Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 71651 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 358(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71651 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 358(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
“I can probably get it to a better spot, but it won’t be perfect if it’s clenching up. Mind if I set up to film a video?”
“By all means,” Mason said as we walked into his living room. “I like being featured in your videos.”
“Ever since that one commenter who said your hair looked cute,” I mentioned.
“Bingo. Sounds good. I’ll help you carry in the stuff.”
In another couple of minutes we had the camera rolling and the massage table all laid out. I never recorded our voices during the video sessions—later on, I recorded narration for the massages, talking all about the specific techniques I used on different areas of the body.
Mason took advantage of that more than usual today, telling me all about a guy who’d been stringing him along.
“It’s hell on Earth,” he murmured through the hole in the massage table. “I thought he seemed promising, but yesterday he accidentally sent me a dick pic meant for someone else.”
“How do you know it wasn’t for you?” I asked as I gently started to press along his iliac crest, right above his right hip.
“He had For Gary written above his cock in permanent marker.”
“Oh, God,” I said. “That really is brutal.”
Mason pulled in a slow breath, easing into the pressure I was putting on his lower back.
“I’m telling you, Finn, I’m done being a hot mess,” he said. He sounded more earnest than usual, in a rare moment of vulnerability. “I already don’t take on half as many riding clients as I should.”
I’d been silently thinking the same thing for months. Mason always took great care of his horses and his property, but I knew he wasn’t giving a fraction of the amount of lessons his dad used to. They’d always had money, but his dad kept the business rolling, giving lessons every day of the week.
I’d be surprised if Mason even gave a riding lesson twice in one week, these days. He cared deeply, but I knew he didn’t feel the same teaching without his father by his side.
“You’ll get back to it,” I told him, and I believed it fully. “It’s okay not to take on as much as you used to, but one day soon, you’ll get your mojo back.”
He hummed. “I want to. I really do,” he told me, pausing for a moment. “It’s not just with the riding lessons, though. It’s… everything, in my life.”
I put on my therapist hat for a moment. “Like what?”
“Like my shitty love life.”
I chucked. “Tell me about it.”
“I met that dick pic guy in a bar last weekend when I took a day trip to Nashville. Both of us were drunker than a damn fish. I’m sure he has plenty of other guys on his roster.”
“I’m just wondering what kind of fish you’re finding that are drunk, Mason.”
“It’s an expression,” he protested. “They’re swimming in water, I was swimming in alcohol. How have you never heard anyone say that before?”
“Maybe I’m the naive one,” I said.
“Oh, fuck, that hurts,” Mason said as I hit a bad spot above his hip.
“I know. That’s a really tight spot,” I said, easing up just slightly but continuing to slowly release the muscle. “You’re going to hate this, but you know what would help with your muscles?”
“Yeah, yeah, not partying as much,” he said.
“And doing the mobility exercises I recommended,” I added. “And eating real meals instead of just cinnamon rolls and liquor.”
He pulled in a long breath. “I wish I could be more like you sometimes,” he said.
I puffed out a laugh. “It’s not all roses for me.”
“Seems like you’re doing pretty well to me. You’re glowing, or whatever the celebrities call it.”
“I’m just happy Ori is back in town, honestly.”
Mason groaned. “That’s another thing. I’m jealous of you for what you have with Ori.”
I was glad he was lying down right now, because I was definitely blushing again.
“It wasn’t always easy with him, either,” I said. “Trust me.”
“I’ve never had a best friend like that before, though,” Mason said. “You’re lucky. Don’t forget it.”
I found myself driving toward Red Fox Diner before I even knew my car was taking me there. Inside, they were in a rare quiet lull in between the lunch rush and the evening rush. I found Ori talking to Thomas behind the bar, the two of them in a heated discussion about the menu. They faced toward the back, organizing clean mugs.
“If you say it in the right way, I know they’ll listen,” Thomas was saying. “Your parents seem attached to their old ways, but they eventually listen to reason.”
“Do they, though?” Ori asked.
Both of them hadn’t noticed me yet. I sat down at the counter behind them and noticed that Ori’s black T-shirt was riding up just a little bit, revealing a strip of skin above the waistband of his pants.