“I bet you do.”
They weren’t but five minutes away from the cabin when they came to the crest of a hill where the woods fell away, exposing the most incredible views. Tall trees covered the mountainside, giving way to a valley below. In the distance, the tops of mountains kissed the sky.
Remi dropped Mason’s hand and spread hers out to her sides. “What do you think? Isn’t it perfect?”
He stood at the edge of the clearing, hands on his hips, filling his lungs with crisp mountain air. “If I were to pick a place to say goodbye, this would be it.”
“Really?” She launched herself into his arms, lifting her feet off the ground. She kissed him, and as she slid back down to her feet, she said, “I’m so glad you like it. I feel closer to my parents up here. One day I want to have kids and bring them here and tell them ridiculous stories that could never have happened. I want them to have nothing but great memories.” She shaded her eyes from the setting sun and said, “Do you want a family someday?”
“I’ve always wanted a family. I just never thought I’d have one.” He moved beside her and said, “Maybe one day that dream will come true for both of us.”
Her eyes brightened and her voice softened as she said, “I can only imagine a little Mason running around with your serious blue eyes, making sure his baby brother or sister is safe.”
He wanted that more than she could ever know, and he imagined that a baby sister would look just like Remi, with gorgeous honey-brown hair and unforgettable hazel eyes.
But he was getting ahead of himself, and he didn’t want to scare Remi off, so he cleared his throat and said, “Did I ever tell you about the time I caught a moose?”
She took his hand. “No, but is it true that moose love muffins?”
His brow furrowed in confusion.
“You don’t know that story?” she asked, unable to hide her astonishment.
“Can’t say I do.”
“Oh boy. You need to have kids just so you can learn the stories. Tomorrow we’re hitting the bookstore so you can read about moose and muffins, pigs and pancakes, cats and cupcakes . . .”
He laughed and hugged her. “Okay, how about boyfriends and steaks?”
“I can get on board with that, right after you tell me about the time you caught a moose.”
“I lied. It was a fox.” He swept her off her feet, kissing her again, her feet dangling beside him as he headed back down the path toward the cottage. “A beautiful fox with hazel eyes and a killer ass.”
“And she loved pizza?” she asked with a giggle as he set her on her feet.
“Nah, that’s a different story,” he teased. “This fox was wild, and she wanted only one thing. It was big and thick and—”
Her eyes widened. “Your fox is a slut!”
“Why? Because she craves Loverboys? I hear they’re a great mix of cupcakes and éclairs.”
“Nice save.” She swatted his arm. “Now I want a Loverboy.”
“You’re out of luck.” He draped an arm over her shoulder and said, “How about a lover man?”
They both laughed, and then he said, “You’re pretty cute, foxy girl.”
“You’re not so bad yourself, lover man.”
He was grinning like a fool as they followed the trail back to the cabin. “Why don’t I start up the grill and throw a few steaks on?” His phone rang, and he pulled it from his pocket and saw Porter’s name on the screen. “It’s Porter.”
Remi lowered her voice and said, “If you decide you’d rather have fox than steak, I’ll be waiting in the bedroom.” She took off her sweater as she ascended the porch steps, tossed it over her back, and strutted into the cabin.
Holy fuck.
He put the phone to his ear. “Hey, Porter, what’s up?”
“I’ve got another update.”
Mason heard tires on gravel and said, “Hold on, Porter,” as a black sedan pulled up beside the SUV. “I’ve got to call you back.”
Mason ended the call, eyeing Remi’s sweater on the ground a few feet away as Aiden stepped from the car with an angry expression. Fuck. “Hey, Aiden. We weren’t expecting you until Sunday.”
“Clearly,” he seethed, stalking toward Mason. “Shea texted when I was on my way up the mountain. In case you’ve forgotten, I’m Remi’s business manager. Shea couldn’t reach Remi and she wanted to know how to handle this.” He shoved his phone in Mason’s face, showing him TMZ’s Instagram feed with a picture of Remi and Mason walking arm in arm and kissing, taken earlier today by the shops. Beside it was a picture of them dancing the other night in the courtyard.
Damn it. “Listen, Aiden, we were going to tell you what was going on when you got here. We didn’t want to screw up your business trip.”
Aiden fisted his phone, speaking through gritted teeth. “Screw up my business trip? I’m not paying you to fuck my sister, Mason.”
Mason got in his face, hands fisted to keep from grabbing Aiden by the collar. “Don’t you ever talk about Remi like that. You’ve got it all wrong.”
“Yeah?” Aiden hollered. “Looks pretty damn clear to me. Do you have any idea how old she is?”
“I know exactly how old she is,” Mason shot back. “I also know that she was in the car with your parents when they were killed, how goddamn scared she was, and that you’ve been there for her ever since. But she’s not that kid anymore, so back off.” He tried not to sound threatening and forced a calmer tone. “I’m in love with Remi, Aiden, and every penny you paid me is coming back to you, so whatever you’re thinking—”
The sound of glass shattering cut him off. Mason bolted inside with Aiden on his heels, flying over Remi’s boots and skirt. He pushed the bedroom door open, and his heart stopped at the sight of Remi in her lingerie, gagged and tied to the bed, her terrified eyes staring back at him. Standing beside the bed, Carl spun around with a gun in his hand aimed directly at Aiden. Mason lunged in front of Aiden at the same time two shots rang out. Mason felt searing pain in his chest and stomach a second before he connected with Carl’s body, taking him down with him.
Blinded with rage, Mason punched him in the jaw, yelling, “Get Remi!” to Aiden as his fist connected with Carl’s face time and time again. Blood poured from Mason’s wounds, splattering from the force of Mason’s fist connecting with Carl’s jaw.
“Mason!” Remi screamed. “Aiden! Call 911! Oh God! Mason!”
Her cries jarred Mason from his storm of fury enough to realize Carl had gone limp beneath him, out cold. Mason rolled off him, trying to catch his breath as blood gushed from his chest and stomach. Aiden spoke frantically into the phone as Mason pushed to his knees, pain fracturing his ability to see and speak.
Remi leapt from the bed to the floor. “Oh my God! There’s too much blood.” She grabbed the sheet, pressing it to Mason’s chest and stomach. “Aiden, help me!”
Mason slumped against the wall, his vision blurring as his eyes swept over Remi. “Are . . . ?” He gasped for air. “You hurt?”
“No! Oh God, Mason. Hang on! Help is coming.” Tears flooded her cheeks. Her hands were covered in his blood as she futilely tried to stop his bleeding.
“I’m fine,” he said weakly, though he was anything but.
“The police and ambulance are on the way,” Aiden said frantically as he fell to his knees and pressed a towel to Mason’s chest and another to his stomach.
Pain clutched Mason as he grabbed Aiden’s wrist, trying to drag air into his lungs. “Get the cuffs . . . my glove box. Keys . . . by the door.”
“Remi, push on these. Hard.” Aiden’s face was a mask of terror as he switched places with Remi. “I’ll get the cuffs!” He ran out of the bedroom.
“Carl was here when I came inside,” Remi cried. “He grabbed me and shoved something in my mouth. I tried to scream. Oh, Mason! The blood . . . I can’t lose you. You have to be okay.”
Aiden flew back into the room. “Got ’em.”
Mason had only one thing on his mind, k
eeping Remi safe. He struggled to fill his lungs, but the pain was too intense. He finally choked out, “Roll him . . . over . . . cuff . . . wrists.” The room began to fade in and out, sounds muffled, and his sight blurred.
“Mason!” Remi pressed the drenched towels against him, sobbing. “Don’t close your eyes, Mason! Stay with me! I love you! Please! You have to be okay . . .”
Mason tried to focus on her, to shake the darkness that was overtaking him. “I can’t . . .”
“I’m not letting you go!” she sobbed. “Mason! Aiden! We have to do something! Help me!”
Mason’s vision went black, and Remi’s voice carried him into the darkness.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
PLEASE BE OKAY screamed through Remi’s mind as she paced the hospital waiting room, followed closely by Just breathe in a never-ending cycle of hurt. The hospital staff wouldn’t tell her or Aiden anything because they weren’t family, and she feared the worst. Time passed in a blur. Aiden had been on and off the phone since they got there, alternating between talking with Porter and trying to get her to calm down. As if calming down was even possible.
He ended a call and approached her again. Remi held her hand up. “If you tell me to sit down one more time, I swear I’ll lose it.”
“I won’t. I was going to tell you what Porter said about Carl.”
Fresh tears fell. “I can’t . . . I trusted him . . .”
Aiden pulled her into his arms. “We all did.”
“Why would he do this? It’s his fault Mason might die!” Sobs overcame her. “I can’t lose him, Aiden. I can’t. He has to be okay.”
“I know, honey.”
“Do you?” She pushed from his arms. “Do you know about us? Me and Mason?”
“He told me, but if he hadn’t, the way you ran off that bed to him . . .”
He drew back, looking down at her with hurt and anger she didn’t want to see, knowing she’d caused both.
“Remi, why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I thought you’d lose your mind,” she said honestly, too upset to try to soften the truth.
“I did lose my mind. You’re my sister, and my responsibility. I want what’s best for you. You’ve never even had a long-term relationship. How can you know you love him?”
The way he said it wasn’t judgmental. It was inquisitive, and it struck her that he really didn’t understand. “Because I can’t imagine a single day without him, and even though it’s a completely different kind of love, it’s also similar to the way that I can’t imagine a life without you in it. I just know, Aiden. In here.” She put her fist over her heart.
“He’s not much younger than me.”
“I know, and he’s been through war and too many other types of hell. He’s a good man, Aiden, a great man, and I love him with every ounce of my soul.” Tears flowed down her cheeks, and her breathing hitched as her frustrations poured out. “You have to stop seeing me as the terrified little girl you pulled from that accident. I’m not her anymore, and I can’t spend my life trying to prove to you that I can handle myself. I know I acted childishly by ditching my bodyguards, but it was all too much. I was smothered. I love you, Aiden. You’ve spent your whole adult life taking care of me, and I appreciate that, but you’ve got to get a life. You deserve to have a life separate from mine, to find someone who loves you as much as Mason and I love each other. You and I, we might be broken because of what we’ve gone through, but we’re fixable, Aiden. We can love and we can be loved.”
She swiped at her tears, and Aiden grabbed her wrist, turning it over. There were red marks from the rope Carl had used to bind her, but Aiden wasn’t looking at them. He’d already made sure she was okay when the EMTs had arrived. He was looking at the tattoo, which was still red and raw.
He brushed his thumb just below it, lifting sad eyes to Remi. “Please tell me this isn’t some sort of rebellion.”
She laugh-sobbed and shook her head. “It’s just the opposite. You’ve been my breath for so long, Aiden. It’s time for me to breathe on my own. But if I lose Mason, I’m going to need you to be my breath again, because I’ve only just found him, and . . .” Sobs swallowed her voice.
Aiden pulled her into his arms. “Shh. I know.”
Porter burst through the doors, and Remi ran to him. “They won’t tell us anything! He got shot, Porter. Twice! I’m so scared.”
She threw her arms around him and he embraced her, though rigidly, and said, “I’ll find out what’s going on.”
“Thank you!”
As he strode away, Aiden put his arm around her. “He’s a good man, too. I’m sorry for making you feel smothered. I just . . . I can’t lose you, Remi.”
“I know,” she choked out.
“Mason saved both our lives tonight. If he hadn’t been there . . .”
“Don’t go there. I can’t . . . Why would Carl do this? I thought they caught the stalker.”
“Porter said the other guy sent the letters and emails. Carl was the one who broke into your LA house. According to his wife—”
“Oh God, poor Samantha! Did she know?”
“Porter said she didn’t. When he called earlier, he said the police were questioning Carl. Carl said he was trying to scare you so you’d quit acting. He had some convoluted fantasy that you stole his wife’s success.”
“Ohmygod. I love Samantha. I’d never . . .” She wrapped her arms around herself. “He had a gun, Aiden. He shot at you. He shot Mason twice. That’s not just scaring me. It’s trying to take everything away from me.”
Life passed in slow motion, but at the same time, minutes seemed to race by. Remi was sitting with her face in her hands beside Aiden, praying Mason would be okay, when Porter returned.
She sprang to her feet. “What did they say?”
“Mason’s going to pull through,” Porter said.
The air rushed from Remi’s lungs, and she leaned against Aiden for support. “Thank God.”
“One bullet hit his lung. The other missed his vital organs. He’s going to be in ICU for observation for at least twenty-four hours before he’ll be moved to a regular patient room.”
Remi closed her eyes, sucking air into her lungs for what felt like the first time since their nightmare began. Her eyes flew open and she said, “What about Carl?”
“He’s under arrest,” Porter assured her. “He has a concussion, and they’re running tests to look for bleeding and facial injuries, but you don’t have to worry. He’ll be released directly into police custody.”
“Thank God,” Aiden said.
“Can I see Mason?” Remi asked.
Worry filled Porter’s eyes. “Yes, but you should take a minute to prepare yourself. He has a chest tube, and he’s just had surgery. He’s weak, and he’s not going to look like the man you expect.”
“None of that matters. He’s alive. That’s all I care about.”
Porter glanced at Aiden and said, “The media is out front. Merrick is holding them off. Do you want to make a statement?”
“I can’t deal with them,” Remi said anxiously. “I need to be with Mason.”
“I’ll call Shea to strategize, and then I’ll make a statement,” Aiden reassured her.
“Thank you. Aiden, I want the world to know that I’m with Mason, that we’re a couple. I’m done hiding, and if it’s all the same to you, I’m done with this public life for a while, too.”
“Of course.”
The guilt on Aiden’s face cut her to her core, but she didn’t want to waste another second talking, and went to see Mason.
The nurse at the desk tried to prepare Remi, just as Porter had, but between her racing heart, the blood rushing through her ears, and her dire need to be with Mason, she barely heard a word of it. She pushed through the door to Mason’s room. A blond nurse was standing beside the bed doing something Remi couldn’t see. Mason was hooked up to machines, eyes closed like he was sleeping. An oxygen tube snaked beneath his nose, a thicker tube l
ed from some sort of rectangular machine directly into Mason’s side, and there were more tubes attached to his arm. There were bandages on his chest, and though he was covered with a sheet, she knew his stomach would also bear the proof of his surgeries. She couldn’t hold back tears.
Porter was wrong. Mason didn’t look weak. He’d taken two bullets to save her brother and her. He was the strongest man she knew, and no matter what happened to him, he’d always look like her Mason.
The nurse turned with a warm expression and said, “Hi, I’m Leisa, Mason’s nurse. Are you by chance Remi?”
Remi’s throat thickened, and she nodded. “Yes” came out as a whisper.
“When they first brought Mason in, he came to, struggling to get off the gurney. He kept saying he needed to get to you.”
Her chest tightened, drawing more tears as she went to him. “Can I touch him?”
“Yes. Just be careful of the tubes and his injuries.”
“Of course. Thank you for taking care of him.”
“My pleasure. If you need me, just push that button.” She pointed to a call button on the bed rail.
After Leisa left, Remi stepped closer to the bed, on the side without the chest tube, and sobs consumed her.
Just breathe. Breathe, breathe, breathe.
She carefully held Mason’s hand. His knuckles were raw, and she realized it was the hand he’d used to hit Carl. Her stomach clenched. Even shot, he’d continued to protect her. She pressed her lips to his hand.
“I’m so scared, Mason,” she said shakily, just above a whisper. “I know they said you’ll be okay, but I need to see your eyes. I need to hear your voice.” Sobs silenced her again. “I need . . .” To be closer. She was trembling all over. She took off her boots and climbed carefully into bed beside him, lying on her side and holding his hand, her head close to his. “You once told me not to let anyone or anything stand in my way of getting everything I want and deserve. I want only you, Mason, and I don’t know if I deserve you, but I sure hope so.”
This is Love Page 29