Three and Out

  “I’m glad you’re here. I know it must be awkward, but we’re all happy you’re here.”

  “Me too,” Piper said, as she gripped onto Mason just a little tighter.

  “Are you all packed for tomorrow?” Mason practically whispered into her ear, keeping the intimacy of the conversation.

  “Not much to pack, but yes, I’m all set.”

  “Perfect.”

  Mason nuzzled her hair again as Lexi shouted, “Time for dinner. Get your asses out here.”

  Letting go, Mason grabbed his crutches, smiled one last time down at Piper, and then went to the dining room. Piper watched as his back muscles rippled under his shirt from having to crutch himself around. The simple things made him sexy…the way his shirt expanded across his back, but then tapered down to his waist…the thick muscles in his calves…the way he gripped the crutches, which made his forearms pop with strength. The man was practically a cripple, and she wanted to jump his bones right then and there. Hopefully, she’d be able to soon.

  Mason twisted around and called over his shoulder, “You coming, Piper?”

  “Yup, be right there.”

  She grabbed her beer, said a little prayer for herself because she knew she was going to be going on one hell of an emotional roller coaster, and headed out to the dining room where food was already being distributed. It was funny how fast her life had changed from a dark abyss to seeing light at the end of the tunnel.

  **Mason**

  He needed to stop staring and eat his food, but it was hard when Piper sat across from him in one of her typical grey band T-shirts that made her skin look creamy as hell and her eyes pop. Those silver eyes of hers…he couldn’t get enough of them, especially when she highlighted them with a nice coat of mascara. She was gorgeous.

  Mason wished that they were already in Denver together and not at Jake and Lexi’s house where he had to behave. He wasn’t about to have sex with Piper anytime soon; they were taking things slow, but he wanted to hold her, and with Jake and Lexi’s wandering eyes, Mason felt awkward. So instead, he kept his distance, except for when he said hello to her; he couldn’t help himself then.

  He’d stayed up the past couple of nights thinking about his decision to invite Piper back into his life. He was taking a chance on something that was never a sure thing. His relationship with Piper was always up in the air, and even when he thought it was solid, that she was going to be with him, she still changed her mind. Anxiety rolled through his body at the mere thought of her doing the same thing to him again, but he pushed back the thought, since what it came down to was that he was a miserable fuck. He needed to change something in his life, and he knew that even though she could screw him over, being with her brought him more happiness than he could ever remember. She was his addiction, his nirvana, the light of his day. Fuck him, but he needed her.

  “Dude, Lexi is owning you right now,” Jake said, shaking Mason out of his thoughts. He looked over at Lexi, who was now leaning back in her chair and licking her fingers.

  “You got yourself a real prize there,” Mason said sarcastically, as he took a bite from his burger that was only halfway gone. Was he really staring that much? If he was, Piper apparently didn’t notice because her plate was almost cleaned as well.

  “How is the new place coming along?” Lexi asked.

  “New place?” Piper looked confused.

  Clearing his throat, Mason said, “Well, I bought a condo downtown with a great view of the mountains.”

  “Oh…” Piper said, as she looked down at her plate.

  “It should actually be ready when I get back tomorrow. I have to do some unpacking, but all the new furniture should have been delivered.”

  “It should be a fresh start for you,” Jake said, as he took a sip of his beer.

  Glancing up at Piper, he noticed a strange look in her eyes.

  “Excuse me,” she said, as she got up out of her chair and walked down the hallway toward the bathroom.

  Jake and Lexi both looked at Mason, confused. He had no clue what was going on, so he looked at Lexi and asked, “Should I go see if everything is okay?”

  “Might be best,” she said while laughing and patting his hand. “Welcome to being in a relationship again.”

  “Fuck…” he joked, as he got up and crutched his way down the hall.

  Mason heard the water running in the bathroom and lightly knocked on the door. The water shut off, but Piper didn’t say anything. Mason tested the knob and found it wasn’t locked. Taking a deep breath, he opened the door and crutched his way in. Piper was sitting on the toilet seat with a towel running through her hands. Mason shut the door, propped himself on the sink, and positioned himself directly in front of her.

  “Everything okay?” he asked.

  She just nodded her head, not quite making eye contact with him.

  “Piper, look at me.”

  She lifted her head and that was when Mason saw the pain that was encasing her beautiful silver eyes.

  “What’s going on? And don’t tell me nothing. If we have any chance of making this work between us, we have to be honest with each other.”

  Sighing, Piper asked, “Why are you moving?”

  Damn, Mason wanted to eat his words just now about honesty. He knew he had to tell her the truth, but sometimes the truth hurt, and in this case, it was going to be a slap in the face to her.

  “Well, I just couldn’t stand to be in my place anymore, not after everything we went through. I would walk around my place and see reminders of you everywhere; it was killing me, and I just had to leave.”

  “And the furniture?”

  Mason winced. “I might have sold it for all new furniture.”

  “Because I touched it…right?”

  Mason squeezed the bridge of his nose as he tried to think of the best way to put this, but then realized he just had to be truthful. There was no way of getting around it.

  “Yes.” Piper lowered her head, making Mason feel like a total bastard. “You have to understand that, after you left, I lost my mind. I found a new place, I put everything up for sale, and I drank myself into an oblivion. I even missed a couple of practices. I was fined, of course, because the dickhead Jax wouldn’t give me a break. I was miserable, Piper, and I needed everything that reminded me of you gone, and that meant most of my furniture. I didn’t think that I was ever going to see you again, so I didn’t think about how you might feel…”

  “I know,” she waved him off. “It just reminds me of what a terrible person I was. I mean, I hurt you so badly that you decided to change everything in your life, even your furniture. Who does that to someone?”

  “I may have been a little dramatic,” Mason tried to soothe.

  “No, you were right in doing what you did. I did the same thing. I went on a bender, drugs, alcohol, random sex…”

  The mention of Piper having random sex with strangers made Mason cringe. He didn’t want to think of her doing it with anyone else but him.

  “But that’s all in the past,” Mason suggested.

  “Stop!” Piper shouted as she looked back up at Mason, making him flinch at her tone. “We need to talk about the past in order to have a fucking future. We can’t just forget about what happened, because it will always be a road block in our path. We need to talk about it.”

  Mason started to get angry as he looked down at her. He didn’t want to talk about it, because it was a very dark time in his life. Who wants to relive such a thing?

  “I don’t want to talk about it,” Mason said in between clenched teeth.

  Piper stood up and tossed her towel to the side, “Then maybe me coming to Denver isn’t the best idea, if we can’t even communicate with each other.”

  “Christ!” Mason ran both of his hands over his face. “Can’t you just let it go?”

  “No, we have issues, Mason, and we need to be able to work them out.”

  “Well, I don’t want to,” Mason exclaimed, sounding more childish
than he anticipated.

  “Fine. Have fun in Denver. I really hope your knee gets better.”

  With that, she walked out of the bathroom and down the hall, leaving Mason to himself and his thoughts.

  Chapter Twelve

  **Jesse**

  “Thanks for having me over and all, man, but you can stop fidgeting with my clothes. Damn. What’s your problem?” Jesse asked, as Ryker pulled away. He was a gay man’s dream, too bad he floated down the tuna canoe river.

  Ever since Jesse had arrived at Ryker’s place for some pizza and beer, Ryker had been telling Jesse to pop his collar, which Jesse refused to do, to tie his shoe laces, and to “fluff” his hair.

  “What the hell does it matter what I look like? We’re just drinking some beer.”

  The doorbell rang, and Ryker said, “Can you get that? I have to take a leak.”

  “Seriously? And let me guess, I’m paying as well?” Ryker gave him a thumbs up as he walked away. Jesse mumbled something about Ryker being a dick as he went to the door. When he opened it, he had his head down looking at his wallet as he asked, “How much?”

  “I’ve never been paid for my services before, but I guess I could give it a shot,” a very familiar female voice said.”

  Jesse shot his gaze up and saw Ashlin standing in the doorway wearing a pair of leggings and a tight long-sleeved shirt. Her hair was straight and hanging over her shoulders, which enticed Jesse to want to feel the strands between his fingers. She looked gorgeous and fresh, as usual.

  Clearing his throat, Jesse said, “Oh, hey. Sorry about that. I thought you were the pizza guy.”

  “Pizza? Ryker told me to pick up Thai.” Ashlin held up a brown paper bag that looked pretty full of food.

  “I think we’ve been set up,” Jesse said, as he shook his head.

  Just then, Ryker’s garage door opened and they heard Ryker pull his car out. He rolled down the window and said, “I’m off to see my boo; have a good night.”

  “Fucker,” Jesse muttered, as he watched Ryker drive away with a shit-eating grin on his face.

  “Well, this is awkward,” Ashlin said, as she rocked back and forth on her feet. “Here, take the food. I can pick something up on my way home.”

  “You’re leaving?” Jesse asked, as Ashlin was trying to hand him the food.

  “Yeah, I mean, clearly you don’t want me here…”

  “That’s not true. It’s just, I mean…Ryker could have said something, that’s all. Why don’t you come in and have a seat? We can at least have dinner together.”

  Ashlin shrugged her shoulders and walked into the house. Jesse felt awkward for so many reasons, but one of the reasons was having a “date” in someone else’s house. Being uncomfortable in someone else’s surroundings wasn’t ideal.

  “We should do something to Ryker to get him back. Maybe string all of his condoms together, make him a nice little tree garland,” Jesse suggested, making Ashlin Laugh.

  “Oh, my God, we have to. Give him a little payback.”

  “Yeah, we can leave all the empty packets on his bed, and then for Christmas, give him the garland; it will be perfect!”

  “I like the way you think QB.”

  Jesse wanted to tell her he liked the way she called him QB, but resisted because they were supposed to be just friends…at least he was working on it. It was hard to be just friends with someone when you saw them as something more. It was almost impossible, actually, because every smile, every look over her shoulder, and every little touch, Jesse engrained in his memory as his body reacted. It wasn’t safe at all.

  They went to the kitchen, grabbed some plates from the cabinets, and started divvying up the Thai food…one of Jesse’s favorite cuisines, he couldn’t get enough of the noodles. Jesse grabbed beers for both of them and took them to the table where Ashlin was sitting.

  “Here,” Jesse handed her the beer.

  “Thanks.”

  Silence.

  They both picked at their food while they casually looked around the house, never really making eye contact with each other. Well, they were eating dinner together, that was for sure.

  Yup, Jesse was going to put this moment down in history as one of the most awkward moments of his life. He had so much to say to her, to ask her, but he didn’t even know how to begin. He wanted to know about her life, why she was opposed to relationships, what her childhood was like.

  As Jesse chewed on some well-seasoned chicken, he glanced over at Ashlin, who glanced at him at the same time. Both of their mouths were full, so they just smiled and then went back to surveying the room.

  Silence.

  Ashlin took a sip of her beer and then pushed her plate away. “Well, that was good, but I guess I should be going.”

  “Yeah, me too.”

  “We can always do the condom thing later,” Ashlin said, as she took her plate to the kitchen.

  “Yeah. Ryker would probably whine at me forever if I did ruin all his condoms, so it probably wasn’t the best idea.” Why did he sound so sad? Maybe it was because he was with the girl he wanted, but couldn’t think of a way to actually talk to her. He wasn’t good with the opposite sex at all, and he was showing it right now.

  “He can be such a baby.”

  Jesse silently nodded his head as they both walked to the front door.

  “Big day tomorrow?” she asked, as they closed the door and headed to their respective cars.

  “Just practice. What about you, any photo shoots planned?”

  “Not until next week. It’s been nice having a bit of a break.”

  “Yeah, I wish we had a break on occasion.”

  They both got to their cars and stood at their driver’s side doors.

  “Well, have a good night,” Ashlin called out.

  Have a good night? That was it? That was how they were going to end this night? Something inwardly possessed Jesse, and he didn’t know what it was, but it was propelling him forward to Ashlin. He couldn’t end their night like this. With a few steps, he had his hands on either side of her, trapping her against her car. Her eyes were wide as she took him in.

  “I can’t stand being like this toward you, so casual,” Jesse said, as he spoke closely to her ear.

  “Me either,” she breathed heavily, hopefully from his proximity.

  “You’re anything but casual to me, Ashlin.”

  “I don’t know how to respond to that,” she admitted honestly.

  He looked her in the eyes and said, “You don’t need to. Just know this, I’m not done with you. I can’t be done with you. I said I don’t do flings, and I meant that, but I can’t just walk away. You’re in me; I feel you whenever you’re around, and there is no way I can shake that feeling. You’ll be mine at some point, Ashlin, I’m sure of it. I just have to get you to that point first.”

  She nodded as she watched him intently.

  Slowly, he lowered his head, so his lips were a whisper away from hers.

  “Have a good night, Ashlin.”

  He started to pull away, but she gripped his belt loops and pulled him into her. She feverishly pressed her lips against his and moved her hands up and under his shirt, caressing his bare skin…something he was not expecting, but the feeling hit him hard. His hands ran up to her face and cupped her cheeks. He kissed her, hard, like it was the last kiss of his life. He took everything she was giving him, and demanded more, not letting up.

  A light moan escaped her lips as his hands wandered down to her waist. He lifted her shirt just a little, so his hands touched her bare back. She was smooth and heated and just so perfect. He pulled her closer and knew that if he didn’t stop soon, he would be bending her over her car and taking everything that he wanted.

  Pulling away, he looked down at her and said, “Lunch, tomorrow?”

  “Don’t you have practice?”

  “We get a lunch break. Meet me at the stadium at noon. It’s time for us to get to know each other.”

  With one last effort,
Jesse kissed her gently on the lips, trying to convey to her that he was serious about what was happening between them, and he wasn’t going to take no for an answer.

  She nodded her head once he pulled away, making him smile at his triumph. Success, now he just needed to remember to use his lips when doing all the convincing.

  **Piper**

  “Stop!” Piper heard Mason shout from down the hallway. Jake and Lexi both turned their heads to see what was going on. “Get your ass back here, right now.”

  “Ooo, someone’s in trouble,” Lexi teased as she smiled.

  “Don’t make me come over there and slap you,” Piper said to Lexi.

  “I can take you,” Lexi puffed out her chest.

  Jake gave her a slap on her back and said, “That’s right, babe, if anything you can suffocate her with your tits; Lord knows I’ve almost passed out before while getting motor boated.”

  “Jake!” Lexi screeched, as she playfully swatted her husband, making both him and Piper laugh.

  Glancing back at Mason, Piper realized he was not feeding into the jovial mood Lexi and Jake were trying to put on.

  Giving Piper the “come here” motion with his finger, Mason said, “Get back here, now. I’m not done with you.”

  Even though he looked incredibly sexy, Piper said, “What if I’m done with you?” as she put her hands on her hips, not really knowing why she was giving Mason a hard time and being defiant. It was just in her nature.

  “Don’t play with me,” Mason gritted out.

  Noticing that the tension in the room had started to escalate, Piper gave in and walked toward Mason, who ushered her into the guest room he had been staying in. Mason shut the door with his crutch and motioned for her to sit on the bed that was, not surprisingly, unmade. The whole room was a bit of a disaster, with clothes scattered everywhere and pillows flung about the room.