Making Plans

Making Plans
After a long day with Lauren and Tyson, I was ready to just be alone with Mason. I was completely exhausted and ready for bed, but judging by the look on his face as he walked back over to me from the elevator, he had other plans. He carefully picked me up before carrying me into the bathroom, where he put me on the sink counter before stepping back and kneeling at my feet. He began to remove my shoes, and the moment he started to massage my feet, I moaned softly as I let my head fall back.

“God, Mason, that feels so good.”
“You made me feel good all night, Little Bunny,” he chuckled. “This is the least I can do.”

I sighed as I leaned against the wall beside me. “You made me feel good all night, White Rabbit, so that’s not a very good reason for massaging my stinky feet.”
He burst out laughing again as he moved to my other foot. “Do I need a reason to touch your stinky feet?”

“Not really, but I was just curious as to why you feel like you have to massage my feet.”

He sighed as he climbed to his feet. “Listen, Laurel, I know that you still have a long way to go in believing that I really do care about you, but–”

“I don’t, Mason. I know you love me. My question about your desire to touch my feet had nothing to do with how you feel about me. You have to love me if you’re touching my feet.”

He laughed as he turned to start bath water for us before having me stand up and stripping the rest of my clothes. I smiled at him as he started taking his own clothes off. I smirked at him as I crossed my arms over my chest.

“Are you joining me in a bath?” I teased.

“Oh, yeah! I really want to hold you.”

“Awww. Okay, Mason. I’ll let you hold me. Come on.”

When I tried to walk over to the bathtub, he scooped me up before carefully climbing into the tub. He wrapped his arms around my waist as I leaned against his chest. For a long time, neither of us did anything, but sit there, holding each other. It made me happier than I thought it would to be in his arms again. It was one of my favorite things in the world. I sighed dreamily as I pressed a kiss into his chest.

“Mason, can I ask you something?” I suddenly asked him.

“Yeah, of course. What’s on your mind, baby?”
“Did you really kill Carl?”

“Yes.”

“Would you kill someone else for me?”
He sighed as he shrugged. “I don’t know, Little Bunny. To be honest, I don’t think that anyone is going to be able to do anything to you that would make me want to hurt them. I won’t allow it. I only ended Carl’s life because he hurt you. Repeatedly. I will never let anyone get close enough to you to hurt you in that way ever again. You are mine! But if someone were to threaten you or hurt you like that again, I would protect you, in whatever way I can. I hope that I never have to kill anyone else again, but if I had to, I would. I love you, Laurel, and your safety is the most important thing to me. You and our child’s.”
I sighed. “Mason?”

“Mhmm, Little Bunny?”

“Do you think you can take Monday off?” I asked.

“Yeah, I’m sure Lauren will cover my meeting tomorrow. Did you want to do something?” he inquired.

“Yes. I want to go to the courthouse and get married. I don’t want to wait, Mason. We can do a ceremony later, but I want you to be my husband.”

“What if we can have a ceremony and get married at the same time?” he pressed. “Would you rather do that?”

“We can’t get a wedding set up in a day,” I laughed.

“Yes, we can! We can go tomorrow and get you a wedding dress and I’ll get a tux. We can use Angel’s backyard for the actual ceremony, and everyone can come dressed in street clothes. Our wedding doesn’t have to be fancy. All that matters is that you and I are standing at the altar, facing each other,” he told me.

“Are you sure that you don’t need anything fancy?” I inquired.

“Yes. I love you, Laurel. I will always love you. There is no one else that I want to be with except for you. We could get married in potato sacks, and I would be happy. As long as you become my wife, nothing else matters.”
I sighed as I nuzzled into his side. “Okay, if we can get it set up tomorrow, then yes, I will be happy to have a ceremony with you.”
“Awesome! I’ll make some calls tomorrow morning before we head out to get our clothes,” he told me.

“Actually, we have to get bridesmaid dresses! And you have to have groomsmen! I think Maddie would be very upset if I didn’t get her a nice dress to wear for our wedding,” I laughed.

“Alright. How many people are you going to have in your bridal party?” he inquired.

“Well, there’s Lauren, Maddie, and Ramira for sure. Then I would have to see if Jane would be willing to walk me down the aisle. So three?”

“Okay. I could ask Joey to be one of my groomsmen, because I’m pretty sure that if I had Maddie walk down the aisle with anyone else, he would probably shoot me. Also, I don’t know who Ramira is, but I’m sure I could steal my sisters’ husbands, and–”

I groaned. “Oh, God, I should ask your sisters to be in my bridal party. Where are we going to get more men for your party?”

He shrugged. “It doesn’t matter how many people we have in our parties, Laurel. If you want to ask my sisters, then that will take your party up to 5. I’ll ask my sisters’ husbands, Joey, Dan, and maybe…. Maybe we could share Lauren! She’s your sister and my best friend! Surely it wouldn’t be that weird to anyone to see her standing in the middle between us.”
“Hmm. Maybe we should invite Caleb to the wedding. That way we could really find out if he is her savior and she’s the girl he saved!” I told him excitedly.

He was quiet for a very long time before sighing as he shook his head. “As much as I want to find out and help her be as happy as we are, I don’t want to take attention away from us. When we get married, it’s about us. Not them. They will have their time if they are meant to be.” He pressed a kiss to my naked shoulder. “I know that you want her to be happy too, but I promise you that we will help her find him after our wedding. I know this is very selfish of me, but I’m not going to change my mind.”

I ran my fingers over his bicep as I sighed happily. “You are so perfect, Mason. Okay, so we need one more male because I’m not giving my sister up. Sorry, but we shared the same first apartment.”

“That doesn’t count,” he managed to say before bursting out laughing as he put his hand on my thigh, squeezing it a little, and without hesitation, my legs dropped open a little before snapping shut again as I smacked at his hand.

“Hey, focus! We’re discussing our wedding! But I think I solved your problem! What if you ask Tyson to be your best man? That would make him so happy, and Lauren would love it if he got to participate in our wedding.”

He lowered his head to kiss me softly. “I love that! He is my little man!”

I smacked his arm. “Hey! He’s my little man! Now I want him in my bridal party!”

He narrowed his eyes playfully on me. “You can’t have all the best people in your party!”

“Why not? They all like me more,” I retorted, making him laugh.

“Well, I like you more too, so you can be nice to me and let me have our godson!” he replied, pouting a little before his lips curled back up in a smile.

“Oh, I got it! You can be in my bridal party too! I’ll pick the prettiest, pinkest, poofiest dress for you!” I teased.

“If that’s what you want me to wear, I will! And as for being in your bridal party, I will be part of your party for the rest of our lives,” he promised.

I reached up to run my fingers through his hair. “I can’t wait, Mason.”

He bowed his head again to put his forehead against mine. “Me either, baby. I love you.”

“I love you too.”