“I feel it too,” I told him. “It’s crazy though Mason, I hardly know anything about you.”
He sighed. “I know Lib, I was going to wait until tonight to talk to you, but as we’re here now…,” He trailed off, a worried look crossing his face. My stomach erupted with nervous butterflies at his words. “About eighteen months ago, I was engaged to a girl called Emmerson, we’d been together since high school, and we were due to get married. In the weeks running up to the wedding, Emmie started acting strangely, disappearing for hours and being quiet around me. I questioned her about it, but she assured me that it was just pre-wedding jitters, turns out I was right to be worried.” He paused, taking in a deep breath. “The week before the wedding I found her in bed with my older brother Dylan, I went mad and started hitting him. Emmerson was screaming for me to stop and yelling that she’d fallen in love with him and wanted to be with him, that she didn’t love me anymore. Turns out they’d been messing around behind my back for nearly a year.”
“I’m so sorry Mason, I can’t believe your brother would do that to you,” I told him squeezing on his hands.
“I was so angry Lib, I couldn’t stop hitting him, I hit him over and over again.” He dropped one of my hands and ran it through his hair, his face a picture of pain. “It was only when my Dad came into the room and pulled me off him that I stopped. He was unconscious, and I still didn’t stop.” He shook his head. “He was in the hospital for three days recovering. I was arrested and charged with aggravated assault and served nine months in jail. I got off lightly in my opinion.” He paused, dropping his eyes from mine but still holding on tightly to my one hand, as if it was his lifeline. “I need you to know Lib, that while I haven’t always been perfectly behaved, I got into a fair bit of trouble when I was younger, I’d never hit anyone before that night, and I’ve never hit anyone since. I had a lot of time to think in jail, and while I loved Emmie, I know now that I wasn’t in love with her. Things hadn’t been right for a while, but I just couldn’t see it at the time, we were high school sweethearts and marriage seemed the next logical step. In reality, we’d fallen out of love a long time before I caught her in bed with my brother. I will always regret how I handled things, I just hope what I’ve told you won’t change how you look at me.”
He looked up at me, and I saw a vulnerability in his eyes that I’d never seen before. I squeezed his hands again to reassure him. “What happened to Emmerson and your brother?” I asked him.
“They got married while I was in jail. Turns out they really did love each other, they are still together as far as I know.”
“You don’t speak to your family anymore?” I asked, frowning.
“No. As I said I wasn’t exactly the model son growing up, but Dylan was, he could do no wrong. Although my parents didn’t agree with Dylan and Emmerson sneaking around behind my back, they couldn’t forgive me for hurting him. We haven’t spoken since my first week in jail. Claire and Ryan were kind enough to offer me a job and a place to stay when I was released, and I grabbed the opportunity with both hands.”
“I’m so sorry that you had to go through all that Mason, I can’t believe that your parents turned their back on you. I’m not saying that I agree with you beating up Dylan, but I can see why it happened and for them to just take his side… I’d like to think that when I eventually have children, I’d be there for them no matter what, even if I didn’t agree with the things they did.”
He looked up at me in surprise. “So, my past doesn’t scare you?”
“No Mason.” I leaned over, kissing him softly. “My instinct is telling me you’re a good man and I trust my instinct. Have you ever tried contacting your family?” I asked him.
His relieved eyes met mine, and he took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “After about three months in jail, after I’d had plenty of time to think things through, I wrote to Emmerson, Dylan and my parents. Emmerson replied, telling me how sorry she was that things had turned out the way they had, and that she had never meant to hurt me. I didn’t know if Dylan was aware that she had written to me, but I guessed he didn’t as neither he nor my parents ever wrote back.”
My heart broke for him; yes, he was in the wrong for what happened with Dylan, but he’d gone from having everything to nothing in the blink of an eye, without any sort of support from his family. His parents seemed to have overlooked the fact that his brother had betrayed him in the worst possible way.
“Well, I’m still crazy about you cowboy,” I whispered to him, wrapping my arms around him in a hug. I felt him let out a shaky breath, his body sagging against mine.
“I was worried you’d look at me differently once you knew what I’d done, I was dreading telling you.” He murmured into my neck. I squeezed him even harder in an attempt to try and show him how much I cared about him, how much he meant to me. I couldn’t believe that anyone would cheat on him, he was incredible.
I leaned back and brushed my lips against his. He pulled me onto his lap, and I rested my head on his shoulder. After a few minutes, I realised that we hadn’t finished talking about what had happened earlier. “Mason, what did Amber say when you told her we were serious?” I asked him, anxious to find out what she’d said.
“She didn’t say much, she got angry and hung up on me, don’t worry though baby I don’t think she’ll be bothering us again.”
I breathed a sigh of relief hoping he was right.
“Sweetheart, as much as I’d love to stay here with you all day, I’ve got to get to work. Do you want to stay here for a bit or shall I walk you back to the house?” Mason asked me, his fingers running up and down my bare thighs.
I shivered under his touch, goose bumps erupting on my legs where he was touching me. “I’ll head back.” I sighed. “Spend some time with Jack. I might see if he wants to go to our lake for a swim.”
“Our lake?” Mason teased, tickling me. “I’m pretty sure it’s Claire and Ryan’s lake.” He laughed, moving my body so that I was lying down underneath him on the sofa.
I squirmed beneath him, laughing out loud as he continued to tickle me. “Mason stop!” I squealed. “Stop.”
He stopped suddenly and lowered his face to mine, kissing me gently on my nose. “I shouldn’t tease you, I love that you call itourlake.” He whispered against my lips before capturing them with his own.
“Well, it was where we had our first date,” I said breathlessly when he pulled out of the kiss.
“I thought you said it wasn’t a date?” He asked me, a smile forming on his lips.
“I changed my mind,” I said, winking at him. “No one, other than my parents, has ever gone to that much trouble for me.”
“You're worth it sweetheart.” He jumped up and pulled me up off the sofa. “Get some clothes on that cute butt of yours, and I’ll walk you home.” He gently pushed me towards the stairs, swatting my bum as I passed him.
I came down five minutes later, dressed and hair thrown up in a bobble. Mason was sat on the sofa waiting for me. “Ready to go Lib.” He asked me, standing up and reaching for my hand. I nodded, and we headed hand in hand towards the house. We walked in comfortable silence past the stables and up the garden path. As we climbed the stairs of the porch the front door opened and Aunt Claire walked out. I saw her eyes widen in shock as she looked down at our joined hands. I felt Mason tug on my hand pulling me into his side.
“Hi, Claire, nice to see you,” Mason said to her, wrapping his arm around my waist.
“Libby, what’s going on? Have you spent the night at Mason’s?” She asked me with a frown.