L I L Y
"Lily? Lily are you okay?" I hear Carter ask, snapping me out of my shocked state.
"D-Did you know he would be here?" I look at her with wide eyes, and I can't help but feel betrayed.
She quickly shakes her head. "No I had no idea, I swear!" The apologetic look on her face tells me that she really didn't know.
I return my gaze back to Mason, to see him scanning the crowd with a hard look on his face. One i've never seen before. When his eyes finally meet mine, he freezes, just like I did.
He has a mix of emotions in his eyes.
Surprise, confusion, sadness, worry, guilt.
His body is tense and he moves his gaze over to my left, noticing Carter and sending her a glare, before he returns his stare to me. His eyes soften and he starts to move in my direction, but I notice his movements quickly and shake my head, telling him not to.
He immediately stops and his jaw clenches, before he mouths the words, 'I'm sorry'.
I hear the announcer say the fight is about to begin and wince, quickly turning around to face the other direction. I then hear one fighters fist make contact with the others skin.
I can only hope that it wasn't Mason being hit.
I continue to hear the same thing over and over, and can't help but whimper. Carter looks at me worriedly and places a hand on my arm.
The crowd starts cheering in victory and i'm guessing that means it's over. Thank God.
"And we have our winner! Merciless!" The announcer yells through the microphone.
Although i'm relieved that Mason won, I still don't stop one of the tears i've been trying to hold in from falling down my cheek. I remove Carter's hand and rush through the crowd surrounding us. I try not to bump into people and mumble an apology when I do.
I hear Carter calling my name, but I ignore her and continue to hurry out of the club.
I finally spot a door and rush over to it, pushing it open and exiting, noticing it leads to the back of the building. I freeze in my spot and take a deep breath.
Mason's a fighter. A street fighter. Does he even know how dangerous it is?
Of course he does, he's not stupid.
So then why would he put himself in this situation?
I sigh and fully let the tears fall as I make my way towards the front, where Carter's truck should be parked. As i'm doing this, I hear the door I came out of slam open and my name being called.
"Lily, wait."
I freeze, recognizing the voice straight away. I slowly turn around, but keep my stare directed downwards to avoid meeting his eyes.
I hear his footsteps jogging towards me and tense up when Mason stops only inches away.
"Princess?" He says quietly, his voice shaky.
I wrap my arms around my body, still not looking directly at him like I know he wants me to. Though in the corner of my eye, I see him take a step closer, and tense up even more at his close proximity.
"Please look at me." He practically begs. I quickly shake my head and he sighs.
He brings his hands up towards my face, but as he's doing this, I notice the blood on his fists and can't help but flinch back. My reaction makes him let out a low growl of frustration.
I slowly look up to see his eyes tightly shut and his hands in his hair. I frown at the sight of him, but i'm relieved to see that the only injury he has is a cut on his right cheekbone.
"You're scared of me?" He slowly opens his eyes but keeps his hands in his hair. He looks at me as if he's begging for me to say no, that i'm not afraid of him.
But the thing is, I don't know right now. The look on his face in there...it was terrifying. I've never seen him like that before.
When I don't answer, Mason turns away from me. "Fuck." He mutters, and all of a sudden he faces the wall, punching it with all of his strength.
I gasp and quickly stumble away from him.
His breathing is heavy as he leans his forehead against the bricks, with his fists on the wall next to each side of his head. I notice even more blood seeping out of his hand from the punch, and wince at how bad it really is now.
"Baby...you weren't supposed to find out this way." He says slowly, his voice full of regret.
"W-When were you going to tell me?" I play with my fingers nervously.
Mason backs away from the wall and turns towards me again. He walks closer, and stops only a few inches away, before lifting his hands up towards my face. Like last time, I flinch. He swallows. "Please?"
I think about how Mason has ever done anything to hurt me. You can trust him, I tell myself.
I slowly nod and he sighs in relief before bringing his hands up to gently cup my face. "Honestly, I-I wasn't going to tell you..." He trails off, and I stare up at him in disbelief.
His eyes widen and he shakes his head. "You have to understand, I wasn't going to tell you because I was afraid. I was afraid that you'd think I was a monster. I didn't want you to see this side of me. Especially since you trust me so much a-and we just confessed our feelings to each other...I didn't want to ruin that." He tells me in his soothing voice, gently rubbing my cheekbone with his thumb.
Do I think he's a monster? Of course not, he was my first friend and the first person to ever really care about me, besides my parents.
I bring my hand up and place it on top of his, careful not to hurt him. "I don't think of you as a monster Mason. It's just...now I-I don't know if I can trust you."
His eyes fill with sadness at my words and he opens his mouth to reply, but I speak before he can. "I-I think we should stay away from each other, just for a little while." I whisper, regretting it immediately after.
Mason's eyes widen and he shakes his head. "No, no, no, baby please. I'm sorry, please don't say that." He panics even more when he notices i'm about to step away, so before I can stop him, he quickly pulls me back into his chest and wraps his arms around my waist, nuzzling his face into my neck. "Please."
I let out a quiet sigh. "Mason..."
He tightens his hold on me. I close my eyes and bring my hands up so they're resting on his biceps.
"We don't have to take a break, but please, at least give me some space." I gently push on his arms to get him to back away.
He doesn't at first, but after a few seconds he places a soft kiss to my neck and steps away.
"I-I'll see you Monday."
I turn around, and just as I begin to walk away, Mason suddenly grabs my wrist and spins me around.
I immediately feel a pair of lips connect with mine and my first reaction is to freeze up, unsure of how to react in this situation. I've never been kissed before. Mason places his hands on both sides of my waist and gently squeezes, encouraging me to move my lips. I close my eyes and slowly start to do the same, moving my lips in sync with his. I bring my hands up and place them where his neck and shoulders meet.
Fireworks. That's all I feel, and it's like an explosion. A good one.
His lips are soft and smooth and I've never felt anything like this. The kiss is slow and passionate but also filled with need.
I pull away and open my eyes, only because I needed to breath. My chest moves up and down at a rapid pace, while Mason stares at me in amazement.
He leans down and pecks my lips again, leaving them there for a few seconds, before pulling away. He pulls me closer by my waist and leans his forehead against mine. I close my eyes as I try to steady my breathing.
"That was amazing." Mason whispers.
I blush at his statement.
He brings his hand up and brushes his fingers through my hair. "Are you sure you can't stay until i'm finished? I'll bring you to my place and we can do whatever you want."
As tempting as that sounds, I shake my head. "I can't." He frowns at my answer. "Space, remember?"
Mason nods but lets out a sigh. "I was hoping you would forget about that."
I send him a small smile.
"Will you at least let me drive you home? I only have four fights left and then i'll be done. I'll make them quick, I promise." He begs.
I frown at the thought of him fighting again, and open my mouth to answer, but the door that we both came from slams open, making me jump.
"James get your ass inside, next round is in five!" The scary looking guy informs him.
Mason turns to me with pleading eyes.
I sigh, giving in. "Okay."
He grins widely before grabbing my hand and leading me over to the door where the guy had just left.
We enter the club and I see Carter pacing back and forth in front of the bar. She spots me and rushes over.
"Are you okay? Do you want me to bring you home?"
I send her small smile and shake my head. "It's alright, Mason's gonna bring me home after."
Her eyes widen and she steals a glance at Mason, who's staring at me. "Do you need me to stay?"
I shake my head once again.
"I can bring her to the back room. She'll be safe there, don't worry." Mason tells her.
Carter nods and says her goodbye before exiting the bar.
"Come on." Mason leads me through the crowd. He brings me through a door and down a hallway, before stopping at another door with the word, 'James' written on it, his last name.
When we enter, the first thing I notice is something hanging from the ceiling. It's like a big sausage.
I watch it curiously. "What's that?" I ask Mason, who's taking off the wraps on his hands.
He glances up and in the direction of where I was looking. "It's a punching bag, I use it for practice."
I nod and continue to look around.
The next thing I see is a big mirror covering one of the walls. There's also a locker and a bench placed against another wall. The last thing I see is a couch.
I walk over and sit on it, noticing how bouncy it is and giggling. I start to bounce up and down until I hear a chuckle. I didn't even notice the door was opened and somebody entered until they spoke.
"She's adorable, man."
My head snaps to the door and I see a guy around Mason's age standing there.
I blush and look down as I play with my hands nervously.
I hear Mason chuckle this time. "I know." He walks over to stand in front of me and reaches his hand out. I reluctantly grab it and stand up, hiding half of my body behind Mason's.
"This is my friend Alex." Mason says as he looks down at me. "Don't be shy, baby."
"Hi Alex." I mumble, looking around nervously while fiddling with Mason's hand.
"Hi Lily." He says softly.
"Alex is gonna take care of you while i'm gone, is that okay?" Mason asks me with an eyebrow raised.
I study Alex for a few seconds before nodding. He looks nice enough. And if Mason trusts him then I do too.
A wide grin appears on Alex's face. "Don't worry, I don't bite." He says playfully.
I smile and decide that I like him.
The door opens once again and the same guy from earlier pops his head in. "Ready?"
Mason glances at me before looking back to him and nodding. He leans down to place his lips on mine. They linger there for a few seconds before he pulls away and kisses my forehead. "I'll be back in a little while, call me if somethings wrong." He directs the last part towards Alex.
Alex salutes. "Yes sir."
An image of Noah doing the same exact thing at the bonfire pops into my head and I giggle.
Mason rolls his eyes. "Stay in this room at all times, okay?"
I nod and he leans down to peck my lips one final time before turning and walking towards the door. He whispers something to Alex, and it must've been funny because he laughs. "We'll be fine dude, chill."
When Mason finally exits the room, Alex turns to me.
"So, wanna play Go Fish?"