Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

M ason’s head was spinning.

Vinnie was there. He was in the clubhouse, helping Knuckles make cupcakes and sporting a smear of vanilla batter on one of his perfect cheekbones.

He was still one of the most beautiful people Mason had ever seen.

When a commotion broke out in the main area of the clubhouse, he and Vinnie checked to see what was going on. He spotted Tomas and his bloody face and started forward, fear rippling through him, but his steps slowed when Vinnie surpassed him, practically sprinting across the open space and pushing his way through the crowd. He walked right up to Tomas like he had every right to see the damage.

Mason stopped near the back of the group of onlookers and watched in complete shock as Vinnie gently touched Tomas’s hand and moved the ice pack to inspect his face. He shivered at Vinnie’s dark tone when he asked Tomas who had hurt him. It was a voice he’d rarely heard from him and one where he was usually so angry he became reckless, but it was never for himself. It had only ever been in defense of Mason.

Tomas smiled at Vinnie, the same sort of half grin he’d been giving Mason for weeks, and gripped the tip of Vinnie’s chin to hold his face still. “I’m fine, gatito. You should see the other guy.”

Mason jolted. He didn’t know what the endearment meant, but it was clear that, somehow, the two of them knew each other. He didn’t know how or when that could have happened. Had Vinnie been there longer than he’d said, arriving maybe earlier in the week and running into Tomas somewhere? But why would Vinnie lie to him?

The two of them were sharing an intimate moment, and Mason didn’t know what to think or how to react. A weird mix of excitement and jealousy was swirling in his gut, and everyone was just staring at the two of them until the moment was broken by Ollie saying loudly, “What the hell is happening?”

Vinnie jerked backward out of Tomas’s hold and put a few feet of space between them, looking around with horror on his face. He beelined for Mason, but Mason couldn’t look away from Tomas as he watched Vinnie’s ass and then raised his gaze to find Mason staring at him.

There was something in his eyes, a question, like maybe he didn’t understand what was going on either, but he was more than okay with it.

“That’s a great question,” Mason said, his tone frostier than he’d intended. “How do you two know each other?”

“We don’t know each other,” Vinnie said quickly, shaking his head.

Only because Mason had known him his entire life did he realize that Vinnie was embarrassed. There was the tiniest flush in his cheeks and a small twist to his mouth, but the giveaway was his hands, his fingers twitching as he fought the instinct to cover his face to hide.

“We know each other a little,” Tomas argued, his smile widening to a shit-eating grin when Vinnie scowled at him.

Six stepped forward, frowning at Ollie for swearing before turning to Tomas and lifting his chin. “You alright?”

Tomas nodded. “Fine. Nothing some ice and time won’t fix.”

Six didn’t say anything, but he turned and moved across the clubhouse, sending a look to the rest of the crowd still gathered around that sent them scurrying away as well. Ollie didn’t move, his hands crossed over his chest as he stared expectantly between Vinnie and Tomas until his daddy’s deep voice called for him from across the room.

“Ollie.”

Sighing unhappily, Ollie dropped his arms, gave Mason and Vinnie a look that said, I’ll be getting all the tea very soon , and then hurried after Six.

Tomas eyed the two of them for a moment before tossing the disposable ice pack into a nearby trash can and pointing toward the back of the room where his office was. “Let’s go talk.”

He led the way, expecting them both to follow without question. Mason was three steps away before Vinnie grabbed his wrist, pulling him to a halt. He looked back, furrowing his brows in question.

“I didn’t know he belonged to this club,” Vinnie said in a hushed tone. “I didn’t know that you knew him.”

“Okay. Did you guys sleep together at some point that I’m not aware of?”

That was against their rules, but maybe Vinnie didn’t think their rules applied anymore? Maybe he didn’t consider them a couple anymore.

“What? No,” Vinnie said, moving forward until they were only a few inches apart, his hand sliding down to clasp Mason’s reassuringly. “No, I just meant… Never mind. It doesn’t matter.”

It did matter, he wanted to scream. Everything mattered. Vinnie kept saying that, kept brushing aside his own thoughts, his own feelings, and hiding himself from Mason, but after having space for nearly a month, he was beginning to realize Vinnie wasn’t just hiding from him. Mason was pretty sure he was hiding from himself.

“Boys,” Tomas called in a no-nonsense voice, and Mason couldn’t help it. He sank his teeth into his bottom lip and grinned at Vinnie.

“Don’t, Mase,” Vinnie said. “I don’t want you getting your hopes up.”

“Too late,” Mason whispered, then turned and sped off to where Tomas had disappeared, dragging Vinnie behind him.

As soon as they were in Tomas’s office, he shut the door, but he didn’t move farther into the room, not sure exactly what Tomas had in mind. The club’s President was perched on the edge of his desk, long legs stretched out in front of him, ankles crossed and hands planted on either side of him on the desktop. He was watching the two of them closely, studying them, his eyes dropping to their clasped hands and then traveling back up, moving between their faces.

He pointed to the two chairs in front of him, and Mason noticed they were closer together than they had been the couple of times he’d been in the office and a little farther from the desk. He tugged Vinnie over with him and sank into a seat. Vinnie sighed and flopped into the other one.

Mason watched Tomas, eager to see how he would handle Vinnie when he was being a brat.

He didn’t react.

Mason wasn’t sure if that was good or bad.

“I should have known it was you,” Tomas said, eyes locked on Vinnie, who was looking away from him, hands clenched on the arms of his chair.

Vinnie scoffed. “How could you possibly have known it was me?”

“I’ve been hearing about your gorgeous face and sky-high cheekbones from Ollie for a damn year.”

That got Vinnie’s attention, his eyes jerking upward and locking on Tomas. Mason watched him, pleased when he saw that Vinnie wasn’t as unaffected by Tomas as he was pretending to be.

“Yeah, well, I probably should have guessed who you were too.”

“Oh, really?”

Vinnie rolled his eyes. “A big, hunky Latino wearing a leather jacket in the middle of fucking winter? Yeah, in this town, that was pretty much a dead giveaway.”

Tomas laughed. “I suppose you’re right, though the town isn’t quite as bad as you’re making it out to be. There’s a bit more diversity than people realize.”

Vinnie shrugged and didn’t say anything, obviously disagreeing.

Tomas studied him for a long moment and then turned to Mason. “Did he tell you about his flat tire?”

Mason shook his head, glancing at Vinnie, but when he seemed like he wasn’t eager to jump in, he turned back to Tomas. “I only just got back a few minutes ago and found out he was here. He said he had some car trouble but didn’t elaborate.”

“I found him a couple of miles from here on the side of the road with a flat and helped him change it. That’s how we know each other.”

Mason craned his head around to stare at Vinnie. “You changed a tire?”

Vinnie scowled right back at him. “I know how to do things.”

“Yeah, like order other people around.”

“That’s not true,” Vinnie argued, sitting up straighter. “I have skills. I can do things. I changed the oil in my car that time.”

Mason laughed. “Yeah, and then I had to take it and get it redone because you forgot to drain the old oil out first.”

Vinnie’s face flushed. He opened his mouth, but before he could retaliate, Tomas spoke up. “That’s enough.”

The glare he turned on him had Mason swallowing, a little nervous for Tomas, and then Vinnie focused it on him. He’d never liked being embarrassed, never wanted anyone to see him as less than competent.

“I could have changed it on my own.”

Tomas cocked his head before pushing off his desk. He took one large step forward until he was looming over Vinnie, then leaned down slowly, planting his hands on the arms of his chair. They were face-to-face, Vinnie’s head tipped back, chin jutting out obstinately, and Tomas smiled at him from inches away.

“I’m sure you would’ve figured it out if you had to, but there’s nothing wrong with preferring to have someone else take care of things like that for you.”

It wasn’t what Mason was expecting him to say. He’d thought maybe Tomas would scold him for being a brat or tell him that he needed to watch his tone. Instead, he’s said the exact thing Mason was sure Vinnie needed to hear, even if he couldn’t hear it yet.

Vinnie didn’t say anything, but some of the anger left his face, his expression softening.

From where Mason was sitting, he could see the moment Tomas’s eyes dropped to his lips, and he held his breath, both wanting to see them kiss and also wishing he would have the chance to kiss Tomas too. Maybe be first. It only seemed fair. He had met him first.

But Tomas didn’t close the distance between their faces. He stood up straight and moved back to lean against the desk once more.

Leaving it alone for a minute, Mason gestured at his face. “What happened to you?”

He could tell Tomas almost didn’t tell him, started to brush it off like he had out in the main area with Six and Vinnie, but he was prepared to push, and that must have been clear on his face because Tomas sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. That’s when Mason saw the knuckles on his left hand were busted and bleeding.

“Marv and I went to a hearing at the courthouse today for a nice young woman who was attempting to get a restraining order against her soon-to-be ex-husband.”

A lead balloon filled Mason’s gut. He leaned forward in his chair. “Did he do that to you?”

“Him and a couple of his friends. He didn’t bother showing up for the hearing itself, so the PPO was granted without him there to contest it. But after Marv and I got her into her car and she took off, they showed up. He was quite upset we’d ruined his marriage.”

“ You ruined his marriage,” Vinnie said, anger etched on his face. “What a piece of shit.”

Tomas grunted. “True. Luckily, where we were in the parking lot was a little bit out of the way, so the nice deputies didn’t see us.”

“Don’t you want to press charges?” Mason asked.

Tomas shook his head and touched the split in his lip with the tip of his tongue and grimaced. “It’s not worth it. It’s better that we stay under the radar as much as we can.”

Mason understood that, sure, but seeing Tomas’s face, the left side bruised and bloody, made him want to track the man down himself. “Is Marv okay?”

He’d only met the club’s Road Captain once in the three weeks he’d been staying there. He was probably only a couple of years older than him and Vinnie, and he dressed like an accountant, mostly because he was. Ollie had let him know afterward that Marv was more than meets the eye but that he didn’t share a ton with people who weren’t members of the MC, and that included Ollie and CJ, who had been Mason’s main sources of information about Tomas and the rest of the bikers.

Tomas chuckled. “Yeah, he still looks like a pretty boy, though I think his hair got messed up, and he was most upset about that than his busted knuckles. He was pretty sure he fractured his hand, so he had to go to the ER.”

“Jesus,” Vinnie muttered. “How do you look like this and he hit the guys so hard he broke his hand?”

Some emotion crossed Tomas’s face, but he quickly hid it behind a smile. “I guess I’m just getting slow in my old age.”

Mason narrowed his eyes, but before he could call bullshit in a more polite way, Vinnie scoffed.

“Bullshit. If you don’t want to tell us, just say that. You don’t have to make up some lie. Even with the gray in your beard, you can’t be more than mid-forties, which is far from old.”

Tomas stared at Vinnie, and the tension in the room ratcheted back up. “You know, most people are a little bit more courteous when they talk to me, especially in my own damn house.”

If Tomas had said that to him—in that low, almost scary tone—he would’ve dropped to his damn knees to beg for forgiveness, but he and Vinnie weren’t the same kind of subs.

Vinnie shot to his feet. “Well, excuse me for giving a shit.”

“Sit back down,” Tomas said, straightening to his full height. He didn’t tower over Vinnie like he did Mason, but he still had a few inches on him, and he made it count, especially with his much bulkier body.

They stared each other down, and unable to stop himself, Mason decided to throw a little gas on the sparking fire. “Tomas and I are sleeping together.”

The lie fell out of his mouth, easy as pie. He ignored the confused look Tomas shot him and kept his entire focus on Vinnie, who stared at him, surprised for a moment, but that quickly bled away, leaving hurt and anger… and jealousy.

Bingo .

“Whatever. That’s fine,” Vinnie said. “I’m happy for you both. But I guess it answers the question I came here to ask, so I’ll just leave.”

Mason realized the error in his plan, jumping to his feet. “Vinnie, wait.”

Vinnie whirled around, the anger overtaking everything else in him, his dark eyes sparking with it and making Mason want to shrink into a puddle. “Why? You broke the rules, Mase. I’m allowed to be upset about that.”

“No, that isn’t what…” He shook his head quickly, holding his hands up, stumbling over his words as he tried to make better what he’d just ruined.

Trying to see if Vinnie would be jealous had been stupid. He’d gotten caught up in the moment, wanting to push the two of them to see if they were as attracted to each other as he and Tomas had been since he’d first arrived.

But just like most things, he and Vinnie weren’t the same that way. If Vinnie had said that to him, Mason would’ve asked if he could watch them, join in, or see when it would be his turn.

That wasn’t how Vinnie operated, and now Mason couldn’t even be sure if the jealousy was over him or Tomas.

“Stop,” Tomas barked, moving between them and holding up a hand. He pointed at Mason. “What the fuck was that? I don’t want to be in the middle of some game you’re playing with him. I told you that.”

Mason’s knees trembled. He locked them in place, resisting the urge to fall. “You’re right. You did. I’m sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“And you,” Tomas said, turning to Vinnie, “I don’t completely understand what kind of relationship the two of you have, but I do know that it’s special and you’ve been together for years. I would never just step in the middle of that. I don’t know why he lied, but he did. If it were up to me, he’d get his ass paddled over it.”

Mason sucked in a breath, heat filling his entire body with arousal and trepidation. He was on the brink of getting what he wanted, but it was a fine line he was trying to traverse. If he pushed too hard one way, he could lose everything, but if he didn’t push hard enough, nothing could come to fruition between them.

“Why would you say that?” Vinnie asked, his voice a little hoarse. The anger had sputtered out, leaving behind his hurt.

Mason threw up his hands. “Because I’m an idiot. I was trying to make a point.”

“What point, Mase? I’m here. I didn’t sign the contract to go to Dallas. I’m trying, and instead of giving me a chance, you tried to throw another man in my face.”

“No, no,” Mason said, moving forward. He tried to grab Vinnie’s hands, but he jerked away, taking a step back, and Mason felt his heart cracking in his chest. “Vinnie, please. I’m sorry. I just wanted to see.”

“See what? If I actually cared about you? The fact that you would even question that…” Vinnie shook his head. “I guess I’m to blame for that, aren’t I?”

“Stop it!” Mason yelled, surprising himself and Vinnie, though Tomas didn’t so much as blink, simply moved so he was next to them again, like he felt the need to play referee in their spat but was willing to let them figure it out on their own as long as things stayed civil.

“That isn’t what I meant. I know you care about me, and you know I care about you. I wanted to see if you would be jealous that I’d slept with him and you hadn’t.”

Vinnie stared at him, jaw clenched. He knew they were both acutely aware of Tomas standing there listening. “You wanted to though, didn’t you?” Vinnie asked softly.

Mason nodded, not even pretending, unwilling to mess up their reunion further.

“Would you have said no if he offered?”

He pulled his lips over his teeth. He didn’t know. That night they’d shared tamales, if Tomas hadn’t cooled things off between them, had instead kissed him, maybe asked for more, he couldn’t say for sure if he would’ve agreed or not.

Vinnie read it in his face, nodding, and before Mason could figure out what to say, someone knocked twice on the door but didn’t wait before coming in. It was Six, but luckily, Ollie wasn’t with him, but Mason was sure he wanted to be, the nosy brat.

Six eyed the three of them, how close they were standing to each other, but he didn’t comment on it. Instead, he made eye contact with Tomas and jerked his head toward the desk.

“Sit.”

Tomas sighed but went over to the large chair behind his desk and sank onto it. He didn’t put up a fight as Six meticulously cleaned the blood from his face and the small cuts in his brow and lip and then his bloody knuckles. He and Vinnie didn’t say anything, the four of them living in a tense, awkward silence until Six finished putting away the items from his first aid kit and said, “Kenneth will be here after he finishes his shift. I’m going to have him take a look at your face, see if he thinks anything’s fractured.”

Tomas opened his mouth, but Six snapped the top of his first aid kit closed and picked it up, turning to leave.

“That wasn’t a request.”

He left the room just as quickly as he had entered, not even bothering to spare a glance at him and Vinnie. Once the door shut behind him, Tomas let out a slow breath and leaned back in his chair.

“I think the three of us need to have a conversation.”