Page 40 of Home Grown Talent
“Kurt’s your dad?” Owen said uncertainly.
Mason nodded. “Yeah, it’s confusing, I know, but I’ve always called them by their first names. My sisters call them ‘mum’ and ‘dad’, but they’re much younger. Ten years younger actually.”
“Ten?” Owen exclaimed, his eyebrows shooting up.
Mason shrugged. “They were a surprise, apparently.”
“A big one, I imagine, being twins,” Owen replied. After a pause, he added, “So why did you call your parents by their names?”
Mason gave a half-hitched smile. “Back then, Kurt thought that titles like ‘mum’ and ‘dad’ were authoritarian emblems of the patriarchal society we live in.”
“Oh.”
Mason laughed at whatever expression he saw on Owen’s face. “Anyway, yeah, we didn’t have tons of money, but it was fine. Frieda had inherited some from a relative, which they used to buy the canal boat. Kurt didn’t earn a huge salary, but it was enough. But then, when I was ten, Frieda got pregnant with the twins, and everything changed. The boat was too small for us all. Plus, my sisters were premature when they were born and needed extra care, so we ended up moving to a poky flat in Newham.” Mason gave a little laugh. “Sorry, I’m really dragging this out. Long story short: after that, money was tight, and family life was busy and hard and a lot more stressful. By the time the twins turned three, Kurt had had enough. He left to move in with a twenty-one-year-old he met at work.”
Owen made a face. “Shit.”
Mason gave another little laugh. “Yeah. Pretty much. Money had been tight before, but after, it was really tight, and Kurt… well, he isn’t exactly reliable. Not that that changed anything from my perspective—not right away anyway. My goal was to be a chef, and I knew that meant I’d have to put up with low pay and punishing hours for a while. And I knew I’d have to live at home and give most of my wages to Frieda to help with the rent.”
Owen had worked out what was coming by now. “But then you got spotted?”
Mason smiled. “Yup. And not just spotted—spotted for a specific campaign. Which meant money straight in the bank. A lot of money, or so it seemed to me at the time. Certainly more than we’d ever had before.” He sipped his wine. “It was…impossible to turn down. I had this idea that I’d take advantage for a couple of years, stash some cash, then go back to working in kitchens, but—well, sometimes things don’t work out how you plan, you know?”
Owen smiled wryly, thinking of his own convoluted career path. “Yeah,” he said. “I do.”
“I didn’t realise that more money in also meant more money out. It didn’t take long to start amassing a bunch of extra expenses. Frieda and the girls got a better flat, which I subsidised. And then I moved out. Initially, I shared with a couple of other models from the agency, but later on, I got my own place. And once I had a taste of independence, I really couldn’t imagine living at home again. Plus, suddenly I had all these other expenses too: a gym membership, grooming stuff, clothes—though I do admittedly get quite a lot of good stuff for free.” He sighed. “And then there’s Kurt.”
“Does he ask you for money ?”
“No, but like I said, he’s not reliable—he spends most of his time and money on Regan, his latest girlfriend. He’s supposed to give Frieda money every month, but he’s late all the time, and he sometimes misses a payment altogether. Frieda isn’t very—” He shrugged, then smiled, clearly changing his mind about saying more. “Well, she still has a soft spot for him, despite everything. She always lets him get away with it.”
“So… you help out when your dad doesn’t pay on time?”
“Yeah. And honestly, even if he was on time every month, he doesn’t really earn enough to cover everything Frieda and the girls need. Like I said, I sub their rent anyway, but every couple of months, I end up giving Frieda extra money on top, and it’s got so that—” He broke off, his mouth twisting ruefully as he rubbed at the back of his neck.
“What?” Owen prompted gently.
Mason met his gaze, and suddenly, Owen realised that all the happiness of earlier had leached away, and he looked sad and a little defeated. “It’s just that they rely on me, you know? Which means I can’t really afford to stop modelling. Not until I get something else in place that pays similar money.”
To Owen, it sounded like Mason’s parents took him and his money for granted. Not that he had any right to judge how their family operated, but it was clear that Mason was struggling under the weight of all that responsibility. And Owen knew how that felt, even if his own situation with Lewis had been very different.
Curiously, he said, “Don’t you like modelling?”
Mason shrugged. “It’s okay. I actually quite liked it at the start, but that wore off, and now”—he made a face—“well, I’m pretty sick of having to be so strict about my diet and exercise. And it doesn’t really challenge me. The influencer and TV stuff is better, but they don’t pay enough yet. I’ve got some brand work, but Frankie—he’s my agent—says I need to hit a 100,000 followers on Insta to start making bigger money on that.” He met Owen’s eyes, his expression rueful. “That’s why I want to get on TV. I feel like I’ve achieved my limit in terms of organic growth. I need something high profile to bump me up.”
“And you think our Weekend Wellness slot will make the difference?”
Mason’s smile was wide. “You have no idea. TV exposure will help so much.”
Owen leaned forward and set his hand on Mason’s. “Well, in that case, I’m really glad I decided to do it.” He smiled, and their gazes caught. For a couple of long moments, they just stared at each other. Then Mason swallowed, a visible shift of his throat, and suddenly, Owen realised that he was smoothing his thumb over the back of Mason’s hand.
“Sorry,” he muttered and began to pull his hand back, except Mason turned his own hand over, sliding his fingers into the spaces between Owen’s, preventing him from pulling away.
“Don’t be sorry,” Mason murmured. “Not for that.”
Owen’s pulse began to race.
Mason bit his lip—God, he was gorgeous. It wasn’t fair; it really wasn’t. “I’m not drunk this time,” he said quietly. “So, if you reject me again, I’m going to have to take it personally.”