ZOE BELL PART 81

"You okay?" Mason put his arm around me.

"Y-yeah. I’m just confused with all of this. I want to just be able to relax with you."

I knew that he wanted the same thing. "I hope things will calm down soon. They usually do for a little while before they come up with ne bargains for us."

I sighed. I wanted to know what this feud was all about. It might ease my worries! Then again, it could increase them too.

"Should we just nix the truck?" Cliff asked, sounding a little worried.

"Are you going to buy me a new one?" Mason’s jaw clenched and I heard his teeth grinding together in anger.

"I think you can make a sacrifice for the team and I’m just that Steve will reward you with a new one."

"I think he’ll be able to understand that I don’t want to drive the only thing my dad left me off the road to it’s death."

"Please don’t drive your truck off the road Mase. I don’t want to die!"

"You wouldn’t die, Zoe. I would jump out with you before we crashed and we would run to our hideout to escape Adrian and his crew."

I breathed a sigh of relief, but I still didn’t want him to drive his truck off the road. I’ve never heard him mention his dad before, but if this truck is from him, then I know it means a lot to him.

"We’ll go to my house and jump out and run after my car is safely parked." we were in Hurricane now, and a few sharp turns and we were parked in front of Mason’s house. He grabbed me around the waist and he ran around to the back of the house. We ran to the kiddie playground that was in the very corner of his yard that I had never noticed before until now.

I didn’t have time to question why we were going down the slide, because we were swallowed up by a big black hole at the bottom of the slide. We slid and slid until we fell out of the ceiling of their underground hideout. He moved us out of the way, just in time for Cliff and Abbie to fall after us.

"Can’t they follow us still?" Abbie cried, falling to the floor from being unstable.

They both chuckled. "You can only get through if you have a tail from our tribe." I felt something furry slide up my arm and Mason’s tail brushed my nose. I jumped and smacked it away as he laughed.

"We should just stay here for the rest of our lives." Cliff lounged on the couch and sighed.

"Someone wold eventually come and ruin your perfect laziness," Abbie said.

"That would be now." Steve appeared out of the darkness and Cliff groaned.

"I don’t know where they came from," Mason started. "I had my mind stretched for them, and all of a sudden they were right on top of us!"

"I know. I don’t know what happened either, but I don’t want anyone leaving the area unless they are better guarded in numbers. Understand?"

Mason nodded. "And someone needs to fix Cliff’s brain."

Steve snorted. "What did he do today?"

"Hey!" Cliff threw his shoe at Steve and he caught it without even looking.

"He wanted me to drive my truck off the road because we were boxed in by all their SUVs!"

"Brain damage!" Steve chucked the shoe back at Cliff. "Why would you even suggest that? You would never drive your car off the road like that!"

"I would if I had to!" Cliff stood up[ and was in Steve’s face, yelling.

"Calm down Cliff. They’re only joking. Stay out of his face before you both lost your tempers!" Abbie pushed Cliff away from Steve and he pulled her into one of the rooms, away fro m Steve and Mason.

‘He needs some anger management help." Steve muttered, he shook hands with Mason, patted my back, and disappeared back into the darkness he came from.

"So what now?" I asked, lacing my fingers with Mason’s.

"I guess I’ll take you home and then I have to put a shift in at the garage."

"Am I allowed to go anywhere? Like with my mom or something?"

He shrugged. "I’d prefer you didn’t, but if you do, take Zane or Zagger with you. And text me so I know where you are. Please."

He kissed me as he pulled me through the darkness of the secret cave.

"I love you. Don’t forget that."

I grinned. "You do the same."

He changed to his wolf form, and lowered down so I could get on his back to ride off into the sunset. Ha! If only! He took me back to my house and I was put to work in helping my mom cook dinner.

"How are you and Mason holding up?" My mom asked me. She raised her eyebrows at me and I shrugged.

"They’re going great. Why do you ask?"

"Just curious. We haven’t chatted in a while like we used to."

I shrugged. "We’ve both been out of the house a lot lately, haven’t we?"

She nodded. "Hit and miss. We should hang out today, maybe go to lunch? Just the two of us? Sound fun?"

I nodded and hugged her, keeping in mind my warning from Mason. I didn’t really want Zane or Zagger coming along on my lunch date with my mom, so maybe I’ll just tell Mason and talk my mom into staying close to home for lunch.

He wasn’t thrilled about it, and we argued over the phone for five minutes before he hung up on me. Tears stung in my eyes and before I could cry, he called me back and apologized and told me he loved me. It was almost comical how much he was groveling right now. I assured him that he was forgiven and had to tell him that I didn’t need him to come over to prove he was sorry.