27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

Lucian

When we went back to my room, I thought for sure Mason would want to sleep. I knew from secondhand experience that pregnancy was exhausting, and Mason needed to rest.

But of course, nothing could ever be easy with Mason-fucking-Albright. She didn’t want to sleep; instead, she wanted to explore my belongings. I let her wander around, enjoying the way her shadow looked as it danced across the moss-green wall.

“Do you play all of these?” she questioned, pointing to my wall of instruments.

My throat went dry as I scratched my head. To me, this woman was just Mason-fucking-Albright. But, to the world, she was one of the most recognizable faces in the music industry. She was so ridiculously popular that I had to stop letting my staff pick music for the shop because they all had at least one of her songs on their playlists.

In other words, I’d be stupid if I weren’t nervous to talk music with her.

“I do, yeah. There’s a bar up the street I play at every so often. Just guitar, mostly… and I play the organ for Cameron’s church.” Cam still wasn’t happy about that fact, but after their old organist keeled over, I was the only person in Hartwood who could play the pipe organ.

Mason lifted the wood covering the ivory keys of my piano. She tapped middle C, and her nose scrunched.

“Your piano is out of tune.”

I closed my eyes and let out an irritated sigh.

“Thank you, Mason.”

“If you have the tools, I can tune it for you.”

I lifted her fingers from the keys and slid the wooden guard back into place. “Why don’t you touch literally anything else?”

Her gaze narrowed before she looked away, flicking her hair over one shoulder. I rolled my eyes as I wondered what she’d pick apart next. But she seemed frozen as she looked at the wall above the piano. I did my best to follow her gaze and landed on the violin in the very center.

“Before you ask—no, I can’t play that.”

How the fuck could I? There weren’t even frets to go off of when playing. I couldn’t even remember where I’d gotten the thing; I just thought it would make a nice centerpiece for my instrument wall.

“No, I know.” Her voice wavered, and she looked back at me with glossy eyes. “I noticed it the first time I was in here… I can’t believe you kept it.”

What the fuck did she mean? Did she recognize this violin? It seemed important to her, so I did my best to mask my confusion.

“... Why wouldn’t I?”

A single tear rolled down her cheek as she looked back at the instrument.

“I was so excited when you bought it for me… I thought for sure you would have thrown it away after I left.”

Something about Mason’s words caused the memories to trickle back like water through an old leaky pipe. Her mom sold her violin to punish her for something stupid. I couldn’t even remember what it was anymore, but it was probably something that didn’t warrant a punishment in the first place. Mason was beside herself; easily the most upset I’ve ever seen her. So, I mowed Leona’s lawn for a year, saving up money to drive out to the music shop and buy her the most beautiful violin I could find. The look of pure joy on Mason’s face was well worth the manual labor.

I walked behind her and wrapped my arms around her shoulders. I wondered what she’d do if I showed her all the photo albums I kept, or if I let it slip that I just so happened to keep the ring my mom had given me to propose to Mason with.

But now wasn’t the time for a stroll down memory lane, and I certainly wasn’t ready to think about marriage with Mason-fucking-Albright. It was late, and she needed her rest.

“I’ll get it down so you can play tomorrow. For now, let’s go to bed.”

Sophia and Cameron were early birds, I was a night owl, and Mason had the sleep schedule of a pigeon on crack. Her erratic routines were another quirk I’d forgotten over the years. As she lay on my chest, moonlight bathing her soft features, I realized she wouldn’t go to sleep without a fight. This hypothesis was supported by the fact that she wouldn’t shut the fuck up.

But, somehow, I didn’t mind listening to her chatter.

As she droned on about some millipede that smells like cherries when it’s scared, I pulled her closer. Years ago, Mason’s bug fascination was something that always annoyed me. I couldn’t even step on a fucking spider without hearing all about how great they are for the environment and how I was a bad person for even thinking about killing it. But... It was kind of nice to hear all the new facts she’d learned in our time apart. It was like she wanted to get me caught up on everything I’d missed.

That being said, if this bitch brought any of her “special interests” into this house, I was going to force her to kneel on rice.

As her lecture about millipedes morphed into a list of every dragonfly fact known to man, I rested a hand on her stomach and tuned her out. Right now, this was my favorite part of her body—not because of how fucking hot she looked with a bump, but because she was growing a tiny little human in there. I couldn’t wait to see what a little half-Mason-half-Cameron would look like running around with Jas and Juni. One of the best things about polyamory was witnessing the beautiful relationships that could form between the people you loved. To see the way their eyes lit up when they saw each other, to see—Oh my fucking god. I still loved Mason.

What was I, stupid?

I couldn’t move the arm supporting her head, so I moved the one on her belly and scrubbed my eye. I wanted to hit myself in the fucking face, but she’d obviously notice that.

“Something wrong?” Mason asked.

“Nope,” I mumbled, returning my hand to its position on her stomach. “Just tired… Hey, maybe you should sleep.”

Mason’s eyes fluttered closed as she nestled into my chest. I softly traced the gentle slope of her nose; in the past, that motion would have put her right to sleep. But this time, her eyes shot open.

“Is Leona really dropping your kids off tomorrow?” Mason smiled with her teeth.

I fought the urge to sigh. Her relationship with my sister was... complicated. Not that they hated each other or anything—it was just a weird situation. Leona had kids of her own, but if you asked her, she’d tell you her first child was Mason.

When Mason and her mom moved to the States, they needed an incredible family lawyer to fend off James, and my sister fit the bill. Holly and Mason visited her office for a preliminary interview, but apparently, Leona wasn’t experienced enough. Even though Holly ended up hiring some bald white guy with his face on a billboard, Leona stuck with Mason. I had a feeling that Sophia’s moms had something to do with Leona’s decision, but that had yet to be proven.

Regardless, Leona became Mason’s advocate, giving her a voice when she didn’t think she had one. Each and every time Mason was taken out of her mom’s house by CPS, she lived with Leona. My sister still kept Mason’s room ready in her home just in case she ever needed it.

Honestly, I think Leona took Mason’s sudden disappearance the hardest, which was impressive because I genuinely thought it’d kill me.

“I’m pretty sure she’ll be here,” I assured Mason. “She called me the second she found out you were home.”

Mason perked up as she propped herself up on her elbow.

“What did she say?”

Just thinking about that conversation shook the wasp’s nest in my chest. There was no way I could tell her.

“She said you need to go the fuck to sleep,” I groaned.

Mason’s lips pursed into a pout. “You’re lying to me.”

I pushed her head back down. “Maybe if you go to sleep, I’ll tell you.”

Mason studied me for a moment before slowly lowering her head back to my bare chest. I softly traced my fingers along her cheek and neck. Her skin was unbelievably smooth and touching her sent a magnetic sensation through my body.

She closed her eyes again, and her breathing deepened. Just as I thought I was off the hook, she looked up at me again. I exhaled hard enough to move her bangs.

“ Yes , Mason?” She was so goddamn cute, I had to force myself to sound irritated.

“Do you promise you’ll tell me?”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake—Yes, I will tell you.”

“Promise?” She held up her pinky.

I half-heartedly took her finger in mine.

I moved her hand back and forth, examining the flowers and glossy red polish from the manicure she’d gotten with Sophia. I needed to repaint my nails. They were chipped to hell.

“Your nails are cute, by the way.”

“Thank you.” Mason beamed.

“Now. Go. To. Bed.”

“If I don’t, what are you going to do?” There was excitement in her tone. “Are you going to make me kneel on uncooked rice?”

“Am I—why would you—” I rubbed my temple. “Nope, I’m done. We’re not talking anymore.”

I retracted my arm and rolled over, hating how empty I felt when I wasn’t holding her. But, if it would get her to fucking sleep, it was fine. I closed my eyes, only for a hand to appear on my shoulder moments later.

“Lucian,” she whispered.

But I didn’t respond.

“Lucian.” She was louder this time.

“I’m ignoring you,” I grumbled.

“It’s important.”

I opened my eyes just to roll them, letting out an exasperated sigh as I turned to face her.

“ What ?”

“Do you want a kiss?”

My heart skipped. Was she serious?

“No. I want you to go to sleep.” I rolled back over and threw the blanket over my head. Hopefully, she wouldn’t bug me again; if she did, my answer would probably change.

But this time, finally, she stopped talking, which was honestly kind of a bummer.

Despite everything she told me in the kitchen, I wasn’t mad at Mason. She left to keep me safe... from herself? It made absolutely no sense, but it was kind of heartwarming in a weird, fucked-up way. Hell, at least it wasn’t something I’d done wrong.

After ten minutes of dead silence, I rolled back over. This time, Mason was completely still. Her eyes were closed, her breathing steady. Still, I didn’t trust this bitch—she’d fallen asleep too easily. Quietly, I reached over to stroke her hair. She didn’t stir, even as I raked my fingers through the silky strands.

I inched close enough to smell her shampoo. She smelled the same as I remembered, like fruit and honey. Against my better judgment, I pressed my lips to her forehead. When I pulled away, my hands were shaking, and she was smiling. I thought for sure she’d look up at me again, but she stretched and yawned before changing positions. After a moment, I lifted her arm and watched it fall limp to the mattress. She was out .

Which meant I’d have to tell her what my sister said… but I never said she had to be awake when I did it.

“Mason.” I kept my tone hushed. Once it was clear that the sound of my voice wouldn’t wake her up, I continued:

“Leona told me I better marry you this time.”

I looked Mason over as I spoke; she was lying on her back, which wasn’t awesome for the baby, but I didn’t want to wake her up. Even if she couldn’t answer, I had to get a question off my chest:

“If things go well… would you want to get married?”

Sophia and Cameron were both actively against marriage, but I had always wanted to be married by twenty-three. Sure, I was three years past that expiration date, but it was still on the table. Before Mason left, I’d been planning on proposing; what was so wrong with picking back up where we left off?

I took a deep breath—I was way overthinking this. Now that I’d said my piece, I forced Mason to roll on her side. But the second I disturbed her, she wrapped both of her arms around one of mine.

A barely audible phrase escaped her as she nuzzled her face into my hand:

“I love you, Luci.”

My heart stopped, and I had to clear my throat before I could breathe again. I knew she was just talking in her sleep. There was nothing more to it than that. But no amount of rationalizing could save me from being completely and utterly caught in Mason’s gravitational pull. Even if I’d never admit it, I loved revolving around her.

I couldn’t wait for her to meet the kids tomorrow.