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“Is this the part where I break down crying for you guys?”
“I’m trying real hard here,” I tell him, grinding my teeth. This is all a big joke to him. What, now that he’s been in her pussy, he thinks he’s top dog? Like there’s anything so special about that. “I’m trying to be decent.”
“This is your idea of decency? Telling me to step aside and expecting me to go along with it because you had a big change of heart while you were on some mission? Get real, kid. It doesn’t work like that.”
“Oh, wise one, tell me how it does work. Educate me.”
“We don’t have enough time for me to teach you everything you have yet to learn.” He laughs at what must be anger on my face. “You think you two can have something deeper than just a fling? Is that what you’re trying to say?”
“Is it not what I already said? Time to get your ears checked, gramps.”
“I’m only confirming. Let me tell you something.” He slides his hands into his pockets, and now he’s not smirking anymore. “I don’t think that’s what she’s interested in at the moment. Maybe not ever.”
I raise an eyebrow. He sounds pretty damn confident. “Oh, you know her so well now?”
“I already did,” he counters. “And I’m telling you. She’s not going to make a choice between us. But if she does decide, she’ll choose herself first.”
Is he right? Or is he saying it to discourage me? “I’ll just have to make sure she chooses me then,” I decide with a grin before my phone rings and distracts me.
Seeing Mason’s name on the screen reminds me of what I’m supposed to be doing now—and how he wouldn’t hesitate to slice off my sack if he knew I was busy arguing about who gets to fuck his sister.
“Where are you?” he grunts. “Come up to the apartment. I’ve been waiting to talk to you.”
“Right. Give me a couple.” I end the call and give Dallas an icy stare. “To be continued.”
“If you say so.” It takes everything I have to ignore his snide chuckling as I get on the elevator to climb one more floor. The asshole. Okay, so he fucked her. Now that I’m back, she’ll remember what it means to have a man closer to her age.
Mason’s pacing like a caged tiger when I arrive. “Finally. The hell took you so long after you got here?” he growls. Of course, he knows everything that goes on at the hotel. “You knew I wanted you to check in with me.”
“I got sidetracked. I heard about what went down in the garage.” Eyeing him warily, I ask, “What’s up? Fill me in. What are you thinking?”
“She’s hiding something. I know she is.”
I don’t have to ask who he means, but I do have to almost bite my tongue to keep from blurting out that she isn’t, that she wouldn’t. I mean, how would I know? I’m not supposed to know her any better than surface level shit. Working together, that kind of thing. We’re not supposed to have a personal relationship, a history. “What makes you think that?”
“Let’s start with the so-called injury.”
“So-called? I saw it myself. She’s bruised, and a little swollen. She was injured.”
“Was she?” he snaps. “If she was, it could’ve been a way of throwing me off track. Nothing but a sprained wrist when there were bullets flying? Don’t look at me like that,” he growls when he catches sight of me and what must be doubt on my face.
“Do you really think she would go that far? Honestly?”
“Hasn’t she already?” he counters, shaking his head, clenching and relaxing his fists in time with his steps while I watch from the other side of the room. “Hell yeah, she would go that far if somebody told her to or convinced her it was the right thing to do. Beverly is behind it. She has to be.”
“I believe she was behind the breach,” I murmur. It’s important to stay calm, even if it infuriates him. I’m not going to match his energy. That will only exacerbate things.
“You know what I meant,” he growls. “She was behind it, and she coached Natalie on what to do and say. They probably did it to prove they could and maybe weaken us by taking some of our guys out. It didn’t have to be about kidnapping Nat.”
Before I can begin unraveling that, he adds, “And she’s still being secretive. She wouldn’t come out and tell me why she ran. She only wants me to trust her. Can you believe that shit? Like she’s given me any reason to trust her.”
“What about before all of this?” I remind him. “You trusted her then.”
“What a fucking joke that was,” he fires back. “When she knew all the goddamn time that our mother is alive. Do you understand how that makes me feel? I have to go back through everything, every goddamn encounter, every conversation, everything we’ve been through in all these years. Learning something like that has a way of making everything look different.”
