Post by MASON LOCKWOOD on Feb 28, 2023 21:09:56 GMT
At this time of night the town was silent, deceptively so. Mason backed his truck up outside the station, pulling away from the curb. Usually he’d have wound the windows down, putting up with the cold winter air to blow some of the exhaustion away. When you spent every single day surfing you didn’t have to worry about catching some daylight or being shut up in the stuffy heated aid of an office building. Pretty much every day in Florida was sun and sand, and ignoring all the responsibility he’d skipped out on when he’d left home.
He propped his arm on the window frame, drumming his fingers on the metal in place of cranking up the radio. Forbes wasn’t about to say that was breaking the noise ordinance, but at four in the morning he wasn’t about to wake anybody else up. It was bad enough that he was still up.
Mason twisted his arm, rubbing his knuckles across his mouth. He couldn’t smell the smoke of the kitchen fire they’d dealt with yesterday afternoon on his skin any longer, that had all been showered away, like the only bit of action they’d gotten on the twenty-four hour long shift had vanished down the drain with the grey water. Sometimes he needed a second shower when he got back home, the smell of the job clinging long after the tang of salt water in his hair would’ve done. Everything was different these days. That had to be the reason he’d paid for Katherine at the damn auction.
Between Katherine and Ty, he wasn’t even sure who he was keeping out of trouble now, sure as hell wasn’t himself. The lights switched to red, holding him at the lights just long enough for another vehicle to finally appear in his rear view. Maybe he wasn’t so alone in the town then. He held there, ignoring the lights as he squinted at the reflection of the approaching vehicle. Not one of the firefighters from the station. He’d been the last one out. Maybe PD, maybe just someone who couldn’t sleep. Mystic Falls might’ve looked like a sleepy little spot on the map, but it didn’t mean it was one. The vehicle slowed almost a block back, cruising towards him like maybe it was trying to reach the lights just when they changed.
A flash of green splashed down into the car and left him cursing. Mason craned forward, glancing up at the lights. Green, already heading back towards red. Fuck. He goosed the accelerator, realising as he pulled away that the vehicle was still hanging back. It slowed further, idling at the lights as he pulled away. Why hadn’t they sped up to follow him through?
Unease unfurled in the pit of his stomach. For the rest of the ten minute journey back to the mansion, he was checking his mirrors. Had Klaus Mikaelson finally decided to pay him a visit? Tyler had been skipping out on him, avoiding the subject of the hybrid when they had crossed paths. Tailing people in cars didn’t seem like the Mikaelson’s way, but he hadn’t thought Tyler would end up under the guy’s thumb either.
Teeth gritted, he pulled into the drive way. He closed the gates behind him, making sure the place was secured before he stopped the truck and hopped out. Mason started back towards the gate, thumbing his way back out on foot. The gates closed behind him, leaving the street draped in silence. His throat felt tight as he padded back towards the street. As he reached the sidewalk, he saw movement coming towards him and stopped short. Not a car at least, but he eyed the person approaching anyway. ”Hey, you see anybody out here in a car?” Like there was something wrong with driving through town … like he’d just done. Mason dragged a hand over the lower half of his face, scanning the street like the car would pop up again and he could avoid looking like some sort of paranoid whacko.
Tagged: Open Thread * Word Count: 675