Page 11 of Forever Your Touch (Manwhore #4)
CHAPTER NINE
Mason tossed the beer bottle in the trash and grabbed another.
His date was hanging on his arm. He couldn’t shake her loose.
Bad idea letting Jack talk him into this.
Normally, he didn’t date, period. He hooked up, and that was it, but Jack begged him.
His girlfriend’s best friend was in town, and she wanted her to have a good time.
Mason knew it was a mistake from the moment her eyes landed on him. She looked way too eager.
Her name was Angela, maybe? He honestly couldn’t remember.
“I gotta piss.” He shoved away from the table the keg was on and wandered down the hall toward the main floor bathroom. They’d all come back to the frat house after dinner, and his brooding started. Hell, he’d been brooding before then. The second he spotted Jo sitting with Ray, his mood soured.
He’d barely paid attention to the conversation at his own table. Jack had to ask him a question twice at one point. When it was evident Jo was leaving, he’d excused himself to talk to her. It would be rude not to. At least that was what he’d told himself when he ambled over to her table.
He’d lost his temper when she forked over half the bill. In hindsight, he shouldn’t have overreacted, but dammit, it pissed him off! His father taught him better than that, and he wasn’t about to stand there and let her be disrespected.
The line at the bathroom was long, and he really did have to piss, so he went outside and found the privacy of some bushes.
When he was done, he looked back at the house, and the thought of Angela pawing him didn’t give him a good reason to go back inside.
Instead, he found the darkest corner in the back yard and pulled out his phone.
No new messages from his brothers, so his papa hadn’t made it back to the States yet. That particular worry was heightening every emotion he felt these days. He should probably apologize to Jo for losing it on her and Ray at the restaurant.
It was after midnight, though. She was probably asleep.
Didn’t stop him from calling.
She picked up on the fifth ring, her sleepy voice a balm to his frazzled nerves.
“Mason?”
“Hey, JoJo.” His voice was only slightly slurred. Six beers and countless shots would do that to a person.
“Are you drunk, Mason?”
“Not nearly drunk enough to deal with Angela.” He yawned and plopped down on the ground, leaning against the fence. “You okay?”
“I’m fine. Why are you calling so late, and who is Angela?”
“Because you said you were sick, and I wanted to check on you. Angela is Jack’s girl’s friend or some shit.”
“She’s the girl you were with earlier?”
“Yeah.” He yawned around the word. “He suckered me into a blind date.”
“Not going well?”
“She’s clingy.” He cleared his throat. “I wanted to apologize too. I shouldn’t have gone off like I did on Ray. It’s just this thing with my papa has my temper flaring at the smallest things.”
“How is your dad? Any news?”
The concern in her tone eased some of the tension in his chest. She wasn’t overly mad at him. “Not yet. Conner hasn’t called to tell us when they’re coming.”
“I’m sorry.”
He let out a humorless laugh. “I’m the one who needs to apologize, not you, JoJo.”
“You’ve never called me that before.”
It was her YouTube screen name. He’d purposely not called her that so he wouldn’t seem like a star-struck fanboy. But…
“I’m drunk. Don’t hold it against me.”
“I’m sorry I blew up too.”
“You had every right. Is Ray still mad?”
“No clue. He left for work and didn’t say a word to me.”
“Work? I thought he did construction.”
“He does. They’re gonna be out of town every week for the next couple of months. He may not be home some weekends. He and Josh left tonight. They start tomorrow.”
“He left you alone for months?” He blinked, his vision blurring.
“He has to work, Mason.”
“It’s just shitty, you being alone.”
She laughed. “That’s what I have my FIBB for, I thought?”
“Fuck, yeah. This FIBB is there for anything you want me for, baby girl.” He took another long swig from his beer bottle.
“You’re insane.”
“And proud of it, sugar doll.”
“You really are drunk.” Again, her laughter floated over the phone, and it calmed him even more.
“Yeah, but not so drunk I don’t remember you were sick. Stomach bug, right?”
“Mmhmm.” Mason heard ruffling and the sound of her mattress. “I’m feeling better now, though.”
“You sleepy?” Another yawn tackled him.
“I think you need sleep more than I do, Mase.”
“Can’t go inside.”
“Why not?”
“The date’s inside. I think I’ll sleep out here against the fence.”
“Mason, you can’t sleep against the fence.”
“Why not?” It felt damn comfortable.
“Well, because you can’t.”
“I like it out here.”
“You won’t when you wake up cold with a big crick in your neck.”
“A what?”
“A crick.”
“Why the hell would I have a cricket in my neck?” The longer he talked, his accent became more dominant. Hell, he barely understood himself, it was so thick.
“Not a cricket, a crick. A pulled muscle in your neck. Feels swollen and stiff. It’s an American saying.”
He snorted. “I got something swollen and stiff, all right, but it ain’t no fucking cricket.”
She went completely silent, and he frowned, trying to figure out why. His eyes widened. “Did I say that out loud?”
“Yes.”
“Shit. Sorry, moye dragotsennyy .” He needed to hang up the damn phone before he said anything else he didn’t mean to.
“You never told me what that meant.”
“Google it.”
“I tried, but I think I misspelled it or something.”
“It means ‘my precious.’”
“You seriously are not calling me ‘my precious’ like Sméagol does in Lord of the Rings , are you?”
She sounded so outraged, he bent over laughing. He hadn’t even thought of that movie when he started calling her that.
“My precious,” he said, mimicking Sméagol perfectly.
Her gasp almost made him drop the phone, he laughed so hard.
“This is not funny, Mason.”
Anger burned in her words, and it only set off another fit of laughter.
“I’m hanging up.”
He brushed tears from his eyes. God, he hadn’t laughed like that in a while. “No, JoJo, don’t hang up.”
“Don’t call me that, then.”
“It’s meant as a term of endearment. I never even thought of the ugly little guy. Really.”
“I still don’t like it.”
“You don’t like someone thinking you’re the most precious thing in the world?”
“I…you really think that?”
“Sure do, my borrowed sister. You’re my only friend who’s a girl, outside of my family, so that makes you precious to me.”
“That’s actually kinda sweet.”
“What can I say? I have a way with all the girls. They can’t resist me.”
“Is that so?”
“Yup, baby, it’s a fact.”
“Now you’re getting cocky.”
“That’s not a bad thing.” He drained his beer. “Shit, I’m outta beer, but I don’t wanna go back inside.”
“If you weren’t drunk, I’d tell you to come over.”
Damn. Why had he decided to get drunk?
“Ray left and didn’t even say goodbye.” The hurt in her voice sobered him like nothing else could.
“That’s because of me. I’m so sorry.”
“He’s never left like that before. I even texted him to be safe, and he hasn’t texted back. How hard is it to take two seconds and reply? You called, even though I know you were mad. Why hasn’t Ray called?”
Because he was a selfish bastard, but he didn’t say that out loud.
“I’m sure he’ll call in the morning. Hard to know if he’s within cell range or he could have bad reception. Probably late when he got to the hotel too, and he didn’t want to wake you up.”
Why the hell he was defending the bastard was beyond him, but he hated the thought of her hurting.
“You’re a good friend, Mason.”
He wanted to be more than a good friend, but as long as Ray was around, it was all he could be. And he’d have to settle for that or risk losing her.
Fate sure handed him a curveball, and there was nothing he could do about it.
“Get some sleep, JoJo. I’ll be by to pick you up for school in the morning.”
“Go inside and go to bed.”
“I will.”
“Promise me you won’t sleep outside?”
“I promise, moye dragotsennyy .”
He listened until he heard her hang up.
He was screwed.