“Glad everything seems to be working out,” I say around a mouthful, knowing how much this means to him and how hard he’s worked over the years for his big break. “You deserve it,” I tell him sincerely.
“If I don’t get it, I swear I might lose my mind,” he admits, and I love that he’s able to be vulnerable with me, considering he doesn’t talk about work very much.
“You know you’re a shoo-in. You know that for a fact, so I wouldn’t even worry about it. What should happen will happen.”
“You’re so damn smart.”
I shrug and laugh. “Nah, I just hire a therapist who gives me catch phrases like that.”
“How’d it go today?” When my eyes meet his, I know he genuinely wants to know.
“It went really well. We talked a lot about my anxiety since the first incident, and she had me visualize that night and how facing that fear will release me of feeling out of control. It sounds really odd, but in a way, it felt like it was a good start to my treatment. She also told me to write in a journal when I feel anxious, so basically, I’ll be writing in it all day long,” I say with a chuckle. “I started today when I got home. It’s going to take months to really process what’s happened, but it will get a little easier each day as long as I work on it. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the incidents, but hopefully, I’ll be able to live with it without the memories barging into my thoughts.”
Mason wraps his arm around my shoulders, and while I want to lean into him and stay there forever, I don’t. I linger, then go back to my tacos.
After we finish eating, I help Mason clean up our mess. After we put the leftover tacos in the fridge, we both sit back down on the couch and get lost in Netflix.
“Want to watch Lucifer or piss off Liam and watch his show?” He flashes me a shit-eating grin, which causes me to laugh.
Liam’s been working a shit ton, so I haven’t seen him as much lately, and the last episode left us on a cliffhanger, so I’m contemplating it.
Mason glances over at me, and I smirk. “We promised Liam we wouldn’t watch it without him.”
I bite down on my lower lip and shrug. “I won’t tell if you don’t.”
“Deal. Let’s Netflix cheat on his ass,” he says, then turns it on. For the next few hours, I get lost in the town’s bad boy and small Southern town drama, and it’s everything I love getting lost in. Eventually, I start yawning, and Mason notices.
“Tired?” he asks, yawning too. “Damn, I caught it.” He chuckles, yawning again.
I nod. “Yeah, but I don’t know why, considering I didn’t do much today except go to therapy. Apparently, being in my head is exhausting,” I joke.
He gives me a look. “Let’s go to bed,” he tells me, grabbing the remote and turning off the TV.
I glare at him.
Mason snickers. “Hey, if I don’t turn it off, you know we’ll watch the next one and then the next one, and then we’ll be on the next season. Netflix makes it too easy.”
I giggle because we’ve done it so many times. It’s just hard to break away from him when we’re hanging out. I never want our time to end. Mason stands and stretches and holds his hand out. I grab it, and he helps me up.
Neither of us moves to walk away, and I notice the way he searches my face. “You sure you’re okay, Soph?”
I give him a small grin. “I will be.”
Mason brings his thumb to the corner of my lips and grins. “Got a little sour cream here.”
“Oh.” I chuckle, embarrassed. It’s probably been on my face this whole time. “Thanks.”
His deep brown eyes I’ve gazed into dozens of times look at me with so much love, it’s hard to break away. Then he tucks loose strands of hair behind my ear, and my eyes flutter closed when he cups my cheek. Softly, his lips press against mine, and for a moment, I lose myself in his taste, in his touch, in him. I feel as if I’m falling as his tongue twists with mine, and he releases a groan, sinking deeper against me. His other hand slides down my body until it grips my hip, pulling me against him. Moaning, I wrap my arms around his waist, clinging to the feeling that surfaces at this moment. Kissing Mason is a dream, a fantasy come to life, but then reality smacks me in the face. Even though I want to get lost in him and forget about everything, that sneaky bitch anxiety comes barreling in, and I remember it’s too soon.