My Boyfriend Took My Best Friend Home for Thanksgiving Chapter 05

My Boyfriend Took My Best Friend Home for Thanksgiving Chapter 05

Tessa met my eyes, and this time she didn’t bother hiding her smug satisfaction.

I nodded. “Fine, Mason, I respect your choice. Just don’t regret it.”

Then I took off the expensive gownright there in front of everyone, kicked off my heels, and

walked barefoot out of the ballroom.

Ten hours before my train home was due to leave, Mason came back.

He slipped quietly into bed beside me, smelling of Tessa’s cloyingly sweet perfume, and

wrapped his arms around me from behind.

“Hannah, I know I was wrong today. But in that situation, if I’d told everyone the truth, Tessa

never would’ve lived it down. Try to understand.”

He was worried about Tessa being humiliated.

Apparently, my humiliation didn’t matter.

When I said nothing, he took my silence as agreement and kept going.

“I bought a bunch of gifts for your mom at the mall today. I haven’t forgotten what I promised you. We’ll leave first thing tomorrow, okay? We’ll still make it home in time for

Thanksgiving.”

Having settled the matter entirely on his own, he lay back, satisfied.

The bedroom had barely been quiet for two seconds when his phone rang.

Tessa was crying on the other end.

“M-Mason, I think my parents are starting to doubt that we’re really together. Could you stay

one more day for me? Just one day. Please spend Thanksgiving with my parents.”

Mason quickly covered the phone and left the room.

I

gave a faint, bitter smile and ignored him.

What I didn’t expect was what I saw when I got up in the middle of the night.

Mason was sitting alone in the living room with a towel stuffed in his mouth.

He had a steel bar about three feet long in his hands.

Again and again, he brought it down on his right leg-more than a dozen times-until blood soaked through his pants and began dripping to the floor.

The sight left me so shaken I could barely stand.

I had never imagined that just to stay behind with Tessa, he could be that brutal to himself.

The next morning, Mason got up early and made an entire breakfast of my favorite foods.

Bracing himself against the wall, he limped out of the kitchen with the last dish, a bowl of

oatmeal.

Cold sweat still beaded across his forehead as he carefully chose his words.

“Hannah, I got up in the middle of the night and somehow took a bad fall. I messed up my leg pretty badly.”

“I probably won’t be able to go home with you for Thanksgiving this year. I’m really sorry.”

I took a spoonful of oatmeal, then looked at him and smiled without warmth.

“Okay.”

That was all I said.

Mason seemed surprised that I accepted it so easily.

A second later, his phone rang.

Even from across the room, I could see Tessa’s name on the screen

Suddenly, his injured leg didn’t seem to bother him at all. He practically sprinted back into the

kitchen.

I didn’t say anything else,

I picked up my suitcase and headed for the train station.

Before boarding, I sent Mason a message.

Me: [Nice performance. You won’t have to put on a show for me anymore. Mason, we’re done.]

I took a window seat on the train.

The sun was bright that day, and the scenery raced past outside.

There was no reply to my breakup message.

I figured Mason was probably back at Tessa’s house, surrounded by her enormous family

again.

I was right.

Tessa’s Thanksgiving family gathering had started at noon, and the house was as packed and lively as Christmas.

Mason limped around the room, chatting with Tessa’s relatives and keeping everyone’s drinks topped off.

Tessa clung proudly to his arm and introduced him to everyone she saw.

“This is my boyfriend, Mason.”

Mason smiled and drank glass after glass.

The Scotch burned on the way down, but strangely, he felt reassured.

He had managed to keep Hannah placated.

She hadn’t caused a scene this time.

Maybe she had finally accepted it.

It wasn’t until after three, when the gathering wound down and the relatives began leaving, that Mason finally had a chance to check his phone.

Hannah’s message was waiting on the screen.

He opened it without much thought,

One look was enough to sober him up.

Hannah: [Mason, we’re done.]