Page 36 of Hypnotized By Love

I ignored what he’d said. “Why did you go out into that death trap without saying anything?” I probably would have tried to stop him.

But maybe it was a good thing that he’d done it without me knowing. He seemed so proud of himself, and I might have talked him out of that.

Much as I loathed him, I wouldn’t want to take away that sense of accomplishment he was feeling.

In answer to my question, he said, “I’d made arrangements earlier today, and the manager came over to grab me while you two were in the bathroom. I texted Bridget to let her know, but I don’t have your number.”

“It’s the same as in high school,” I said, distracted by how much danger he’d put himself in. “But if you did this to impress your date, shouldn’t you have made sure she was here to witness it?”

“If you’re impressed, that’s on you. I didn’t do this for anyone but me. I fed an alligator.”

I wasn’t his date. I meant Bridget. It was like he was deliberately misunderstanding, and it irritated me.

He took his phone out and typed something, then looked at me expectantly. “Did you get my text?”

I’d been planning on giving him an earful about making untrue statements, but I was thrown by the fact that Mason still had my number memorized. What did that mean? “No,” I said. “I have you blocked.” Without thinking, I undid the block and said, “Try again.”

His text came through that time, saying:

Greetings from the Conqueror of Crocodiles.

The waiter returned then, and he handed me a bag with the boxes. Then he put the leather folder with the check on the table and said he’d take care of it whenever we were ready.

“You packed up the food?” Mason asked while he reached into his pocket to get his wallet. He put a credit card into the holder, and our waiter stopped by to grab it and said he’d be right back.

“I thought you’d left,” I told him.

“Did you really think I’d ditch you?”

The thought had occurred to me, but I had also dismissed it as something he wouldn’t do. I couldn’t tell him that, though. I didn’t want to have charitable thoughts about him. “With Bridget being gone and your alligator adventure over, I don’t have to stay here and try to prevent you from saying yes to things you shouldn’t, so I had him pack things up.”

The waiter returned with Mason’s card and thanked us for coming in. I briefly wondered how much Mason would tip him. For all I knew, he might be a secret cheapskate, which would work out well for me, because after I’d waited tables in college, guys who didn’t tip well were an automatic deal-breaker.

It’d be nice to have another reason to hate him.

Unfortunately, now that Bridget had told me all these good things about him, I was willing to entertain the possibility that Mason probably wasn’t like that, and I didn’t want to keep thinking kind thoughts where he was concerned.

“Well, this was something,” I told him as he slid his credit card back into his wallet. “Get home safely and try not to do anything else that might potentially make you lose a limb.”

I stood up and he said, “Wait. Can I get a ride home with you?”

The idea of being trapped in a small, enclosed space with him for the next half hour didn’t sound like a good one. Not with my body waging war on my mind, urging me to forget the past. “Didn’t you drive here?”

“I’ve been using my mom’s car while I’m home, but she had a sewing class tonight, so I took a rideshare.”

“You can take a rideshare back home.”

He cocked his head to one side, like I was being ridiculous. “We are going to the same place, and I’ll give you gas money.”

It wasn’t about gas money. It was about not spending any more time with Mason so that he could exit my life and be nothing but a bad, distant memory.

Then he added, “You want to make sure I get home safely, don’t you? That I don’t take any other outrageous risks? I’m not sure you should leave me to my own devices. Who knows what dangerous thing I might do?”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Why do I feel like I’m being blackmailed?”

He shrugged innocently, but we had enough of a history that he knew I’d lose sleep if he got hurt doing something dumb and I could have prevented it.

“Come on, Sinclair. I promise I’ll behave.”

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