“They kidnapped him.” She tossed me her phone. It was a text from Mason:
“I hope you had a good day at work, baby. Also… we kidnapped James for the weekend. We’ll all be back late Sunday night. And we stole James’ phone. So tell Penny so she doesn’t worry. I love you! P. S. Don’t be mad. I promise to make it up to you Sunday night.”
I couldn’t help but laugh, but I immediately stopped when I saw Bee’s face. “Bee, they’ll have fun. Don’t worry about it. Plus it sounds like you’re going to have a fun Sunday night.”
She snatched her phone from me and started texting Mason back.
“Will you just tell me what’s bothering you?”
“Mason used to be a man-whore,” Kendra offered.
“Kendra! Penny is marrying his best friend. Don’t tell her that.” Bee looked so embarrassed.
I laughed. “Bee, I already knew that. And I don’t see why that matters. He used to be is the key there. He’s not now.”
“Wait, you knew about his side business when we first met and you didn’t tell me? A little heads up would have been nice.” She laughed and instantly seemed a little more relaxed. But I had no idea what she was talking about.
“What side business?”
“You didn’t know? What is wrong with me?” She put her face in her hands.
I looked over at Kendra and Marie but neither of them seemed to want to say anything now. I didn’t care what Mason’s embarrassing side business was. “If you’re worried about him cheating on you or something, you have nothing…”
“Oh, God, no. Mason wouldn’t do that. At least, I can’t picture him doing that.”
“He wouldn’t,” Marie said. “He’s head over heels for you.”
“So, it’s fine,” I said.
“No, I mean, I’m worried about James. Mason isn’t good at… pacing himself.” She drew her eyebrows together.
I knew Mason knew about James’ problems. But I hadn’t realized that Bee knew. It made sense though. I knew that Mason was a man-whore because James had told me. And she knew about James because Mason had told her.
“James knows how to pace himself.” I didn’t want to be having this conversation in front of Marie and Kendra. “It’s going to be fine. They’re just gonna have fun.” Now I was trying to convince myself. I thought about what James had said yesterday when we were playing two truths, one lie. One time he was with Mason he had gotten so drunk that he blacked out and lost a ton of money gambling. That was probably a long time ago, though. James didn’t do that kind of stuff now.
Bee nodded. “But I don’t know what kind of place Mason’s taking him to. It could be really bad. Mason’s really good at doing stuff like this. I’m worried he’s going to take it too far.”
I swallowed hard. I still didn’t really understand what she was getting at, but I had an unsettling feeling in my stomach. I hadn’t had sex with James all week. He was just as horny as me. And Mason had just taken him God knows where. “I’m just going to call him real quick.” I pulled out my phone and pressed on his name, even though I knew Mason had said they had taken his phone. It went straight to voicemail. “Where do you think they went?” I tried to make my voice sound normal as I put my phone back in my purse, but I’m pretty sure I sounded panicky.
“I don’t know,” Bee said.
“What’s Mason’s side business?”
“He doesn’t do it anymore. He’s retired.” She gave me a small smile, but it was far from encouraging.
“Bee, please just tell me.”
Friday
So Mason had a shady past. Not a big deal. I pulled out my phone and tried James’ number again. Nothing.
I was glad the walk home from the bar was long. I needed the time to clear my head. My mind drifted back to the first time I had ever met Mason. I laughed to myself. He had been asking James if he needed his services, but I had been too love blind to notice. But James had told him he wasn’t interested. James would never cheat on me. Would he?
I didn’t understand his issues and I wasn’t sure I ever would. I took for granted the idea that he was addicted to me. Not because I wanted him to be sick, but because that was how he acted, like he couldn’t get enough of me. But what if he was just addicted to sex? I had been withholding sex from him. What if he needed that? That was ridiculous. If he needed it, he would have caved days ago.
James wasn’t an addict. I knew that he thought he was, but he wasn’t. He was depressed in college and he was depressed when he was married to Isabella. He needed an outlet for his anger. He needed something more from his life. That didn’t mean he was an addict.
“Penny, I couldn’t stop.”
His words seemed to echo in my head. Maybe he couldn’t stop, but he hadn’t had a reason to. Because he was depressed. But now he had me. I was enough. I had to be enough.
I grabbed the door handle of my apartment building and made my way over to the elevators.
“Mrs. Hunter?”
I turned my head. Sometimes people called me that by mistake. The man at the reception desk was smiling at me and held up a manila envelope.
“Miss Taylor. Our wedding isn’t until next week,” I said and walked over to him.
“Congratulations.” He seemed sincere and gave me another warm smile. “These came for you today.” There was also a small envelope on top of the large one. “I was just about to run them up to you, but here you are.”
“Thank you so much.” I grabbed the papers from him and looked down at his name tag. “Cliff. And please just call me, Penny.”
He nodded. “Have a good evening, Penny.”