Grand Lies by JC Hawke

17

Nina

My mumonly ever calls when she wants money. I know this. So why do I have such a hard time ignoring her name as it flashes on my screen?

“You’d think it would be easy to ignore her calls after what you told me.” I mutter, reclining back into the safe confinement of Mason’s chest.

He wraps me up in his arms, breathing me in. “You should do what you think is right. Either way, I’m here for you.”

“I don’t want to speak to her, but I feel bad if I ignore her. And then when I do answer her calls, I’m always left feeling shitty. You probably think I’m stupid for even entertaining her.”

“She’s your mother, maybe not morally, but genetically she will always be a part of you, and I accept that if it means there is a you in the world.”

I dip my head back, looking at him upside down. “Smooth, Bossman.”

He chuckles, leaning forward to kiss me. “Can I kick them out yet?” He flicks his eyes towards our friends.

I follow his gaze, catching Elliot and Lucy deep in conversation. Lucy has had a skinful this evening and I should get her to bed, but I know Elliot is harmless. She seems to be herself around him, compared to the perfected Lucy she fronts to the rest of the world—not many people get that side of her.

“No, let them stay. This place is too big for the two of us, and I like them being here.”

He rests his chin on my shoulder. “Me too,” he admits.

I sigh and relax deeper into him, allowing my eyes to close and my mind to rest as I soak in the contentment that comes in that moment.

* * *

Strong hands lift me,pulling me from sleep. “Bedtime, angel.”

I open my eyes and I see that everyone has gone inside. A blanket is draped around me, and I am cradled in the warmth of strong arms.

“What time is it?” I ask into his neck.

“Late. I didn’t want to wake you,” he says, looking adoringly down at me.

I reach up, moving his hair from his forehead, his skin cool against my warm palm. “Mase, your freezing,” I scold, pulling the blanket from around me and draping it over his shoulders.

“I’m fine.” He shrugs off the material.

He walks us into the penthouse and drops me to my feet. Lance, Charlie, Megan and Scarlet, all sit around the sectional sofa watching a movie. Scarlet gets up when she sees us, rounding the sofa to hug me.

“Night, guys,” she says with a lopsided grin on her face.

“I hope you’ve had a good day, Scar, I know I have.” I yawn long and hard, lifting my hand to stifle it. I have no idea how long I’ve been asleep, but I feel exhausted.

“Thanks to you I have.” She pulls Mason in for a hug. “Big brother, you fuck this up, and I will seriously never forgive you,” she tells him, throwing me a wink over his shoulder. “Is Vinny still with Dad? He’s happy to stay?”

“Yeah, have a night off, Scar,” Mason tells her.

“Thank you,” she says, reaching out to squeeze my hand.

* * *

“You seemto make everyone you meet fall in love with you.”

We stand at the sinks in Mason’s en suite brushing our teeth, and I pause momentarily as his comment registers.

I side-eye him in the mirror, noting the panic that’s written across his face. Biting down on my toothbrush, I try to contain my amusement.

I step forward and rinse, then wipe my chin. “I do?”

“Yeah. Like my sister, Vinny and the boys,” he says, slightly muffled.

“Ah, your sister, Vinny and the boys.” I wait a beat before asking. “Have you ever been in love, Mase?”

“Me?” He doesn’t look at me, but I catch his brows raised high in the mirror, his toothbrush going a mile a minute in his hand.

“Yes, you,” I ask.

“Uh, I don’t think so.”

“Me neither.” I shrug, hooking the tips of my fingers into the crevice of my collarbone.

I wait for him to finish his teeth then step up to him, blinking slowly as I draw his lips into a deep kiss. The taste of mint and him is the perfect mix. “Although I think I could. One day. I don’t think I’m completely broken.” I give him a wink.

His face grows serious, not catching on to my playfulness. “You’re not broken. I have every faith that you will love someone someday.”

My eyes search his, my arms wrapping around his neck. “Someone?”

He smiles, looking off to the side and shaking his head.

I bite my lip, knowing he’s done with tiptoeing around the conversation.

He takes me by the waist and lifts me to sit on the counter between the two sinks.

“Me. You will love me one day because I have absolutely no clue how I could ever allow you not to. I don’t know what this is, Nina,” He gestures between us. “but the need to know you, protect you, know where you are and that you are safe. That? That, I have never in my life felt before. You consume me in a way that scares me because it’s new. Every decision I’ve made since meeting you has had you at the centre of it.”

I smooth my hand down his cheek as he leans in to kiss me, nudging my legs apart as he puts himself between them.

An overwhelming need to worship this man takes over me, and it has me pushing him back. I slide off the counter and fall to my feet.

Leaning in, I kiss him slowly, then run my hand down his chest and into the top of his boxers, wrapping my hand around his growing length.

He smiles cockily, and it sends a zap of pleasure straight between my legs. “Why are you smiling at me like that? You know what it gets you.” I tell him, popping my brows once.

He laughs as I give him back his own words. “Do I? I think I must have missed that one.”

“Hmm, then let me show you.”

His hands find my shoulders, and he pushes me to my knees as if he knows what’s coming. “Fuck, yes!”

His dark eyes hold mine as I take him into my mouth, and I try to be just as sexy for him but this man is too much. I smile around him, unable to control myself. He shakes his head, dropping it back for a moment before looking down at me when I begin sucking on the very tip, and in that moment ‘my Mase’ is gone. He takes my ponytail, wrapping it tight around his fist as he grasps my jaw and squeezes, pushing himself to the back of my throat.

“Take me, angel,” he demands.

* * *

Mase

I findLance riffling through my fridge when I enter my kitchen the next morning, which isn’t surprising considering it’s Lance. The man is always damn hungry.

“Sullivan. Eating all my fucking food as per?” I smirk, moving for the coffee machine.

“As if. Your cupboards are bare, Lowell. It’s sad.” He moves to the hob—carrying a stack of my food in one of his arms—checking the bacon in the pan. “How’d things go with your dad?” he asks at the same time that Charlie walks in.

“Shit. I should speak to Scar about it first.” I lean against the counter; my arms spread wide. I tip my chin at Charlie. “You off?”

“Yeah, I’ve got an eight thirty. Where did you sneak out to last night?” he asks Lance.

“Nowhere?” Lance frowns back at him, sliding himself onto the kitchen island.

“Well it wasn’t Elliot. Lowell?” he asks me.

“Not me, mate,” I tell him, both of us looking back to Lance.

He shrugs, taking a bite out the end of the dry baguette, not a care in the world.

“Probably Montgomery. I was surprised he wasn’t already in Lucy’s room when I went to bed last night,” I suggest.

Lance snickers, “Doubtful. She isn’t giving him an inch.” He chuckles to himself, smiling around his mouthful of food. “Ha. That’s what she said.”

Charlie rolls his eyes, moving to fill a travel mug with coffee. “So, I looked into that case on Joey Wilson. It was nothing. Was dropped a couple days after the report was made.”

“Do you have the case files?”

“The sheet of paper that tells me that there wasn’t enough evidence to take it to court let alone trial? Yes.”

“I want them.”

“Well you can’t have them. Vinny said he has been stable since childhood. You can’t judge him based on something that might not have happened.”

“Where Nina is concerned, I will.”

“Does she know you had him looked up?” he questions.

“No.” I glare, knowing where this is going.

“Well, I think you should tell her. Would explain why you’ve been such a prick the last couple weeks.”

Charlie has always been the honest man out of us all. I suppose it comes with the job in some ways, but over the past four years he has become hell-bent with the need to make every situation untainted.

It’s what keeps me up at night, the thought of what I have done to the man who would never contemplate something so fucked.

“Yeah, I will tell her.”

His brows furrow, clearly not expecting me to agree. “Right, I’m out. I won’t see you before so enjoy Paris, man.” He cuffs me on the back and smiles.

I nod my head, pleased that he has turned towards the door and can’t see my grimace.

Once he leaves, my eyes lift to Lance.

“Get out your head, Lowell. He’d never live with himself if you told him.”

“I know.”

“You did the right thing. It’s buried; move on.”

I pinch the bridge of my nose, thinking back to that night and what a fuckup it was.

“Has Cara been in touch?” he asks.

“No. She wouldn’t fucking dare.”

He nods his head. “I know you like this chick, but be fucking careful, you don’t need another Cara. That’s already cost you enough.”

“Nina is nothing like Cara.”

“Maybe. But do you really know her yet? Would she stay if she knew?” he spits.

I frown as his question settles in me.

Would she?

“I’ve got your back always, Mase. Just be smart.”

* * *

Nina

I stareat my reflection in the mirror, angry that I carry so much of her in my features. The irony that the one person I want to forget is forever embedded in my DNA. They say family runs deeper than blood, and that’s true. But that doesn’t mean you can forget the genetics that makes you who you are.

My chest heaves as sweat runs down the dip in my back. I lower my chin, trying to get my breathing under control. My mother has consumed my thoughts all morning. Normally I can immerse myself in my dancing, allowing it to take me someplace else for a while. But today isn’t one of those days.

I don’t know if it’s everything with Mason’s dad or the fact that I just know I need to speak with her about the money she receives from the man that may or may not be my dad, but nothing I do seems to ease the need to answer the phone.

I can hear it ringing in my bag right now, and it enrages me.

Why?

Why does she do this?

* * *

My body screamsat me to stop, the pain rippling throughout my muscles too much to ignore. I’ve been at the studio for hours, leaving my phone to ring out every time, not nearly ready to chance looking in case it’s her.

I pull myself up on the piano—my safe spot to sit and reflect. Flipping over my phone I see I have six missed calls, all from Mase. Is it wrong that I considered it might not be my mum calling? That maybe I just needed a minute to find myself.

It’s just gone five so he’s probably already on his way to me.

I call him.

“Angel.”

“Hey. Sorry I missed your calls, I was dancing,” I tell him the half-truth.

“I know. I spoke to Logan downstairs when I couldn’t get hold of you.”

“You did?” I frown, lying back on the cool wood of the piano.

“Are you finished? I will come and get you.”

I need him, but I also want to be alone right now.

It’s funny how I spent my childhood longing for the attention of anyone who would give it to me, craving their company. Yet now I long for my quiet.

There’s safety in silence.

My mind really is all over the place right now. “It’s still light out; I think I will run this evening.” My aching body screams at my own words.

“You’re not coming to mine?”

“I need to go home at some point. I need more clothes for a start.”

“You should sell it—your apartment. Move all your things here.”

My eyes widen at his words. Is he serious? “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“I’m serious. Keep your apartment if you want to, but bring your things over. It’s the inevitable.”

“Says who?” I laugh, letting his playfulness ground me again.

“I’m on my way to get you, Pix.”

“I—“

The line goes dead, and I can’t help the smile that finds my face. He is impossible. I steal a few more peaceful minutes, then jump down and turn all the lights out in the studio, making my way downstairs. Logan is in the gym but otherwise it’s quiet.

“Anderson, your girls left hours ago. You okay?”

“Yeah, just one of those days.” I shrug.

He nods his head in understanding. “That guy from the other week,” he pauses, trying to remember his name.

“Mase.” I remind him.

“Yeah him! He called and asked if you were here. I came up but the door was locked,” he says with a weak smile and a quizzical look.

Logan gets me. He has known me for years and knows all about my family—or lack of.

“It’s just Mum.”

“I figured it would be something like that,” he says, tipping his chin towards the door. “Incoming.”

My stomach flips when I see Mason making his way towards the gym doors. He is in sweats and a white tee which surprises me considering the time.

I smile as he steps through the door. “Hey!”

He comes straight to me, wrapping an arm around my waist and kissing me openly in front of Logan. He invades every part of me, reaching into the depths and smothering every dark part of me with his warmth.

“This is Logan. He is my manager here at the gym. I think you got off on the wrong foot the first time you met.” I raise a brow at the man by my side, but he is already reaching his hand out to Logan.

“I understand why you wouldn’t let me up, and I appreciate you looking out for Nina.”

I blink several times, unsure if I heard him correctly.

Did he just thank him?

“Of course.” Logan grins wide, looking at me as he shakes Mason’s hand.

My phone begins to ring in my bag, and I huff out a sigh as I check the screen.

Shit! Joey!

I completely forgot to call him back.

“Just give me a sec,” I say to the boys, moving to the door for privacy.

“Joey, hi. Sorry I didn’t call. Things have been manic recently. How are you?”

“I’m good. No stress, but I do need to know if you will be available to do these photos. I’m running out of time, and I need to confirm a placement.” He sounds stressed and it makes me feel terrible that I never read his email.

“Yes, of course. I’d love to do the photos. It sounds like a great opportunity.”

“And Tuesday, you can do it that soon?”

“Tuesday?” Should have fucking read the email. “Uh, yes, I could probably make that work.” I try to remember which groups I have in when. I usually have my one-on-ones on a Tuesday. Shit, I will have to check.

“Well that’s a relief. Thank you, Nina. I will send you confirmation this evening.”

“I’m actually really looking forward to it,” I tell him honestly. “I checked out the gallery you mentioned on Facebook. It looks incredible. You work there, right?”

“Yes, I do, and it is incredible; you’ll have to come see it sometime.”

I look over at Mason. He is chatting with Logan but his eyes are focused on me. “Yeah maybe some time I will. See you Tuesday, Joey,” I mumble, already drawn to the man across the room, who with one look, can undo me completely.

“Yes, you will! Cheers, Nina.”

I hang up and walk to him, sliding into the spot under his arm that always fits me so perfectly. “You ready?” he whispers into my hair.

* * *

Mason hadme shower whilst he ordered us Chinese; neither one of us wanted to cook tonight. It’s only Thursday, which means I still have another full day of teaching to do this week, and I’m exhausted. I feel like the stress of the showcase and the late nights I’ve been having are finally catching up with me. I’m due on, and I always get tired and cranky just before.

I’m rinsing the conditioner from my hair when his hands snake around my waist and cup my breasts, pulling me back into his hard body.

“Hey,” I scold. “What about my food?”

“There’s a forty-minute wait.” He smiles into my neck, kissing the sensitive flesh there. “I have something for you if you’re hungry.”

“I’m starved,” I say, dropping my head back to his shoulder and smiling when I look up and see the dark look on his face.

His hand skims my stomach and slides down to cup me, making my insides coil tight in anticipation. “You ready for me, baby?”

“Always.” I say as two thick fingers enter me.

“Always, Pixie. Every damn time.” It comes out gruff, and I feel his erection growing steel against my lower back.

“I want in.” He bites down on my shoulder.

“When have you ever asked befor—”

My feet lift from the floor as he takes me to the hilt in one thrust, cutting me off. “I’m not asking, and I make no apologies for it either. This body. It’s mine. I will take from it whenever I want to. And tomorrow, when you are sore because of my impatience to get you off first, I will lick you until you’re begging me to take you again.”

“Mase!” I moan, trying to move my hips to accommodate him.

He has no idea what his words do to me. My clit throbs, begging for attention.

“You’re mine,” he groans, sliding in and out of my heat.

I reach my hand above me to cup his neck, putting our bodies flush, and slowing him down. “Yours,” I murmur.

He looks into my eyes, and I notice the worry that’s etched into his. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so vulnerable. “Fuck,” he says, pulling out of me and spinning me to face him.

I already have my arms around his neck, lifting myself when he takes my legs and pulls them around his waist. He slides back into me, using the wall at my back to get himself as deep as he can.

His head finds mine, resting it there as he pauses. “Fucking perfect.”

I can feel him twitch and jump inside me, but he has his eyes clenched tight.

Unmoving.

“What is it, Mase?” I ask.

His eyes snap open, the dark pools boring far beyond my soul. “Tell me again.”

I frown. Tell him? “What?”

He rolls his hips, his pelvis brushing my clit and making me moan. “Tell me that you are mine. Tell me that nobody else gets the parts that I do.”

I try to work out what would cause his possessive behaviour, and then realisation sets in.

An impish smile tugs at my lips. “Are you jealous? Because Logan really is like a brother,” I tell him, running my hand through his wet hair.

He shakes his head, searching my eyes. “I’m not worried about him.”

“Who then?”

“It was Joey on the phone before in the gym, wasn’t it?” he says, nostrils flaring as he stills inside of me.

I know that they have bad blood between them, and I don’t want to mess with Mason’s emotions, but the photos are important to me. If I go back on it now, then he will always think he can pull strings and have me dance. And that won’t end well.

“Yeah.” I drop my arms, bringing them between us to push on his chest.

I can see the annoyance on his face that I’ve pulled away from him. “I told you I’m having him take my photo. You can come along like you said if you have to.”

He pulls me tighter to him as he readjusts his feet on the tile, grazing that spot inside me that has my eyes rolling back in my head—and he knows it.

“I had him looked up,” he says, voice strained.

“You did wha—” He rolls his hips again.

He is too damn good at this.

I dig my nails into his abs. “Mase,” I whisper.

“Seven years ago he had allegations made against him, it never came to anything but I don’t feel comfortable with you being alone with him. It’s all I ask.”

“What were the ale—”

He cuts me off with a searing kiss, causing me to swallow my words as I get lost in him. His hands find my ass, guiding my hips as he rocks into me. His lips move to my throat and I tilt my head back, smiling at the ceiling.

How is this man mine?

I lean back against the shower wall, giving him better access to my breasts. He licks and sucks between them until he can’t dip down any lower without breaking our connection. He pulls a nipple into his mouth, toying it between his teeth, teasing nips and sucks that send me wild and writhing against the shower wall.

“I need more,” I whimper.

“I know, baby,” he groans around me.

I can tell he is close and fighting to hold off.

His hands move to my hips, and he squeezes tight, gliding them up over my waist as I lock my legs around his lower back. I can feel him twitching inside me, and I know he is at war with himself, but I’m not there yet.

Last night I gave him all the pleasure whilst on my knees on his bathroom floor, and then I fell asleep before he could return the favour. Granted, he more than made up for it this morning; he isn’t the type to take without giving. He loves it too much.

“It’s okay. Fuck me, Mase, and then later, once I’m fed, I will feed you,” I promise, holding his eyes as I squeeze him tight.

His lips lock with mine as he takes my hands, lifting them above my head. I smile into the kiss as his control is shattered, and he starts to thrust his hips.

“Fuck!” he roars, his body shaking as I clench around him again.

He tenses, pulling out of me and coming all over my stomach.

I kiss every inch of his face as his chest heaves between us. I lean back, our eyes locking as we stand in the moment.

“I could look at you, just like this for hours,” I tell him, skimming my hand over his slackened jaw.

Mason Lowell makes me feel things.

* * *

Mase

There’ssomething about her apartment that I love. She’s all around me here, her stuff littered around the place in a perfect Nina mess. It just reaffirms my point that I want her to move in with me.

I didn’t tell her about my father, and she didn’t ask again. I have a feeling she didn’t want to push me.

She promised me she’d be here no matter what, and I should be relieved, but the thought of pulling her into the ‘no matter what’ makes me feel physically sick. She has no idea how ill he is. I didn’t. Did Scarlet?

“Mase, you coming to bed?” she calls to me from her bedroom door.

Standing from the miniature sofa, I walk the short distance to my beautiful girl, taking her in my arms and lifting her off her feet.

For the first time in a long time something feels right. Amongst all the chaos, she is good, pure—the only thing ever to breathe light on my dark.

“I owe you an orgasm, Pix,” I whisper into her neck.

“You do. I wasn’t going to let you forget.”

I smile down at her as I lay her out on the bed, her legs following as they fall open. “You promised once you were fed you’d feed me,” I say, lifting her hips off the bed until her head and shoulders are all that’s left on the mattress. “I want this. Every night.” I lick up her centre, starting the argument off strong. Her excitement coats my tongue and I swallow it down greedily. “Come live with me, so that every night I can come home and taste you on my lips and be reminded that there is good in the world.”

“Mase,” she moans as I jab my tongue inside her.

“You’re the only thing that grounds me, Nina,” I say, moving to suck on her glistening bud. She writhes on my face, trying to get away and closer all at the same time. “Come and live with me.”

“I can’t,” she pants.

I pull away from her, blowing up her centre, then drop her to the bed. I lie over her, with one question on my lips. “Why?”

“It’s too soon, what will our friends think?” she whines, using her thumb to wipe herself from me. “I like my independence. It’s all I have left, all I’m used to.”

I slide into her, her back arching off the bed, her mouth dropping open.

“Is that all that’s in my way?” I ask, rolling my hips as I suck her thumb into my mouth.

She turns her head to face me, that incredible smile pulling at her lips, her dimples on full display. “Yes, and you won’t win.”

“Baby, I already have.” I smirk, flattening my thumb to her clit.

“Hmmmmm.”

She grabs my wrist adding to the pressure I apply there, then starts to buck into me, trying to get more friction. It takes everything in me not to move inside her.

I’m too fucking close.

“You’ll move in with me?” I say strained.

“No,” she declares almost sadly.

I pull my hand away, pulling out of her like she knew I would. Kneeling on the bed between her legs, I wait, knowing I won’t be the one to give in.

But that quirk of her brow, it fucks with me, because I know that she won’t give in either. My mistake wasn’t asking her to move in with me—I know she wants it. The safety and security it would bring. No, my mistake was trying to take it from her. Her independence. Her choice.

She won’t give that up.

So when she pulls herself up the bed and away from me, tucking herself in as she huffs in pure frustration. I laugh, a loud chuckle that I haven’t allowed in years because I know she’s just aced me.

“Get the light.” She sulks.

* * *

Nina

His big handwraps around my ankle, and I’m whipped down the bed in a flash, my legs flattened wide under his strong forearms.

“When you’re ready, whether that’s tomorrow, a week, or a month from now,” He rolls his eyes dramatically at me, making me laugh. “I want you to move in with me. You don’t have to give up this place, your independence. But you are my girlfriend, and my girlfriend would live with me. And maybe give me oral for breakfast every day.” He smirks, totally sure of himself.

“What do I get?” I ask, giving him an inch. And the smile that takes over his face makes my heart physically ache.

He licks his lips as his head drops between my legs in an attempt to show me exactly what he has to offer.

I say attempt, but who am I trying to fool.

He had me at breakfast.