Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

“ H oly shit. You were not kidding about those parties.”

Ollie threw a laugh over his shoulder and dragged Mason into a dark room, flicking on a light to reveal the bedroom Mason had become familiar with through their weekly video chats. “Why would I have lied about the parties?”

Mason shrugged and shoved his hands into his back pockets. “I don’t know. To make me jealous so I’d come home sooner?”

Ollie pulled a face and planted his hands on his hips. He looked ridiculous in a T-shirt that had to be his boyfriend Six’s since it went down to his knees and hung off one of his shoulders, but he still had his painted nails and newly dyed blue hair.

Quintessential Ollie.

Being in the same room as him for the first time in nearly an entire year had tears burning at the back of his eyes once more, but he forced the emotion away. He was so tired of crying. He was tired of… everything.

“Of course I wanted you to come back sooner,” Ollie sassed him. “But what would be the point of enticing you to come home with stories about parties if they weren’t true? Then you’d just get mad and leave again.”

Mason shook his head, pressing his lips together to keep them from trembling. “I’m not leaving again.”

Ollie’s whole stance softened, and he stepped right into Mason’s space, wrapping him in another hug. He held on to one of his best friends in the entire world, more grateful than he could express that he had a safe place to land as his life was falling apart. Ollie could brat with the best of them, but he was a truly kind and good person and an amazing friend.

“Why do you smell like sex and vanilla?” he mumbled against Ollie’s neck.

They both started laughing. Soft chuckles at first, and then they grew louder, and they had to pull apart, their bodies shaking too hard to hang on to one another.

Ollie shoved at his shoulder. “I’ll give you one guess.”

“Well, the sex part I understand,” Mason said, crossing his arms over his chest. “It’s the vanilla that’s weird. You’re not really a vanilla-scented kind of person.”

Ollie grinned at him, grabbed the bottom of his T-shirt, and yanked it up to his collarbones. Mason stared and then kept staring. It wasn’t like he had never seen Ollie naked before. The two of them and Vinnie had started a monthly waxing party years ago. There wasn’t a crevice on Ollie’s body he wasn’t familiar with.

But he still wasn’t sure how to react.

There were red marks on his chest and stomach, hips and thighs, and there was a metal cock cage enclosing his private bits. To say Ollie had no shame was an understatement, but even Mason, who was used to his antics, was thrown by the sudden flashing.

Of course, that was the moment the door opened behind him and Ollie’s enormous and slightly terrifying boyfriend and daddy walked into the room.

Mason took a few steps back, separating himself even farther from Ollie, and held up his hand. “It isn’t what it looks like.”

Six glanced at him and then turned to his boy. “Showing off your marks?”

The smile Ollie gave him was something Mason had only seen through the screen of his computer or phone if Six happened to interrupt their chats. It radiated with a kind of soul-deep love and adoration Mason had been doing his best not to be jealous of.

“Yup,” Ollie said, rocking up onto his toes and popping his p . “I think wax play goes on the list of things we’ll be doing again for sure.”

“Such a troublemaker,” Six said softly, gripping the back of Ollie’s neck and tugging him forward and laying a quick but thorough kiss on his mouth.

When they separated, Mason glanced away, embarrassed for some reason at being caught watching their sweet exchange.

“I talked to Tomas,” Six said, and Mason realized he was talking to him. “He said you could stay for a few days, but it can’t be permanent.”

Mason’s stomach twisted, but he smiled and nodded. “Of course. I’ll be out of your guys’ hair before you know it.”

Six gave him a look that Mason chose to interpret as I believe you and not the disbelief it clearly was and held out his backpack. Mason hadn’t even noticed he’d been holding it.

“Oh, thanks.” He was confused for a moment, the last half an hour such a whirlwind of sights and sounds and emotions he couldn’t figure out how Six had ended up with it.

Then he remembered the club’s President, Tomas, slipping it off his shoulder so he could carry it. He hadn’t asked. He hadn’t even technically offered. He’d just… done it.

It was such a small piece of the weight sitting on Mason’s shoulders, but it had felt monumental in the moment. Like Tomas was willing to shoulder anything Mason would need help carrying. It was a ridiculous thought, and he knew it was just because he was so upset over Vinnie and what had happened in Atlanta, but in the moment, it had felt so nice to be cared for in such a simple way.

“Thank you,” Mason said softly, taking it from him and letting it hang from his fingertips. The rest of his stuff was still in his car, but he had what he needed for the night shoved in the bulging backpack.

Well, that wasn’t true. What he could fit was in his car. The rest was still back in Atlanta in the apartment he had been sharing with Vinnie for a year. He wasn’t even sure what he’d ended up leaving behind, but he hoped it wasn’t something he’d miss.

Six caressed the bottom of Ollie’s chin with his thumb, holding his gaze for a moment longer than most would consider polite, and then he left, shutting the door quietly behind him.

“I see things are still going well between the two of you,” Mason said, smiling at his friend as Ollie beamed back at him.

“So well,” he gushed, darting over and grabbing Mason’s free hand, giving it a quick squeeze. “I keep waiting for the honeymoon phase to be over, but every day, it’s like I love him a little bit more.”

“That’s beautiful,” Mason said, burying his ugly jealousy. “I’m so happy for you.”

“Yeah, and the sex is out of this world,” Ollie added and waggled his eyebrows.

Mason rolled his eyes, but he was grateful for the lightening of the mood.

He should’ve known better.

Just as quickly as he’d made the lewd comment, Ollie shifted gears and asked, “Are you going to tell me what happened and how it is you’re here tonight instead of tomorrow when I was expecting you?”

Mason sighed, long and loud. He glanced around the room and spotted a recliner wedged in the corner. He let his backpack slide to the ground and then sat down. Bracing his elbows on his knees, he rubbed at his face.

“I don’t even know where to start,” he said, his voice muffled behind his hands. “But I’m here early because…”

He couldn’t finish, not without crying, and he was so damn tired of crying.

But then Ollie was kneeling in front of him, pulling his hands from his face and making a soft sound of dismay at the fresh tears on Mason’s cheeks.

“I thought you were going to stay at your grandparents’ for the night.”

That had been his plan. His mom’s parents lived just south of the Michigan border in Ohio, and he’d planned to spend the evening and night at their place, have breakfast with them in the morning, and then drive up to meet Ollie tomorrow afternoon.

He shook his head, turning his hands so he could grip Ollie’s tightly. “My aunt called them. She somehow found out about my channel and told them about what I do for a living.”

“God, what a fucking bitch,” Ollie said fiercely. “I’m so sorry, Mase.”

He squeezed his eyes shut and hung his head. “I should be used to it, and I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up. It just seemed like things were finally starting to get better.”

“I know.” Ollie scooted forward on his knees, pressing his cheek to the side of Mason’s head, offering as much comfort as he could. He understood what it was like to lose family who weren’t willing to accept you for who you were. Mason had thought he’d accepted it and moved on. That he’d gotten past the pain of being disowned by Vinnie’s parents after they’d gone to the effort of adopting him after his folks had died when he was sixteen.

But when his grandma had reached out to him a few months ago, saying she and his grandpa wanted to repair their relationship after not speaking to him for nearly a decade because of him being gay, he’d been so happy. He’d let himself become vulnerable to the pain and disappointment all over again.

“Well, screw them,” Ollie said, giving his hands another squeeze. “If they can’t see what an amazing person you are, then they don’t fucking deserve you. I’m gonna keep you all to myself.”

Mason chuckled wetly. “Yeah, screw them.”

Ollie leaned back, and Mason knew what was coming next. He couldn’t put it off any longer and was honestly a little surprised Ollie hadn’t forced it out of him before he’d arrived on his doorstep.

“Now, spill. What happened?”

“You know that things haven’t been great lately…” Mason hedged, glancing away.

“I know you’ve been unhappy,” Ollie pointed out, tugging on his hands to get him to look at him again. “And I know that Vinnie’s been working a lot, which always makes him crabby, and that you’ve been alone.”

“It’s been awful,” Mason whispered. “I knew it wouldn’t be the same as being here with you and Penny, but I thought maybe I would make other friends to help pass the time. Or that Vinnie and I would play tourist on his days off and check out some of the local spots.” He wet his lips. “We did visit a lot of places, at first…”

“But then you stopped?” Ollie clarified.

Mason shrugged. “It was like… we saw all the things we wanted to, so then there was no reason to go anywhere. Vinnie was always tired but picking up extra shifts.” Mason pressed his lips together and sniffed inelegantly. “A few months ago, I started talking about how we should make plans for when we moved home. Maybe think about buying a house instead of renting another apartment.”

“Okay,” Ollie said, a furrow between his brows.

“Vinnie never wanted to talk about it. Whenever we talked about anything money related, he’d get upset and end up storming out.”

“Out of the room?”

“No, out of the apartment. He’d leave for hours and then come back and say he just didn’t want to talk about things yet and act like that was it. I didn’t get to talk about it because he didn’t want to.”

Ollie’s face was pinched, and Mason knew him well enough to know he was upset on Mason’s behalf but was holding it in. “So, what made you leave?”

“He came home the other day with a new contract.”

Ollie’s head jerked back in surprise. “A new contract, as in to stay for another year?”

Mason shook his head. “No, a new contract for a new hospital. In another state.”

“He wanted you to move again?”

Mason nodded, just remembering made his heart ache. “He acted like I should be happy about it. Like I had been talking about being bored and wanting to move somewhere else and not that I was lonely and wanted to go home to our friends. We ended up fighting, and he finally admitted that he was doing all this—working as a traveling respiratory therapist and picking up extra shifts—to make more money because he doesn’t like how much more I make than him. That he feels like it makes us unequal .”

“That foolish man,” Ollie muttered, shaking his head. “He’s always had more pride than sense when it comes to certain things.”

Mason gave him a halfhearted smile. “That’s true. I just usually wasn’t on the other end of it. So, I asked him if he wanted me to quit and shut down my channel, and he didn’t really answer. He said that this was the only way to come anywhere close to making what I did.”

“And you told him you didn’t care how much money he made?”

Mason nodded. “Repeatedly. I told him if it was about buying a house that we didn’t have to do that. That we could go back to getting an apartment and splitting everything fifty-fifty. That we didn’t have to talk about anything to do with finances if it upset him so much. And he acted like I was missing the point and being ‘deliberately obtuse.’”

Ollie rolled his eyes. “God, that sounds like Vinnie. He needs a swift kick to the ass.”

“Yeah, well, instead of doing that or something else I’d regret, I told him I was done with whatever point he was trying to prove. That if he needed to prove something to himself , that was fine, but I wasn’t going to get dragged along anymore.”

“What did he say?”

Mason shrugged. “He didn’t really say anything. He just left the room, so I went after him and asked if he understood what I meant. That if he signed the new contract, I was leaving and going back home.”

“Oh god, I’m almost scared to ask what he did next.” Ollie grimaced at him, knowing Vinnie’s temper as well as Mason did.

“He pulled my suitcase out of the closet, put it on the bed, and said if I was going to offer him an ultimatum, then maybe it was for the best if I just left now.”

“No, he did not!” Ollie exclaimed, eyes widening.

“Sure did.” Mason swallowed and glanced down at himself. He was still in the same clothes he’d been in when he’d left yesterday evening. He was exhausted and heartbroken and wanted nothing more than to sleep for a few days.

That wasn’t true.

He wanted Vinnie to be in the bed next to him and the last day to be nothing more than a nightmare more than anything else.

“He’ll come around,” Ollie said, like he could read Mason’s mind. Which he could.

The three of them had been so close for years. Ollie, more than anyone else, knew and understood the dynamic between him and Vinnie. Had seen them through their ups and downs. Talked each of them off ledges and played referee.

Moving nearly a thousand miles away where Ollie—or anyone, really—wasn’t there to help keep him and Vinnie from going off the rails had been the biggest mistake of their lives. But if they couldn’t handle their relationship on their own, how could it ever truly last?

“Maybe,” Mason said softly. “I just don’t know if I’m going to be there when he does.”

Mason ran a hand through his hair and made a face at the length. It had been too long since he’d gotten a haircut, and it was starting to get curly. It always made him think about kids at school calling him a chia pet when he was younger, so he tried to keep it short and in control.

But just like everything else in his life, it had spiraled beyond his clutching fingers. And Vinnie liked it a little longer, liked to hold on to him while they got hot and heavy.

At least, he used to.

Ollie had tried to force him to keep talking and even suggested they call Vinnie together, but Mason had put his foot down. He was nowhere near ready to talk to Vinnie, and he was done talking about what had happened.

Thankfully, Ollie had relented, realizing how exhausted he was. He’d offered Mason the room that connected to his and Six’s via a bathroom. Mason knew that Tank and CJ used to stay in that room, but they had moved out recently.

To try and get things back to normal, Mason had made a joke, telling Ollie that if he and Six wanted to keep up the tradition of the room by having sex in front of him sometimes, he’d be open to it. Ollie had just laughed and gone to get him an extra set of sheets for the bed.

They’d made it up together, and then Ollie had given him a very long hug, telling him that everything would work out and that he would be downstairs with Six if he needed anything.

After a long, hot shower, Mason felt at least half human again, if still hollowed out and emotionally fragile. He left the jeans and shirt in his backpack and just pulled on a pair of underwear to sleep in.

He and Vinnie didn’t usually wear clothes to bed, but it felt strange to sleep naked in a room on the second floor of a motorcycle club’s clubhouse, only separated from one of his best friends and his boyfriend by a couple of bathroom doors.

There wasn’t anything in the room besides the bed, though Ollie had told him there was some extra stuff in a pole barn out back and that they could grab anything he needed in the morning. Mason had a feeling the club’s President would have a problem with that.

It would make things feel too permanent . And this was all just temporary.

He hoped.

He flicked off the overhead light and carefully shuffled across the thick carpeting in the pitch-black. Maybe he should at least get a lamp to put next to the bed so he didn’t stub a toe. Crawling under the covers that smelled nothing like his detergent or Vinnie’s bodywash, he unlocked his phone.

For the first time since he’d left the day before, he pulled up his messaging thread with Vinnie and read what had come through over the course of the last twenty-four hours.

Did you seriously leave?

Mason, answer me

I checked your location. I can’t believe you actually left.

My contract still has another 3 weeks on it. I can’t go running after you rn

Mason

Seriously you’re just going to ignore me???

God dammit Mase! Answer the phone

I’m not going to play this game with you. If you wanted to go pout to Ollie for a few days you couldve at least let me know.

A couple of hours ago, one last text had come through. Mason stared at that one for the longest time, his heart aching.

Please let me know you’re okay.

He knew that if he responded, Vinnie would use it as the opening that it was and try and call him again. Maybe even try and FaceTime. And he was just too tired for that. Tired of their yearlong fight. Tired of feeling like his wants and needs didn’t matter. Tired of feeling like he needed to apologize for how much money he made.

Just… tired.

He tossed his phone aside and groaned, pressing the heels of his hands into his eyes. He should just try and go to sleep. Tomorrow, he’d have to figure out what the hell he was doing and where he was going to stay. The last thing he wanted to do was piss off the sexy President.

He flipped onto his side, tugging the extra pillow into his chest, just as someone knocked at the door. Assuming it was Ollie checking on him again, he flicked on the light and opened it fully without checking to see and came face-to-face with Tomas.

“Oh. Um.” Mason glanced down at his mostly naked body. Considering what he did for a living, he wasn’t exactly ashamed of the way he looked, so he couldn’t quite understand why his face was heating with embarrassment as Tomas ran his gaze slowly down his body all the way to his red-painted toenails and then back up.

“Expecting someone else?” Tomas asked, an edge to his voice.

Frowning, Mason shook his head and took a step back. “Just Ollie. I thought maybe he was going to pester me into talking some more. Um… Did you want to come in?”

Tomas scratched at his cheek, the soft scritch, scritch of his beard sending a shiver down Mason’s spine. He wasn’t exactly sure how old the man was, but he had to at least be in his forties. His dark hair and beard were both mixed liberally with gray, his golden skin starting to show wear in the worry lines across his forehead and crow’s feet next to his serious, dark eyes.

“Just for a minute,” Tomas finally said and took two steps into the room and then shut the door behind him.

The bedrooms on the second floor of the clubhouse weren’t large, but they weren’t super small either. Plus, the room Mason was using was basically empty, and yet the second he was closed in, his head craning back to look into Tomas’s face, it felt like the man was filling the entire space, surrounding Mason with his warmth, woody scent, and concern.

Tomas glanced around, his eyes lingering on the bed before coming back to Mason’s. “I just wanted to make sure you didn’t need anything before I headed home.”

Mason could think of quite a few things that he needed—including but not limited to getting fucked until he couldn’t remember his own name, let alone the wreckage of his life—but he wasn’t sure any of them were things Tomas would be willing to give him.

He put on his best smile and said, “No, but thank you for checking. Ollie got me some sheets and let me use the shower. Now, I’m just going to try and get some sleep. It was a long drive.”

Tomas nodded, running his tongue over his teeth. “The noise from downstairs won’t bother you too much to sleep?”

“Nah, I’ll put a podcast on, and once I’m out, I’m like waking the dead.”

The barest hint of a smile twitched at the corner of Tomas’s mouth. “Give me your phone.”

Mason raised his brows but turned, put one knee on the bed, and stretched across it to reach where he’d left his phone wedged between the bed and the wall. There was a noise behind him, like maybe a cut-off curse, and he sank his teeth into his bottom lip.

He knew what his ass looked like in this pair of underwear. The lacy edges went halfway up his cheeks, giving a hint at what was between them. He took his time straightening, letting Tomas look as much as he wanted. He was sad, not dead.

His pulse sped up as he turned and found heated eyes locked on him.

“You’re a troublemaker just like Ollie, aren’t you?” Tomas said, waiting for Mason to unlock his phone before taking it from him.

“No one is quite like Ollie,” Mason said, smiling softly as he thought about how his friend could go from showing off the red marks on his bare skin from his wax play session with his daddy to cradling Mason’s hands in his own and promising him everything would be okay. “And I wouldn’t call myself a troublemaker, no.”

Tomas typed something into his phone and then handed it back, eyebrow raised. “Oh yeah? What would you call yourself?”

He rubbed his lips together and stared up at the ceiling, really thinking about it. There were a lot of answers he could give to that question, ranging from lies to flirting.

But something about Tomas’s almost stern demeanor had him deciding to go with honesty.

“Lost.”