Page 5 of Hypnotized By Love

“You have too many enemies,” Sierra said.

“He’s my only enemy.”

“Not if you count people who drive the speed limit in the fast lane, make small talk on airplanes, take up two parking spots, or spoil the endings of books you’re reading.”

“Everybody hates those people,” I mumbled.

“And that Timothy guy.”

Definitely him, too. But right now, in this moment? I hated Mason a lot more.

Even I could admit that it didn’t seem rational.

I heard Bridget returning to the table. I glanced up in time to observe that she was smiling brightly, and some hot barb twisted in my heart.

“He said no!” She said it with so much delight that I thought I’d misheard her.

“Mason said no? To going out with you?” Sierra said it with as much disbelief as I was feeling.

Disbelief and something else.

Relief.

Men didn’t say no to Bridget, so I’d been expecting an entirely different outcome, and now I was relieved that he hadn’t said yes?

It had to be because I wanted to protect my friend.

That, and nothing else.

“He did. And he did it so kindly that it didn’t even feel like a rejection. He’s just like I remember him. A real prince.”

“Yeah, the prince of darkness,” I mumbled as Bridget just shook her head at me. I wanted to ask her if she remembered all the bad stuff about him, but realized that she wasn’t going to listen.

“Game on. This is going to be fun.” And when Bridget got that determined note in her voice, I knew for sure that there was no way to dissuade her.

The hunt had begun.

For a tiny moment, I almost felt bad for Mason. But then I realized it was just indigestion and it quickly passed.

He was a grown man. He could deal with his own problems.

“Isn’t that his mother?” Bridget asked, and sure enough, Heather Beckett had joined her demon spawn. He kissed her on the cheek and then handed her the drink he’d ordered for her.

She said something to him and then went over to the barista at the counter. It didn’t surprise me—Heather was very particular about how she wanted things done.

A trait her son had inherited, and one of his more annoying qualities.

“He’s coming this way,” Sierra hissed to me. “Be cool.”

“Yeah, this is when that happens,” I retorted sarcastically.

“Then at the very least aim for civil while knowing that I have bail money on me just in case.”

She intended to make me laugh and break the tension, but instead I took it as encouragement when I shouldn’t have.

He didn’t meet my gaze as he approached the table, and I found myself holding my breath. I could get through this. I could behave in front of his mother, because the absolute last thing I needed was a lecture from my own mom about how I’d embarrassed her and the Sinclair family name in front of the entire town of Playa Placida.

I would stay cool and collected and rise above this. I’d be aloof. I wouldn’t let him see how much he still bugged me.

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