Protecting Zoey

Chapter 8: Building Trust

Mason and Zoey were making their way up the street to her house when Zoey finally spoke up again. "Mom and Harrison are going out this evening."

"Is Darren going with them?" Mason asked as he continued to scan the street but failed to see anything out of the ordinary.

"Yes," Zoey replied plainly as she continued her normal pace down the street. "Anytime they go out for events he attends with them. He needs to be around to make sure no one does anything to Harrison."

"Well, I guess that means it's just you and me for the afternoon," Mason said looking toward her with a smile. "Unless you had any other plans, is your friend Olivia going to come over?"

"N-no," Zoey stammered slightly as she looked away from him again. "I think she had some plans tonight."

"I guess that will give us some time to get to know each other a bit better," Mason said happily as they made their way up the path to the front door. Zoey swiped her phone across the doorknob and Mason stepped in front of her.

"Follow me in, close and lock the door behind you and wait until I tell you to come further in all right?" Zoey was jarred for a moment but the realization of why Mason was actually there gradually dawned on her again.

"Okay." She replied simply nodding her head and moving directly behind him as they entered the house.

Mason immediately moved forward as Zoey stepped left shutting and locking the door as Mason told her to do as he walked into the living room. Mason looked through the living room, kitchen, dining room, and backyard before he finally called to Zoey letting her know it was safe to come into the living room.

"Sorry about that," Mason said as Zoey sat down on the couch opposite him. "I know it seems a bit paranoid, but I would rather be safe than sorry."

"Paranoid is good in this situation," she replied. "I wouldn't have thought to look through the house or known what to do if someone else had actually been here. Do you think someone could actually get into the house while we're gone?"

"Extremely doubtful, but if for some reason they did that's why I walked in first," Mason said with a smile. "I'm just glad you don't have to worry about those things yourself."

"Yeah, me too," Zoey replied as she looked down at her hands folded in her lap. "I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't shown up. I would still be in the dark about the letters, I'm sure neither my mom nor Harrison would have told me about them on their own."

"I'm sure they had their reasons," Mason said trying his best to sound as comforting as possible. "But we don't need to worry about that right now. I'm here and I'm not going anywhere until this is resolved and I'm sure that you're safe."

Zoey looked up at him and offered a small smile. "Thank you, Mason. I really appreciate everything even though you've only been here for a short time I feel better with you around."

"I'm happy you feel better but don't thank me yet," Mason said as he sat back in his chair. "You can thank me when we catch whoever is doing this. You also know you don't have to keep wearing your hat around me, right? I wasn't kidding when I said I liked the way it looked."

"Mom said I shouldn't be seen in public with my hair like this," Zoey replied sadly as she removed the hat and straightened out her hair. "She said it looked terrible and I looked like a..."

Her face turned bright red as she suddenly stopped speaking. Mason assuming, she was about to say something embarrassing decided to speak again.

"I think it looks great, and the only thing that matters," he said with a large smile. "Is what you think. As long as you like it in the end, that's all that matters right?"