Page 90 of Obsessed

“Oof,” Rain cringed as the server recoiled, taking off in the other direction. “I guess he won’t be asking Jax anything ever again.” He looked over to see if Tristan had caught the whole thing and stilled, his eyebrows flying up. Not only was Tristan’s gaze still on Jax, but there was pink along his cheekbones, right above his neatly trimmed beard.

Rain blinked in shock, opening his mouth to grill Tristan, but Kate sidelined him, springing up with Emma in tow.

“I have news.” She bounced on her heels, her bright yellow bob bouncing with her, and by the expression on her face this wasgood, so Rain shelved his interrogation.

“Hang on.” Rain waved at Ollie and Liam, who were chatting nearby, and they hurried over arm-in-arm as Tristan snapped back into the present, gave Rain a nod, and went back to work.

“What’s up?” Ollie asked, head tilted as everyone blinked curious eyes at Kate, who grinned.

“Bryce is now in the find-out stage of fuck around and find out,” she announced, showing them the screen on her phone.

Instantly, Ollie grabbed his own device and started typing, tapping a few times before letting out a gasp.

“It’s true,” he said triumphantly. “It’s in his story, he’s holding some kind of letter and above it, it says ‘My old job sucks. I’m getting sued because I changed a pan.What a scam.’”

Rain wasn’t surprised. Mason still grumbled about having to give John a written statement along with all the photos from the day of the fire, and if all that proof had been collected, then Bryce was in for a world of hurt.

“Changed a pan?” Emma scoffed in disbelief. “He caused a whole fire. Even if he didn’t mean to, it happened because of his actions, and those actions were malicious. He did that shit on purpose.”

Kate nodded along, flexing the hand that had gotten burned.

“Bryce shouldn’t have that up, it’s bad for his case,” Liam stated.

“He’s not known for making good choices.” Rain pressed his lips together, eyebrows up, and Liam gave him a look that saidoh well.

“By the way, that portrait Mason did of Ms. Chauhan?” Liam looked at Rain and shuddered. “It’s amazing…andveryintimidating.”

“Oh, you saw it?” Rain had gone on the shoot with Mason, meeting the legend herself and basking in the presence of someone who was the complete opposite of his mother.

“You can’t miss it,” Liam nodded, his face cutely solemn. “It’s life-sized and hangs behind her desk.”

“That feels on-brand for a Queen like her.” Hands on his hips, Rain smirked.

“I feel like I should meet this woman.” Emma raised an eyebrow.

“Yes.” Rain pointed at her. “You two could destroy the world.”

Emma threw her head back and laughed, and normally Rain would be right there with her, but he noticed Owen talking to Mason.

Gesturing Rain’s way, Owen must’ve said something awful because Mason pulled back, frowning deeply and shaking his head. But that didn’t seem to deter Owen, who said it again, making a shooing motion toward Rain, and Mason followed that order, probably just to get away.

“What’s up?” Rain met him halfway and they stared at each other for a few seconds before Mason took a breath.

“I’m in front of you.” He made a face like he’d swallowed a lemon. “So, your Hart is in the right place.”

Rain made the same face back. “What?”

“Owen wanted me to say it to you. It’s supposed to be a pun on my last name. I didn’t think it was funny either.” He glared at Owen, who gave him a blinding smile and a thumbs-up.

“Oh,” Rain bit his lip, strangely enamored. “It’s not supposed to be funny. It’s cute. Youaremy Hart on Valentine’s Day.” Standing on his toes, he pecked Mason’s lips. “Can you take a break?”

“Yes. Marci said that she’d hurt me if I didn’t.”

“Great.” Rain had an idea. “Stay here.”

Within minutes, he’d given his camera to Ollie, grabbed their coats, and dragged Mason out into the cold February night. Heading around the building until the noise from the reception dissolved, Rain brought them to a small stone bench where they sat, enjoying their reprieve.

Letting out a long breath that froze in the air, Mason looked up at the crescent moon and Rain joined him, soaking in the silence until he heard the click of a sneaky photo.

---