Every Night Forever Read Online Free Page A

for being cool and popular laughed at it.  In the dog-eat-dog world of her high school years, the kids that were the most popular were athletes, so that’s what she did.  She became a cheerleader, she starved herself so she could fit into her uniform and not be the token fat girl, and she only dated wolves who were also football players.  Her whole world had narrowed down to only doing what others thought she should do, until she felt like less a human being and more like a robot, unable to think for herself.  If she could go back in time, she would tell her misguided self that she should do what she loved.  Play the flute.  Debate the hell out of school uniforms.  Run for class president.  Do something.  Be someone.
     
    She had wanted to be admired and wanted back then, but now she knew better.  Her so-called friends had spoken just as harshly about her behind her back as they did about the others in their group.  And the men who had been with her, they didn’t see her as relationship material.  She was convenient.  The girl you fucked, not the girl you took home to mom, or even out on a real date.  The permanent booty call.  The last chance for the night when no one else was available.
     
    Not.  Any.  More.
     
    Her small purse dangled from her fingertips as she opened the door to the gym and walked inside.  Immediately the masculine scent of the place permeated her nose.  She’d always enjoyed that very male smell.  The man behind the desk was on the phone, his back to the door.  He had very curly black hair pulled into a short ponytail at the back of his neck.
     
    Gathering her courage, shoving her lustful side away into the darkest corners of her mind, and ignoring all the scents around her, she lightly rapped her knuckles on the top of the desk and the man spun around in the chair to look at her. 
     
    And what a sight he was.
     
     
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 4
     
     
     
    Someone knocked on the desk as Mason waited for the contractor to take him off hold and talk to him about the work on the electrical system of their lap pool.  He turned abruptly and dropped the phone.  Who the hell was this beauty? 
     
    He made a grab for the phone and smacked his head on the desktop.  “Ah, shit!” 
     
    “Oh!  Are you okay, Mason?” she asked, and he knew immediately it was Alyssa.  He would recognize her voice anywhere.
     
    Rubbing what would surely be a bright red spot, he said, “Yeah, just embarrassed.”  He hung up the phone, planning to call back, and stood up.  Her eyes followed him up and he couldn’t stop smiling.  She was short and cute.  Not just cute, but fucking beautiful.  She had brown hair falling to her shoulders, soft brown eyes, and a perfectly shaped mouth.
     
    “No worries, I did just the same thing earlier today,” she said, shaking the hand he offered.
     
    “Really?”
     
    “Nooooo.”  She laughed, and he chuckled, too, as the tension eased away from him. 
     
    Feisty minx.  “Come on, we’ll go talk in the back.”
     
    He didn’t have an office because he wasn’t a desk guy.  He’d rather sit on a couch with a computer in front of him than at a desk.  His hobby was computers, which put him firmly in the geek department, but he also liked working out.  So when Dante and Cairo wanted to open a gym, he’d been onboard for it.  But now he was embarrassed that he didn’t have a desk, didn’t have anything in the gym that was his.
     
    In the shared breakroom, two small round tables and a handful of metal folding chairs sat empty, along with a large refrigerator.
     
    “Can I get you a bottle of water?”  Can I buy you a house?
     
    “Sure, thank you.”
     
    She sat down and folded her hands on the table top after accepting the bottle of water from him.  He cracked the top on one himself and took a few sips to gather his thoughts.  Suddenly, he very much wanted her to take the job.
     
    “So, it’s pretty simple, I