by Casey Hagen
Raymond never called her. Her heart plummeted into her stomach. She cleared her suddenly dry throat. “Good morning,” she squeaked out.
“Listen, Lily. I hate to do this, but I happened to be watching the news and the next thing I knew the station was flooded with calls. I’m going to have to suspend the show for now.”
She clutched the phone so hard in her hands, her fingers turned white. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I’m not saying you did, but right now, there is a lot speculation and suspicion. We can’t keep you on the air while you’re suspected of participating in the abduction of a child.”
“I’m not a suspect. The police interviewed me and let me go. Don’t you think if I had anything to do with this I would be sitting in a cell?”
“I’m sorry, Lily, but my decision is final.”
With every moment a piece of her life vanished. She had no intention of standing by and letting that happen. “I understand.”
“Look, we’re keeping you on the payroll, for now. You don’t have to worry about that,” Raymond assured her.
“No, I just have to worry about my losing my friends, family, coworkers, and my life to something I had no part of,” she said right before hanging up.
She mindlessly grabbed clothes and threw her hair up in a messy bun. She wasn’t waiting one more minute for Mason to call her back. Hoping there had been an address on that business card, she headed for the kitchen where she found Jasmine talking low on her phone.
“You called them?” Lily asked.”
“You had to know I would. Sage and Ivy agree. We’re not letting you go through this alone.”
Lily picked up the card and there it was in black and white. “Fine, but first, Mason has some explaining to do. If he won’t call me, I’ll go to him,” Lily said waving the business card in the air.
“You need me to come with you?” Jasmine asked.
Lily, emboldened by an ounce of resolve, and a boatload of anger shook her head. “No. I love you for offering, but I’ve got this.”
Chapter 6
Mason paced his office as he poured over the intel collected by his team. Every last scrap of evidence gathered ruled out the family. There was just no way this mother or father had anything to do with their daughter’s disappearance.
There was nothing worse than finding out one or both parents had gotten involved in something dangerous, leaving their child exposed to danger, or done something sinister to their own child. Not when parents like his grieved with everything they had, costing them friendships, jobs, and eventually their marriage.
No matter how many kids they found through their division of the Phoenix Agency, those cracks in their foundation remained. With every day stretched out between Alegra’s death and their lack of answers, those cracks grew a bit more weathered demanding that something, anything, be done, and done soon.
Mason dug his fingers into his forehead trying to erase the headache that had lodged in their since he left Lily’s house the day before.
Which brought him to the next stack of intel.
He had nothing on her. Her financials were squeaky clean. He’d almost argue they were abnormally so, if it hadn’t been so apparent that her caution had been an admirable drive to buy her first house. She’d put down twenty percent, and from all indications, there had been no large sums of money gifted or deposited. Just a slow build of money stashed away into her savings over the course of five years.
Her neighbors noted how they only tended to see her out on questionable weather days or at night, something he intended to get to the bottom of, but it still offered no evidence of how she could possibly be connected to Mara’s disappearance.
So why didn’t he just let it go and shit his focus?
Because he was “her boy”, whatever that meant.
People from her hometown had plenty to say about her visions and about how she and her three friends, were all “touched by the devil”, as they had called it. Not entirely surprising from people in the bible belt. Interesting how she managed to team up with three others that witnesses claimed have “powers” like Lily’s.
He felt like an idiot just thinking of visions and powers. Every time he said either word out loud, he’d managed to restrain himself from the persistent need to put air quotes around it.
His gut churned reminding him that he still hadn’t found a way to rationalize how she had managed to “see” him all those years ago.
How the hell could she have seen events of his childhood like that? And what the hell had she meant that he was “her boy”?
If he hadn’t been such a little bitch about it, he might have stuck around to find out, but her uncanny recollection hit him unlike anything Cybill had managed to conjure up to ensnare him years ago. That combined with the bone-deep attraction that had gripped him and held him tight, overwhelming him with a feeling that somehow, someway, they were predestined, had him hastily saying good night and getting the hell out of dodge.
He snapped his gaze to the doorway at the sound of Garrett’s rapid knock.
“Hey, man. Anything come from the reports?” Garrett asked.
“Not one damn thing. I don’t think she had anything to do with it. Or, if she did, she’s managed to hide it in ways that I’ve never seen. I still have some digging to do to be sure.”
Garrett glanced out into the main office before shutting the door. “Listen, why don’t you let it go, man? If you haven’t found a shred of evidence, change your focus. I talked to Jasper. I know the info he gave you. You know damn well if there is no sign there, it’s not her.”
Mason tilted his head first right, then left, cracking it. “You weren’t there, Garrett. You didn’t hear her.”
“No, but I know that bullshit with Cybill never quite left you and if you’re not careful, you’ll lose your direction on this case and fuck it up. There’s a little girl at stake so get your shit together.”
Mason’s shoulders locked up tight. The last thing he needed was a god damned lecture from his little brother. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
“Hey, I think you’re the best at what you do. Better than all of us. But this…this is hitting you in a whole different way and our organization can’t go down under bad PR because you can’t get your head, or your dick out of the past.”
Mason resisted the urge to snap at him. “I’m fine. I’m focused.”
Garrett sat on the corner of Mason’s desk and picked up Lily’s file with her picture clipped to the front page. “This is her?”
Mason clenched his jaw. “Yeah, that’s her.”
“She’s hot,” Garrett said scanning the pages.
“Knock that shit off.”
Garrett’s hands froze and he glanced up. “What? I can’t notice how she looks?”
“She’s not available.”
Garrett flipped the pages back over and tossed the folder down on the desk. “Level with me, man. Do you need to tag out of the lead on this one? I’m getting one hell of a vibe here and I don’t like it.”
“I’ve got it—”
They both turned at the sound of commotion in the office.
“Where the hell is he?” a female voice questioned.
Despite the anger he’d recognize that voice anywhere.
“Hey, you can’t go in there,” Callie said.
Mason and Garrett headed for the office door.
“Just try to stop me. I’ll go into every damn room you have until I find Mason. Now where is he?”
He stepped out of his office door and crossed his arms. “I’m right here.”
Lily’s gaze snapped to his and she pointed her finger at him. “You! You have a hell of a lot of nerve.” She marched right up to him, all of five-foot-three, radiating pure hostility.
Garrett stifled a laugh. Mason elbowed him.
“Well, Lily, it’s lovely seeing you again.” The worst part? He wasn’t lying. His first worry last night when he had left her row home was t
he possibility of not seeing her again. He’d swear she had cast some sort of spell or spiked his drink with some sort of voodoo magic with the way he hadn’t been able to shut off his thoughts about her. Only he hadn’t had a drink and she hadn’t been out of his sight, so that sure as hell wasn’t it.
“Don’t you dare mock me. Where do you get off telling the press that you suspect I’m preparing to take the Wilkins family for their money?” She poked him right in the sternum with those neat, short cropped nails, enunciating every word with a sharp jab.
Damned if she didn’t knock him off balance making him take a step back. “I never said that.” Did he? He’d never said anything to the press at all, but he couldn’t deny that he’d had his suspicions.
“Really, hotshot? Then explain to me why I had a cluster of reporters camped outside my house this morning just waiting to attack the minute I stepped out the door? It’s all over the news now, too.”
“Come on. I doubt that.”
“Did you miss what I just said? Reporters…camped outside my house. It has to be on the news, I lost my job over it,” she said. Her bottom lip wobbled.
Shit. He grimaced. “They fired you?”
“Put my show on hold, but it’s only a matter of time before word spreads and my show is destroyed all together and it’s all because of you. Is this usually how you investigate a case? You make unfounded accusations and leave ruined lives in the wake? If it is…shame on you.”
She turned on her heel and took a couple steps before he managed to connect his brain to his hand and reached for her. He turned her to him.
She shot a look at him and glanced down to where his long fingers circled her arm, almost completely around.
“Lily, I didn’t go to the press. I don’t know how they got that information, but it’s not because I gave it to them. Think about it. The bigger a case blows up, the harder it is for me to do my job.”
She pinched her lips together. “Then where did they get the info?”
He let go of her arm. “I don’t know. I only mentioned my suspicions once, and that was during a call to my brother, Talon.”
“Where were you when you made that call?” Garrett asked from the doorway.
Mason turned to him. “I was standing outside of my car in front of Lily’s house.”
“Which means, someone had their eye on you. Or her,” Garrett said with a gesture in Lily’s direction. Garrett leveled a look at Mason. “And you missed it.”
Because he was distracted by her fucking declaration. “Come on. Let’s go in my office.”
“I don’t think so. I said what I had to say.” She headed for the front door.
“Well, that’s too damn bad, because I have a few things I’m going to say and you’re going to listen.”
She froze and slowly turned to him with a raised brow. “You think you can tell me what to do?”
“Do you want to hash out the questions I have after what you said to me after your interview last night in front of everyone here?”
She glanced around to the faces of their staff who had stopped to watch the two of them spar. “Fine.” She marched past him into his office, but didn’t sit.
“Good luck with that one.” Garrett leaned into Mason. “She looks like she wants to skin you alive,” Garrett said with a laugh.
“Tell me about it. I should be the one pissed, but she’s managed to turn the tables on me.”
“What should you be pissed about?”
Too late he realized he had hinted at the night before. “Nothing.”
“Nice try. Just do us all a favor. Don’t screw this up because you have the hots for Lily.” Garret pushed away from the wall and headed for his office, his words echoing in Mason’s ears.
Mason stepped into his office and closed the door quietly behind him. He closed the blinds next. The last thing he needed was to pay his employees by the hour to scrutinize his every move.
“Trying to make it so there are now witnesses,” she said as she watched him close the blinds.
“I don’t like distractions.”
She watched him for a few beats before her shoulders relaxed a fraction. Nodding she leaned against his filing cabinet. “I guess I can understand that.”
“Wow, I would almost take that concession as a truce.”
She shivered. “Don’t. I don’t like you.”
He smiled at her and she took a step back.
“Are you afraid of me?” Mason asked taking a step in her direction.
Her eyes flickered to his, and then away. “No. Are you afraid of me?” she challenged with a raised brow.
“Terrified,” he said quietly, just a few feet from her.
The air whooshed from her lungs. “Why?”
“Somehow you saw me. I don’t know how, but I can’t deny it. I don’t like things that I can’t explain.”
“I had visions.”
“Yes, you’ve said.”
“And you’re still looking for my angle.”
“I was, but not now. Now I want to find out who’s watching your house because they are likely the ones who reported my phone call to the press. If it wasn’t the press watching you, that is.”
“Why do I sense something else?”
Of course she would know. He had only toyed with the idea last night lying in bed and then dismissed it not wanting to encourage her nonsense. Now, after a good night’s sleep and the added evidence all but exonerating her, the idea held merit. Especially in light of what she knew about him. Still it felt ridiculous letting the words roll out of his mouth. “I want to take you to a hypnotist.”
She dropped her hands to her sides and gaped at him. “So wait, you don’t believe in my abilities, but you believe in hypnotists?”
It sounded just as stupid as he suspected it would. He shrugged a shoulder. “Hypnotists use a relaxed state to access details you don’t know you have from real events. What you do...” he spread his arms wide, “I’ve got nothing.”
“So you believe I really saw her abduction…in one way or another?”
She’d gotten him there. Since he finally admitted to himself that she might have information he could access, he had to concede that she had had the vision because he knew for a fact she hadn’t been there physically after Jeff had sent him confirmation of her alibi with security footage from the mall.
At the exact moment Mara had been taken, Lily had just walked into Victoria’s Secret—a detail that stood out far more than it should have.
“I believe you,” he said taking another step toward her. He couldn’t resist. With the words, her eyes lit up just enough to cast away the shadows of distrust that lurked there. Shadows a lifetime of criticism and scorn had built.
He didn’t want to add to it.
Her eyes widened as he drew closer. “Umm, so about this hypnotist, did you have anyone in mind?”
“I do,” he said just a foot from her.
She leaned back to look up at him. He knew he had to be looming over her with his six-foot-five frame, but he had to test her. He needed to know what she was made of.
“So, when do we go?”
“After this,” he said sliding his hands around the sides of her neck tipping her head further back. “What did you mean when you called me your boy?”
Her dainty, pink tongue darted out and ran over her lips leaving them shiny. Kissable.
“I’ve had lifelong visions of you. Always you. It seemed as if fate was trying to tell me something.”
He swiped his thumb over her chin. “And fate’s message?”
“I was made for you and you were made for me,” she whispered.
The reverence in her voice, as if fate knew all and we were just along for the ride, pulled him in. He couldn’t explain it. Hell, he could hardly understand what was happening to them as they stood there, in a bubble of their own making, bound by a path that had been set in motion long ago.
This was unlike anything he had ever felt. The sharp memories of mis
takes he’d made drifted away like clouds of smoke on a swift breeze.
He captured her mouth, desperately needing a taste of her plump lips. She met him with a tentative exploration at first, and then eagerness, offering up everything she had. Her taste, like the milk chocolate from a cup of hot cocoa mixed with French vanilla, spun around him both new, but familiar. How was that even possible? Like he tasted the woman he hadn’t even known he had wanted for a lifetime.
Her lips parted and he took the opportunity to dive in, his tongue craving the slide against hers. Her hands locked on his forearms, the heat from her fingertips searing his skin where he had rolled up his dress shirt.
The mewling sounds in her throat vibrated through him. When she pressed closer, sliding her body right up against his, he let his hand drift down her collar bone, with just his fingertips grazing her soft skin. Arriving at the swell of her delicate breast, he slowed his assault wanting to memorize every bit of what he did to her. Of how she reacted to him.
Gently cupping her, he slid his thumb over the tight nipple shamelessly declaring itself to him. Practically begging him to touch.
Lily’s hands dove into his hair as she whimpered. When he grazed her again, her head fell back, her delicate lids drifting shut as she breathed ragged breaths.
He wanted. He’d take.
But not here. Not now.
Soon. She’d be his as much as he was hers, soon.
Chapter 7
Lily sat in the soft, dark leather passenger seat next to Mason as he navigated his Charger through the Baltimore streets with ease. The kiss he’d laid on her not twenty minutes earlier still sang through her blood leaving her reeling. She’d been seeing him since she was six. Her crush started when she was twelve. She landed in love with him when she turned sixteen.
Not that she could ever tell him that.
He’d finally admitted that she must be the real deal. There was no way she was pushing her luck. And there was no way she was pushing so far that he brought up Alegra. When it came to her, Lily had no answers.
Mason rolled up in front of a neat brownstone in Bolton Hill, a historic section of Baltimore. “We’re here,” he said as he turned off the engine.