If You Could Only See

Chapter 20

Mason~

I wanted to kill my father.

I wanted to kill him, and then kick my own ass. With every hateful word that he spewed about Shane, I could feel my balls shriveling up, and the feeling of emasculation was drowning me with each moment that I didn't defend her.

When I'd gotten out of bed this morning, it had surprised me that the guys had already been up, and so I had sent them out to grab some breakfast, so that Shane would have something to take with her to eat before she started her waitressing shift.

I'd known that she was going to be tired, and it was my responsibility to take care of her the best that I could. When the door to the house had opened, I'd been expecting it to be my brothers. I had never imagined that it would be my father, or that he'd be here because of that stupid fight. I should have known better than to think that it wouldn't have been videotaped or put on social media, and now we were all paying the price for it, for my hotheadedness.

"Don't threaten me, Dad," Michael said, replying to my father's threat, and everyone in the room knew that tone.

My father cleared his throat and backtracked as best he could, because even he knew that Michael's temper was deadly. "I'm not threatening you. I'm remind-"

Whatever bullshit he'd been about to spew was interrupted by the sound of a door shutting down the hallway.

Shane was awake.

All our attentions centered on the opening from the hallway into the living room, and within seconds, Shane appeared in all her morning-after glory.

Her eyes scattered throughout the room, landing briefly on each one of us, and for some reason, her gaze remained on Aiden as she finally spoke. "I...uhm...I'm sorry," she said, her voice firm but small. "I...didn't me...mean to...intrude, but...your voices were carrying..." Though she'd started out strong, her voice softened towards the end. She nodded towards the front door. "I'll just be on my w...way. I...you guys are...private. Uh, family...I...uhm..."

"Shane-" Aiden began, but quickly got cut off by my father.

"Are you fucking serious?" I turned to face the man. "That's her, right? You're telling me she means nothing to you, but the entire time we've been talking, she's been in your fucking bed, Mason? You actually brought a fucking girl here?"

"This is none of your business!" I thundered.

"Like hell it isn't!" he shouted back.

My retort was cut short when Shane's voice broke through our shouting match. "I...I'm sorry."

My father turned to her. "What?"

This time, Shane's eyes were aimed on my fuck of a father when she spoke. "I'm sorry, Mr. Buchanan. I'm sorry if my...if I'm...if there are problems stemming from my rela-from knowing Mason."

"Shane-" This time, it was Michael addressing her.

"I'm sorry about the video, but there's nothing that can be done about that now," she said, cutting Michael off, sparing him only a momentary glance. Shane readjusted her backpack strap around her shoulder, and then hugged her laptop to her chest tighter. "But you don't have to worry about the...the rest. Mason and I are just frien..." Her face flushed as she corrected herself. "We just know each other. He wasn't lying when he told you that we're not...uh..."

That answered that.

She'd overheard enough, and she'd overheard all my responses to my dad's accusations. Even though she was focused on my father, I had to shift my eyes because I couldn't look at her.