Mason Ch. 01

"What the fuck do you care? You don't love me."

"Yes I do, now tell me where you are." Toni insisted, "I'll come get you and we'll talk about it."

"Nope, not telling." he slurred.

"Why not?" Toni asked alarmed.

"Cos I'm going home with....what's your name? Oh I'm going home with ...oh shit! I forgot her name again." he said giggling.

"James! Don't you dare go home with a strange woman!"

"Night Toni, I love you!"

The line went dead. There were any number of places where James could be but their favorite one was Max's where she was supposed to meet him last night. She would start there.

Toni got to Max's just as James was leaving with a pretty blond.

"Hey Toni!" James greeted, this is my friend but I don't remember her name." he laughed.

The woman was every bit as drunk as James was.

"Hi honey! Want to join the party?"

"Umm no thanks but I'll take James from you though."

"Nope, not going with you." James said.

Mason couldn't take it any longer, he had to get out. He vanished to the downtown area and just started walking not really caring where he was going. The activity settled his mind allowing him to think more clearly about what he needed to do to get over Katrina and move on. Finding his mate would help but he didn't want to burden her with his emotional baggage. That brought up another issue, would he love her as he did Katrina? If not then it wouldn't be fair to either of them but maybe the love he felt for Katrina would be transferred to his mate. His suspicion was that that might be true to a point but his mate would never have all of him; there would be a part of his heart that she would never be able to touch. It would take a strong, confident woman to be able to accept something like that and he wondered if she existed.

"James, come on! You're not going home with whoever she is; you're coming home with me." Toni said as she tried to pull James away from the woman.

"Hey! He's mine, but I can share." The woman said giggling.

Toni scanned the faces of the people coming out of the bar hoping that one of them would be a friend. After several people came out, and she didn't recognize anyone; she gave up.

James was weaving back and forth on his feet his arm around his new found friend and started to walk away, searching his pockets for his car keys. As soon as he pulled them out, Toni grabbed them.

"Give me my keys!" James yelled.

"I am not letting you drive like this and you know better." Toni replied putting the keys in her pocket.

As drunk as the woman was, she knew when it was time to move on. She pulled away from James and went back into the bar to look for someone who was unattached.

Toni put an arm around James' waist to support him and wondered what to do. She could have put him in his car and taken him to her apartment but his car was a stick shift and she hadn't a clue as to how to drive it. She thought about a cab but the apartment was only four blocks away, maybe they could make it and the walk might do him good; but that left the issue of his car.

"Hey Toni!" a voice from behind her said, "What's going on?"

"Oh hey Mark, James had a little too much to drink and I was going to take him home but I can't drive his car and I can't leave it here. You don't happen to drive stick do you?"

"Nope, but I can ask the bar manager if he can leave it here til morning." Mark replied.

A few minutes later, Mark came out.

"He can leave it here but how are you going to get him to your place?"

James had been quiet up until that point.

"I can drive, give me my keys back."

Toni ignored him.

"I live about four blocks from here; the walk will do him good. Thanks for talking to the manager."

They had only gone about a block and a half before Toni realized that she had made a huge mistake; she should have called a cab. James was stumbling and it was all that she could do to keep him on his feet. He kept trying to lie down on the sidewalk to go to sleep.

"Not yet, two more blocks and then you can sleep." she told him.

James's knees began to buckle, Toni tried to hold him up but couldn't. Just as he was about to hit the sidewalk, Toni saw hands appear under his armpits.

Mason continued to wander aimlessly as he tried to figure out what he needed to do, one thing was clear; he couldn't go back to California until he either found his mate or he had gotten over Katrina. While he felt better now that there was two-thousand plus miles between them, just the thought of her hurt. He stopped walking and looked around, he was somewhere near downtown; there had to be a bar open somewhere.

He continued his walk, paying closer attention to his surroundings. As he rounded a corner, he saw a couple walking ahead of him. The male was obviously drunk and the female was trying to keep him on his feet. Mason watched as the man's legs started to give way and the woman tried to stop his fall, being the gentleman that he was, he rushed forward and caught the man under his armpits and stood him up.

"Thank you!" Toni exclaimed.

"You're welcome." Mason replied looking at Toni, "where are you going?"

"I was trying to get him home, I should have called a cab but I thought that we could make it."

Mason took a closer look at Toni and liked what he saw, her build was similar to Katrina's and...

"Stop it!" he told himself.

"Can I help you get him home?"

Toni hesitated. There was no way that she could get James home by herself and the only other person around was a stranger. She really had no choice and besides, she didn't feel threatened by the stranger in spite of the fact that he was huge and he was holding James up as if he weighed nothing.

"Thank you, I can pay you for your time when we get back to the apartment."

"No payment is necessary; my name by the way is Mason Donahue."

"I'm Toni Greene and the man you're holding up is James Jacobson."

"Toni? We home yet?" James asked in a slurred voice.

"No, not yet but soon." she replied.

"After you." Mason said as he hefted James over his shoulder.

Toni glanced at Mason and started walking.

"This is it." Toni said indicating the old apartment building.

"You live here?" Mason asked.

"For now." Toni replied, "I know that it's a lot to ask but could you take him inside?"

Mason gave the building another look, "she doesn't belong here." he thought as he readjusted a now unconscious James on his shoulder.

Toni led the way giving Mason a good look at her behind, "very nice." he thought and then reminded himself that she was taken by the drunken man he carried.

"In here." Toni said leading Mason into the bedroom.

Mason tossed James onto the bed none to gently, he despised males who would put their mates in the position that this one had. She could have been hurt or worse trying to get him home, if she would have been attacked, he was in no shape to help her.

"Thank you again for helping me get him home." Toni said.

"My pleasure, I was actually looking for a bar when I saw you. Where's the nearest one?"

"About four blocks from here, that's where we were coming from. I could use a drink myself, mind if I join you?"

Mason was surprised that she would leave the man alone and decided to question it.

"What about your boyfriend?"

"It's a really long story but he isn't my boyfriend anymore."

"And you would have a drink with a stranger?" Mason asked.

"Ordinarily no, But you did carry him home and if you wanted to kill us you could have and been gone by now and no one would have missed us for a couple of days and I really do need a drink."

Mason felt relieved that the man wasn't her lover or something more, he had just figured out who and what this woman was. She was his mate but why wasn't he feeling pulled toward her?