by L. P. Dover
What the hell was he up to? I wondered, narrowing my gaze.
Being around the guy made my skin crawl, and my instincts screamed at me to run as far away as possible. The one day I decided to go out on my own, away from Mason, was the one day I had to run into this man alone.
“Wade is a good friend,” I said matter-of-factly. “I’ve known him a long time.”
“Hmm … well, what I heard was a different story. I heard you two were a lot more than just good friends.”
“That was a long time ago. Things have changed in the years I’ve been gone,” I stated adamantly.
“I see. So are you coming to the party tonight?” he asked, leaning over on his elbows with a gleam in his eyes.
The waitress finally came and set down my omelet and orange juice. Was it bad that I’d already lost my appetite? “Thank you,” I said, smiling up at her.
She glanced over at Erick, setting down a menu, and politely asked, “Is there anything I can get for you this morning while you look over the menu?”
Please say no, please say no, I repeated over and over in my mind. While he looked over the menu, I quickly texted Mason, hoping he was awake, or at least hoping my text would wake him up.
Me: Please get down here to the restaurant now! Erick, the guy with the dragon tattoo, is down here and sitting across from me. HURRY!
Even though I wanted to fly my fingers over the letters, I did it calmly so Erick wouldn’t think I was panicking. He handed the menu back to the waitress and said, “Actually, I think I’ll just have a cup of coffee. I’m not going to be here long.”
When she left to get his coffee, he glanced back at me and repeated his earlier question, “So you never answered … are you going to the party tonight?”
Taking a bite of my omelet, I drank a sip of my orange juice, forcing it down. “Yes, I’m going. Wade is supposed to text me later to give me his address.”
The waitress came back with Erick’s coffee and set it down along with some cream and sugar. Picking up his cup, he blew off the steam and lifted a curious brow. “So, will your friend be joining you to the party? I know Wade will be sorely disappointed.”
Clearing my throat, I took another sip of my juice and studied him. “Who exactly are you talking about? I do have more than one friend.”
He guffawed and set his cup down. “There’s no need to play coy, Ms. O’Briene. I saw you come in last night with Mason Bradley. When I saw him at the club I knew I recognized him from somewhere.”
“Well, not that it’s any of your business, but yes, Mason will be coming with me. How did you know his name?”
Erick drank the rest of his coffee and pushed his cup to the side. “He used to be one of MMA Pride’s best fighters,” he pointed out. “You do know he used to fight professionally, right?”
“Yes, I know,” I remarked coolly. “He’s a good fighter. I watched him for the first time the other night.”
Erick’s eyes went wide in delight. “Is he fighting again? When did he start that?”
As much as I hated that Mason needed to get involved with him, I knew that the only way was to get him on the inside, and to get on the inside he needed to fight. Nodding my head, I replied, “He just started back as a matter of fact. I think he wants to get back into it, though. He has a fight against some guy named Matt Reynolds next Friday night.”
Erick cleared his throat, surprise clearly written on his face. “Holy shit, that’s going to be an interesting fight, there’s no way I’m going to miss that.” His phone started to buzz, so he glanced down at it and got to his feet. “Claire, it’s been a pleasure, but I must be on my way. I’ll see you and Mason at the party tonight.”
After laying down a couple of twenties on the table, he answered his phone and strolled away. As soon as he walked out the doors to the restaurant, I left my half eaten omelet and stalked after him. Once I made sure he was out of the hotel, I ran straight to the elevators to rush back up to Mason. He was probably going to be so pissed that he wasn’t down here with me.
Impatiently, I pounded on the button, waiting on the doors to open. “Hurry up,” I hissed under my breath. As soon as I heard the elevator settle into place and the dinging sound of the door, I rushed in and ran straight into Mason. He caught me in his arms, his chest heaving up and down in anger. “Where is he?” he growled, moving us back out of the elevator. He examined the room, raking his gaze here and there, and when he couldn’t spot Erick he blew out a frustrated breath.
“He’s not here, Mason. I watched him walk out of the front doors just a couple of minutes ago,” I told him.
“From now on don’t ever come down here without me. Is he staying here in the hotel?”
I shrugged. “I would think so. He told me he saw me and you come in last night together.”
“What else did he say?” he asked. Taking my hand, he led us back to the elevator. Since we were the only ones in there, I went ahead and filled him in.
“He knows who you are, Mason. He said he recognized you at the club and that you used to be one of MMA Pride’s best fighters. He’s also going to be at the party tonight and asked if I was going to bring you. His name is Erick Young.”
“What did you tell him?”
The doors to the elevator opened, and as we walked down the hall to our room I kept my voice quiet when I spoke, “I told him yes that I was bringing you to the party. I also told him about your fight next Friday. He seemed very interested about it and said he wasn’t going to miss it.”
Mason froze as he was about to put the key in the door, and looked over at me with a look of contemplation on his face. “Hmm … I wonder if he’s going to say something to me tonight,” he murmured. “I wish I knew what the hell he was up to.”
“I don’t know, Mason. All I know is that I didn’t get a good feeling from him. Whatever happens tonight at the party, or if he talks to you, just please be careful. I didn’t want to tell him a thing about you, but I know I needed to.”
Sighing, he bent down to kiss me on the lips. “It’s okay, baby. I’m just glad you’re all right. The whole time I was racing to get down to you, thoughts of Summer came to mind and I didn’t want to imagine anything happening to you. By the time I woke up alone and saw the text I almost went out of my fucking mind. I need to call Ryan and give him Erick’s name and see what he can dig up.”
He opened the door, and when I walked in, the room was a complete disaster. There were clothes strewn all over the bed and the floor. “See, I told you … out of my fucking mind. I threw my bag on the bed and ripped it apart just to get to my clothes. Don’t worry, I’ll clean it all up, but I was just in a hurry to get to you,” he uttered sheepishly.
“Mason, I’ll straighten up the clothes while you call Ryan and give him Erick’s name. That’s more important right now. So go,” I commanded, shooing him off.
He dialed Ryan’s number and opened up his laptop, pounding away as he waited for Ryan to pick up. Once he got on the phone, Mason gave him the name and that was about it. He typed away on the computer a little more, and by the time I finished straightening his clothes he was done.
“So what did you find out? Anything?” I asked, coming up behind him. He was looking at the MMA Pride website, but then he closed his laptop and sighed.
“Ryan’s going to search for information on all the Erick Young’s in the system. I looked on the website, but I couldn’t find anything on him there. I don’t know when they updated the website last, but from their current agent list there wasn’t an Erick Young on there.”
“What if Erick isn’t even his real name,” I remarked incredulously. “How are you going to find out who he really is?”
Mason shrugged. “A lot of searching, I guess. I’m sure Ryan will figure it out. They reopened a case of this same thing happening a few years ago in Ohio. Maybe they will find a link.”
Oh, wow. I had no clue this sort of thing had happened before.
With Mason’s clothes all fold
ed on the bed, I stacked them neatly into piles. We still had a while before the party and I wanted to spend some time with him … just him. I didn’t want to have to worry about anything else. Being in Vegas had brought our pasts back, but I wanted Mason to spend time with who I was at the moment and vice versa. We played our roles and I hated not knowing who to trust or what to believe. All I knew was that Mason was real, he was mine, and I wanted to know all of him, right down to his deepest and darkest fears.
Mason was stuffing his clothes back in his bag, and when I cleared my throat he lifted his green gaze to mine, lifting his brows. “Something you need to say?” he asked.
Biting my lip, I nodded with a huge grin on my face. “Actually, there is. Let’s go do something together today, something that doesn’t pertain to dancing or fighting. We’ve been here for a week now, trying to figure out our relationship on top of trying to solve a case. All I want is a few hours to ourselves, just me and you.”
Mason set his bag on the floor and smiled, his eyes gleaming in anticipation. “What did you have in mind?” he inquired, sneaking a glance toward the bed and then back to me.
Playfully, I scoffed, putting my hands on my hips. “Is that seriously all you think about?”
“Only when I’m with you,” he confessed. “Besides, I need to get my mind off of everything going on.”
“Do you want to visit Summer again today?”
Sighing, he shook his head and objected, “No, I don’t think it’s a good idea to go today. If I see her again I’m just going to get angry and that’s not how I need to go to the party tonight. I can go first thing in the morning to see her.”
Averting his gaze, he was on the other side of the bed, gripping his hands into tight fists. Mason was a strong man, and in his line of work he was used to seeing people who had been killed in accidents, murdered, raped, molested, and so forth. It was easy to keep your emotions in check when you didn’t know the people, except now it was all hitting close to home … close to his heart, and he didn’t know how to handle it.
Slowly, I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around his waist. His hands gradually unclenched and he brought them up to hold onto my arms. Placing my head on his back, I could hear the erratic beat of his heart thumping deep inside his chest; thump-thump, thump-thump.
“It’s okay to be upset, Mason. You don’t have to hide how you truly feel. I know you think you have to be strong all the time, but with me you don’t have to be.” I squeezed him tighter. “I want to be there for you … always.”
Grabbing my hands, Mason pulled me around so I could face him, draping my arms around his neck so he could hold me close. “You know, when I first met you I didn’t think there was a serious bone in your body.”
“It’s because there wasn’t,” I teased. “I was only twenty-two years old. You forget I’m four years younger than you. Although, I will admit that I thought you had too many serious bones in your body.”
With a devilish smirk, he lowered his hands to my ass and held me tight as he pushed his hips against mine. “I can show you one of those serious bones if you want me to,” he murmured, swaying us back and forth.
Biting my lip, I groaned as he rubbed his hardening cock against my stomach, taunting me. I wanted to make love to him and I could see it in his hungered gaze that he was about to lose control. I loved that look. I craved it just as much as I craved his touch. In that one gaze alone I could see everything he wanted to do to me. I wanted him to rip my clothes off. I wanted to feel him thrust so deep and hard that it hurt, but in a good way. My insides ached as if a fire burned through every nerve ending of my body … and Mason was the only one who could put out that fire.
Licking my lips, I let my hands trail down his chest to the waist of his shorts. “You know, we have several hours before the party. What on earth are we going to do with all that time?”
In one quick move, Mason swept me up in his arms and we both went down on the bed. Lifting my tank top over my head, he pushed my bra out of the way and palmed my breast. Moaning low in his throat, he revealed, “I’m sure we can think of plenty of things to do … starting with this.”
He quickly rolled my nipple with his tongue before closing down and sucking as hard as he could. Arching my back, I cried out with the pleasure and pain of it. It only intensified more when he spread my legs open and reached inside my pants, groaning as he pushed his fingers inside my damp opening. I was ready for him, especially when my first orgasm exploded, making my body clench around his fingers.
Mason chuckled and grazed his wet fingers over my throbbing clit. “That’s one down, baby. Be prepared for a lot more because I plan on making love to you and fucking you in every way I know how.”
Just the thought made my body tremble. It was going to be one hell of an afternoon.
My whole body was sore by the time Mason and I finished for the afternoon. He had to carry me into the bathroom and place me in the bathtub because I was completely spent. “You better liven up, baby. We have a party to go to tonight.”
“Can’t we just stay here,” I groaned halfheartedly. I knew we had to go to the party, but the hot water and soothing aroma of the bath salts fizzing around my body felt amazing. The whole room smelled like lavender.
Mason chuckled and splashed water in my face to wake me up. Before I could protest, my phone started to ring in the other room. “Do you want me to get that for you?” he asked.
I wiped the water away from my eyes and nodded. “Yeah, you can bring it here. It’s probably Wade. He needs to give me directions to his house.”
With a glum expression, Mason brought me my phone; when he handed it to me it wasn’t Wade on the caller ID … it was Cooper. Just my luck. I held my phone, staring at it like an idiot, not knowing if I should answer it or not.
“Just take the call, Claire,” Mason said. “I’m a big boy. I can handle it if some other guy calls you. It was me who fucked you senseless today so I’m not too worried.”
He left me alone in the bathroom and shut the door behind him as he walked out. The last time I talked to Cooper was when I left him angry and alone at my house, so needless to say I was kind of nervous. Taking a deep breath, I finally answered the phone, “Hey, Cooper, is everything okay out there?”
He didn’t answer right away, but when he did, my heart broke for him all over again. I could hear the hurt in his voice. He tried to mask it, but I knew he was still angry at me.
“Yeah, everything’s going fine. Brett told me Melissa was worried about you and Mason since you hadn’t called in a while so I thought I would check up on you.”
Shit! Melissa was going to be furious with me and Mason for not calling. It had only been a couple of days, but given the situation it probably felt like years to her. Also, with her raging pregnancy hormones I bet she was driving Brett crazy.
Groaning, I sat up in the tub and switched the phone to my other ear. “Oh, no, I bet she’s furious with us right now. I’ll make sure to call her as soon as I can.”
“Sounds good,” he replied awkwardly.
We sat in silence for a few seconds and it killed me that it had come to that. Cooper was my best friend for so long and now nothing was ever going to be the same. “Is that the only reason why you called?” I asked softly.
Blowing out a heavy sigh, he said, “No, it’s not the only reason. I wanted to tell you that I’ve been helping Brett look over your house and the vineyards while you’re gone. I’ve stacked your mail up on the counter and watered the flowers in your garden. I know you spent a lot of time taking care of them.” Of course he knew I spent a lot of time on them; he was there helping me for the gazillion hours it took to plant them.
“Oh, Cooper,” I cried, choking back my tears. “You didn’t have to do all of that.”
“I know I didn’t, but I wanted to. I’ll give you back your house key when you get home. It’s strange being there knowing you’re gone and that you’re with someone else.”
My h
eart ached, and I couldn’t stop the tears from flowing even if I tried. “Coop, you know I didn’t want to hurt you, right? You are the last person in the world I ever wanted to hurt.”
“I know,” he murmured sadly, “but I still love you, Claire. I think deep down I knew it wouldn’t work. We had our fun messing around and having our nights together when I was in town, but I wanted you so bad that I tried too hard to keep you when you finally opened up to me. I should’ve known it was a losing battle.”
“No, it wasn’t, Cooper. You helped me when I needed someone and you picked me back up. I don’t regret anything about our time together,” I wailed.
“Neither do I, Claire,” he claimed wholeheartedly, and before hanging up he repeated those words again, only softer, “Neither do I.”
As soon as I set down my phone on the counter beside the tub, Mason opened the door and leaned against the frame with his arms crossed. “Were you listening?” I asked, splashing water in my face to wipe away the tears. The water was beginning to lose its heat, so I took my washcloth and bottle of raspberry shower gel, lathering it up good.
Mason came up to the tub and took the soapy washcloth from my hands so he could wash my back. He cleared his throat, and sounded almost guilty when he spoke, “I didn’t mean to listen in, but it was kind of hard not to when I heard you start crying. Is everything okay?”
Nodding, I moaned when he massaged the soap into my neck and back. “He called to tell me that Melissa was worried about us. You need to make sure you call her to tell her you’re all right.”
Groaning, Mason moved to the front of the tub so he could look into my eyes. “I’ll call her in just a minute. Is that all he had to say?”
“Yeah, pretty much. He wasn’t angry like he was when I left him to come after you. I’m glad he called, Mason. I didn’t like the way I ended things with him, but at the time I didn’t have a choice. I needed to get to you as fast as I could. At least now I have closure with him and I don’t feel as if things are completely on bad terms.”