Amusement lit his eyes. “That is pretty bad. No, I want her to do whatever makes her happy.”
“So, why the face?”
He sighed, turning so he faced me more fully. “Juliette is overprotective…”
He let the sentence hang, and I filled in the rest. “She’s not happy you married me.”
“She’s always skeptical and thinks it’s her job to look out for me, when it’s really the other way around.”
I traced the rim of my mug with a finger. “It’s both of your jobs. You should look out for each other.” Chelsea and I had built that kind of bond growing up. An early warning system to avoid Dad when he was in a mood. Friendship when we were so cut off from most of the world. But when I started seeing Derek, it had faltered. For the first time, I’d wanted to reach for more, and Chelsea was too scared. Our relationship fracture had left room for Dad’s manipulations to take hold.
“You’re right. But she takes it a little too far. And she wasn’t exactly happy to learn I’d married someone she hadn’t met.”
I set my mug next to the lounge. “Mason, tell her the truth. That this is a favor. I don’t want this to come between you.”
He shook his head. “It’s not a good idea. I think it would make it worse.”
My stomach gave a healthy twist. The last thing I wanted was to create issues for Mason when he was giving me everything. I stiffened as something clicked into place. “She thinks I’m using you. After your money or something?”
Mason rubbed at the back of his neck. “She thinks everyone who comes into my life might have ulterior motives.”
And why wouldn’t she suspect me? We hadn’t signed a prenup or anything like that. No paperwork other than the marriage license had been signed at all. “Mason, why don’t I sign one of those…what do you call them? A prenup but after marriage?”
“A postnup. We don’t need one.”
“Why? I could try to take half of everything from you. Hell, maybe I like this house so much I could fight for it when we get divorced.”
His mouth curved. “I’m glad you like my place.”
“This isn’t funny.”
“It kind of is. Anna, I’ve seen you live your life for the past two years. How generous you are with your time and every resource at your fingertips. You don’t think I know you paid for that computer programming class Kristin’s daughter wanted to take but couldn’t afford? Or the hockey gear Greg needed to play safely? I see you. And I don’t think there’s a person I’d trust more.”
I suddenly felt raw and exposed. Every person who came through Hope House had a story. And the parents who were there in an attempt to make a better life for their children always got to me the most. I wished my mother had been strong enough to do that. And if there was ever a need that wasn’t covered by the center, sometimes I stepped in. But I had no idea that Mason had seen so much of it.
“I…” I wasn’t sure how to finish that sentence, how to even start it.
“Don’t worry, I won’t share your secret with the world. But I also won’t have you signing some ugly paperwork that demeans the friendship we have. I trust you, and I’m not going to let my sister’s doubts create issues here.”
There was thatfriendshipword again. One I both loved and hated. I pushed it from my mind and focused on Mason. “You never mention your parents. Are they not in your lives?”
The movement was slight, but I still saw it. A subtle stiffening of his shoulders, the twitch of his fingers as they tightened around his knee. “They’re dead.”
Mason’s voice was flat as he said it. Not tinged with grief the way it might have been if he’d lost them to disease or a tragic accident. This was something else. I stayed quiet. There was an implied request for more in my silence, but I wouldn’t push. I wouldn’t make him tell me anything, even though he knew more about me than I’d shared with anyone since my time in juvie.
His gaze shifted to the trees beyond the pool, to the lake that peeked out from between them. “My father drove our car into a lake. He almost killed my sister and me. And hedidkill my mother and himself.”
15
Mason
Anna sucked in an audible breath,but I couldn’t make myself turn back to face her. This wasn’t something I shared. Not with anyone. Cain knew, but not because I’d told him but because it would’ve come up in his extensive background check before offering me the job to head his company. Juliette and I never spoke of it because she didn’t remember—too young and traumatized when it happened to have it stick in her brain.
But it had stuck in mine. Cemented itself into my bones, resurfacing every so often to taunt me. The screaming and crying. My mother’s panicked wailing. Her begging me to get Juliette out when her seat belt stuck. The way my father didn’t seem to hear any of it.
Fingers curled around my forearm. “I’m so sorry. Those words aren’t nearly enough, but I don’t have better ones.”
Heat from that hand seeped into me. It was the first time Anna had reached out. The first time she’d made the initial contact. And damn it felt good. My gaze met hers. “We have more in common than you think. A club that neither of us ever wanted to be in.”
