12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Lucian

I gripped my steering wheel with enough force to turn my knuckles white. Today was already nothing but terrible, and it was only noon. I woke up to my brother pounding on my door, asking to have breakfast, and he had the audacity to leave his bitch out of the invitation. If he was going to drag me out of bed, he could’ve at least given me the chance to see Mason uncomfortable. I deserved to watch her squirm after she destroyed my entire life.

Then, all of a sudden, Mason came down to have a private breakfast with Sophia? What the fuck did Sophia have that I didn’t?

I always loved Mason more than she did. Even worse, Sophia asked her to join our relationship again without talking to Cam or me, and apparently, infuriatingly , the conversation went well.

With enough deep breaths, I could just barely deal with all that without having a literal aneurysm. What I couldn’t deal with was Sebastian blowing up my fucking phone the second we got out of church.

What the hell was he doing in church anyway?

“Lucky, are you paying attention to me at all?” The sound of his voice made my skin prickle.

“I just don’t know how many different ways you can tell me to take care of your bitch without repeating yourself.” I scoffed. “Also, why not ask Sophia? She’s the one Mason likes.”

“Jealousy isn’t a good look for you.”

“I’m not jealous !”

What would I even have to be jealous of? The fact that there was a chance Sophia never left Mason’s thoughts? Or maybe the fact that my boyfriend, who doesn’t deserve to have a child of his own, made one with my ex. Fuck, he might even be talking about the fact that he was dating the former love of my life.

“I just have no interest in making sure your bitch is taken care of.”

“Please do not refer to Mason as my bitch, it’s incredibly disrespectful.”

“Good! Mason deserves to be disrespected! She isn’t a holy figure. She isn’t even a good person. Why the fuck would I respect her?”

“Remember when you got Ashley pregnant, and something happened with Dad’s side of the family in Columbia? You and Sophia had to drop everything to go, but Ash wasn’t cleared to travel, so I stayed with her.”

“Abuelo died, it was a funeral… you should have been there too.”

But family never mattered to Sebastian. All he ever cared about was work, school, and apparently Mason-fucking-Albright.

“Not the point,” he continued. “You asked me to make sure she ate and took her prenatal vitamins. I also helped her clean up around your apartment.”

Honestly, I was surprised he didn’t fuck Ashley for me while he was playing husband. Seb and I always had the same taste in women, probably because of his innate need to copy me.

“Dude, it’s not the same.”

“Oh yeah? How is it different?”

Because Mason’s my ex?

“Because you didn’t get her pregnant.”

“No, your boyfriend—”

And that was when I ended the call. For me, refusing to listen to Sebastian defend his relationship with Mason was an act of self-care.

I was content to drive home in silence, but my phone started ringing again. My gaze darted to the Bluetooth display just long enough to see my sister’s name. Part of me wanted to let her go to voicemail, but she currently had my kids. I had a feeling Sebastian told her to call me, but I couldn’t risk ignoring her if it was an emergency. So, I took a deep breath before tapping a button on my steering wheel to answer the call.

“Hi, Leona—”

“Why didn’t you tell me Mason was home?”

I ran a hand down my face as I tried to focus on the road instead of the impending lecture from my sister. Her love for Mason was no secret. She’d saved Mason’s ungrateful ass more times than I could count over the years.

“Because I want her to go back to France,” I grumbled.

“Oh, that’s not true. You’ve always been crazy about her.”

“It is true. I want her gone.” And if she could just hurry up and leave, I’d be happy.

“Stop being grumpy just because you’re in love.”

Hearing it a second time didn’t make it any more palatable, true or not.

“She broke my heart. Aren’t you supposed to take my side? You know, as my big sister.”

Even as I said that, I knew where Leona’s allegiance laid. To this day, if you asked Leona who her first baby was, she didn’t name either of her own sons; according to her, it was Mason. Which was fitting, I guess, considering how much Leo did to take care of Mason from the ages of eleven to seventeen.

”I am taking your side!” she gasped. “I know you read articles about her. And, when I went to one of her concerts, do you remember what you asked me the next day?”

“Here we go again,” I muttered under my breath.

“ How’s Mason? Did she look healthy? Did you have VIP seats or regular ones? “ Leona dropped her voice an octave or two as she tried to mimic me.

“I was also high.”

“Drunk words are sober thoughts.” She sang, neglecting the fact that alcohol had never been my issue. “Plus, most of those conversations happened when you weren’t that high.”

I rolled my eyes as the farmhouse came into view.

“Do you still have the ring Mom gave you before she died?” Leona asked.

My shoulders squared as I took a deep breath, still remembering the conversation vividly. A mix of shitty healthcare, lack of money, and lung cancer took my mom before I was ready to say goodbye. When she was sick, I’d visit her a lot, and unfortunately, those trips to Columbia were funded by Mason. My father sure as fuck wasn’t going to help me spend quality time with his ex-wife.

The last time I ever saw my mother, Mason was with me. We took a week-long trip during spring break of our junior year. My mom was in hospice and said she was done with the chemo and whatever else they were pumping into her body to fight the cancer. All she wanted was a few last days with her kids, and to meet the girl who had made sure I didn’t miss a single trip back to Guatapé. So, Mason, Leona, and I flew to Colombia. I would have brought Sophia too, but my mom wasn’t exactly fond of polyamory or the Whites’ “ strange ” family dynamics.

Within two days, my mom was completely head-over-heels in love with Mason. She feared the world would hurt Mason if she ever ended up with someone less… protective than me. My mom had pushed me to propose to Mason that week. Of course, I wanted to eventually, but I was only sixteen, and she was even younger at fourteen. Looking back on it, though, our relationship was far more adult than I think either of us realized.

We were just two fucked up kids learning how to live, together .

The day we were supposed to leave Colombia, we visited my mother one final time. Mason was inconsolable. She wouldn’t leave. So my mom took her by the hands and said, “ Pray with me. ”

Mason was never religious—in fact, she’d teased me more than once for going to church. But in that moment, she bowed her head and prayed.

After several minutes, she calmed down enough for Leona to usher her out of the room, leaving me alone with my mom.

I sat at her bedside and held her hands, expecting to say a prayer of my own. But instead, she looked deep into my eyes and said:

“ Lucian, that girl is one of a kind. Ella es tu media naranja. Give her my ring and spend your life with her. ”

Then, she slid the emerald ring from her finger—the same ring that had been in my family for generations—and gave it to me.

But Mason abandoned me before I was ready to give it to her.

That’s what I hated most about Mason: when she was in my life, it was clear that she loved me. She made time for me, she listened to me, she spitefully stepped up and helped me visit my mother when my dad refused. But if she loved me, then why would she leave? We were supposed to have a beautiful wedding, a pretty house, a family. And while my heart remained in her pocket, she had guarded hers, only letting Sebastian in.

Why did it have to be him ?

My eyes burned, and I took a deep breath, focusing on the apple orchard instead of my current situation. Autumn had started to seep into the leaves, turning them brilliant shades of gold and red. If only I could run into the woods and never look back. Nature was easy and predictable. Whatever was inside the house wasn’t.

“Luci, are you still there?” Leona quipped.

I cleared my throat and rolled down my driver’s window with a squeak.

“I still have the ring… but I’m going to save it and give it to one of my kids when they get married.”

“That’s not what it’s for, and you know it.”

I hung up on my sister, not ready to hear the rest of this conversation. My mom loved Mason, and she was convinced that one day, Mason would be my wife. For the longest time, I wanted that to be true. The goal had been to ask her to marry me on her eighteenth birthday, but she left before I had that chance.

The last thing I needed was for someone to suggest Mason could still eventually be my wife. I was rough around the edges, but I wasn’t heartless. And... as much as I wanted to deny it, I wasn’t blind to the lingering warmth I held for Mason. The moment I saw her in the airport, my instincts begged for me to run to her. It was a dream come true. The love of my life had returned.

I didn’t want to have those feelings for her. I knew that if I let her in, I’d get hurt. That’s why I could never let myself entertain the thought of being with her again. The world was a cruel place to be in love, especially with someone who didn’t give a shit about me.

When I finally worked up the courage to walk into my own fucking house, I was a little surprised to see Mason willingly sitting on the couch with Sophia. There was some trashy reality show on the TV, and I knew Sophia had picked it. She liked that mind-numbing, over-the-top dramatic shit.

Mason had huddled herself into the arm of the sofa like a scared animal. In her trembling hands, she held a book, and it was one I recognized.

Cameron was big into dystopian fantasy novels and thrillers, but he wasn’t a fan of e-readers, which meant he and Sophia often went on bookstore dates in the city so he could find new ones. These dates usually happened while I was working and the kids were in daycare, and I did my best not to feel left out. I didn’t like reading anyway.

Neither did Sophia, so it was always a surprise when she came home with a new romance novel to add to Cameron’s shelf. She’d always say she’d ‘need them someday’, but I never understood why. She started collecting more of them after Seb asked if his girlfriend could move in, and looking back on it, I wondered if Sophia knew who he’d be bringing home. She always had this bizarre way of knowing everything, like some fucked-up sixth sense.

Mason’s shoulders were tight, and her breathing was shallow. While I wasn’t opposed to seeing her miserable, I had to wonder why she didn’t go upstairs.

Whatever. Maybe I could make her uncomfortable enough to go hide in Sebastian’s apartment.

With this new goal in mind, I marched toward the back of the couch. I planted a hand near Mason before hopping over the back, landing between the two of them. The cushions bounced under me as Sophia shot me a glare, and Mason made a barely audible humming sound. It was brief, but years of dealing with Mason taught me how to listen for her nervous tics. Not like she’d ever verbally tell me how she was feeling.

“What, were you raised in a barn?” Sophia chided.

“Nope, a McMansion in the suburbs of Portland, just like you.” I kicked my feet onto the coffee table. “What are we watching?”

I threw an arm over the back of the couch, draping it over Sophia’s shoulders. I wasn’t her primary partner, but I still had enough authority to claim her as mine.

“You aren’t watching anything with that attitude. Get up, walk around the couch, and try again,” she lectured.

I rolled my eyes. Sophia may have been the boss of the house, but she was all bark and no bite. What was she going to do? Make me wear a collar? Force me to write something one hundred times? Embarrass me a little?

All of those were worth it if I could scare off Mason-fucking-Albright.

I blindly reached over, snagging the book from Mason’s hands before skimming through the pages so she’d lose her place. In the past, this always pissed her off. She’d yell at me and strike my chest, not hard enough to hurt, but enough to prove a point. I wanted that reaction. I needed to prove Mason never fucking changed. Maybe that way, Sophia could see that Mason was the same flighty bitch who left us.

I braced myself for impact as I tossed the book over my shoulder, but the room remained quiet, and there was no ‘surprise’ assault. Instead, there was a barely audible whimper before Mason stood.

“I need to use the bathroom,” she meekly explained, looking at Sophia but not me.

“It’s just down the hall.” Sophia pointed toward the hallway next to the bookshelves. At the end of that hallway, my bedroom sat opposite Cam’s with our shared bathroom in the middle.

Mason nodded and turned on her heels before scurrying off.

Where was her anger? Why didn’t Mason put me in my place? I knew from experience that she could.

“What the heck was that?” Sophia hissed.

Her reaction took me back for a beat. Was she seriously mad at me? I didn’t even do anything wrong.

“What? You’re the one who wants to act like bitch-face never left. She and I used to do this shit to each other all the time!”

“I didn’t say that at all,” Sophia warned, keeping her voice low. “You can tell she’s not the same… there’s something wrong. I just don’t know what.”

“I know what’s wrong. The pop-star princess isn’t used to living with us peasants. She’s a celebrity, Sophia.”

Mason was probably used to getting everything she wanted. She likely had servants crawling up her ass, making sure she never had to lift a finger. The tiny bedroom in the barely-remodeled apartment was probably nowhere near her standard, and she was just being pissy.

“Have you ever seen Mason act like that?” she challenged.

I wanted to cross my arms and tell Sophia she was wrong… but I couldn’t. Mason had never cared about money. Even if she did have servants, it probably wasn’t by choice. I sighed, still reluctant to admit Sophia was right.

“Why can’t you just accept that I want nothing to do with Mason?”

“Because I know that’s not true,” Her hand found mine. “You don’t want to be hurt again, and that’s fine. It’s common for people who have trauma from previous relationships—”

“Ahht! No.” I paused to look her over, checking to see if my first refusal had its desired effect. “No. Absolutely not. None of my relationships have traumatized me.”

Sophia’s lips quivered into a slight frown. “You and Mason were talking about marriage, and then she vanished out of nowhere… well, almost nowhere. I guess Mason’s mom did die right before she left.”

I shuddered at the memory of Holly’s suicide note taped to a wall soaked in gray matter. Just the smell was enough to haunt me, but of course, I was lucky enough to witness the entire gruesome scene.

“And after that, your need for commitment spiked. You wanted to have our names on as many of the same things as possible—our lease, my car, utilities. All of it.” The way Sophia said it made it sound like a bad thing. “Which is why you poked a hole in the condom with Ashley, and then she left too.”

“I didn’t poke a hole in Ashley’s condom.”

Sophia shot me a skeptical look. “Are you sure? Because she seemed pretty convinced.”

Oh, so she was going to believe Ashley, the woman who birthed two babies only to decide she felt nothing for them, over me, the man who spent day in and day out trying to raise the kids.

I didn’t need this. I forced myself off the couch and began walking toward the hallway. But Sophia grabbed my hand.

“You’re seriously going to walk away? Would it kill you to just sit with her for a few minutes?”

“That’s rich, coming from you,” I laughed. “I bet you’ve been answering work emails this whole time.”

Sophia had no response, so I vanished into my room. I had no desire to deal with Mason Albright.

Part of me wanted to pack up a bag or two and sleep at my shop. Maybe I could even shower at the gym. I still paid for a membership, even if I didn’t have the time to use it.

But my kids were coming back Tuesday, and I couldn’t make them live like that. I also couldn’t force Mason back to France... Not yet, anyway. It was obvious by how she acted that she was going to be a terrible mother—if she couldn’t handle me taking a book from her, how did she expect to deal with a crying baby?

I’d just need to keep her here until after she gave birth. I was sure Cameron would want to be a decent human and be there for his child. He just needed to meet her first.