Free Rock Bay 2 - Letting Go by M. J. O’Shea Page B

a fantasy. He was a real guy, and real guys were trouble. Especially for Mason.
No way, Lex. He’s friends with that guy. He’s not out. Too much drama.
     
He wants to come out. It’s a work thing.
     
Would you accept that from Tally? Are you even talking to Tally?
    Mason got silence for that text for a long, long time. He figured he’d really pissed Lex off, and he wouldn’t hear from him again. It wasn’t until Mason was driving home from work that he got Lex’s reply. Instead of a text, though, it was his phone ringing.
“Hey,” he answered. “I figured you were mad at me.”
    Lex sighed over the phone. “At myself mostly. I’m not talking to Tally. Not really. I mean, he tells me what’s been going on in the shop while I’m stuck up here looking like Frankenstein. It’s awkward.”
“And?”
     
“And I miss my boyfriend.” Lex paused.
    “Fuck. I hadn’t even admitted that to myself yet.” “So what’s the holdup ?”
“Why won’t you take Drew’s number?” “Not the same thing. I don’t want to get into
    the drama of a guy who’s just coming out, or not out, or in the closet for business. It’s just… too much. You, on the other hand, are holding your relationship hostage for some unknown reason. You want him back. He wants you back. You love him. Right?”
    “Yeah. Listen, I gotta go. Are you coming up for the block party this weekend?”
Mason nodded to himself. “I told Amy I’d help her in the first aid booth. I’ll be around at least one of the days.”
“Cool. Maybe I’ll see you.”
    “Call Tally.”
“Night, Mason.”
Lex hung up, and Mason dropped his phone to
    the passenger seat with a sigh. It was different. Lex had to let Tally back in his life. Yeah, Tally had been with that Brock guy too, but giving some guy he didn’t even know a chance not to be a jerk, when he knew most guys were, was totally different than Lex forgiving the guy he was already hopelessly in love with.
    Mason felt kinda weird in his apartment that night, the place where he always, always felt at home. He didn’t know what it was, but nothing was comfortable. Not his couch, or his usually awesome bed. Nothing seemed to fit. Mason didn’t have an explanation for his restlessness other than that conversation with Lex. It had made him think, about opportunities and the possibility of love. So he’d had a crappy relationship in Seattle. So Todd had been controlling. He was out of that situation. Maybe he was hurting himself by not even thinking about giving Drew a chance. Mason did the only thing he ever did when stuff was bothering him. He called Logan. It took Logan a few rings to get to the phone, but he made it eventually.
    “Hey, ’sup?” Logan sounded out of breath. “Ummm, were you?” Mason didn’t finish the question. He realized he really didn’t want to know.
    “No, asshole. I was on the treadmill. But I’ll be sure to call you next time Carrie and I are getting it on if you want to listen in.”
    Mason coughed. “That’s okay. I can use my imagination. Or not. Sorry I interrupted your workout. I can call back.” He went to hang up.
“Dude!”
    “Yeah?” He brought the phone back to his ear.
“I already turned all my shit off. What is it?”
    “Well, shit.” Mason sighed. “Now I feel dumb. I don’t even know what it is, I’m just all weird today.”
    “You’re so emo,” Logan teased.
“Fuck off.”
“Seriously. You unhappy? You want to come
home?”
    Of course . Mason had to smile at Logan’s tenacity on the coming home argument. “No, I’m good here. I just… well, there’s this guy who I thought I liked, then I sort of met him, and I thought he was probably a straight asshole, then I found out that was probably wrong too.”
    “And?”
“And we have a mutual friend, but I just shot the guy down when—” Mason broke off. There really was no way of making it sound mature. “I just don’t want the drama, and this whole situation is sounding like