I clench my eyes shut and groan because he’s right, but that doesn’t make it easier to suppress the urge to tell Nina what we learned.
Mason switches the bag of deli sandwiches and chips we picked up to his other hand and takes mine in his free one, squeezing and tugging me along. “Focus on the positive. You and I were in the same room as your mother and the world didn’t end.”
I snort and fall into step beside him, deciding that the whole scenario from this afternoon does make a pretty entertaining distraction from what’s really going through my head. By the time we get to Wyatt’s room, I’ve managed to let it go and slip easily into the Mom story, which has Nina enraptured and in teary laughter by the time I finish the tale.
“Oh my god, you guys! She was just sitting there the whole time when you were going at it and didn’t say a thing? That’s such a Kat thing to do. My mom would’ve shit a brick.” Nina grins at us and pops another chip into her mouth, laughing as she chews.
Wyatt is alert and laughing too, but when he looks at Mason he sobers, and I turn to see why. Mason is leaning against the bathroom door, expression pinched, his attention fixed in the distance beyond the windows. He looks lost in thought, and evidently whatever’s on his mind is nothing good.
I get up and go to him, slipping close and resting my hands on his shoulders. He redirects his attention to me, and his attempt at a smile is endearing, but I don’t believe it for a second.
“Were you thinking about your mom?” I ask.
He closes his eyes and lets out a breath as he nods. “How’d you guess?”
“You’re not as complicated as you think.”
His throat bobs with a swallow and he glances at our friends, then takes my hand and pulls me into the corridor.
“I have no idea how long it’s going to take before I can get back to LA. It’s not easy for my brother to call me without giving away my status. And hell, for all I know, Amador’s men are watching him. Will you keep me updated on her situation?”
“Of course. I’ll call you as often as you want. You might even get tired of hearing from me.”
He chuckles. “Not a fucking chance.” His gaze turns tender and he lifts a hand to brush his fingers over my hair, then pulls me close and presses a kiss to my forehead.
The simple gesture is so utterly benign it shouldn’t affect me the way it does, but I can’t help the sudden, sharp ache that takes residence in my chest. We only have tonight before I have to get on a plane back to my regular life, yet I have a desperate knot forming inside me over the fact that we haven’t had nearly enough time together.
I close my eyes and lean into him, and I’m about to tilt my head up for a kiss when someone calls my name.
“Callie? Is that you? What are you doing at the hospital? Who the hell is that?”
Mason’s head jerks up as I turn toward the voice, a sick feeling of dread replacing the earlier complicated tangle of euphoria and sadness.
“Barnaby? Um, hi.” I barely get his name out before my ex closes the distance and makes the mistake of shoving himself between Mason and me.
The transformation on Mason’s face is almost instantaneous. He swings his fist at Barnaby’s face.
30 Mason
Something comes over me at hearing the bastard’s name. All I’m aware of is the driving need to protect, and the frustration over not being able to do what I need to for two of the most important people in my life: my mother and my daughter. I can’t help the two of them right now, but I can do something for Callie.
The fact that he physically comes between us triggers me even more than hearing his name. Before I know it, I’m on him, barely aware of the pain lancing through my already bruised fist when it connects with his face.
“You don’t deserve her, you lying, cheating piece of shit. You don’t even have the right to speak her name,” I say as I grab him, spin him around, and press his white-coated, arrogant face against a wall. There’s a shriek of alarm from a nearby nurse, and it takes several tries before Callie’s voice yelling my name finally sinks in.
“Jesus, Mason! Let him go!”
I blink and shake my head, coming to my senses just long enough to slacken my grip. Barnaby spins on me and pushes me hard enough that I lose my balance, thrown off-kilter by the realization that I’ve been that guy in front of Callie yet again. A brutal, violent beast who isn’t worthy of the love of a woman like her. That’s twice in one day that I’ve channeled my dad, that I’ve used my fists to draw blood.
“Who the fuck do you think you are? Call security!” Barnaby yells shrilly, swiping a finger beneath his bloody nose and staring at the streak of red before lunging at me again. “You broke my fucking nose, you son of a bitch!”
The shame is so acute I don’t even fight when he shoves with all his strength, and my back slams hard into a cart filled with medical supplies parked against the wall. I grimace at the spike of pain that shoots through my upper torso and falter, just barely reacting in time to dodge the clumsy punch
