Mason: Inked Reapers MC

by West, Heather

  “Tick?” the greeter asked, looking confused.

  “Uh…yeah. It’s a nickname.” I shrugged. “When we were kids, he had a nervous tick in his cheek,” I explained, ignoring the daggers Tick’s glare shot at me. He hated when I explained the name to anyone, so probably more so that I was telling the cartel. “Long time ago.” I waved off the topic.

  “The other men?”

  “They should be here tomorrow. We spread out.” He seemed appeased by my explanation and guided us to the house.

  “My name is Julio, Bernardo’s brother. You’ll be spending the week with us, please let me show you inside. Bernardo is out on business and will meet with you at dinner.” Tick and I exchanged a look then grabbed our bags from the van before following him up the stairs into the house.

  Bernardo hadn’t given me the impression that he held much class, but by the look of his house the man had expensive tastes. Marble flooring covered the foyer. A crystal chandelier dangled from the vaulted ceiling, small rainbows playing on the walls from the sunlight peering in through the massive arched windows on the second floor.

  “Yeah. Thanks.” Tick looked around the place and gave me a look that reminded me of when we were kids walking through the museum in the city. Our moms would take us on one of those free days they had a few times a year, and Tick would worry about breaking something because his mom told us that if we broke something we’d have to pay for it. And if we didn’t have the cash, we’d have to live there until we earned the money. As a kid, I’d thought it an empty threat, one we’d never have to face, but now as an adult I had a horrible feeling tracking my every thought. It was a reality for Lucy. I’d left her behind with Jayson. I’d left her in his tortuous hands. I’d actually walked away, knowing he’d be using her body while I was gone. Could I have sunk any lower?

  All for what? The club? For money? Fuck. I could have sent her and my mom away on a plane far away from Jayson. Forcing Lucy would have been necessary, but at least then I would know his fucking hands wouldn’t be anywhere near her. Instead, I sent her back, told her to hold tight until I finished this last fucking run.

  “Hey. Get your head out of your ass.” Tick gave me a shove as we headed up the winding staircase toward the second floor.

  “You can use this room.” Julio pushed the doors open to a room that looked like it belonged in a museum, not a house.

  “Wow. You guys really make bank.” Tick whistled and walked into the room, tossing his duffle bag on the nearest loveseat.

  Julio gave a half grin. “My brother does well enough. His wife, Carmella, likes the finer things. If it were up to my brother, we’d all be living in a warehouse working round the clock.” The way he said Carmella’s name struck me as different. Julio spoke perfect English, with only a small hint of an accent. His polished look, his elegant mannerisms—at first I’d guess he was gay, but after seeing his eyes light up at the mention of Bernardo’s wife, I realized the truth of the situation.

  “When did you say Bernardo will be back?” I slid the bag from my shoulder.

  “Sometime tonight. We’ll have dinner when he returns. If you need anything just pick up the phone. It rings the kitchen and someone can bring you whatever you need.”

  “Thanks.” Tick nodded and started looking around the room. I gave a nod and Julio disappeared through the doors, closing them behind him. “Well, fuck, look at this place.” Tick held out his arms and nodded.

  “Don’t’ get too comfortable,” I warned him. “We have shit to do. First we figure out how to get back through border patrol. I’m sure Bernardo will have a plan, we just need to make sure it’s safe. We aren’t going to have the firepower his men usually do.”

  “Yeah. He has men to do this run over the border, why drag our asses down here for it?” Tick asked for the third time, and for the third time I shook my head, unable to answer.

  “I don’t know. I don’t like it though, so keep your eyes open.” I eyed the bed in the next room. It had been a long drive down, and that bed looked almost as inviting as Lucy sitting a few feet away from me. “I’m getting a few z’s before Bernardo comes back,” I announced, and headed in that direction, already starting to kick off my boots.

  I’d rather jump back in the van and head home to Lucy, but I’d have wait it out. Then I’d get to her as fast as possible and get her the fuck away from Jayson. Good standing or not, we were gone as soon as I got back.

  ***

  Bernardo never showed for dinner. Julio made some excuse for him as we sat down in the expansive dining room. Wearing my usual shirt and jeans with my leather cut, I felt under dressed among all of the crystal and silver being passed around the table. Even though Tick and I ate alone with Julio, the full table had been set and utilized.

  “Your president, Marcus.” Julio wiped his napkin over his lips. “He’s a good man? Honest?”

  I looked at Tick, wondering how to respond. Tick stuffed his mouth with a forkful of chicken dish we’d been served. “I don’t think you get to where he is in life without being at least a little dishonest, but yeah, I guess he’s an honest man.”

  Julio gave a slight nod and reached for his glass of wine. “But he’s not above stepping on people as he climbs the ladder, eh?” What the fuck. I didn't do politics.

  “He was president when I joined the club, so I don't know about that.” It would be better not to be having the conversation at all, but if I had to answer the questions, I would have to tread lightly.

  “Ah.” Julio’s eyebrows raised. “And you?” He gave Tick a pointed look.

  “Same here.” Tick shoveled in another mouthful of food and gave me a worried glance.

  “My brother. He’s stepped, stomped, killed, whatever he thought necessary to get to where he is.”

  “I can understand that. This business you're in, it’s not so safe.” I looked at the glass of wine in front of my plate and wished for a beer.

  “To say the least.” Julio snorted.

  “Bernardo isn’t just away on business,” Tick finally chimed in, placing his silverware on his now empty plate. He rested his elbows on the table and covered his fist with his hand. His eyes focused and determined. “We aren't down here for a simple run over the border.” He nodded in my direction.

  Julio studied him silently, looking between him and myself. His expression didn’t give me any hints about his thoughts as the moments ticked by. “No,” he agreed, and sat back in his chair. He gave a wave and three men walked into the room. Each dressed as fine as himself and all armed with a machine gun slung over their shoulders.

  “Julio…” I started to stand, but he waved me back into my seat.

  “Don't worry about them.” He said something to them in Spanish that I couldn’t understand and they all nodded and each moved to stand in one of the three doorways of the room. “They keep others out.”

  “What for?” The pleasantries were over.

  “Marcus and I, we’ve been in discussions about your dealing with my brother and this other gang—”

  “Club,” Tick interjected.

  “Yes. Club.” Julio waved. “My brother—he wants to pit you two against each other, see who’s the stronger and let that club keep the territory. He wants to expand further and further north, into territories that are already taken by other cartel leaders. This means there will be a war between them. It has taken decades to build these territory lines, these truces. It’s a delicate thing between these men. My brother wants to spit on all the work and all the blood that has gone into it because he is greedy.”

  “What does this have to do with us?” I demanded. The sagging feeling in my stomach that I had when we climbed into the van nearly a day ago suddenly returned with more force.

  “My brother is to be relieved of his duty.” Julio folded his hands over his plate and delivered the news as though he were telling us that he wanted ice cream for dessert. “Marcus and I, we’ve come to an agreement. He’ll have full territory rights.”


  “Why bring us down here for that? The Disciples aren’t going to let that happen so quietly back home.”

  “The Disciples are a shitty group of men. I’ve been there, met with that Jayson. I’ve also seen that whore house in the back of their club. Abused women being raped daily.” He paused for a moment, standing from his chair as a woman dressed in a short red dress walked into the room, brushing past the guard. Her chestnut hair swept up into a neat bun on the top of her head showed her long neck and glimmering earrings. She glided right to Julio and placed her hands on his chest before reaching up on her tiptoes to place a chaste kiss to his cheek. “Carmella, you were to wait upstairs,” he chided quietly.

  She responded softly in Spanish, but I could tell by the tone of her voice that she was giving him her excuse for disregarding his instructions. He raised an eyebrow at her and sighed. He turned to us then, his arm slipping around her waist. “As you can see, Carmella would like to join us. Obviously, you can see which side of this disagreement with my brother she is on.” He led her around his chair and pulled out the empty seat to his left, next to Tick.

  “Bernardo doesn’t know his wife is with you?” Tick asked, keeping his eyes off of Carmella.

  “My husband is a blind fool,” she spat. I remembered at that moment her husband walking Lucy into the back rooms at the clubhouse. The urge to run across the room and rip out his throat for even looking at my girl. I had sat by and let him take her, let him put his hands on her. Another of my failings.

  “He thinks I don’t know he fucks every woman he meets. He thinks I’m the fool. Julio has told me of the sex trafficking those other men do. It is bad enough my husband allows drugs to be sold to children, but now he wants to do business with men who steal women and rape them, and allow others to rape them.” Her voice hardened as she spoke, though her eyes never left Julio. He reached across to her and rested his hand on top of hers. “I won’t have it.”

  “Of the two evils, we are the lesser?” I looked at Julio. He watched Carmella with love. The rage she showed in her voice echoed in his expression.

  “Everyone has evil in them, Mason. I’m not an idiot. But your club, you deal some light drugs, you run guns for a few gangs. Nothing that hurts your community like the Disciples. Community means a great deal to my Carmella.” He squeezed her hand and smiled. “Dealing with your club, that will continue to produce the profits we enjoy, and if at some future time we want to expand it will be done with not guns and blood, but with the help of the other cartels.”

  Politics weren’t my thing. The lies, the games, it was all too much for me, and I knew Julio was dreaming. There would always be spilt blood when it came to expansion of territories. There wasn’t wheeling and dealing to make that happen. At least not so far. Maybe he could do it, maybe he couldn't. To be honest, I didn’t give a fuck. I had a job to do and then I had to get home.

  “That sounds all fine and dandy.” Tick sat back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. “But that still doesn't explain why Mason and I are sitting here.”

  “Marcus has agreed to continue with the deal he made with my brother. Short runs through your two towns and up through the neighboring three. Providing safe travel for my men. The Disciples will be gone. Closed down, wiped out—whatever the term is you Americans use.”

  “Okay.” I leaned forward. “And what does all that cost Marcus? This big run?”

  “Oh, there is no run.” He smiled. “I don’t need American boys coming down here to get my product over the border. No, your job is much easier.”

  “What is it?” I chose to ignore the insults and just move forward with finding out what the hell was going on.

  “You two are going to kill Bernardo.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  LUCY

  I wasn’t going to last another night with Jayson. Not one more. I got lucky last night and he came home after I’d fallen asleep, drunk and stoned. He passed out in the living room of his apartment, missing the couch on his way down and landing on the floor. The booming thud of his fat body hitting the ground woke me up. I found him face down in the carpet and left him there.

  My luck was going to run out, though. Soon. Lucas stopped me in the motor pool to ask me more questions about Mason. Did I know where he’d run off to, when was he coming back. To everything I denied knowing anything.

  “You told me to stay away from him, remember?” I slid my key into my car door.

  “I know I did. And I know you didn’t.” He looked around at the other members working on their bikes. “Jessica’s taking some time off,” he announced, not looking at me.

  “Is she okay?” My spine stiffened. I knew they were hanging around each other a lot but I hadn’t known they were that serious.

  “Yeah. Fine.”

  “Maybe I’ll go see her today.” I shielded my eyes from the sun as I looked up at him. His eyes caught mine and he took a deep breath.

  “She’s not at her place. She’s at mine.” He nearly growled and I knew that sound. That possessive tone. Mason had only been gone two days and I already missed that about him. When he hung around the clubhouse, I knew I’d be safe. Even when Bernardo walked me back to my room, I knew one scream from me and Mason would have barreled into the room, ready to kill.

  “Mind if I stop over there, then?” He wanted to keep her away from the clubhouse for a reason, and I hoped that reason had nothing to do with me, or Mason.

  “Do you know where Mason went off to?” he asked again with more heat and narrowed eyes. He’d never used that tone with me before, and it put my guard up.

  “No, Lucas. I don’t know where he is, only that he was going out of town for the club. He said he’d be gone a week maybe two.” His jaw tightened and for a moment I thought he was about to lay into me, but he shook his head and nodded instead.

  “Do you know if it was his club or our club he was doing business for?” His tone lowered, the concerned Lucas was back.

  “I don’t know. I didn't ask questions.” I felt my phone vibrating but I ignored it. Jayson was still passed out and Mason was the only other person who had the number.

  He eyed me silently for what felt like several minutes as my phone vibrated again. “You can go see Jessica. But if Jayson looks for you, you get your ass back here and you don’t bring her with.” Again he hardened his tone.

  “What’s going on, Lucas? Why are you hiding her away?” I also wanted to ask why he was so willing to throw me to the wolves, but better not to piss him off.

  “Things aren’t going as planned. That’s all you need to know. I want her off the compound for a little while I figure this all out. If we go into lockdown, she’ll hightail it here with you.”

  “Lockdown?”

  He gave a small snort and shook his head. “Sometimes I forget you aren’t really one of us.” With that he walked away. Not really one of them. Mason had that same look in his eyes when I had to question something he said, or when he grinned over a word I misused.

  The fact was, I wasn’t one of them. None of them would protect me if shit really hit the fan. Hell, none of them did anything when Jayson refused to let me leave and started using me as his personal whore.

  This life. This was Mason’s life. He said he wanted out of it, to live outside the MC, but could he? From as far as I could tell he’d been a member for over ten years. Nearly his entire adult life. Could he really walk away and just live like normal people? And in two months, when we were working dead end jobs, struggling to pay the rent, would he look at me with resentment because I pulled him away from all of this? The money, the excitement, all given up for me? A girl who had turned into a prostitute not more than three weeks after living on her own in the world?

  My mother would be more than ashamed of the situation I lived in. Getting paid for sex, taken as an old lady for a fat, old biker, and trying to keep my head above water to get a grasp on the whole situation.

  As I drove through the gates I felt more alone than
ever before. Never had I wanted my mother back more fiercely than that moment.

  ***

  Jessica opened the door to Lucas’s house with a wide smile. “Thank God!” She pulled me into the house and into her arms, hugging me hard. “I was about to go crazy sitting in here by myself.”

  I laughed at the irony of her situation. “At least your jail is a whole house.” I wandered down the front hall, looking at all of the posters Lucas had hung on the walls. Different makes and models of Harleys were framed and hanging all over the house.

  “Does Lucas know you're here?” Jessica passed by me and showed me to the kitchen, where the smell of coffee caught my attention.

  “Yeah. He gave his permission.” I made a face then gestured toward the pot of freshly brewed coffee. “I’ll love you forever if I could steal a cup.”