Turmoil

"He has started again" Lisa said, angry tears threatening to fall from her eyes. "I swear he's going out of his way to drive me crazy. I'm an adult, why can't I choose my own friends without him meddling in my life at every opportunity. If he had his own life outside of work to begin with he wouldn't be bothering me so much"

"Hey hey Lisa calm down, breathe and tell me what's going on"

Lisa blinked away the tears and pulled herself together "I made a friend just like every freaking normal person and Mason decided that he wasn't good enough company and that he doesn't want me hanging out with him so I told him to keep his nose out of my business right? Next thing I know Mason went behind my back to hire Bryan just to be in control of who I hang out with and what I do and every other freaking aspect of my life. I mean of all the crazy protective brothers in the world, I had to get the craziest of them all, like why won't he just let me run my own life–"

Evans was about to take a sip of his orange juice when he registered what Lisa just said "Wait, did you just say Bryan? As in Bryan Holding?"

"You know about this?!"

"Mason wouldn't tell me why he suddenly needed a new personal assistant or why he's doing the hiring himself but I guess it all adds up now" Evans replied with a sigh

"Evans please, you have to stop him. He's going too far. I thought he was starting to give me my freedom" Lisa was close to breaking down now and Evans could hear it.

"I'll do something about this, okay? I promise" He said to Lisa trying to calm her down. He might not be related to Lisa by blood but he loved her like his own sister and would not hesitate to protect her if he felt she needed his protection. He didn't like the idea of Mason stifling her or frustrating her even if he thought he was doing what's best for his sister.

Lisa spent the next couple of minutes filling Evans in on the details of Bryan's employment before saying goodbye.

Lisa was already seated, eating breakfast when Mason came down to join her "Hi sis" he said as he sat down opposite her. Lisa didn't respond, instead she stuffed her mouth with toast and refused to look at him, counting to ten in her head so as to resist the urge to throw her glass of milk in his face. Mason shrugged and began to eat, watching Lisa intently. Immediately she swallowed, he said "So any classes today Lisa?"

"Yes'' she said simply and didn't say anything else. He obviously wasn't planning on telling her that he hired Bryan and it infuriated her further, she clenched her teeth to stop herself from screaming at him. Mason was surprised, usually Lisa loved to talk and she didn't need any prompting to do so

"Are your classes going well?"

"Yes"

"Made any new friends?"

"No"

"Lisa, is something wrong? Are you okay?" Mason questioned puzzled by Lisa's attitude

"Why would anything be wrong?" Lisa answered coolly, when her brother didn't respond she stood "I'll be leaving now" she said and left.

Mason watched her go, wondering what the issue was, he shrugged and continued eating. Perhaps she just woke up on the wrong side of the bed, he finished his food and left for work

Mason was driving to work, he had stopped at a red light when his phone rang, it was connected to his car speaker so he picked the call

"Hey man" Evans' warm voice filled the car letting loose butterflies in Mason's belly

"Hi Evans how're you doing" he responded eagerly

"I'm okay, you at work yet?"

"Almost"

"Okay d'you think you could have a cup of coffee with me before you head to your office?"

"Yeah sure"

"Alright, I'll see you soon" Evans said and hung up.

Mason's heart skipped a beat when he heard Evans say he'd see him soon, he tried to remember the tone of voice with which Evans said it, was he excited to see him soon or was that just an ordinary statement. He allowed himself to get lost imagining the different reasons Evans wanted to see him soon, he took out his phone and opened the front camera to check his hair which was neatly combed. "I look like a nerd" he muttered and ruffled his hair a bit. He was midway through daydreaming about making out with Evans his office when a honk broke him out of his thoughts, the light had turned green and a few cars were waiting behind him. He chuckled awkwardly and sped off a little above the speed limit, excited to spend some alone time with Evans.

He had just pulled into his reserved parking spot when it occurred to him that he would be expected in his own office, he pulled out his phone and sent a quick message to Ben instructing him to shift Bryan's resumption from 8am to 10am, he was hoping to spend some time with Evans, just sitting with him, talking to him and hearing him laugh in that deep rumble that warmed him to his toes. He got out of his car and headed into his company with a spring in his step and humming, he stopped in front of a reflective glass door and adjusted his tie before continuing on to Evans office.

He opened door and stuck his head inside where Evans was already seated with two cups of coffee, his friend looked up and grinned at him making his face flush

"Don't be shy Mason, I won't bite, I can but I won't" Evans teased his friend

Mason could feel his face burning as he stepped into the office, chuckling awkwardly. He sat at picked the cup nearest to him, taking a sip without saying a word.

Evans watched Mason take a sip and smiled, he needed Mason to be in a good mood for the conversation they were about to have. He gave himself a mental pat on the back when Mason sighed with contentment at the taste of the coffee, he had given been careful to ensure that the coffee was just how Mason liked it.

"This is really good Evans" Mason said taking another sip, his heart soared that the thought of Evans being thoughtful enough to get his coffee preference right

"That's what you do when you care about someone" Evans teased further making Mason choke on his coffee

"So while you're enjoying your coffee and my amazing company, we should talk about something"

"What's that?" Mason replied trying to sound as casual as possible

"Well it's a little sensitive and I'm not sure how you'll take it" Evans said, a little hesitant as he remembered how Mason had responded the last time they had a conversation about Bryan. Mason's heart started to beat fast, Evans didn't usually shy away from speaking his mind and him trying to stall right now made him a little nervous. A tiny part of him hoped Evans was about to make his dreams become a reality

"I know who Bryan is and why you hired him" Evans said. It was like someone threw a bucket of cold water in Mason's face, he silently cursed at himself for raising his own hopes but he couldn't help feeling disappointed, Evans had wanted to see him because of Bryan and not because he was excited to hang out with him.

"How did you find out?" He replied dully. Evans could see his friend's countenance change and knew he had to tread carefully

"That's not what's important, what you did wasn't right man"

Mason was torn, Evans was speaking in such a pleading tone that he was tempted to listen to his best friend, he would have given anything to make Evans return to his teasing and grinning self but Lisa was more important.

"I'm doing this for Lisa" he said refusing to meet Evans eyes, they rarely disagreed and it was killing him that they were having the second disagreement in a row.

"Honestly Mason I don't think you're doing this for Lisa, the best thing you could do for Lisa is to let her make her own decisions and her own mistakes. Let her grow and learn on her own just like you" Evans replied keeping his tone as level as possible.

Mason wished Evans would stop, he didn't have a lot of people that are close to him so he always tried not to get angry at the people in his life "You don't understand Evans, Lisa is still young. It is my duty to protect her, do you expect me to let her run around with a bike riding lunatic and do nothing about it?"

Evans shook his head, Mason was being stubborn but he had promised Lisa that he would handle the situation and he intended to do his very best for the girl that he thought of as his own sister too "You think hiring the bike riding lunatic is the solution to that? I understand that you want to protect her but this is not the way to do it. I don't want you to end up pushing your sister away because you're being overprotective."

Mason slammed his palm on the desk "Damn it Evans, you don't understand at all. Lisa is the only family I have and if I have to move mountains to make sure she's safe then that is what I would do, heavens help whoever gets in my way" he said raising his voice. Evans wasn't surprised at Mason's reaction, his friend often threw common sense out the window when it came to Lisa. He raised an eyebrow and didn't say anything until he was sure that Mason had calmed down a bit.

"I hope you know I think of Lisa as my sister too. She's a good girl, I just wished you'd trust her judgement more"

"Trust her judgement? Evans you don't know Lisa like I do, she can be very impulsive and irrational. I don't intend to let her make decisions that will ruin her life and if you truly care about her then you should be on my side" Mason said wishing his friend would stop arguing with him, his morning was at all going the way he had imagined.

"You know what Mason, I do care about Lisa and I care about you too which is why I'm going to be honest with you. You're the one who's being irrational and controlling l hiring someone who's underqualified just because you don't think he's good enough to be your sister's friend " Evans said bluntly

The words stung, and it was obvious on Mason's face. It was clear that Evans was not going to change his mind on the issue and it pissed him off that Evans wasn't seeing things from his point of view, it hurt that Evans didn't approve of his decision especially since it was about Lisa's well being.

"Well–" he said coldly as he stood up "Lisa is my sister not yours and you do not have a say in how I choose to deal with issues concerning her" he finished and stormed out leaving his unfinished coffee behind and ignoring Evans as he called him back and slammed the door on his way out