Page 87 of Hypnotized By Love

Mason reached for my hands, enveloping them with his own. He paused for a moment, as if waiting for me to stop him. When I didn’t, he said, “I have never lied to you, Sinclair, and I’m not about to start now. So the truth is that I do remember that night. I remember walking in and seeing you and Landry together and feeling jealous that he was hugging you, but I promise you, that was it. I never breathed a word of it to anyone. I would never, ever hurt you that way.”

“But you were the only one who saw us together,” I protested. I wanted so badly to believe him, for all of this to be true, but I had been so furious with him for so long that I wasn’t sure I could let go of it.

“I wasn’t the only one,” he said quietly. “I wasn’t alone.”

“Who was with you?”

He shook his head, like he didn’t want to answer, and a giant boulder formed in my chest and slowly sank its way down into the pit of my stomach. “Who, Mason?”

A long pause and then he finally said, “Bridget. Bridget was with me.”

I gasped aloud, and my hands flew up to my mouth.

In that moment, everything became clear. Bridget wasn’t my friend then. She had wanted Mason for herself. If she’d realized thathe had feelings for me, would there have been a better way to get him away from me than to start a rumor that I was hooking up with a teacher?

Was she the one who had started this rumor? I didn’t want to think it was possible, but if Mason hadn’t done it, the only other person who’d seen us that night was Bridget, and the rumors had started the next day. It had to be her. We had spent so much time together since we’d both moved back home. Why hadn’t she said anything? Especially now. She knew how angry I was with Mason, and she knew why. I’d told her the exact reason the night all three of us went out to the restaurant.

I’d thought we were better friends than that.

Then I remembered how she’d immediately left after I told her why I was mad. A guilty conscience? Had she made up a lie about her mom not feeling well just to avoid me?

I had thought I was the one avoiding her and hiding out so that I wouldn’t accidentally run into Mason, but what if it was Bridget who had been avoiding me?

“Why didn’t you tell me that Bridget saw us, too?” I demanded.

“Sinclair, I never put the two events together. I didn’t know the rumor started after we saw you. I was always the last person to hear stuff like that. I thought the rumor had been going around for a while. If I had figured out that connection, I would have said something to you a lot sooner.”

“I have to go. Now. I have to talk to her,” I said. “I need to know what happened.”

“I’ll drive you,” he said, and I was glad because my hands were shaking so badly that I wasn’t sure I could have managed it.

Mason took me by the hand. He grabbed Sierra’s keys in the front entryway, and we went out to the SUV. He didn’t seem to have any problem driving her boat. He glanced over at me a few times, as if he wanted to say something but kept changing his mind.

He did hold my hand the whole way, rubbing his thumb along my palm in an attempt to comfort me.

I couldn’t speak. What could I say? I had to talk to Bridget. Had to hear her side of it.

Had to know if I had wasted years being furious at Mason for something he hadn’t even done.

We pulled up to her mom’s driveway. Bridget had moved in when she came back to Playa Placida to keep a closer eye on her mother. Suddenly I wasn’t sure if confronting Bridget now was the right thing, given that her mom was probably home, so we sat in the driveway for a while as I wrestled with what to do.

I thought of all the breakfasts she and I had shared with Sierra, how we had all laughed together, teased one another, gone out drinking and dancing, how she had become such an important part of my life, and the entire time she had been lying to my face.

“We can leave,” Mason offered.

That spurred me to action. “No, I have to know.” She might not even be home, and this would be a waste, but I had to try. I needed to figure out if she was the one who had spread the rumor.

I got out of the car. “Stay here,” I said to him before I closed the door. I definitely had to do this on my own.

Folding my arms against my chest, I walked to the front of the house. Each step felt a bit like I was wading through mud, and I slowed down the closer I got. I kept wanting to go and get back in the SUV and have Mason drive me somewhere and make me forget all this. I knew he’d do it.

Instead I knocked on the front door. I heard two voices. Her mom was definitely home. Thankfully, Bridget was the one who answered. She had been laughing at something her mom had said, and her face stayed animated and happy when she saw me. “Sierra! This is a nice surprise.”

“I’m Savannah.”

“Oh! I just saw the scrubs and automatically assumed ...” Her voice trailed off as she read my expression. Her face fell, turning pale.

“I’ll be right back, Mom!” she called and stepped onto the porch, closing the door behind her.

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