Ruined: Loving An Alpha Male(34)

I hesitated before I answered, “Uh…I’m at Mason’s.”

I paused and waited for the sly comments, but they never came.

“Humph, good for you. So are you staying there?”

“Um no, Mimi. I’m making my exit strategy as we speak. It didn’t go quite the way I expected.”

“Oh shit. I’m sorry…Well, maybe you can find a place to crash tonight because, due to the weather, our electricity is out.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yup, Audrey called me and told me that we don’t have any lights or heat in our building. It looks like it’s out on our entire block. So, it makes no sense to go home. I called Tiny and left a message. But I think she’s staying with Alex tonight, so she had no plans of coming home anyway.”

Tiny’s been sleeping on our couch for a few days while her apartment was being painted.

“Yeah, I saw them today. They came by and had dinner with us.”

“What’s going on there, Max? Are you okay?”

I sighed deeply.

“I don’t know, Mimi. I truly have no clue. But I’ll figure something out. There’s a hotel close to him so…”

“No, Max. Why don’t you just stay there? Tell him your lights and heat are out in the apartment. Mason is a good guy. He’ll let you stay there.”

“I’m sure he would, Mimi. I just don’t feel comfortable, that’s all. I don’t know. I’ll figure out something, okay? Be careful while you’re out there. How bad is it?”

“Girl, they’re talking at least a foot of snow by morning.”

“Are you kidding me? The news never said it was going to be that bad.”

“I know. They ain’t worth a damn if you ask me. It’s like a sneak attack or something.”

I ended our call, telling her I would be careful. Then I went in search of my companion. Mason was sitting on his couch, watching the news. He sat up when he saw me enter the room.

“Hey, it seems like it’s getting bad out there.”

“Yeah, Mimi just called me. Apparently my apartment is without electricity, so that means no heat whatsoever.”

“Damn… is she home by herself?” he asked me.

I wanted to sit down next to him, but I didn’t want to stay here any longer than I should.

I shook my head.

“No, she’s probably out at her parents or something. Look…um…everything has been cleaned, and I started the dishwasher. I’m going to go and…”

He looked at me puzzled, “Go where? What do you mean?”

“Well, since I can’t go to my apartment, I need to find a place to stay. There’s a hotel…”

Mason stood frowning, “Why the hell would you go to a hotel, Max? You’re more than welcome to stay here. I mean…” he looked at me for a moment, I figured trying to get his thoughts together. He took a deep breath and looked down at the floor. “I have an extra bedroom you can use. I can give you something to sleep in, and I have plenty of food. You are more than welcome to stay here. As a matter of fact, I insist.”

“Mason, that’s nice of you but…”

His eyes shot up at mine.

“No buts, Maxine. Now, let me show you where the bedroom is, and you can get settled. Take a shower if you like. Whatever you need, okay?”

He walked past me and went to the front door. I watched him check the door and set the alarm before he signaled me to follow him up the stairs to the second floor. Tiny and I teased him earlier about the elevator he had in this place. But I was a bit disappointed we didn’t take it up to the second level. It would have been cool.

There wasn’t much to the second floor. He told me the door to the right was his. Then he walked past another seating area to another door. He opened the door and showed me the linen closet and the bathroom. He disappeared for a second and came back with a t-shirt and a pair of shorts to sleep in.

“There are toothbrushes in the drawer in there, as well as soap and anything else that you may need. Feel free to help yourself. Please, let me know if you need anything else. I’ll be right down the hall.”

He gave me a faint smile and left me. I showered and changed into only the t-shirt he gave me. I pulled out lotion from my purse and brushed my hair and teeth before I crawled into bed and began to cry. I felt crazy being here. We went from not being able to get enough of each other to hardly saying anything at all.

I tossed and turned. Then finally I gave up at about 3 a.m. I went downstairs to grab some water and found myself staring out into the dark water, trying to figure out how I’m going to face him in the morning. I sniffed and wiped my eyes, trying to keep the lump in my throat from choking me to death.