Savor Me

“Then what the fuck did he mean?”


“We had sex, but he didn’t have a condom.”

“You what?!” Hunter shouts.

I’m barely clinging to the edge of a panic attack and now I have to deal with Hunter freaking out that we didn’t use a protection. Fantastic!

“I’m on the pill. I’m clean, so you have nothing to worry about,” I quickly explain for the second time tonight. I might be talking, but in my mind, I’m trying to formulate a plan that doesn’t have me puking all over the sidewalk but still has me ending the night in Mason’s arms.

“Oh my God, he’s in love with you. Shit. Shit. Shit!” Hunter screams as he starts pacing back and forth.

My head snaps up. “What? No, he isn’t.”

“This is going to kill him. Lacey, shit! Wait, did he kiss you too?” He pauses, looking back at me.

“Yeah,” I respond, and instead of Hunter’s words shoving me off the anxiety mountain, they immediately calm me. “What’s that mean?”

“It means he’s in fucking love with you!” he yells and immediately resumes pacing. Only this time I jump up and start pacing with him. “I should have seen this after he punched that Sean guy. He hates any kind of physical violence. Fights usually get him all pissy, but he was almost giddy after that one. Damn it!”

“Stop pacing and tell me what the hell you are rambling about. He’s not in love with me. He just left me!”

“So this isn’t exactly where I wanted to have this conversation, but I don’t have much of a choice now.” He shoves his hands into his pockets. “I asked him last week if I could talk to you about me and you becoming a real item.”

“An item? What is this, eighth grade?” I snap.

“I figured I should talk to him first, but he picked some bullshit fight about the new horses to avoid the conversation. I just figured he was pissed about being cut out.” He roughly shoves a hand through his hair. “I had no idea he was interested in you for anything but sex. He barely even talks to you.”

“We talk every night for hours!” I have no clue why I feel the need to defend my relationship with Mason to Hunter, but I do.

“Really?”

“Yes, really! Now get to the part that makes you think he’s in love with me.”

“Shit! Well, Mason spent his whole life listening to his dad tell him that he was an accident. He took every opportunity he had to remind Mase that he never wanted him, and neither did his mom. That was the reason he gave Mason for why his mom left. Something about her not being able to handle raising a child she never wanted. I think it was more that he was an abusive fucker. I refuse to believe that he beat the shit out of Mason on the regular but never laid a hand on Mrs. Wynn. However, that is just me speculating. I’ve never asked, and Mason has never told.

“Anyway, ever since he started having sex, Mason has been religious about using condoms. He dated a girl for two years in college and never once did anything without one. We got hammered one night and he told me he didn’t want to create another accident like himself. A child that he would eventually hate as much as his dad hated him.”

“And the kissing thing?” I ask.

“Well that’s just his personal rule. He’s never kissed a girl we shared, although we’ve never shared a woman for more than a few nights. I never really found it all that odd until you came along.”

“Wait, so he’s really never had sex without a condom?” I ask, stunned. I always use protection these days, but before I swore off relationships, I had a boyfriend. It might have been rare, but I’ve definitely done it.

“Not that I know of. Although I’m not exactly an expert on Mason’s dick.”

“He told me he’d forever be mine.” I close my eyes, admitting to myself for the first time that Hunter might be right. I’ve felt it for weeks and it’s terrified me. But knowing that Mason might feel the same way has me ready to sprint after him.

“Lacey, you’re going to have to be really creative to find a way to let him down easy. This could break him.”

“What?” I ask when suddenly it dawns on me that Hunter really doesn’t have a clue about my relationship with Mason. (And it doesn’t even scare me to call it a relationship at this point.)

It isn’t Mason I have to let down easy at all.