"Mason... Where are you taking me?" I ask him, my eyes focusing on the road ahead of us.

We've been in the car for about ten minutes now, and I swear the whole time I've been clinging onto the edge of my seat.

He's still managed to remain on his best behavior, but the look he's been giving me the whole ride is enough to put me at my worst.

His elbow is resting on the centre console, his body leaning back a bit as he drives with his one free hand beside me. And here I am, thanking the gods that all the windows are rolled down because if that wasn't the case I would have suffocated from all the heat in this car by now.

"Freddie's." He answers simply, looking at me for a second before turning his attention back onto the road.

"But we've already passed Freddie's." My nerves spike when I see his lips slowly curve up. "We're not really going to Freddie's, are we?"

He makes a right turn and it dawns on me that we're now in a residential neighborhood. I wait for him to turn back around but he never does, instead he only keeps driving forward. I look around us as he does so, taking in the houses as we pass by them.

What the hell is going on?

He remains silent, and my anxiety only grows when he pulls into a parking spot right beside a two story house. I can feel his eyes on me as I take in my surroundings, fully examining the array of picturesque homes around me.

The house right beside us strikes me in particular, especially once I narrow in on the front window facing out onto the street and notice just how many people are inside.

My eyes widen at the sight and I whip my head back towards Mason once I realize exactly where he's taken me.

"He uh..." He begins and clears his throat, "He sort of invited us to this dinner he's having tonight with his family."

I nearly choke on my own breath from what he's telling me. I can hardly ever get Mason to acknowledge me when we're out in public with other people, and yet here he is trying to take me out to dinner with Freddie's entire family.

I barely have time to wrap my head around all of it because he opens his mouth to speak again.

"We've already missed dinner. But I figured we could stop by, have a couple drinks maybe?"

He looks at me, his body tense and I get the feeling that he's asking me for permission.

I sink further into the passenger seat. When I told Mason that we shouldn't see each other anymore, I never imagined the first time we do he'd take me to something like this.

I know he told me he'd try, and I can see that this is just one of those instances. I know he has issues, issue's he still hasn't opened up to me about. And I don't want to immediately shut him down the first time he actually shows me some change.

He has a good heart, he's shown me multiple times today in the last hour alone.

He's just injured; bruised by whatever's happened in the past.

And all I want is for him to see what I see and that I'll be there to guide him every step of the way, even if I shouldn't be. So I swallow my nerves, take a deep breath, and look back up at him.

"Alright, let's go inside." His brows quirk, like that was the last thing he expected me to say.

"You're not mad at me for not telling you?"

I'll never get used to the way Mason is always trying to understand me. Every question he asks makes it seem like he's trying to uncover every little part of me. But, at the same time I understand it. Sometimes I feel like I know Mason like the back of my hand, while other times I feel completely lost on the subject of him.

Everything he does surprises me, because everyday with him is different than the last.

I shake my head, "No, but why didn't you?"

He rolls his lips into his mouth, chewing on them slightly as he creases his brows. I wait for him to give me an answer, while also questioning if we will in the first place.

I look at him anxiously, not knowing if I should have asked that or not. He's never been one to give me an honest answer about how he feels, and I don't want to push the effort he's been making today.

"He asked me about dinner a couple days ago, and I told him to fuck off and leave me alone about the whole thing. But then I realized that I just didn't want to be there... well uh..."

I squint at him, the anticipation growing inside of me while he tries to finish.

"Without you." He looks at me thoughtfully, suddenly looking embarrassed.

I stare at him, processing what he just said to me.

It's hard for me to even find to express how such simple words can mean so much to me.

He leans forward, "You said we couldn't see each other anymore. But you forgot that I've never been one to follow rules."

I swallow the parched feeling in my mouth as he keeps his eyes locked on me. I can feel my heart hammering in my chest from the odd mix of thrill and anxiety coursing through my veins. It's what I feel whenever I'm with him, and no matter how many times it emerges, it still sends a shock wave of emotions I can never find myself controlling.

"Well then uh-" My eyes dart down on his lips as he glides his tongue quickly over them, "We uh- we shouldn't keep them waiting then should we?"

His smile widens, "No. I suppose we shouldn't."

He looks at me for a second or two longer before rolling up all the windows and taking his keys out of the ignition, opening his door and stepping out. I take this time to collect my breath, remembering just how impossible it is to control myself around him.

After I get out of the car and close the passenger door shut behind me I look forward to see him already holding the pink box with the cake inside.

"Oh shit, the cake." I say as he walks toward me, "should we still bring it?"

"Why wouldn't we?"

"Uh, because of your message."

"I've already met Freddie's family, and trust me they're a shit bunch of idiots."

There it is, more information for me to process. When did Mason meet Freddie's family? I scrunch up my face in confusion as he shoots me a serious look. "Just stay close to me so I can keep an eye on you."

"I'll just be around his family, why would you need to keep an eye on me?"

"I don't give a shit who we're around. I don't trust anyone, especially when it comes to you."

My heart skips a beat in my chest, and at this point I feel as though I may need to be put on a ventilator if he keeps speaking to me like this. I nod in my head in understanding, still trying to grapple onto his words.

"Come on." He says to me and leads me toward Freddie's front door. I walk up the porch steps and reach my hand out to ring the doorbell but Mason moves my hand away and grabs onto the knob instead.

"I don't ring doorbells." He says to me, and before I have time to complain he swings the front door open revealing all the people inside.

I scan around the room, eyes lapping over the people in front of me. There aren't too many people here, thankfully it seems smaller than I originally thought it would be.

Everyone inside has at least one drink in hand, they're all cluttered into small little groups talking amongst each other over the faint music in the background and I can vaguely smell a hint of cigarette smoke as I walk behind Mason apprehensively to get deeper inside.

The questions swirling around my brain puts my anxiety at an all time high.

Will he treat me differently around everyone? What will he introduce me as? Will his changed behavior last or will he go back to being the closed off Mason I so easily despise?

"Mason, my boy!" I hear somewhere in the crowd and zero in on Freddie coming toward us.

I smile at him once he reaches us and immediately engulfs both Mason and I in a hug. His arms wrap around our waists as he leans his head in the empty space between our two shoulders.

"Happy birthday, Freddie." I tell him and can't help the laugh that escapes my lips once Mason squeezes himself out.

"Alright, that's enough." He warns Freddie and I feel him latch his hand on mine, threading his fingers with my own right before he pulls me off of him.

My chest stings from all the butterflies darting around in my stomach from his hand in mine. But unfortunately, after he pulls me away he releases me. I direct another smile towards Freddie and hope the disappointment isn't visible on my face.

But then I nearly jump out of my own skin when his arm wraps around my waist instead as he pulls me closer to him.

Freddie laughs, "Damn, I can't even get a hug on my birthday?"

"Even though it's your birthday, I can still beat your ass." I look up at Mason's face and can't tell if he's joking or not. But from the look on Freddie's face it's clear he assumes that he is.

"Yeah, yeah, heard it all before." Freddie dismisses him before looking over at the box Mason has in his hand. "What's that? The two of you bring me somethin'?"

Before either of us have time to reply, Freddie takes the box from Mason's hand and starts to open it. He pauses for a moment, his lips parted slightly as his eyes go wide and I'm pretty sure I can see him rereading the message over and over to himself.

Mason's body stiffens against mine and I instinctively wrap my arm around the back of his waist, giving it a little squeeze.

I can tell he's nervous, I don't doubt that he's never gifted anyone with anything before. The small little gesture only adds even more butterflies in my stomach, and they nearly explode once Freddie throws his head back, his chest heaving up and down as laughs pour out of him.

I remove my arm from Mason's waist once I feel him relax beside me.

"This is the best thing seen all day." He smiles at us.

"It was Mason's idea." I say to him, motioning my head towards Mason and Freddie almost drops the beer in his hand.

"No shit?" Freddie questions and the smile on my face widens. "Mm, thank you, son." He says, putting his hands up and quickly places them on either side of Mason's face, kissing his cheek.

Mason quickly recoils, pushing Freddie's body back with a disgusted look plastered on his face and I laugh while he uses his free hand to wipe his cheek.

"What the fuck, Freddie!" I laugh even harder once Freddie looks at me with that drunken smile of his.

"Wyatt and Megan are in the living room. Help yourselves to anything." Freddie says to us, and thanks Mason once more before retreating back to the kitchen.

Wyatt and Megan?

I look back over to Mason who's still fuming from Freddie sneaking in a kiss on him. He looks at me, shaking his head before leading me through the house.

I get the impression that he's been here before, I notice that he seems to know his way around as he pulls me towards the living room with him.

He still hasn't taken his hand off of me, and I get the feeling that the jealousy in him must have been activated the moment the two of us stepped into the house.

The mixed signals he's sending almost start to overwhelm me, but I quickly shut them out. I'm sure I'll have plenty of time to over analyze everything he's done later, and I don't want to psych myself out for tonight.

He leads me towards a couch in the center of the room and I take note of the two people sitting on the other couch across from us before sitting down beside him. The two people in front of us instantly draw their attention to Mason and I, and the woman sitting beside the man immediately drops her jaw once her eyes focus in on me.

I hear Mason huff beside me, almost like he knows what's to come, and the nervous feeling I had managed to shrink down reamerges again.

"Isabelle?" The woman asks me, eyes wide as her opened mouth is slowly replaced with a smile.

"Here we go..." I hear Mason mutter to himself, resting his arm against the back of the couch behind me and I look at the three of them wondering if I'm missing something.

The man sitting across from us leans in, eyeing me suspiciously.

"Wait, the Isabelle?"

"How many Isabelle's do you think he fucking knows, Wyatt? Seems like you owe me twenty bucks." The woman says and the guy who I'm assuming is named Wyatt groans loudly, before digging into his pocket and pulling out the money.

"You two dipshits fucking bet on this?" Mason seethes, narrowing his eyes at the two of them.

Wyatt eyes me up and down incredulously, "You're a lot prettier than Mason described."

My eyes widen in shock as I whip my head over to the simmering man beside me. He described me to them? The fact that Mason has even mentioned me to them is what's really astonishing to me.

As my brain tries to process this new information I feel Mason's body tense before shifting closer to me.

"Say one more fucking word, Wyatt. I dare you."

"Since she's here now does that mean I won't have to hear any of your whining anymore?" Wyatt begins, "Isabelle won't talk to me, Isabelle's ignoring me." He says in a low voice trying to imitate Mason.

At this point my heart feels as though it's skyrocketing out of control.

My cheeks go red unintentionally but no one takes notice because Mason quickly leans his body forward attempting to get up before the woman across from us extends her arm out to him, stopping him from moving any further and darting toward Wyatt.

"Easy, boys. Look, you're scaring the poor girl." She says, motioning her head toward me.

Mason sinks back into the couch, and I find myself wondering if that ventilator I thought about earlier is close by once he rests his large hand on the top of my thigh.

He gives it a squeeze and I look over at him, watching his face switch from angry to soft in seconds.

He leans in to whisper in my ear, "He's drunk, don't listen to him."

If I didn't know Mason as well as I do, I'd think he's lying to me. But with how tense Wyatt's words made him, and the fact that the two of them even knew who I was in the first place has me questioning the truth behind his words.

I shoot him a short no teeth smile, trying to make it seem like I'm not about to lose my mind from everything I've had to grasp in the past couple minutes.

"He always like this?" Wyatt goes on and I smile, while Mason on the other hand looks like he's about to suffocate him with the stack of napkins on the coffee table in front of us.

I look at Mason before returning my gaze back to Wyatt, now fully aware that I haven't said a thing since being here with them.

"Worse." I answer and the two of them in front of us smile at my response.

"I like her." Wyatt says to Mason, nodding his head in approval and feel his grip on my thigh tighten momentarily.

"Enough." Mason warns, his glare sending daggers to Wyatt.

"You too are so immature, it's no wonder Isabelle looks so uncomfortable. Now, come." The woman speaks up, standing from the couch before walking toward me with her hand out.

"Megan, leave her alone." Mason says through his teeth but that isn't enough to stop her from pulling me off of the couch.

Mason grabs a hold of my free hand trying to tug me back to him but Megan only smacks it away.

"We're going to get a drink. Relax, she'll be all yours once we're finished." She says to him, and he lets out a deep sigh, obviously not liking the idea of me leaving him.

I see the worry in his eyes from the thought of it, and even though I prepare to have him tackle me back down and refuse, he simply let's my hand go, nodding at Megan next to me.

How protective he is of me still hasn't sunk in. I don't understand any of it, and what's even more confusing is that tonight he decides to do it in front of other people. Before we were only just like this when we were enclosed in the four walls of my bedroom at Jessica's.

This isn't how I imagined my night with him going, especially since what happened the last time we were together.

I just have to remember to never expect this kind of behavior from him again, because I'm sure it won't last.

"Fine." He says to Megan, his face deadpanned before flicking his eyes over to me. "But come right back after you're finished, okay?" He asks me in a much softer tone, and I nod my head before Megan tugs me out of the living room.

I follow behind her as we squeeze through the people until we make our way into the kitchen. There's rows of alcohol on the countertops with stacks of empty red solo cups nearby for people to use.

I stand beside Megan as she takes two cups and passes me one, "I'm sorry if I offended you about the bet Wyatt and I made. But I fucking knew he was going to bring you tonight." My eyes flick over to hers as she continues, "Wyatt didn't think he was even going to come, but I knew he wasn't going to do that to dad."

"Dad?" I question, "Freddie's your father?"

It's all now starting to make sense, Mason told me that he's met Freddie's family but I guess I didn't imagine them to be around our age. She nods her head, and I can't help but take in her beauty in front of me. Wyatt looks more like Freddie, I can easily see the resemblance between the two, but Megan reminds me of their mother. The black short hair, blue eyes, fair skin, she is a spit image of her.

"So how do you know Mason?" I ask, trying to not let the jealousy seep right through me.

I grab a hold of the unopened beer bottle in front of me, twist the cap off and begin pouring into my cup.

"We only met a couple days ago at the bar, I'm here for the week for my father's birthday. Then I'll go back home to Seattle." I nod my head, taking the information in. "So when'd that start?"

"Excuse me?" I question, bringing the cup to my lips and taking a sip.

Although chaser isn't required for me anymore, I still find the taste absolutely horrific. I grimace as the burning liquid glides down my throat, and try to hide it with a smile.

"You and Mason." I withdraw my eyes from her, wondering what I should say about the situation.

She is going back to Seattle in a few days, and for some reason I feel like I can trust her. Maybe that has everything to do with the fact that she's Freddie's daughter, or even that she's somehow managed to gain Mason's trust in only a couple days, hell, I don't know.

But I want to tell her, I want to tell her everything because I'm so tired of holding it in.

"We're not... together if that's what you're wondering." Is all I manage to say. "In fact, I'm not even sure we're friends. I don't really know what we are at this point."

"Tell his face that." She says to me, a smile already appearing on her face as she takes a sip of her drink.

"What?"

"He hasn't stopped looking at you since you've left him."

My eyes slowly trail off hers before looking back to where we all just were in the living room. Mason's eye's quickly catch mine and I feel all the air suck out of my lungs when his lips pull up into a smirk. He seems to be ignoring the conversation Wyatt is trying to have with him, and to my surprise once our eyes lock he wastes no time to get himself off of the couch and walk towards us.

I look away from him, feeling my heart practically beat out of my chest while I try to hide my smile with the cup in my hand.

"And besides, your friends, or not friends or whatever you want to call it, don't know what you look like naked." She says to me and my body stills completely.

I haven't really talked to anyone about Mason and I sleeping together, other than Jessica and Natalie that night after the party. God, is it really that obvious?

I feel a hand snake around my waist and my body jolts in shock from the sudden touch on my skin. I look up to find Mason standing beside me and I fight the urge to smile yet again.

I can't get over the way he's acting tonight.

"Couldn't help yourself could you?" She asks him and he rolls his eyes at her, not seeming to be amused by her words. "Anyways, how about a game of beer pong?"

"Beer pong?" I clarify, I've never played before.

"Yes, if there's one thing about us Bradshaw's like to do, it's drink."