“The people you love the most are the last ones you want knowing about the worst parts of you, Mason.”
“Still.”
“I think, also, we both cared about our friendship, our brotherhood so much that we didn’t want to risk jeopardizing that in any way by bearing truths that could rock the boat. The way you really felt about my little sis, me still seeing Tasha, killing Mikhail and all that.”
He nodded. “When we should’ve leaned on each other, our friendship, we were too busy trying to protect it.”
“Yeah, exactly. And… flash forward to all the bullshit drama.”
I sank back against my chair with a weary sigh.
“You’re afraid you’re gonna lose her, the baby, too,” Mason said. Before I could get a word out, his hand clamped down on my shoulder, startling me, my eyes darting to his.
Intensity burned in then as he told me, “You won’t.”
I shook my head, wincing, unable to hide my distress any longer. I knew it was all over my face. “How do you know?” I eked out.
“Because I’m gonna make damned sure of it.” He squeezed my shoulder. “I’m here now. I’m here with you, brother.”
The conviction in his voice was staggering.
It almost had me believing everything might just work out.
18
~Natasha~
“NATASHA! HOLD UP!”
I stopped short before making a left toward the clubhouse mess hall to grab a much-needed snack.
Cole was working a shift at Vibe until the early hours of the morning. It had actually worked out well, because it’d given me the time and space I’d needed to deal with my work. Since dropping all of my illegitimate clients, I’d had to reorganize things in a big way. I’d managed to get a lot done today, to reach out to many of my clients and begin streamlining things accordingly.
Turning, I was more than a little surprised to see Mason jogging toward me.
“Hi,” I greeted him tentatively when he came to a stop in front of me. “Is something wrong?”
His eyes dropped to my now very prominent bump.
“Mason?” I pressed, when the sight seemed to stop him short.
It was uncanny.
And it had been for the last few days, since Cole had made the announcement about my pregnancy to the club. The last bit of frostiness that had still lingered with a few of the club members toward me had melted as soon as word had broken. The whole caveman mentality that the members carried with them had actually helped me out in a very real way. Them looking upon a pregnant woman as a fragile thing to be protected had resulted in them being extra nice to me, caring, and helpful. Despite being slightly more evolved than some of them, it seemed Mason wasn’t an exception to that.
When he raised his eyes back to mine, there was an intensity there that unsettled me right away. “I know.”
“Know what?” I asked.
He glanced either side of the corridor, then lowered his voice to barely above a whisper. “When you dropped your phone outside Bluebell’s the other day, it was open. I saw your messages to Nik.”
Adrenaline shot down my spine and I jerked back. “It’s not what you think. I’m not—”
“I’m not accusing you of anything.”
I tossed him a skeptical look.
He held up his hands. “Yeah, first time for everything. I get it.”
“Then, what—”
“This reeks of Slade. He put you up to it, yeah?”
I hesitated.
But that just seemed to confirm his suspicions and he nodded and muttered, “Yeah, thought so.”
“Cole can’t know about this.”
“Yeah, I get that. Big time. If he knew, he’d call everything off. The way shit’s sitting, he’s already close to being at that point. He doesn’t want you in danger. He doesn’t want that kid of yours in danger.”
“If we don’t put Nik down, we’ll never be safe.”
I could barely believe what I was seeing as his expression softened and sympathy bled from him as he said, “Caught between a rock and a hard place, aren’t you, sweetheart?”
I sighed. “What’s new?”
Before I could get another word out, he grasped my hand and told me, “We’re gonna fix all that.” The next thing I knew, he was urging me along with a gentle tug.
When he finally stopped, I took in the sign on the door in front of us.
CLUB PRESIDENT.
I jerked my head up at him. “What the hell are you doing?”
He winked at me. “You’ll see.”
Instead of knocking and waiting to be called on in as was club protocol and a clear sign of respect for their almighty Prez, Slade Mitchell, Mason just barged right on in, taking me with him. He let go of me once we were inside and kicked the door shut behind him, the aggression behind it making the room reverberate. He was clearly pissed.
That wasn’t missed by anyone, least of all Slade, who bolted to his feet behind his desk. Tensing, clearly readying himself for the storm that had unceremoniously blown into his office, Slade narrowed his eyes at Mason and barked, “We got a problem here, Cross?”
“You and me? Fuck, we’ve got a shitload of problems. But we’re gonna table that, because, right now, I’ve got a more pressing beef with this backchannel dealing you’re doing on this Nik mission.”
“Looks like you got more than just a beef with it.
