Protecting Zoey

Chapter 13: Side Work

Millie woke Mason up a few hours later and they ate together even though she remained in relative silence throughout the rest of the evening. The next few days went by slowly for Mason, he spent his time hanging around the house attempting to talk with Millie even though she continued to push him away. He found out very quickly how Millie was able to drop all the weight she had in high school, she spent most of her day either swimming or doing yoga in the front room.

Her yoga schedule appeared to be whenever Mason was sitting in the living room causing him no end of distraction as he was watching TV. It did have the fortunate upside of making Millie smile each time she caught him looking at her.

Friday afternoon finally arrived, and Mason was in the pool house forcing his way into his suit as Millie knocked on the open door of the pool house.

"It's your house Mills, you don't need to knock." He said with a lite chuckle as he continued buttoning his shirt.

"You mean like when you walked in on me in the shower?" She responded giggling softly as she picked his tie up from the bed and made her way in front of him.

"I think it was pretty apparent I wasn't in a good state of mind when that happened," Mason replied blushing slightly as she wrapped the tie around his neck and began tying it for him. "I figured if you were that mad about it you wouldn't have carried me to your bed after I passed out."

"I was more worried about you at that point, I mean your head did bounce off the floor." Millie said softly as she tightened the tie a bit before standing on her toes and giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Have fun tonight, don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"I guess that doesn't leave much room for error then," he said winking as he grabbed his jacket and headed out the door with Millie following behind.

"Ha-ha, so funny Mason," Her sarcastic tone was overstated by the concern that started rising up in her voice. "What time do you think you'll be home?"

"Hopefully I won't be too late, I don't really want to spend more time with Elizabeth than I have to," Mason said with a little frustration as he opened the front door. "I'll keep you updated so you don't have to worry or stay up to late."

She smiled softly before hugging him tightly.

"Be safe Mason," she said as she broke the hug, and he exited the house, Millie closing the door behind him.

Mason made it to the Pikes' home quickly but was a bit taken aback when he approached and saw how Elizabeth dressed for the event, she was in a long slinky black dress that showed off far more skin than he cared to see out of Harrison's wife, especially with the way she had been treating not only him but Zoey when he was around.

"Don't you think that's a bit much Elizabeth?" He asked as he took of his jacket and handed it to her.

"I dress for my husband, not you." She said plainly as she put on the jacket and turned around to head out toward the waiting car. "You're lucky it's kind of cold or I may have been insulted. Let's go, I don't want to be late."

Mason sighed deeply as he followed behind her, he stepped quickly to pass her before they reached the car. Mason opened the door for her, and she entered as Darren made his way from the house and up to his side.

"Before you take off, Harrison wanted to talk with you," Darren said as Mason closed the door firmly. "He's on his way out now."

"What does he want?" Mason asked with a bit of attitude as he turned around looking toward the house and leaning against the car.

"I'm not sure, but he seemed pretty worked up about something," Darren replied as Harrison finally exited the house.

"What's going on?" Mason asked as Harrison finally made his way over.