If You Could Only See

Chapter 19

Shane~

What the hell kind of alarm was that? Was that even an alarm? My eyes struggled to open, and even though I knew that I was short on sleep last night, it couldn't possibly be time to get up already. I mean, come on...

As my eyes struggled to stay open, and my ears struggled to comprehend why Mason would use such a weird alarm for his phone, I reached over, and that's when my hand hit cool sheets. I jackknifed, and blinking away the fogginess, I realized that what had awoken me was not a ridiculous alarm, but the sounds of an actual shouting match coming from somewhere in the house.

Someone was arguing, and it surprised me at how much it bothered me to think that Mason or his brothers might be fighting. Then it really upset me when I wondered if they were fighting over me spending the night. As much as I wanted to spend time with Mason, this wasn't his house only; it was their house. If Aiden, Michael, or Gabriel didn't feel comfortable having me here, then they had a right to say so.

I jumped out of bed, then scrambled for my clothes. After getting dressed, I darted into the adjoined bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth. The more that I thought about it, the more that I realized it was quite possible that they might be arguing over me spending the night.

I quickly gathered all my books and papers, then stuffed them in my backpack. After gathering my laptop off the dresser, I was prepared to leave. Even if they weren't arguing over me, I didn't want to intrude on a family matter. Besides, I wasn't sure if I wanted to witness four, three, or even two Buchanans in a heated argument. Not after seeing what Mason was capable of. Granted, his brothers weren't Branson Morgan, but still. All four Buchanans came across as intense.

I walked over to the door, and as ninja-like as I could, I turned the doorknob, then cracked it open a bit, and it amazed me that the words that hit my ears hadn't dropped me to my knees.

"I've already told you that she's not important," Mason's voice boomed, clear and precise.

"And I already told you that I'm not buying your bullshit, Mason," countered a voice that I didn't recognize. All I knew was that it definitely didn't belong to one of the guys. This voice sounded older and harder.

"Well, since you refuse to believe me, then I don't know what else you want me to tell you, Dad," Mason retorted, anger still in his voice.

Holy shit, Mason's father was here.

Mason's father was here, and they were in the middle of a heated argument. How in the hell was I going to sneak the hell out of here? I wasn't sure if I was ever meant to meet Mason's parents, but I sure as hell knew that I didn't want to meet his father while shit was going down.

"How about you tell me the goddamn truth?!" his father roared. "There's a video of you beating the shit out of Branson Morgan on the fucking internet! You're going to stand there and tell me you got into a fight with a Morgan over a girl that doesn't mean anything to you?! Bullshit, Mason!"

A girl that doesn't mean anything to him.

"Well, it's true!" Mason hollered back, and my entire chest felt like someone had kicked it in. "Morgan was harassing her, so I put a stop to it!"

"You're on the video, clear as day, telling everyone that she's your girlfriend, Mason!"

"What would you have had me do, Dad? Announce to the entire party that she's just someone I'm fucking?" Mason asked, and the door of his bedroom braced all my weight as my body gave out on me. "I wasn't going to put her on blast like that, so I called her my girlfriend."

Oh, God, what was he talking about?

Mason wasn't making any sense. We hadn't even slept together when the fight had happened, so why was he lying to his dad? He'd told me that he loved me. He'd told me that I belonged to him. So, why? Had it been all one big ruse just to get me to sleep with him? Was this one big joke? Oh, God...was it an ugly bet or something? Still, what would Mason get out of making a fool of me?