Charmed: A Prescott Novel (The Prescott Series Book 3) Read online

  After I explained it to him, including that she’d have to leave, he said, “Oh.”

  “That’s it? Oh?”

  “It’s better than saying ‘So?’” Giving me a shrug, he added, “That was my other choice.”

  I watched as he took a long pull of his beer. “So? What the fuck, Spencer? She’s leaving and you wanted to say so?”

  “She took the job?” Clearly, he was as perplexed as I was.

  I needed something stronger than a beer. Making my way into the kitchen, I opened the cabinet above the stove where I knew he stashed the bourbon, and grabbed the bottle and two glasses.

  With each of us holding a shot, I raised my glass. “To never falling in love.”

  “Speak for yourself. Sophie is awesome. You didn’t answer my question. Did she take the job?”

  “No, but I told her to.” I downed my shot and poured another.

  “What?” He took the glass from my hand. “You told her to leave?”

  “Yup. What’s all that bullshit women say? If you love something, set it free. Well, she’s free.”

  “Holy shit. You’re in love with her. I knew you had it bad, but you love the hell out of her, don’t you?”

  “Yup. But it doesn’t matter. It never mattered.”

  I downed a couple more shots and immediately regretted it, because a ride on my bike was exactly what I needed. Fog wrapped around my brain as it replayed the past few weeks with Gretchen.

  “That’s bullshit,” he said, “and you know it.”

  “Whatever. I’m going to go outside for a bit.”

  The cool wrought iron of the chair hit the back of my legs as I sat down. Everything happens for a reason, right? So, what’s the reason for this?

  Gretchen had said it herself. The road map of how and why we met. Destiny or some such shit.

  My phone buzzed, and for a second, I contemplated throwing it over the railing. Even when I saw it was Lucy calling, I still thought about it. For the first time ever, I let it go to voice mail.

  And just like I thought, a text shortly followed.

  LUCY: Answer your phone.

  Dammit. If there was one person I couldn’t ignore, it was Lucy.

  MASON: I’ll call you tomorrow.

  LUCY: Are you okay?

  MASON: I don’t want to talk about it.

  LUCY: She’s leaving.

  That comment sobered me up. I quickly called her back.

  “Hi, how are you?”

  “So, you know about the job?”

  “Yes, and thanks to you, she just signed the contract.”

  Oh, that’s what she meant by leaving.

  “I’m happy for her.” Tension immediately filled my muscles, and with my free hand, I rubbed the back of my neck.

  I could hear the disappointment in Lucy’s voice. “Are you? What happened tonight? Gretchen called here, and at first she was so upset.”

  “At first?”

  “She told Drake her first instinct was to decline the offer, but then you said to take the job. So, yes, at first. Then she got mad, and in true Gretchen fashion, packed her bags. Didn’t want to disappoint anyone else in her life.”

  Just when I thought my heart couldn’t hurt more than it did, it completely shattered. Anything left of it was gone.

  “Thank you for telling me.”

  “Don’t thank me. I’m sure she’ll be mad at me, but I thought you should know.”

  “Thanks. I love you, Luce.”

  “Love you too. This isn’t like you, Mason, and I said the same to her. Figure this out before it’s too late. Distance doesn’t matter when you love someone. Just remember that.”

  “She doesn’t know.”

  Lucy let out a long breath that hit me straight in the chest. “I’m sorry, Mason.”

  “Me too.” I disconnected the call and stared at my phone, then typed out a text.

  MASON: I need to talk to you. Don’t leave yet.

  My finger hovered over the green SEND button, but instead, I hit the backspace arrow until my message disappeared.

  It wasn’t fair; none of this was. But no matter how much I cared about Gretchen, I wouldn’t want to change her mind. She needed to want to be here with me.

  And I needed her to want that.

  * * *

  A week went by without my speaking to Gretchen or anyone in the Prescott family. Lucy had texted me to see how I was, but I told her I needed space and time to process everything. I also asked her not to tell me anything about Gretchen.

  Spencer was doing his best to get me to go out after work, but the only place I went was for runs on the beach. One morning I attempted the gym, but Amber’s car was there, so I left.

  Isolation was what I wanted. Thomas, one of my students I tutored, asked for my help with an exam he had coming up, so I was meeting him in the library. When I walked up, he was talking to the same girl he was mooning over the last time we were here. It was like déjà vu, except this time they were holding hands.

  “Hey, Coach M.”

  “Hello, Thomas. Are you ready to start?”

  “This is my girlfriend, Felicia.”

  And suddenly, I became jealous of him.

  I exchanged pleasantries with her before remembering he’d told me they were only friends. That he’d been zoned. He had some weird acronym for it, but hell if I could remember what these kids come up with.

  Calculus was a welcome distraction from what I had recently been doing, which was sulking. It stimulated my mind. There was a professor job opening in the fall. Coaching was great, but I needed more.

  Thomas finally got the hang of what I was teaching, and was relieved when he passed the practice test I gave him.

  * * *

  Every day I thought about Gretchen. Was she safe, was she still in the country? Was this Jonas guy hitting on her? Would she want him to? Were there other guys? Did she take her pink bikini with her? Time ticked away, but I never contacted her. Then again, she didn’t contact me either.

  All I could do was give her space.

  Spring break would be coming up soon, and I planned on going back to Virginia to see my parents, who’d bought a place in Norfolk. I’d originally planned to see Lucy too, but backed out.

  “Dude, you need to snap out of it.” Spencer sat next to me on the couch while I watched a marathon of The Big Bang Theory.

  I gave him a sideways glance. He’d been saying the same thing to me over and over. “I’m fine, Spence.”

  “Well then, let’s go out. Go get cleaned up.”

  “I’ll pass, but thanks.”

  “Mason, I love you like a brother, but you’re being a dickhead.”

  Before I could tell him to suck my dick, his phone dinged. He looked at the message and then to me. “That was the contractor. Your apartment will be ready next week.”

  Thank God. “Great.”

  “Let’s go celebrate.” Spencer stood.

  Knowing he wasn’t going to let up, I gave in and went to take a shower. Maybe a night out would be good for me.

  Thinking we were going to a sports bar was my first mistake. When we walked into Jamz, memories of the last time I was here hit me like a sledgehammer to the nuts.

  “You call being here a celebration?”

  It took everything in me not to grab the phone and call Gretchen. For the short time we were together, there wasn’t a minute I didn’t think we’d end up together. But here I was, music blaring, watching guys try to pick up women, and women being coy with guys, and all the while I felt dead inside.

  “Come on, buddy. Hot chick alert at ten o’clock.” Spencer motioned toward the bar with his chin.

  Sure, they were pretty, but I’d seen prettier. Was this the way it was going to be from now on? Every woman would be compared to Gretchen? Each kiss compared to the ones I’d shared with her? The thought of sex with someone else made me physically ill.

  The two women could have been twins—blond, blue-eyed California bombshells. This s
hould have been a no-brainer.

  “Shots. I’m going to need shots.”

  Spencer clapped me on the back. “There’s my boy.”

  Then it dawned on me. “What about Sophie?”

  “You don’t seem to grasp the concept. They’re all yours,” he said as I quickly downed another shot of tequila. “Ménage à trois, my friend. Can you say threesome?”

  Was he out of his mind? “You can’t be serious.”

  “I can and I am.”

  Before I knew it, we were talking to Tia and Tammi, not sisters but best friends. We chatted for a while, and although they were beautiful to look at, they weren’t Gretchen.

  “You’re not tied down. Maybe they’re into that, so who knows?” Spencer waggled his eyebrows.

  Maybe he was right, and if I spent time with these two, I could get Gretchen out of my system. Problem was, I didn’t want to forget about her.

  Tia ran her pink fingernails down my forearm. “Your place or ours?”

  “Yours.” That answer flew out of me when neither was really what I had meant to say. But at least this way I could leave.

  “Perfect, because our apartment is right around the corner.”

  The girls stood up and I pulled out my wallet to pay for the drinks, but Spencer shooed me away.

  She wasn’t kidding about their apartment being right around the corner. As soon as my foot crossed the threshold, Tammi yanked my shirt off while Tia went after my button-fly jeans.

  Forceful kisses came next, Tammi’s lips on mine and Tia’s on my thigh. My head spun, thanks to the alcohol, but there was no denying they weren’t who I wanted to be with. Spencer’s voice became my words of stupidity. It was as if he was conducting this threesome, and he wasn’t even here.

  Tammi walked me backward until I was sitting on the couch. Tia knelt on the floor between my legs, gliding her tongue up my leg from my ankle until she dragged it over my cotton-covered dick.

  Tia climbed up on top of me before straddling my thighs, my red boxers the only barrier between us. Tammi fused our mouths together. I did my best to block out the non-Gretchen tastes, scents, and touches from my mind as one woman ground on my semi-hard cock while the other worshiped my tongue with hers.

  “Let’s take this to the bedroom,” Tia drawled. “You’re too delicious to not be horizontal. I want all of you.”

  Tammi cooed, “Mmm, yes. You’re going to love being with us so much, no other woman will ever cross your mind again. Whatever women you’ve had in the past won’t even be a vague memory.”

  When they stripped out of their clothes, there was nothing between us except my conscience. Bare breasts caressed my arms, chest, and then around to my back. Perfectly painted nails ran up and down my pecs.

  One of the breasts—I think it was Tammi’s, hard to say in the position we were all in—met my palm. It was heavy, perky, and swelled with every squeeze I gave it.

  When I closed my eyes, there was only one person here with me. Maybe it was the tequila that convinced me that telepathy might work, that if I yelled her name loud enough, she’d appear.

  Without another thought, I called out, “Gretchen!”

  Both women laughed, and one of them said, “If you’d like to call your friend and have her join in, we’re not opposed to a foursome.”

  All of this was wrong on so many levels. I couldn’t do this.

  “Sorry, ladies. I need to go.”

  As quickly as I could, I got dressed, picking up each piece of clothing and tugging it on as I made my way toward the door. I stepped outside, and knowing they weren’t who I wanted, leaned back on the closed door, tightly closed my eyes, and said into the empty hallway, “Gretch, I need you.”

  CHAPTER 27

  ~ Gretchen ~

  “I need you too!”

  I jerked up to a sitting position so quickly, my head spun. Beads of sweat trickled down my neck, back, and cleavage as I gasped, sobbing. Tight clothing restricted my movement, and the room was stifling, even though I hadn’t been under the covers. When I looked down, I was wearing the black dress I’d worn on New Year’s Eve.

  What the hell?

  My gaze swept around the room. The bouquet I’d caught at Drake and Lucy’s wedding was on my bookcase, looking a little wilted, and one of my shoes was on top of the bed. The other shoe was on the floor next to an empty wine bottle and the noisemaker from Prism, and pieces of confetti were strewn about. My tiara glimmered in the sunlight that was streaming across the floor.

  A rectangular box sat on the nightstand next to me. Mason’s bracelet. I opened it up to find it was the pen Scott had given me for Christmas.

  That’s when I looked at the spot in front of the closet where I’d left my luggage when I got home last night, but it wasn’t there.

  Tears trickled down my face. I needed to call Mason, but first I needed to find my phone.

  My stomach rolled when I swung my legs off the bed to stand. Wow, this was the mother of all hangovers. Then panic set in.

  Why am I in this dress?

  As I tried to walk to the bathroom, I stubbed my toe and bent down to pick up the binder I’d accidentally kicked. Sadness washed over me when I realized the last time I’d held my wish list, Mason and I were checking things off it.

  Not wanting to, but needing to, I opened the page to California. Confusion once again hit me in full force. Nothing was checked off. Not surfing, or driving up the coast, or Hollywood Boulevard . . . nothing.

  My phone rang, and Scott’s contact popped up. Wait, I blocked his number. Why was he calling me? Didn’t know and didn’t care to find out, so I let it go to voice mail.

  That’s when my world halted, my body forgot how to stand or to breathe. When I glanced at the home screen on my phone, the date was January 1st.

  Before I could think any further, I heard a cabinet door close in my kitchen. With tentative steps, I popped my head out and slowly made my way out of my room.

  “Sophie?”

  She was sitting at my kitchen table, wearing a pair of my sweats and one of my hoodies. “Wow, you look like hell.”

  “What’s going on? Why are you here?”

  “Well, happy New Year to you too. We had girls’ night after Prism, remember?” She grabbed some aspirin out of the cabinet, poured me a glass of water, and told me to take them. “Did you take a bottle of wine to bed last night? You’ve slept the day away.”

  “What?” I dropped my ass on the kitchen chair, propped my elbows on the table, and supported my head with my hands. “I was just in California.”

  “Really? Did you see any movie stars?” Sophie laughed until she realized I wasn’t kidding. “Gretch, you’re starting to scare me.”

  Her? She’s scared? Why was it light out?

  “Wait, it’s the afternoon?” I looked outside and, sure enough, the sun was shining.

  Nausea swept through my body from my toes to my head. As quickly as I could, I ran to the bathroom and emptied the contents of my stomach. Heave after heave racked my body.

  “Gretchen?” Sophie knocked on the door before entering the powder room. “Are you okay?”

  I shook my head, which didn’t help my current condition. Tears flowed freely down my already tear-stained cheeks.

  Sophie ran a washcloth under the water before swiping it across my forehead. In the most unladylike fashion, I leaned against the wall as she continued wiping my tears away.

  “Can you stand?” she asked. “Let’s get you changed and get you something to eat, and then we can talk about what’s going on.”

  The bagel Sophie made for me felt like dead weight in my empty stomach. I just prayed it stayed down. We sat on opposite ends of the couch, the yoga pants I’d changed into much more comfortable than the cocktail dress.

  “I don’t understand. Was it all a dream? Am I losing my mind? Can you pinch me?” I wrapped my arms tightly around a throw pillow as I squeezed it against my chest, probably hoping my heart wasn’t about to burst out of it.<
br />
  “Sweetie, you’re really starting to worry me. Maybe I should call your father. You definitely drank too much last night, but when you passed out during one of our conversations, there was no way I was leaving you. I checked on you a couple of times, but you were sound asleep so I left you alone.”

  “Just pinch me.” I held my arm out to her and she did as I asked, making me squeal. “Ow!”

  “Oh my God, I’m so sorry.” Sophie was in full-blown panic mode. This was all a disaster.

  “It was so real. He was so real. I can’t lose him.”

  “Who? Scott?” She scrunched her nose as she said his name.

  “No, Mason.” Another tear spilled. “My dream was all about Mason. Remember I told you I received an e-mail from Jonas West?”

  “Yes, the hot sports agent we searched online.”

  “Right. He hired me after Scott broke up with me.”

  “Wait, I’m confused.” Sophie stood. “I need coffee. You?”

  I nodded. When she came back with steaming mugs and a warm compress for my head, I continued.

  “Let me start again. In my dream, Scott came over and showed me a video of Mason and me on New Year’s Eve. When Mason kissed me on my cheek.”

  “Yeah, that was dreamy.” Sophie’s expression softened at the memory.

  “Great, so that was real.” Everything was so jumbled in my head, it was hard to figure out. Separating my dream from reality wasn’t easy at the moment.

  Once again Sophie gave me a what the hell are you talking about look.

  “That night, Scott broke up with me. Then Jonas hired me to create a website for him. Naturally, it was an excellent offer, so I took the job. But instead of doing it here, I went to Malibu and stayed at Jack’s house. You even came to visit me.”

  Sophie shifted in her seat. “Of course I would. Keep going.”

  I relayed the memories played like a movie in my head. “Mason and I got close. I’d brought my dream list with me of all the things I wanted to do in California, and we did most of them. I put check marks by them and everything. We even had nicknames for each other.”