“Easy,” Mason says. His knuckles go white against the steering wheel. “I sat across from the entrance to Dee’s building at some bar and waited for you to come out. When you finally did come out—as Jane—I pretty much fucking lost it.”
I feel the need to say, “It’s not what you—“
“Let me finish,” Mason snaps.
The whiplash tone has my head going the same speed when I turn to look at him in anger, but it’s in that moment I remind myself, as the muscles in his jaw tense and he blinks rapidly, the tendons of his arms going rigid underneath his skin, that minutes ago he broke into an apartment, bloodied himself, and beat up two men, all to get me out of there.
I clamp down on any retorts I might have.
“I keep trying to tell myself you’re gone,” Mason says. “The Mack I knew is no more. Then this morning happens, with the kind of sex that you’ve only probably read in your fairytale romances, and I find the Mack I lost. I see enough of her that I’m turned into this pathetic-ass puppy panting on the other side of the road, waiting for the pretty lady to exit the building and give me a cookie.”
“Mason, I—“
“And then who comes out but the woman who tempts, who seduces, who fakes, and I think—she got me. I was dumb enough to think the real Mack was somewhere under that temptress, when really, it’s the other way around.” Mason glances at me. “Jane’s the real you.”
I shake my head, but don’t get a chance to speak.
“That’s okay, sweetheart. I’m fine with it, considering how I treated you back then and hell, now. We do what we need to survive, and you got the money and ran. I figured that was my exit cue and I made arrangements for the first flight out as you got into the car.”
“But … you didn’t leave.”
“Nope.” Mason smacks the steering wheel with open fists. “I promised you no strings, and yeah, that should come with no hard feelings, but I can’t fucking stop. I can’t fucking stop raging at the woman who’s ruining your life, this Jane you’ve created in the face of your dad’s demise, of my past treatment of you, and so that’s why I followed your car. Because despite being publicly outed as a paid escort, you still couldn’t stop.”
I shake my head. “You have it so wrong.”
“Clearly. I walked into a fucking butcher’s shop. What the fuck kind of guy was that? How did you get wrapped up as his hooker and why—“
“Stop. Just stop.”
“No. You don’t get to cut off our conversation. I’ll lock you in this car if I have to. All this time you’ve insisted you’re safe, you’re smart, you’re making more money than you’ve ever dreamed of and you’re happy, and then I find some sadistic dickhead branding you with a fire poker.”
“It’s … he’s …”
“He’s what, Mack?” Mason bangs his hands against the wheel again, but much harder. “Why are you still hooking? Why couldn’t the cash I gave you be enough? Fuck.” Mason’s voice turns sandpaper rough. “Why couldn’t I be enough?”
A few heavy seconds weigh between us, the only sound coming from the car’s engine.
I chew my lower lip, then say, “He was blackmailing me.”
Mason stops at a red light and turns to face me. “What?”
“Giles. At first he wanted me to launder money for him through my business ... but then you came along, offering me a quarter million, and I thought...”
Mason exhales heavily. “You thought you could pay him off.”
I nod.
“You took the money to pay off your blackmailer instead of starting a new life for yourself.”
“He threatened my father. And I had no choice but to believe it.”
“Jesus, Mack, I wish you would’ve told me.”
I shake my head. “It was my mess to clean up.”
“I think we both need to learn to lean on each other when shit gets tough.”
The statement is so out of place on Mason’s lips.
“Mason...” I say. “I’m so grateful for what you did today. But you don’t have to believe we’re something. We’re too messed up for that.”
“Are we? Mack, I want to be messy with you. I thought I lost you today. And not the past McKenna or your alter ego, Jane. You. The Mack you are now. And I realized, I would do anything for this Mack. For you.”
I clench my hands on my lap, worried my heart is falling for his words.
Because, I realize, I want them to be true so badly.
The car behind us honks, and Mason drives forward.
“It wasn’t Sorsha,” he says. “It was Jess who outed you. And it came from Giles. Meaning, that douche-mouth was never gonna accept the quarter mill at face value. He wanted to ruin you. Then denigrate you.”
Mason’s grip is so tight on the wheel, he might break it. I lay my hand on his hard forearm, tendons and muscles pulsing.
“You didn’t let that happen,” I say.
“Actually, it’s Brax that didn’t let it happen.”
I pause. “Really?”
“Brax met some people in rehab, computer geeks who like exploring the dark web or some shit. He reached out to them.”
“Brax knows hackers?”
“Yeah, Brax is still making friends in high places,” Mason says, false humor lacing his voice.
“Sober ones, thanks to you.”
“Say what?”
“You helped him. Stayed with him. Did everything you could. Saved him.”
Mason makes a sound in his throat as he makes a right turn. “I’m not a good guy, Mack. You gotta stop seeing me in that light.”
“You became one for your brother,” I say. “You think I don’t remember the sacrifices you made for him when we were young? The jail time you did?”
Mason shrugs it off. “He’s the only family I got. I couldn’t let him go down our pops’s road.”
“And you saved me today.” I laugh softly, squeezing his forearm then letting go. “I was wrong, Mase, when I said you haven’t changed and meant it as a bad thing. You’ve always had good in you, even if you refuse to believe it.”
“I want to keep finding the good with you.”
I stiffen at his words, but not with tense foreboding. With hope.
“I’m going through a lot,” he says, “And so are you. It took me a while to come to this point, and seeing you naked on a butcher’s table certainly helped, but I want to get through these tough times with you. I don’t want to lose you again, Mack.”
I say, so low he almost can’t hear me, “I don’t think you ever lost me.”
“Mack. McKenna.” Mason says my name like he’s cherishing it, then pulls over, flipping on his hazard lights. The resulting horns and the blocking of traffic on this one way street doesn’t phase him.
He says, “Are we doing this? Are you sticking with me?”
I offer a tentative smile. “I can’t very well leave my hero without his heroine, now can I?”
“Ah, Mack.” Mason pulls me into his arms. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m totally fine being your anti-hero.”
“We have to figure this out,” I say into his neck. “Your band. Getting out of this job of mine. If these last weeks have taught me anything, it’s...”
“That we like each other more than we hate each other?”
I laugh. “No. It’s that maybe we love each other, and that’s why we can’t stay out of each other’s business.”
“Since the very beginning.” Mason kisses my temple.
“Our own fucked up, sweet, delicious, fiery kind of love,” I say.
Mason pushes away enough to search my face. “That’s the only kind of love I want.”
“I know,” I say. “Now kiss me like you mean it, before we have to start cleaning up both our messes.”
Mason leans in, and I meet him halfway, hoping that one day soon, we’ll take each other all the way.
I love you, Mason Payne.
Former Bully. Big brother. Rock star. Friend.
And ... my unintentional good guy.
* * *
Wyn’s story is next and coming soon!
While you wait, are you curious how Taryn and Easton met? Or Rex and Harper? Become part of their love story in Playing You and Sing to Me, both of which can be read as standalones and available in Kindle Unlimited!
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Also by Ketley Allison
Players to Lovers
Trusting You
Daring You
Craving You
Playing You
Rockers to Lovers
Sing to Me
Strum Me
Sync Me (Coming Soon)
Falling Paper Duet
Play the Man
Win the Game
Vows Duet
To Have and to Hold
From This Day Forward
About the Author
Ketley Allison has always been a romantic at heart. That passion ignited when she realized she could put her dreams into words and her heart into characters. Ketley was born in Canada, moved to Australia, then to California, and finally to New York City to attend law school, but most of that time was spent in coffee shops thinking about her next book.
Her other passions include wine, coffee, Big Macs, her cat, and her husband, possibly in that order.
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Strum Me Page 26