I slurp down some water, hoping to cool the heat, and search for a quick subject change. “You guys still looking for a house?”
She glares. “Nice try.” Her eyes study me so intently that it takes everything in me to not give her what she’s asking for and admit I maybe kinda dig Mason. “Fine, I’ll leave you alone for now. Just know he’s a really good guy, Trix. You could do worse.”
“Ha! All I’ve ever done is worse.” Mason’s too good for me. Too clean. Unburdened.
We sit and chat for another hour before our butts numb and our jaws are exhausted.
I drop Gia off at home and drive blindly the few blocks to my place. Most of our casual girls’ nights out aren’t littered with the heavy conversation we had tonight. Next time we’ll stick with a more standard less thought-provoking topic.
I pull into the garage, thankful that my roommate’s car isn’t there. She spends most nights during the week with her boyfriend. Not that I mind. She pays her rent on time, and I get the house to myself.
Grabbing my hobo-chic purse in the dark, I hear the contents ping-ponging down between the seats. “Dammit.” I reach over and fish up much as I can, shoving it back into my bag.
I push out of the car and, in one step, almost slam into the towering figure of a man. I gasp and clench my chest. “Holy shit!” My eyes tighten into a glare. “What are you doing here?”
Eight
Mason
What am I doing here? Excellent question.
I was forced to listen to Lane talk about Trix while playing poker, so caught up in his graphic descriptions of his time with her that I ended up losing all my money along with my patience. He’d called her a “groupie,” said she was “fun to play with,” and as if that weren’t enough to have me wanting to lunge¸ he’d made reference to the fact that the whole band had had her.
The whole band!
When I turned my glare to Rex, I fantasized about the next time we’d step into the octagon together. I imagined crushing his throat under my forearm until the fucker passed out. He must’ve felt what was coming because he quickly clarified that he was excluded from that statement. He had never been with her.
Saved from an ass-kicking.
I left, unable to take being in the same room with a man who had been more intimate with Trix than I had. Trix . . . What a stupid fucking name! And if the stories Lane told are true, it would seem the name matches the girl.
She blinks up at me, hand still to her chest as if to calm a racing heart. “You gonna tell me why you’re here?” Her eyes narrow. “You followed me.”
I nod toward the door that leads into the house. “We need to talk.” The words come out on a growl that shocks even me. I have no right to demand answers. All we did was share a meaningless kiss. Even as the words filter through my head, my gut roils at my lie.
“Talk.” Her eyes are still narrow, and her lips quirk in a way that makes me want to suck them. “You expect me to just invite you into my home after you followed me home like a damn psychopath?”
I step into her space, her body heat drawing me in. “Are you afraid of me, Trix?”
She pushes back with a step of her own. “I’m not afraid of anyone, but you haven’t been overly nice since—”
“Did you hook up with Lane?” The words fly from my lips like arrows and strike.
She recoils slightly. “What?”
“Cut the bullshit. Just tell me the truth.”
“Why do you care?” Her question is barely a whisper.
“I have no fucking clue.” I rip my hands through my hair. “Answer me.”
She swallows hard. “Of course I did.”
Ouch. I knew she had, but why does hearing her confirm it piss me off? “Why?”
Her eyebrows pinch in confusion. “Why not, Mason?”
God, hearing my name from her lips, the light ring of her voice, I imagine what it would be like to hear her crying out my name in pleasure. I bite back the urge to take her mouth and press her up against her car. “Because your body . . . you . . .”
“My body is a tool, a means to an end.” She holds out her arms then drops them hard to her sides. “It’s