Page 30 of Developing Hearts (Pine Point Fixer-Uppers #5)

Chapter thirty

Mason

Work was much easier when Mason didn’t give a crap about putting on a pleasant face.

He wasn’t quite so consumed by anger and annoyance as he had been the night before…

but he had a hangover, so that helped to fuel him.

Not that he needed all that much fuel. Any time he looked at the crew, he was reminded how they’d gone after David.

My boyfriend. That took a little edge off any time he thought about it.

David hadn’t even balked at the label for an instant.

They’d made out for a little bit, packed the pizza and leftover cake away in the hotel room’s mini-fridge, and then fell asleep next to each other.

No funny business at all, but it was a damn nice feeling, waking up tangled in the sheets with David.

In those bleary morning moments, Mason hadn’t even considered that they were both in nothing but their underwear, that David was touching him and could see him.

It was also a good thing he wore underwear yesterday.

I don’t know if I could have kept my hands off him if he was naked in bed next to me .

He hadn’t seen David much since morning.

They would pass by each other, but he seemed to be mostly engrossed in finishing up that sketchbook.

Every time Mason saw that more pages had been completed, his heart thrummed.

He wanted to see what the whole project would look like, his own personal record of the job, of the time they’d met, of the creative process from someone who was so inspired and talented.

“Hey.” Robinson walked up to the table. “Could I borrow you? Need some extra hands.”

“The contractors aren’t cutting it?”

Robinson actually rolled his eyes at Mason. “Come on, you and I both know that this is an excuse for the two of us to get off camera so we can talk, can’t you just play along?”

Mason snorted…but he got up. He was pissed, but these were still his best friends.

Even if he would have had to think really long and hard about whether or not to punch them all in the face, given the chance.

“Better turn off your mic, then. I don’t think what I want to say will make it past the censors. ”

“Already did.”

Mason rose, switched off the mic pack on the back of his waist, then followed Robinson out of the condo entirely and into the elevator. Only then did Robinson start talking. “I’m sorry about last night, but you’ve got to let us explain.”

“No, I get it. You either think I’m such a bad judge of character that I can’t find a guy, that I’m too stupid to have learned my lesson with other guys, or that David is secretly a flaming pile of crap just waiting to reveal his true, evil nature and betray me.”

“You are taking a very negative stance on what went down.”

“What went down was very negative. You waited until I left the room, then decided to all pounce and accuse my boyfriend of not actually caring about me.” The elevator hit the parking garage and they stepped out, but Mason didn’t stop.

If Robinson wanted to be the one to confront him on this, then fine—Robinson could bear the brunt of it.

“Who could love a fat piece of shit like me, right? No idea what we’ve been doing, no idea who he really is, no idea how much he’s held my hand through this whole thing.

Just nope, clearly this hot guy couldn’t actually be interested in my fat friend. Must be his new flavor of the week.”

Robinson smacked him in the cheek. Not hard…but hard enough. It stung. His jaw was tight as he looked up at Mason, and there was a wet sheen to his eyes. “You don’t get to put words in our mouths any more than we get to put words in David’s. Not one of us thinks that about you.”

Mason snorted as the pain receded from his face. “Right. You all just don’t have eyes.”

“Okay, you’re fat.” Robinson threw his arms to the side.

“I’m so skinny that people used to call CPS on my parents because they assumed I wasn’t being fed.

Aras has a big huge nose that makes him look like a scary bird.

And that’s not how any of us think about each other, right?

Unless that’s how you’ve been thinking about us, and then that’s a bigger problem that we need to address. ”

Mason knew he was right, but that didn’t fix the hurt. It didn’t sink in. It was intellectually true, but what did that matter? “You all just don’t think that he can possibly be good for me.”

“We never said that.” Robinson grabbed Mason by the wrists and stepped in close, glaring at him.

It was rare to see Robinson get pissed, but apparently this had done it.

“We don’t know him because someone here kept their whole relationship a secret.

So when we found out that you two were apparently together, yeah.

We wanted to find out if he was stringing you along. ”

“Because I couldn’t tell.”

“Because when someone gets smitten, they don’t always have the best judgment.

” Robinson released his wrists and stepped back.

“Look, if you’re determined to just be pissed about what went down then fine, whatever, I can’t change your mind.

But when you’re ready to be reasonable and understand, then come find me and you can accept my apology. ”

Robinson marched away, but Mason didn’t follow.

He moved toward the moving truck where they were keeping most of David’s stuff and sat on the bumper.

They either couldn’t or didn’t understand, and if they were all going to get defensive when Mason tried to explain, then what was the point of even bothering?

Robinson, of all people, should have been the most level-headed.

What would he have done if they’d all gone after Chuck, accused him of chasing younger tail to replace his dead husband?

Mason knew he should go back up, but instead he hopped to his feet and headed out of the garage. A walk around the block would do him some good. If nothing else, the distance would buy him a chance to calm down before he had to go back up and face them again.