my expression. ‘I would never forgive you for fucking everything up.’

‘Jesus Christ!’ I retort hotly. ‘Nothing is going on. I’m sick of people fucking grilling me about it. How many times do I have to say she is like a little sister to me? She means everything to me too, man. Don’t fucking forget it.’

His eyes take on a stormy look before he jerks his chin in a sharp nod. ‘Good,’ Zayden says coolly. ‘If I find out you touched her,’ he says, stepping so close the ends of our noses almost touch. ‘We’re done. Got it?’

The weight of his words slice into me like tiny bullets, hitting my vital organs. The pressure builds behind my eyes, and I want to scream. It’s always been like this. I can’t have one without hurting the other. And yet, I can’t lose either of them.

Swallowing the lump in my throat, I exhale, realising what I have to do. ‘Got it.’