“Why didn’t you contact me?” Viola screeched, jerking Mason out of his reverie. He looked at her and Jedrek only to realize she’d directed her question at Mason. She stared daggers at him, her hands fisted in her lap.
“He’s been in the middle of a pity party,” Jedrek said softly, and Mason gaped at how tenderly he was looking at Viola, as if witnessing her pain was hurting him, too. Oh, hell. The man was clearly smitten. He didn’t know much about him, had never seen him with a woman more than once, but the man couldn’t take his eyes off her. It would never work, and Mason knew the man would never act on whatever attraction he felt. Jedrek didn’t believe in relationships, and the woman was married. Her husband was worthless, but he was her husband nonetheless.
“Yes. Major pity party. I’m sorry. You deserved to know the truth right away,” Mason said, trying to ease her.
“And you told Shelby?”
“Not about how I found out, but she knows I know the truth about the investigation, which, I apparently know a whole hell of a lot more than she does.”
“Oh my God,” Shelby breathed. “She was a mess when she left your place. You hurt her, you son of a bitch.” She stood and Jedrek rose with her. Great. Just what he needed—a pissed off woman with a gun and a behemoth of a man ready to avenge her. “What did you do?” she asked slowly.
Jedrek crossed his arms, and Jerome came to stand beside Mason, looking a little nervous. “He just told her he knew the truth, right, Mason?”
He looked at Jedrek because the man would understand. “And then I spanked her ass her for lying to me.”
Jerome groaned.
Jedrek actually cracked a smile.
Viola gasped. “Why you—” She stormed toward him, but Jedrek grabbed her arm. She whirled on the other man since he was the one actually restraining her. “I’m going to kick his ass,” she yelled at Jedrek as she tried fruitlessly to yank her arm away.
“No, you won’t. He was within his right to punish her.”
She stilled. Mason wasn’t one to be easily scared by a woman’s wrath, but this was an exception. He preferred her screeched and jerking than standing dangerously still. “What does that mean?” she whispered.
“He’s her Dom. She betrayed him.” He glanced at Mason. “Did she use her safe word?”
“No.”
Jedrek looked at Viola again. “See. If she didn’t want him to punish her, she would have used it.”
“She didn’t want him to hurt her!”
“I didn’t want her to hurt me,” Mason roared, feelings of betrayal flooding him at the memory. Fuck, but her deception had cut him to the core.
Viola jumped at his outburst, and Jedrek let go of her. She looked at him warily for several seconds. He could see the wheels turning, her mulling over the truth. There was no way she could spin it to change what had happened. Finally, she said, “You’re right. She did hurt you. She didn’t have a choice, Mason. And I will say this, she wished more than anything that she didn’t have to.”
He snapped his mouth shut and turned away. He was not going to discuss this with her. He looked at his watch to gauge how much time he had left before he needed to leave. Fuck it. “I’m heading to the hangar.” He leaned over, turned her laptop toward him, and pulled out his phone. He saved the two North Carolina addresses into his device. “What’s your number?”
She rattled it off, and he stored it in his contacts. He hadn’t missed Jedrek doing the same. Mason sent her a quick text, so she would also have his number.
“I need to go, too,” Viola said as she reached for her gun. “I need to tell Rick about Dave before we head out.” Her eyes fell, and he hated that she was hurting. Hated it because she was someone important to Shelby.
“Let me know as soon as you know something concrete,” Mason said, and looked at Jedrek and Jerome. “Let’s go.”
He couldn’t wait a second longer.
The cool surface felt so good Shelby didn’t want to get up. She didn’t know why she was so tired, but lethargy wasn’t a bad thing, she decided. Somewhere inside the haze, she knew there were things she didn’t want to face, and sleep would protect her. The surface rocked, lulled her. No, she didn’t want to wake up, not right now, even as the knowledge lingered that she didn’t have a choice in the matter.
Sometime later, she stirred at the sound of voices. The cool surface now stuck to her sweaty cheek. She heard a click, and the voices stopped. Her barely awake mind tried to identify it. Maybe she’d fallen asleep watching television, and the autotimer had shut it off. But the sound had been louder, closer. She inhaled deeply and stilled any movement. The surface smelled rugged, like leather, which didn’t make any sense. Her couch wasn’t made of that.
She opened one eye first and blinked in confusion at a closed sunroof above her. She was in a car. She looked to the side and amended that—a limo. How could that be? The clicking sound was probably the door shutting with the voices belonging to…who? One was probably Darrell, she thought halfheartedly.
Darrell. Her memories assaulted her then, jolting her heart. God, he’d drugged her, kidnapped her. He was working with William. He was probably the other voice.
No. That couldn’t be right. Darrell was a heck of an agent, always doing things by the book. He wouldn’t turn on them like this. She rolled to her side, groaning with the effort it took to move her body. She felt as if she
