"I wanna be alone, alone with you does that make sense?"

❀

"What time?" I ask Mason for the second time now. I tear my eyes away from my phone screen and look down at him. 

His index finger continues to trace mindless patterns along my lower back under the hem of my shirt, and each second he does makes another butterfly explode in my belly.

My arms rest upon his stomach as we lie in my bed together. I wish we could stay like this forever, the two of us talking, curled up with each other in the middle of night. It is always my favorite part of the day- or actually morning. My eyes dart toward the time showing on the top of my screen, 2:04 a.m.

We've spent the last hour and a half lying here watching Friends even though neither of us were really even paying attention between the glances we stole from each other. Then I got the notification that my laptop was on 5% battery, so instead of charging it we both pushed it aside, shifted closer together and started talking about the most random things.

None of our topics are too sensitive though, it never is.

But I don't care, I just want to be here with him- that's all I ever find myself wanting now.

"What if I don't know the time?" He asks me.

"Well then it won't be accurate. I already got the date, location, now I just need the time and it has to be exact."

He heaves a sigh and looks at me for a few moments before answering, "10:42 a.m."

I pause and narrow my eyes at him for a second, trying to figure out if he's telling the truth or not.

"My moms big on astrology." He explains, almost as if he read my mind.

I blink at him, stunned by what he says, all the nights we've been together he's never mentioned his mom once. I guess I expected him to give me some other reason why he'd know- like seeing it on his birth certificate or something. But I never thought he'd mention her.

It may seem like a little thing, but it's far from that. He's slowly opening up to me, even if it takes much longer than I anticipated it still shows.

I want to have that conversation about our families at one point, but it's not as easy as it sounds. Mason and I have been physically vulnerable with each other in so many ways, but emotionally we just aren't ready.

It's almost like we've done everything backwards. This man has seen me naked but talking about the past is too big of a step for me, I mentally laugh at the thought.

"She is?" I question, not trying to push this too far.

He starts to trace his finger up and down my back, and the gentle touch sends chills down my spine. I love it when he's like this; when he shows his affections in sweet little gestures.

"Yeah, whenever I get pissed she loves to say that that's the 'Cancer in me' or some shit. I don't know, I'm not listening to her half the time."

I can't help the laughter that escapes my mouth, I can only imagine the two of them getting into it and her putting the blame on his Zodiac sign.

"It is." I agree with his mother, smiling back at him as my laughs finally come to a stop.

He gives me a weak no teeth smile in return, his eyes going over every inch of my face in the process. Even though I love how content he seems talking to me now, I'm also able to notice the sadness hidden in his eyes.

All I want to do is climb into his mind and roundhouse kick all those negative thoughts roaming around in there. But since that's just about impossible I brush my hand along his cheek instead, as if my loving thoughts and tender touch will melt them away.

I feel like there's this imaginary string tethering us together, there has to be something that's constantly leaving me craving more from him. The look he's giving me right now is enough to send my whole body into overdrive, and when his lips slowly start to quirk upwards it nearly does.

"So..." He begins, "What does that make me?"

"What? Oh, right." How could I have forgotten that quickly?

I hear him chuckle under me as I type the time into my phone and submit all the information in. The results pop up and my screen and I smile while reading them in my head before saying them out loud.

"It says your sun is Cancer which you know already. Your moon is in Scorpio and your rising is Taurus."

"So what does that mean?" He now adds another finger in the mix, stroking along my backside and his small touch is killing me.

I shift myself upward, wrapping my leg around the other side of his hips straddling him. He hastily slings his arms around my waist, holding me in place on top of him. His head rests on my pillow and even though my eyes are reading through exactly what that means, I can still see the cheeky grin he has on his face while he watches me above him.

"It means..." I begin and lower myself further down, my hands on either side of his face as I place a kiss on his cheek, "You're kind," I move over to the other side of his face and plant another kiss on his cheek, "Passionate," I move once again and connect my lips with his own.

He hums when they make contact and I can't help but do the same when I feel his hands tighten around my waist, pulling me closer to him.

This action alone is already sending the area in between my legs pulsating, but fuck I can't help it. Everything he does makes my body react in ways I still am not able to comprehend. His body heat transfers to me, igniting the same fire in me he always does.

Whenever I'm around him it's almost like my body is his, he has the remote and is able to use me in any way he pleases. But how can I stop him? He's just so...

"Sexy."

My body freezes once I realize what I have just done. I can feel him smile against my lips, did I just say that out loud?

"Sexy, huh?"

My eyes widen down at him and I don't need a mirror to know how red my face probably looks right now. I try to escape from his grasp but it only makes him grip me harder. I look back down at me and notice how wide his smile has gotten.

"Does it actually say that or are you just trying to get into my pants?"

He doesn't give me time to react because he shifts his body and pushes my back flat onto the bed. I yelp when my back makes contact with my white comforter and he immediately starts kissing the nape of my neck, the hairs on his head tickling me in the process.

Laughs escape my lips from Mason's hungry kisses and when I feel his hand grip my sweet spot I suck in a harsh breath and indistinctly move under him.

"Ah, I'm still sore from earlier today." I whisper to him as he ignores my movements and continues to plant kisses all along my chest.

I smile at his actions, he always does this during this time while we're together. He uses some random excuse as a reason to kiss me all over, and I enjoy every second of it.

He lifts his head up to look at me, "Well maybe that's what you get for fucking pouncing on me."

I place my hand on his chest and push him off of me a little bit.

"Pouncing?" I question, my eyes narrowing up at him.

"Yes, pouncing. You practically ambushed me."

"You didn't seem to mind when I was doing it." I defend.

"What was I supposed to do? I had no choice, my hands were tied." I smile at his use of words and he goes on, "I was merely only an innocent victim."

My chest rises up and down from the laughter spilling out of me. It's funny seeing the roles reversed, Mason is now on top of me, eradicating the space between us while he brushes his knuckles against my cheek.

And here I am smiling like an idiot.

"Innocent victim huh? And what if I stop?" I ask him, finding where I'm going with this way too amusing.

He knuckles stop against my cheek, confusion written all over his face.

"What?"

"You know... like revoke all your privileges."

If I could take a mental screenshot of this moment, I would. His mouth parts open, eyes tracing all over my face. I watch as his brows quirk like that was the last thing he expects me to have said, and I bite back a laugh.

"Don't make threats you can't carry out."

"Is that a challenge?"

In this moment he seems tongue tied, and I smile at him and gently push him off of me. He huffs once he realizes that his joke took a turn for the worst and before I can take anything back he speaks up.

"Game on."

I snap my head in his direction wondering if I actually just heard him correctly. He wants to challenge me? He's clearly underestimating his opponent.

I sit up right and look down at him, his arms folded across his chest with that same annoyingly giddy smirk across his face.

"So what do I get if I win?" I ask him, folding my legs under me and sitting up straight.

"My dick in between your legs." My cheeks fill up with heat from his words. No matter how often we do this, I'm still not quite used to all the dirty talk.

I feel myself slowly becoming intrigued by this whole thing. I mean, if this is really happening I might as well have fun with it.

"Do you feel that?" I ask and Mason looks around the room.

"Feel what?"

I start to fan myself with my right hand, "It suddenly just got so hot in here, you don't feel it?"

He eyes me, unsure on where I'm going with this.

"Your shirt just feels so heavy, I think I might just have to take it off." I look down and motion towards his shirt gave me to wear for tonight.

Without thinking twice about it, I finger the hem of the shirt and lift it off of me, revealing the navy blue lace bra that was under it.

His eyes rake every inch of my chest and I feel my cheeks start to darken a shade or two. His facial expression becomes unreadable and for a moment I start to doubt myself.

Until Mason tackles me down back into the bed of course.

He immediately goes straight to my breasts and kisses every inch of them. I laugh at how easily he's given up, I can't believe I actually thought it'd be a challenge.

"Well that lasted about... five seconds." I say in between laughs, taking his head in my hands and bringing him up towards me.

"You play dirty." He says and I see his eyes flick towards my lips before coming back to me.

He leans in, his body hovering over mine and I close my eyes and wait for our lips to touch. I can feel his breath fanning my mouth but just as he's about to close the gap between us, a loud shrill sound of a phone beeping prevents him from doing so.

I open my eyes and see his lips mere centimeters away from mine.

"Saved by the cell phone." I whisper and he looks down at me for a few seconds before pushing himself off of me.

He lets out a drawn out sigh as he reaches over to my nightstand to collect his phone that's still buzzing. I hold my breath, feeling my stomach drop as I become aware of what time it is. It's the middle of the night, who would be texting him at this hour?

A girl maybe? Wanting to meet up with him for some late night sex?

The thought alone makes me want to vomit.

I don't say anything, just watch as he looks down towards the screen and I feel anxiety creeping into me when I see how tense his body instantly becomes.

The playful cuddly Mason has left the building, leaving me with the other side of him I hate to see.

My insides twist with each second the long pause continues to last. He shoves his phone into his pocket and doesn't say a word, only shifts his body towards the end of his bed, his back facing me.

I quickly throw the shirt over my head, I figure what was about to happen isn't anymore.

"I can't do this." I hear him whisper and I'm not sure if he's saying it to me or himself, "I have to go."

"What?"

Instead of answering my question he gets up from the bed and heads towards the door. I follow him and quickly get in front of the man I no longer recognize, blocking him from exiting.

"What happened Mason?" I feel this aching in my chest from the thought of him leaving like this and I bring my palm up to cup his face. "Talk to me."

He grabs my wrists right before they are about to touch his skin.

"Don't." He warns.

After everything that's gone on this week I thought we were past this, him leaving without so much as an explanation. I press my lips together, trying to hide the disappointment flashing across my face as he brings my hand down and let's go.

"Who was that?"

"It's none of your concern."

I scoff at his words, "None of my concern? Don't play that card, not anymore. Mason you can talk to me-"

"No, I can't Isabelle. There's things you don't know-"

"What, like the coke?" I really need to learn how to stop blurting things out at the wrong time.

He rolls his lips into his mouth, and I ready myself for his reaction.

"You were in my room." He states as if he's thinking out loud and now all of the sudden I feel guilty.

I don't want to make it seem that I was snooping around or invading his privacy in some way, because I wasn't. But I want him to know that I'll be here for him no matter what, even under these circumstances.

"I was looking for you." His eyes leave mine and I heave out a sigh, stepping a bit closer to him.

"How often do you...?" I try asking how often he uses it but from the intense stare he's giving me I decide now might not be the time.

"Fine, okay don't talk to me now if you don't want to but you need to stop doing this."

"Stop what?" He snaps.

"Trying to push me away!" I yell and once I remember what time it is and that Jessica is sleeping right down the hall from us I lower my voice, "because you can't now, alright?"

He removes his gaze from me and I build the courage to reattempt to touch him by placing both hands on either side of his face. This time he doesn't force me away, and when our skin touches I feel the familiar burning sensation he gives me.

"Look at me, Mason." I bring his head over to face me, and he slowly but surely brings his eyes back to connect with my own.

There's this darkness in them that I would give anything to make disappear. I suddenly find myself becoming very protective of him. Everytime I see him like this it physically hurts me. Especially since I don't know the reason behind all of the pain he feels.

"Don't push me away, Mason, please." I beg, my voice soft and faint.

I watch his demeanor change in front of me, and feel relief wash over me as he leans in and presses his forehead against my own.

"What are you doing to me, Isabelle?" He whispers and I lift my head up to face him.

The darkness is gone, and I look at him sincerely, a frown still displaying on my lips. I can't find the words to say anything back to him. And luckily I don't need to because shortly after he slowly presses his lips up to mine.

Our lips never disconnect as he ushers me towards the bed, and I fall back onto it once I feel it behind me.

"Back here again, are we?" I ask against his lips.

I still can't shake what just happened, but I know that if I'm going to get anywhere with Mason I have to adjust to his sudden mood changes.

He does the same, talks against my lips before connecting them back to mine. And this time when he does, my heart almost falls out of my chest.

"Mmm, I just can't get enough of you."