On the Run (Whispering Key #2) - May Archer Page 0,90

which makes me feel a little… protective. Toby’s not the kind of person I’d have picked for you, and I maybe snapped at him for taking advantage of you.”

“Taking advantage of me? Toby?” He’d lied, sure, and I was angry, but that wasn’t the same thing as taking advantage. I’d known who he was and what he wanted from me since the first night we met.

“You’ve gotta understand, it’s not that Toby’s a bad person,” Mason hurried to say. “He’s not! I’ve known him since college, and beneath that super-snarky, abrasive exterior, he’s got a kind and generous side he doesn’t show often.”

“I know.”

“He got his heart broken so often freshman year, I swear he got a permanent callus, which is why… Wait, you know?” He frowned like this sentence didn’t compute.

“I know he’s a kind, generous person,” I clarified. “I didn’t know about the heartbreak. Keep going.” It tightened my chest to hear it.

“Uh. Well.” Mason didn’t seem any less confused after my explanation. “I was going to say, he came back to school sophomore year, and it was like a switch had flipped. He didn’t let anyone in anymore. He was all about having a good time and being self-reliant after that. And it wasn’t a phase. He’s been that way for… oh, fifteen years or so? Something like that.”

Oh, Toby. Angry as I was, I couldn’t hear that without my gut churning.

“Was that after his parents kicked him out?”

“He told you about that?” Mason’s eyes went wide. “He didn’t tell me until years after the fact! I just figured he stayed at school for breaks since he liked it better.” He looked affronted.

I shrugged. “He didn’t give me details, Mase, he just told me that it happened.” And I’d been afraid to push too hard to learn more. “Could you fast-forward to the part where he somehow took advantage of me?”

Mason blew out a breath. “I already told you. Toby’s casual about sex, and you’re not. I told him he was wrong to mess around with you just because you’re hot when he had to know—”

“You think Beale’s hot?” Fenn demanded. “Since when?”

“I have eyes, don’t I?” Mason arched an eyebrow. “I mean, he’s not as hot as Watt Bartlett, obviously…”

Fenn’s eyes rolled toward the ceiling. “This again?”

“This forever,” Mason said haughtily. “You don’t get to make eyes at my brother’s friend and expect me to ignore it.”

“I have never ‘made eyes’ at anyone in my life, except possibly you.” Fenn crowded Mason, standing between his legs, and tried to kiss him.

Mason turned his head. “Oh, really? Even though, as you have reminded me no less than four times this week, Watt has an iconic 1966 Chevy Corvette in his barn that he wants you to see next time we visit?”

“But I’d bet he hasn’t got a pair of loafers to his name,” Fenn said solemnly. “And I find I have very specific tastes these days.”

Mason snorted, but his mouth turned up at one corner. He slid a hand up Fenn’s chest. “That’s true love right there.”

“It really is.”

Blurgh. “Focus, people,” I demanded. “And not on Fenn’s shoe fetish. Mason, finish. You told off your best friend because he and I chose to have sex?”

Fenn shifted to one side, and Mason tilted his head against Fenn’s chest. He looked at me and sighed guiltily.

“I jumped to conclusions. I told Toby you were sweet and good…” He wrinkled his nose. “Toby said I described you like a cookie, and he was right. I should have listened better when he said you were capable.”

Toby saw you, a voice in the back of my head said. He did care about you. And can you blame him for not trusting you when you pushed him away like every other person in his entire life has, from his family to his exes, the second he didn’t meet some crazy standard of perfection? The voice, which sounded suspiciously like Toby’s, reminded me, “You said motive matters, Beale!”

“Toby was right,” I said softly. “Mase, I love you, but I’m an adult human being capable of making decisions, and I don’t need protecting. I knew who Toby was before anything happened between us. He didn’t lie about that. The only thing he lied about was Jayd.”

“And from what Mason said, that situation wasn’t really his fault either,” Fenn said, stroking a comforting hand down Mason’s back. “For better or worse, he had reasons for not telling you. He was trying to protect Jayd from being