I gaped at him. This was his house? Mason Shade, the asshole, lives in this beautiful house? Holy shit.
He raised an eyebrow, "Well, are you coming?"
I dumbly nodded and opened the passenger door. Though we had past most of it, the flora and trees still stood tall at the entrance of the house. Mason walked in front of me, almost seemingly reluctant to go into the house. To even be here for that matter. Just as we passed the fountain stationed in the middle of the yard, a voice floated through the air "Ace? Is that you?" The southern drawl was unexpected and I blinked.
Mason sighed as he looked toward the location of the voice, a woman stood in the doorway in shorts and a blue shirt. Her blonde hair was cut into a bob and her hands were on her hips. No similarities were shared between Mason and whoever this was. Did she call him Ace?
"Olivia. Always a pleasure." He climbed the stairs and hugged the woman, and then she turned to look at me. "You must be Calsy." Olivia said, I nodded and smiled. She looked back at Mason and continued, "You're looking good Ace. Been going to The Ring?"
"You know I gotta keep active to keep the old man off my back."
She smirked, "Don't let him hear you say that. He's grumpy today." Olivia turned back to me, "Are you hungry sweetheart? I just finished some biscuits, Jo should be glazing them now." Without waiting for a reply she took my hand and dragged me into the house.
The foyer was huge. A chandelier dangled above me with thousands of little crystals sparkling in the warm yellow light that came out of the lights in the ceiling. Twin staircases grew up to the shared second level, and a small table with a bouquet of flowers rested in the middle of the hall. Before I can ogle anymore I'm pulled into the largest kitchen I've ever seen. Cream marble countertops and two ovens. A four door fridge takes up the left wall next to the stove.
The island is covered in pans with buns on them, half of them with a sheen of glaze on top. A small woman stands next to them a bowl in one hand and brush in the other. She looked up, a piece of dark hair falling from her bun and smiled, putting the bowl and brush down she walked over and grabbed Mason into an embrace, and he had to bend over to reach her.
"Hey Jo, it's nice to see you." Mason said, after they had pulled away. Jo noticed me and curtsied. Actually curtsied. "It's okay Jo. She's not that important." Mason says from behind me.
I shoot him a glare, but before I can tell him off another voice enters through the halls.
"Jo! Are you and Olivia making those buns again? Don't lie to me I can smell 'em..." A guy with short blonde hair stops and takes me in. I have to fight a blush as he looks me up and down, he smirks and stalks over. "Nicholas King." He says and takes my hands and kisses it.
"Calsy Bringer." I say, assessing the boy before me. He smiles a feline smile and a shiver goes up my spine.
"My cousin, ever the ladies man." Mason says.
Nicholas turns, "It's because I'm such a charmer. The ladies can't resist."
"Oh I don't know. Many seem to leave after a while."
"But they last longer with me."
I chime in, "It's because you Nicholas, have manners. Maybe you can teach Mason some."
Nicholas laughed, "She's feisty."
Mason smiled, "That's what I said."
"Speaking of manners..." Nicholas starts and launched himself at Mason.
Mason catches Nicholas in the chest and the two fall to the floor. I start back as they start throwing punches at each other. The other two women just look on as if this is a regular occurrence. Meanwhile Mason is on top of Nicholas a fist raised when Nicholas says, "Mason you're scaring the poor girl."
Mason laughs, "Piss off." He uncurls his fist, and helps Nicholas up. After brushing off their clothes Mason slaps Nicholas, and they both begin to go for each other again, when Olivia says "Alright you two that's enough. Come get your biscuits." My face must still be confused because Olivia tells me, "They do this every time they see each other. Started when they were children," she looks at them as they walk over to the island, "They love each other don't worry."
I join them at the table after grabbing a few buns from the rack. The boys are still pushing each other with their shoulders, all while they scarf down the honeyed biscuits I front of them.
"So, Nicholas," I start, "Mason never told me about you."
"That's probably because he's worried I'll steal you from him." Nicholas calmly replies while Mason chokes.
I turn to look at Mason, and he says, "It didn't seem relevant to mention him. And if I did I would've told you what an asshole he is."
Olivia scowled, "Language."
"Yes ma'am." Mason said.
"So you do have manners." I quirked a brow.
Mason opened his mouth to respond but the calm atmosphere was shattered by a deep voice.
"Mason Ace Shade. My office. Now."
Nicholas offered Mason a sympathetic look. "It's alright. I knew it was coming." Mason said.
"You too Nicholas." The voice said. He hopped up and looked at me, "Calsy you don't have to call me Nicholas, Nick is fine." I nodded, "I hope I can catch you before you leave." And with that he kissed my hand again and went to go appease the voice that had ruined the mood.
Olivia sighed. "Mason's father has always been hard on him, but it really took off when his mother died." Oh, she's the stepmom. "I've only really come into the picture recently, at least to Mason. He doesn't really visit a lot. Only when he needs too." She shook her head. "That boy is wild."
I smiled, "I know what you mean."
"Would you like a tour of the gardens? I saw you admiring the plants outside." Olivia asked.
"I would love that very much." I replied.
--
Half an hour later we were sitting on the balcony above the gardens, looking down at the beautiful blooms out in front of us. "You know, I've never seen him act this way." Olivia said.
"What way?"
"I don't know. He's just different around you." I frowned but she corrected, "Not in a bad way. Just different."
I nodded, "His reputation at school paints him to be, pardon my language, an asshole."
She chuckled, "He gets that from his father. But he gets his looks and charm from his mom."
"Speaking of which, and I really don't mean to pry, can you tell me anything about her? I mean I didn't know until the ride over here that he had a stepmom instead of a paternal mom. No offense." I said.
"Well I don't know how much I'm allowed to say. Or that what I'd say is accurate. But I think I can paint a small picture."
I spent the next couple of minutes asking questions and she answered them as best she could but not just about his mom. About him, the family, his early life. After all, we still had a project due and I had little to no information.
"Did he ever have any pets?" I asked.
Olivia opened her mouth to answer but Mason's voice popped out instead, "I had a goldfish once."
I turned to look at him, "Oh really? What was its name?"
"Green bean."
"You had a goldfish named green bean."
"Yep." He looked toward the ground and back up at us. "Well I think it's time for us to go." Mason turned to look at the sun setting over the hills and squinted. "Olivia, if you don't mind, I'd like to take Calsy home."
"As long as you get her home at a decent time young man." She replied and smiled. "Calsy, it was wonderful to meet you. I do hope I'll see you again."
"I hope so too, Mrs. Shade." I looked at Mason and then back to her, "I'll force him." I whispered.
I stood up and waited for Mason to lead the way. "Oh Calsy wait!" Olivia called. "We're going to the beach next weekend would you like to come?"
"Olivia I don't think that's such a great idea-" Mason started.
"I'd love too." I finished, and looked at him, taking in the expression on his face. He gave an exasperated sigh and led me away from Olivia. We started walking back, through the kitchen and into the foyer, where Nick was waiting by the door.
"Calsy! I hoped we got to say goodbye." Nick grabbed my hand and kissed it again. "Until we meet again." I smiled and said, "Can't wait." Nick's smile grew. He opened the door for me and I stepped through but he held Mason back motioning for a private conversation.
"It's okay. I'll wait by the car." I said and left them to talk.
I could see that the conversation was serious. Hand gestures were flying and facial expressions tight. I noticed a few glances and points my way, but pretended not to see them. After what seemed like fifteen minutes Mason shook his head and put a hand up to his mouth, he motioned with an 'ok, ok' gesture and Nick seemed less on edge. They clapped each other on the shoulder and Mason headed out toward me and the car, while Nick remained where he was, arms crossed.
When Mason reached me I asked, "Anything exciting?"
"Nothing you need to worry your pretty little head about."
I rolled my eyes and climbed into the passengers seat of the car. I waved good bye to Nick and we were off.
I was still curious about what Nick had said before and how it seemed that Mason didn't always come home so I asked, "What did Nick mean about manners? Before he tackled you. And Olivia made it sound like you didn't live there."
Mason looked at me and sighed. "That's mainly my fathers house. I don't go over much because of how much he hounds my ass. As for what Nick said..." he trailed off. "He has a place closer to the school for when he's visiting, so I live there most of the time."
"So Nick doesn't live here?"
"No, I can never remember where though."
"What were you and him talking about before we left?"
"Nothing."
"Bullshit."
"Sorry to disappoint, but it really was nothing." His tone said to drop it so I did.
--
My house started to appear from down the street and Mason pulled into my driveway.
"Well, that was one hell of an afternoon." I said. "One more question before I go."
"Shoot."
"Why did Olivia call you Ace?"
"It's my middle name." He replied. "Most of my family members have some sort of card in their name. Tradition or something."
"Nicholas King. Anyone else?"
"My other cousin, Ivy. We call her queen, or joker depending on the day."
"I don't know why they'd bother to give you the most important card."
"Because I earned it."
"Haven't earned it to me." I said, teasing.
Mason chuckled, "I'll see you at school Calsy."
And we left it at that for the night.