Mason snorted.“You’re a good bartender, Thorn.That’s why you work at the club, not because you’re a detective.”
Thorn put his hands up, mock offended.“Hey, I know how to pour and charm.I am not paid to peep through the back door.”
Alice sidled up between us two, arms sliding across our shoulders like she was tacking herself to the mast of a ship that had finally righted.She looked relieved in a way that made me laugh out loud; she’d been carrying this as a secret confessional for months.
“Do you feel lighter?”she asked me, dramatic and affectionate.“Because I feel a million pounds lighter.It was killing me to have only Wrecker to talk to about you two.”Then she raised her voice, the kind that rallied a room no matter what the topic.“Now that we all know Mason and Adley are knocking boots, let’s get back to the graduation party planning.”
The groans that followed were half-hearted and half-amused.Even with the relief, the idea of finishing the party prep felt like work none of us wanted to do, suddenly more real than the emotional cyclone that had just passed through.
Mac and Star moved up through the crowd, both of them with that sheepish, guilty look that told me they’d been the accidental detonators.Star’s eyes were still wet; the poor kid looked like she’d been sick to her stomach the whole time.
“I’m sorry,” Star said immediately when she reached us.Her voice wobbled.“I didn’t mean-”
I shook my head and smiled at her, because I didn’t blame her.Whatever chain of events had led to Slayer’s storm hadn’t been malicious.“It’s okay, Star.You didn’t mean to.”
Mac, who always played the professional face, couldn’t help laughing once the pressure finally broke.“I kept my word when I said I wouldn’t tell anyone about you two,” she said, like it was a badge she’d been wearing.“I didn’t even tell my own daughter.”
Mason chuckled.“It’s okay, Mac.I shouldn’t have made you promise not to tell anyone.Hell, now that everyone knows, I don’t know why we kept it a secret.”
I bumped him with my hip.“Youwanted to keep it secret,” I teased.“I was ready to tell the whole damn world.”
Mac shrugged like she’d been holding diplomatic keys to the city.“I get it.It was pretty touch-and-go for a second with Slayer.I was pretty sure he was going to punch you into next week.”She leaned in close, conspiratorial and very, very Mac.“Which,” she added with a grin that gleamed, “will make for great TV.”
My knees gave a little.The cameras.Of course.If it hadn’t been enough to be exposed to my family and the club, now television was going to have a field day.I could picture it, dramatic cuts, slow-motion kisses, my dad folding his arms for the headline.I almost laughed and then didn’t.
“Oh Jesus,” I groaned.I looked at Mac with pathetic pleading in my eyes.“Do you think maybe you could just accidentally delete the last half hour of footage?”
Mac’s expression was apologetic and gleeful at once.She shook her head slowly.“Oh no, Adley.I thought Wrecker was going to be the star of the show, but now I have a feeling all of America is going to fall in love with you and Mason.”
I wanted to throttle her and hug her at the same time.“Don’t you dare.”
She moved away with Star, already plotting and smiling like the producer who saw a narrative arc in every human mess.Mason drew me in closer and pressed his palm along the small of my back.Then, in front of the whole ridiculous assembled tribe, he leaned down and kissed me.
It was a simple kiss.Sweet and soft.I was startled at how flustered I felt having everyone witness it.We’d been keeping this behind closed doors for so long that public affection felt foreign and a little dangerous, but it was exactly what I wanted.
He pulled back with a crooked smile and a shrug that said he’d been saving that for the perfect moment and also didn’t give a damn.
“Are you okay with all of that being on film?”I asked, half-joking, half-worried.
He looked at me with that steady warmth that made my knees wobble.“Just as long as America knows I fell in love with you first before they did,” he said.
I pressed my arms around his neck, fully ignoring decorum, and he wrapped his hands around my hips and pulled me into him.
“Do you want to stick around for the grad party planning?”he asked.
I curled my fingers into his cut and melted a little against his chest.“I had planned on it, but now there is something else I want to do.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Mason
The room was dark except for the slice of afternoon light cutting through the blinds, striping across the tangled sheets and the curve of Adley’s hip.
We were both naked, sweaty, and wrung out in that perfect way only hours of sex could do.My chest still rose heavy from the last round, and my hand lazily rested on the soft slope of her stomach.We were silent, staring up at the ceiling, like two people waiting for the world outside to either notice or finally leave us the hell alone.
“There aren’t cameras in your room, right?”she asked suddenly, her voice cutting through the quiet like a shot.
I barked out a laugh, loud, deep, and raw.“Jesus Christ, Adley,” I chuckled.“I think your concern about the cameras should’ve happened about three weeks ago.”
