Consumed: A MMA Sports Romance Read Online Free

eighteen years. Besides, my mom’s
awesome. Everybody loves her.”
    The best policy is to not
respond to statements like that.
    “You’re not mad, are
you?” she asks, wincing.
    “When does she get here?”
I ask.
    “That’s what I was
calling about,” Jana says. “She said she’ll be here in like half an hour.”
    “Half an hour?!” I blurt.
“You couldn’t give me a little more notice than half an hour?”
    “Whatevs,” Jana says.
“Just chill, okay? Will you?”
    She’s doing her “don’t be
a turd in the punch bowl” routine, but I don’t want to hear it.
    “When we decided to be
roommates,” I start, “we agreed that if your mother was going to stay with us,
you’d give me time to make other plans.”
    “What’s your thing with
my mom, anyway?” Jana asks. “She’s never been anything but nice to you.”
    “I never said she
wasn’t,” I answer. “You just,” I stammer, “I mean, we’re supposed to
communicate about this stuff, you know? Now I have half an hour before your mom
gets here? Not cool, Jana.”
    “I promise, if you’ll
just spend a little time with her while she’s here, you two are going to
finally get past whatever problem you have with each other and everything’s
gonna be totally—” Jana stops.
    My phone’s ringing.
    “Hold on,” I tell her,
“I’ve got to take this.”
    I make a quick retreat to
my room, and I don’t even bother checking to see who’s calling before I answer.
    “I’ll give you fifty
bucks if you can get me out of here,” I tell whoever’s on the other end of the
line.
    “Everything okay?” a
man’s voice comes back.
    “Who is this?” I ask,
pulling my phone back a bit to find I don’t recognize the number.
    “It’s Mason,” the man
says.
    “Mason?” I ask. “Mason
who?”
    “Is this Ash, short for
Ashely, the chick who bandaged me up the other night?” the man asks and it
finally clicks.
    “Oh, Mason ,” I say.
    “Yeah,” he says. “You
gave me your number, so I thought I’d call and see if you want to get together
sometime.”
    “Now’s good,” I tell him.
    “Now?” he asks. “I’m not
ready just now. Can you give me a little bit?”
    “How long do you need?” I
ask.
    “I don’t know,” he says,
“maybe half an hour or so?”
    Half an hour?
    “No,” I tell him. “It’s
got to be sooner. I don’t have time to get into it right now, but I would
really love an excuse that would get out of here right now.”
    “All right,” he says.
“Let’s meet up at Sherry’s on Eighth. You might have to wait a little bit for
me to get there, but at least you’ll be away from wherever you are.”
    “Sounds great,” I tell
him. “See you soon.”
    I hang up.
    I’d given Mason my phone
number to mess with Jana, telling her I was thinking about hooking up with her
ex, but right now, I could just about kiss him.
    Coming out of my room, I
don a disappointed look.
    “What’s the matter?” Jana
asks.
    “I forgot,” I tell her.
“Mason and I have plans right now.”
    “You’re hooking up with
Mason?” Jana asks. “You’re joking.”
    “I don’t know if I’d call
it hooking up, but we do have plans,” I tell her. “That was him on the phone.
It totally slipped my mind, but we’re supposed to have dinner together. I
should really get going.”
    “Well, give him a call
back and tell him he’s gonna have to wait for a while,” Jana says. “You’ve got
to at least say ‘hi’ to my mom and help us get her stuff up here.”
    “How much ‘stuff’ is she
bringing?” I ask.
    “I don’t know,” Jana
says, “probably enough to make her comfortable for four or five months.”
    “Four or five months?” I
blurt. “No way!”
    “Come on, Rumple Fugs,”
she says, and I’m balling my fists.
    “You know that nickname
undermines my confidence,” I seethe.
    Jana’s smirking as her
phone starts to ring.
    “It’s probably Mason,”
she says. “He’s probably calling to rub in the fact that