Twice Loved

Chapter 13: Mason

I walked through the town's store briskly, grabbing things off the shelves and shoving them in my cart, not caring about where they ended up. The only thing I cared about was getting my shit and getting home. I missed Olivia and Noah more than I thought I would after only a couple hours. I couldn't stop thinking about our night together a few days ago, how much the both of them had trusted me to do right by them, and how well both of them had followed direction. I knew Olivia could, but men were always hit or miss. Some felt like it was "unmanly" or some shit to submit to another man. I couldn't care less about those kinds of perceptions, and it seemed like Noah didn't either.

I also knew it was probably a lot for Noah to take in, so I hadn't initiated too much since, asking Olivia to follow my lead so that he was sure it was what he wanted. She'd agreed, and while we were all definitely still flirty and physical with each other at times, there was no big and intense scenes.

That's all changing tonight, I thought to myself as I grabbed an item off the shelf. Noah had been giving off vibes all day that he was ready for more, and I was more than ready to help him out with that.

I was starting to get heated at the idea of all the things we could do to each other, so I cleared my head to finish my errand so i could get home faster. Finally grabbing the last of the stuff off my list, I headed to the front of the store where Maggie and Paul, the older couple who owned and ran the store sat listening to the news on the radio.

"...still missing. Authorities are asking anyone with any information to come forward."

"Good afternoon Mason! No Olivia this time?" Maggie greeted me with a smile, and like always held out her hand for me to kiss which I did without hesitation.

"Nah, she's at home taking care of something." Or someone, I thought with a sly grin. I started to unload my stuff onto the counter for Paul to scan. In the moment of silence, the man on the radio said something that pricked at my brain and I looked to it, actually taking in the words.

"Standing around 6'4", he has dark hair and gray eyes. He is known to have been missing for at least two weeks. Owning and running one of the country's largest conglomerate companies, Noah Pierson- better known by his middle name Slate- has disappeared with no leads as to where he might have gone. Authorities are beginning to suspect foul play."

I froze, all of those details hitting me right in the chest. I had no doubt that the missing man they were talking about was the one currently holed up in my cabin.

"Crazy, right?" Paul broke into my thoughts. "They've been talking about this missing man for days. Apparently, no one's seen hide nor hair of him."

I cleared my throat, my pulse hammering in my throat. "Yeah, crazy."

I quickly paid for my stuff, thanking them both and hurrying out to my car. Once I got my stuff loaded, I pulled out my phone and google "Noah Slate Pierson". Immediately, I knew I was right. Pictures galore of Noah popped up on the screen, ones of him with women, ones of him in suits, at build sites, on covers of magazines. This man was fucking infamous, and he'd spent the last couple weeks at my cabin, healing from almost being killed. I took a deep breath and blew it out, knowing that I was going to have to come clean about my discovery when I got home.

My happy bubble had burst, and I didn't like it. I wasn't ready for Noah to leave, but I knew in my heart that it was very likely he would. If nothing else, I would want to figure out who I was and I felt sure he would be the same.

I contemplated how exactly to bring the subject up the whole way back to the cabin, and by the time arrived I still had no fucking clue how to do it gracefully. With a heavy heart I grabbed all the bags from my trip and carried them inside.