Downfall | ✔️

Chapter 20.

"Come on." Mason says softly, lifting up the covers for me to climb in, it's so cute to see him like this, I doubt it'll last for long, so I'm taking full advantage.

I climb under the covers and for a split second I don't know what to do. I know Mason doesn't like hugs, so I doubt he'd be a fan of cuddling, but we did cuddle that night I stayed here..

He sits up for a second to adjust the pillows and I notice scratch marks running down his back.

"Did I do that?!" I gasp and he laughs.

"Yep." he smirks and I feel my cheeks flush.

"Can you.. move a little closer?" he almost whispers under his breath and I smile, moving closer to him and laying my head on his chest like I had before, wrapping my arm over his chest as I trace his tattoos on his arm with my finger. He rests his head on mine and I melt. This day was perfect, absolutely perfect - despite the mini mishaps at the dinner table, my mom loved Mason. And now here I am, cuddled up in bed with him. I never would've seen myself here. If I could go back in time and tell past me, the first day I met Mason that I'd be here, I'd laugh in my own face.

"Hey, can I ask you something?" I mumble.

"Yes." he says after a brief pause, to my surprise. No catty comment, no 'it depends', just a simple yes.

"The first time I seen you, you were holding a guitar. I heard you play before I came inside, where is it?" I ask him.

"I don't really play often, it's just something I do to take my mind off of things." he tells me, repeating my motion by tracing the skin of my arm.

"You're really good." I tell him honestly, I still remember the first time I heard it.

"I know." he smirks and I know he isn't referring to guitar.

"Mason!" I swat his arm and he laughs.

"Really though, can I hear you play sometime?" I ask, biting my lip.

"I guess." he says, sounding uneasy.

"Promise?" I smile.

"I don't do promises, they're a false sense of security. It's just a word." he tells me, his voice a lot less soft, making me flinch a little. Pretty deep for a comment over a guitar.

"I didn't mean to scare you, I just don't like using that word." he sighs, I must've hit a nerve mentioning that, I decide not to pry, I don't want to ruin our night.

"Okay.. we don't need to promise. How about we just say maybe?" I look up at him and he smiles a little.

"Okay, maybe." he chuckles and strokes my hair with his hand. I lay my head back on his chest and fall asleep listening to his heartbeat once more.

Mason's POV:

No matter how hard I try I can't sleep, the last time Amara slept here, I fell asleep almost instantly with my arm wrapped around her. Things seem so much more.. serious, now. I don't like it. I mean, I like it. I like being this way with her, but its fucking terrifying. I think I need to take a few steps back, not too far. I cant risk losing her, but things are moving too fast. I've never felt this way before, or wanted to protect and care for someone like this.

I adjust my head so I can look at her. Her eyelashes are so long and dark, I love how peaceful she looks sleeping on me, but part of me wants her to open her eyes just so I can look at them. Her hair is sprawled across my chest and my arm, still messy from earlier. Earlier. Well I didn't fucking expect that. It's still bothering me that she's had sex with someone else but I don't want to start an argument, I always branded her as a virgin in my head, I mean she cringes at the word sex. I'll bring it up another time. I could tell Amara was shy, but in that moment her eyes were full of lust, not only lust, but lust for me, it filled me with so much confidence it was fucking insane. I just want to rub it in Jake's face but Amara would never forgive me. Why is my every thought consumed by her? Everything I do I question whether Amara would do the same, or every time I go somewhere I wonder what she's doing. I shouldn't care this much, I don't think it's normal. It's not.