Page 81 of The Spare

"What thefuckdid you just say to me, Mason?" she says, her face contorting in anger.

"Mason, I think we-"I start; however, he interrupts me, holding a hand up. I snap my mouth shut, letting him have the floor.

I throw a worried look at Hendrix, who meets my eyes and shakes his head no slightly, telling me to stay out of it. I know I'm mad at him, but right now he's probably the best one to handle the two of them. They've never gotten into a fight before that I know of.

"I said the other day that I'm sick of you all interfering, Isobel. And right now, it sounds to me like you're trying to talk Melody out of marrying me, and you know this isn't how this fucking works."

Chapter twenty-three

Coming to Terms

I'm so irritated right now I could choke the living daylights out of Isobel.

She and Hendrix not only had the nerve to interrupt, damn nearwatch,the hottest fuck I've ever had in my life, but now they're taking it a step further and testing me in my own motherfucking home?

In mycloset?

I narrow my eyes, taking a deep breath and will my feet to stay planted on the carpet. All the pleasure I'd felt just tenminutes ago dissipates almost as if it were never there, leaving a teeth-grating annoyance in its wake that rivals just about any other time I'd lost my shit on Hendrix or my father.

But this time it's Isobel causing it.PregnantIsobel.

"I wasn't trying to talk her out of anything, Mason," Isobel quips, folding her arms and glaring at me.

"Really?" I scoff, eyeing her up and down. "Because that's exactly what the fuck it sounded like to me."

"It's not what I meant!" she yells back.

Hendrix puts his hand on her arm, but she shakes it off, taking another step towards me.

I feel my anger begin to take me over, turning my face into stone. "Well it's what the fuck you just said!" I raise my voice, ignoring Hendrix who gives me a warning glance. "So maybe you need to start being more careful with how you say things, Isobel, because it sounded like you were insinuating she shouldn't marry me!"

"Well, I wasn't," she snaps. "I just wanted some answers."

I tilt my head to the side. "She's twenty years old. What makes you think you're owed an answer about Melody's sex life? Her love life?"

I know I'm one to talk, paying off the various boyfriends in her life to disappear and all, but still.

She frowns, "Because this has been going on under our noses, and we-," she emphasizes, gesturing between her and Hendrix who looks at me and gives me a 'not me' look that's quite perplexing. "-Wanted to know if y'all were fucking while she was underage," she continues.

My annoyance instantly goes a notch higher.

"And what if we were?" I ask.

The room goes eerily quiet as everybody seems to hold their breath. Her head snaps to Melody who purses her lips together, her gaze flickering between the two of us; however, she stays silent.

"What if we were,Isobel?" I repeat myself, getting her attention back on me. "What are you going to do about it?"

Isobel blinks, looking put out. "Well, I-I-" she stammers.

"Is that what you think of me?" I ask, recoiling my head. "That I'd do that? Like a fucking pedophile? I know we butt heads a lot, and I can have a temper but honestly, do you tworeallythink that little of me?" My eyes flick between her and Hendrix."Well?"

"Not at all, Mason. We know you aren't like that!" Hendrix says, his voice is strong enough to put me more at ease.

"Apparentlyshedoesn't," I say, bringing my eyes back to Isobel, whose face tinges pink. Her lips purse together, and she throws another look at Melody, the worry plain as day in her eyes. I see then that this is about control to her.

Or rather, the lack of it.

She's been like a second mother to Melody for so long that she doesn't know how to let go.