Marriage with 'The Beast'

Chapter 22 - Don't test me, darling.

I tried to shake off the entire "technical difficulty" as the five fellow bystanders had quieted down and started watching the movie again. But I couldn't brush off the horrible feeling in my stomach. Was it a coincidence? I tried to convince myself that it was, knowing deep in my heart that it wasn't.

My heart was still beating at an irregular speed when I spotted Mason coming around the corner with a large popcorn and a large drink with two straws poking out of it. Right then a car crashed into another on the screen and Mason jumped, a look of panic passed his face as he nearly dropped the popcorn. Was that also a coincidence? Or was he actually frightened by it? He walked up the stairs and sat beside me reading my confused expression. He sighed, ignoring it and pulling out a packet of M&M's from his pocket. My pills appeared in his hands along with the M&Ms. He opened his mouth, then shook his head, and pulled out two pills and plopped them into my hand. He nodded. I rolled my eyes before taking the two capsules. 

The rest of movie went by pretty uneventfully. I noticed Mason jump in a couple of the scenes, but didn't say anything. On the other hand, we fought over the Iced Tea and popcorn frequently. In a cute way, though, where I'd kiss him in exchange for the Iced Tea when my mouth felt dry from all of the popcorn. One thing I didn't understand was why he'd even bothered putting two straws in. 

Mason's arm was naturally resting over my shoulder as we walked back over to our penthouse, leftover popcorn still in hand. "So now what?" I asked as we headed inside. 

"Now... it's time to tell you about me and Camilla." He whispered looking into my eyes. 

I searched his eyes for doubt or uneasiness, "you don't have to." I said softly mirroring his caring tone.

He shook his head, "I should. You've been so open with me, and I haven't told you about anything. I want to actually." He smiled, "I'll be spending the rest of my life with you after all." He clasped his hand around mine and led me to his bedroom and sat beside me on his bed. He let out a deep breath, combing his hair with his fingers. "I haven't talked about this for a while. But I was eighteen, still young and reckless. And I'd met Cam through a girl's graduation party. She was a couple of years older than me, and I was automatically attracted to her. We talked throughout the party and hung out regularly the entire summer. I'd..." He sighed, closing his eyes, "fallen in love with her." He breathed shaking his head."I told her and she told me, clearly, that she didn't think of me like that. Just a really great friend," He sighed again. 

His voice becoming quieter suddenly, "I was so angry. I hated life, so when I went to drop her off after our 'date', I was driving faster than I should've. I hit another car, bad. We were off with minor injuries but the man I'd hit was in pretty bad shape. He recovered, but when Cam and I were leaving the hospital, I saw his wife and three kids rush into the hospital in tears." He pinched the bridge of his nose and paused before opening his eyes. "I couldn't believe that my one selfish act had brought such great pain into a family." He left my side and walked to a window and tucked his hands into the pockets of his pants. "Then after that, I sold most of my cars and gave the money to the family and donated the other half to safe driving organizations. I haven't driven since. Cam's family hated me for a while so I stopped seeing her. Then we met again about four years ago, and she was gushing about Scott and how she loved him. And I was honestly happy for her. I realized that I was over her. And now, we're more like siblings." He finished before turning to me. "I've never told anyone that. Know one knows other than Cam and mother." 

I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around his waist and held onto him in a hug. "Thanks for telling me," I murmured into his chest. I felt a deeper connection form between the two of us. It must've been hard for him to tell me something that must've secretly haunted him. I felt bad for him, even though I was strongly against reckless driving. It's good that he felt bad about his actions.