MASON AND SAGE

Chapter 8 ~ Mason

I answered Sage's phone call and could barely understand her, she was talking so fast. Frantic, rapid-fire words she kept shooting at me. But I caught some key words like Eva and pregnant and paternity test.

What the hell was that bitch up to now?

"Sage, sweetheart, slow down. Slow down. I can't understand you. Take a deep breath, kitten, and start over."

She took some deep breaths and I breathed along with her until she was somewhat calmer.

"I just had some texts from Eva. Did you know she was pregnant, Mason?"

Hell fucking no, I didn't. Why was Eva texting Sage about her pregnancy? 

"No, I haven't been in touch with her or even talked to anyone who keeps in touch with her. Nate's not stateside now, and he's the only one who really kept in close contact with her."

"She told me that you did more than just kiss her in the alley that night. She said you couldn't resist her, that you've never been able to resist her."

"Sage, listen to me. That's absolutely not true. She's lying. I told you everything that went down with her that night. It was a kiss and nothing else."

"Well, she said the baby is yours and the ultrasound puts her at conceiving on the night of the kiss."

I was shaking my head even though Sage couldn't see me. "She can accuse me all she wants, but there's no possible way I'm the father of her baby, if she's even pregnant. I haven't touched that bitch since before I saw you for the first time."

"Mason," she said, and her voice was shaky, like she was trying not to cry, "If you did anything more than kissing with her that night, now is the time to come clean."

"Sage, on my life, I didn't have sex with her that night or any other since I first saw you. It was a stupid, drunken kiss that one night, then I pushed her away and went for a long walk. By myself. But I guarantee you I did not have sex with her, and I am most definitely not the father of her baby."

"She wants you to take a paternity test, Mason --"

"Oh, hell, no," I snapped. "I am not getting pulled into her fucking drama that she's trying to create. And that's all she's trying to do, Sage, create trouble between us because apparently she'll never grow the hell up and is addicted to drama." 

"Mason, wouldn't it be better to do a paternity test and get her off your back?"

"No, Sage, it would not be better because that would be saying there's a chance I could be the father when I know there's no fucking chance in hell that I'm the father because I haven't fucked her since before I met you!"

She was silent for a moment at my outburst. "But Mason, I feel like if you don't do it, she'll claim that you are the father and say that you won't take one because you know this is your baby."

I felt like, deep down, Sage was really saying she wanted me to take it to prove that I hadn't done anything with Eva that could have resulted in a baby, which spoke to her still not trusting me. My fuck up had a long list of repercussions and even though I deserved them, sometimes it was hard to realize that I may never get the life I wanted with Sage because of my idiotic mistake. Consequences, asshole.

"She can say whatever she wants to say. I know the truth, and the truth is, I didn't have sex with her and there is no way I'm the baby's father." I let that sink in a minute. "Do you believe me, Sage?"

Silence. 

Dead fucking silence.

It felt like my heart was shattering just like Sage's had when she saw the worst ten seconds of my life in an alley with Eva. It doesn't take any time at all to destroy the lives of those you love and yourself, and I'd gladly do penance every day if I could earn Sage's trust again. But this new disaster brought on by Eva was obviously not helping my cause, and that was on me, too.