CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO Masiy

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Masiy

I went home, cried into a pint of ice cream, and passed out on my couch somewhere between the fifth and tenth episode of a show about ridiculous wedding cakes.

I had no urge to get married, ever, and even if I did, I wouldn't spend that much on a fucking cake for it. I did not understand some people. Unfortunately, the show hadn't provided enough of a distraction and I just kept going driving down the main road of Wallow Town.

I woke feeling wrung out and annoyed. I spent the morning doing everything I could do to avoid thinking about my life and the shit show it had turned into.

Now I was preparing myself to walk into work. I couldn't tell if I was pissed at the whole club or not. It probably wasn't fair, but I was leaning in the direction that everyone around me had been in on it. At least some of them had to have known he was hiding a wife at home, right?

But when I saw a bunch of the brothers sitting at the bar, looking as if they were waiting for me to get there, a bit of that anger flew out the window because they looked as wrecked as I felt.

"Hey, Maisy." Twigs was the only one brave enough to be the first to speak. To be honest, I couldn't recall a time I'd heard him sound nervous. I nearly smiled at the thought that I had been able to rattle him of all people.

"Twigs," I said curtly. "Boom. Wrench." I swung my gaze to my boss. "Payback."

"Uh, how's it going?" Wrench asked.

"Great," I clipped out as I clocked in. "I'm going to get to work."

They let me get a few steps away before Wrench opened his mouth again.

"Did you see Mad Bell?"

I whirled around.

"I did." They seemed to collectively relax as if the fact that I'd seen the two-timing man meant everything was okay. "I also met his wife. It was an awesome time."

I turned and walked to the back.

The office was unlocked, thank God. I couldn't face anyone after practically admitting I was a fucking homewrecker and I knew it now. I almost couldn't believe I'd said as much as I had. Part of me did feel bad, but then I wondered why I should.

"Hey," someone said as they knocked on the door and cracked it open. "Are you okay?"

I turned to see Boom standing in the doorway, eyeing me like I was about to explode.

Which was funny given his rode name.

"I didn't know he was married," he said calmly. "None of us did."

"You didn't?" I asked as I wiped my eyes. I hadn't realized I was crying. It happened sometimes when I got really frustrated. I couldn't hold the emotions back when I really wanted to.

He shook his head, the corners of his mouth turned down.

"Well, what the hell does this mean?" I asked, throwing up my hands. I let out a harsh laugh because I was clearly losing my mind.

"That something's not right," Boom said.

"And we need to get to the bottom of it," Twigs said as he pushed his way into the room. "Sounds to me like we got a mystery that needs solving!"

I blinked at him.

"What?" Twigs shrugged. No shame, that one. "Look, I ain't gonna lie, okay? I'm doing part of this for you 'cause you're like family. But I'm also bored and that's never a good thing. Is it, Boom?"

Boom was quick to shake his head, his wide eyes conveying the thing we all were thinking. A bored Twigs could lead to trouble. I'd seen it a few times since I'd been here.

"What are you doing?" I asked when Twigs pulled out his phone and started lightning typing.

"Need help. I ain't good with looking into shit."

I nodded as if I knew what the hell he was talking about.

"River gets done with class in an hour. He'll come then." Twigs was still typing away on his phone as he talked.

I had no idea who River was or why Twigs felt the need to call him in.

"How was he when you saw him?" Wrench asked as he stepped into the office. The room was big, but if they kept piling in like this, space would be limited soon. "Was he acting weird?"

"Uh, I mean… yeah?"

Had he been off? Was he acting normal— well, normal for him? I hadn't allowed myself to think about what had gone down yesterday. I hadn't wanted to dig deeper because I was afraid of what I'd find. As if finding out the man I had feelings for, the man I had fucking slept with, was married wasn't bad enough.

"He was…" I stopped. My mind froze on his face when he saw Rhonda's hand on my arm. He looked pissed. More pissed than I'd ever seen him, and that was saying something because I could easily drive the man to a red face and a death glare.

He had been protective of me.

As I blinked back into focus, I saw the faces of the men who cared about Mad Bell. His brothers, as they often called themselves.

I certainly couldn't tell them that Mad Bell had been full of rage at the fact that his wife had been a bitch to me. To be fair, she did have every right to treat me like shit. If I'd been in her position, I couldn't say I wouldn't have acted much differently. Well, once I knew there was a reason to act like that. I wasn't crazy enough to just go off on someone half-cocked.

"He seemed irritated," I finally said. "Like he didn't want her out of the house."

Three sets of eyes widened in front of me, while Wrench's gaze narrowed.

"That came out wrong!" I rushed to say. But had it? Was he keeping her a secret? Was she his prisoner? Well, not a prisoner since she could clearly walk out of the house. She could leave if she wanted, I was sure. "I don't know."

I sighed and closed my eyes.

"What if he hasn't seen her in a long time?" Wrench suggested. I didn't open my eyes. In fact, I wished I could have disappeared because this was not a conversation I wanted to be a part of at all.

"Oh! What if she came back from the dead." Twigs sounded too excited at that possibility.

"No," Boom said flatly, glaring at Twigs like he was being an idiot. "But… what if he didn't know about her?"

"What? Like didn't know he was married? How would somethin' like that even happen?" Twigs' confusion was mirrored in my head. It seemed impossible. Unless…

"Could be like a Vegas wedding night kind of thing." I opened my eyes to glare at Boom. "Sorry." He shrugged. "Either way, seems like we got some OW drama going on."

"OW?" I asked. What the hell was he talking about?

"Other Woman," Twigs informed me, looking way too proud that he knew that. "It's one of the tropes in those books he reads. He doesn't like those as much. He's a sucker for a good love triangle story. Ain't that right?" He backhanded Boom in the stomach playfully.

"Yeah," Boom muttered as he rubbed his stomach where Twigs landed the shot.

"Hey, at least it wasn't a surprise baby," Twigs said, looking all too amused at the thought. I shot him a glare. He shouldn't even say such things.

"Maybe this is none of our business. I just want to… work. Yeah. I want to do my job and forget about anything else. Can I do that, please?"

I shot the room a look, letting them know that I was done with this conversation. I didn't want to think about it. I didn't want to be a part of it. They parted, and without another word, I left the office.

It was too much.

What had I gotten myself into?

I thought I'd done good living my life pretty simply. I wasn't the type of person who had to have a partner. I was mostly okay alone. There was a huge difference between wanting someone in your life and needing them. I vowed I'd never need anyone. I didn't fucking need Mad Bell. Hell no! Was I hurt? Yes. Who wouldn't be? I thought there might be something there and just when I'd given in, ready to be an adult and talk about it, I realized I'd been a fool. Of course, I was hurt. My ego was bruised. Pride a little cracked. I was also a laundry list of other things. Pissed— I didn't think anyone would blame me there. I was also confused— uh, hello! What was even going on here? How shady could one person be? And for what reason?!

"Hey," the prospect said as I nearly smacked into him on my way into the kitchen.

"Hey," I said, but he was already brushing past me and headed for the back door. "Where are you going?"

He turned back around long enough to say, "I've been summoned."

What the hell did that mean?

This day was so confusing.

I shook it off and got to work. Roadkill was sitting at the prep station, phone in his hand. It looked like he was playing some kind of matching game on it.

"Been busy?" I teased.

He snorted.

"I take it that means you don't need anything from me," I said.

"Nope. Just waiting for someone to get hungry."

I smiled. "Maybe it will pick up tonight."

"I wouldn't get my hopes up if I were you. Heard the women are making a big ass turkey dinner tonight, with all the good fixin's. Gonna be homemade mashed potatoes." He looked at me pointedly. "Don't tell no one, but I'm sneaking up there to get some."

I barked out a laugh. I did not see that coming.

"Homemade mashed potatoes is what does it for you, huh?" Hey, I wasn't judging.

"And gravy. They take the drippings from the turkey and make this shit up right." He closed his eyes, a smile playing on his face. "Mmm. If I could find a woman who made homemade mashed potatoes and gravy the way the Old Ladies do… well, I'd fucking make her one of them."

I laughed again.

This conversation almost had me wishing that I'd had more time working with him. He was pretty silly and fun, in an odd way. Usually, Mad Bell was here, and he tended to throw everything off. Well, I was partially to blame for that too, and I knew it. The whole vibe was just different when Mad Bell and I were in the same room, even before the whole sexual tension switch was flipped and turned up to scorching.

"What's that one thing for you?" he asked, focus back on his phone.

"Huh?"

"You know, that one thing that someone does or can do that makes you want to snatch them up."

I had no clue what he was talking about. Was that a thing? And did I have one of those?

The back door banged shut, but I was so long in thought that I barely registered it.

I blinked into focus to see Mad Bell filling up the entryway to the kitchen. The cut always made me a bit weak in the knees whenever I saw him with it on. Of course he was wearing it now when I so desperately needed to be mad at him and turned off by any thought involving him. Why did he have to look so hot? Ugh, even the light trail of sweat staining his maroon shirt didn't diminish the sexiness of the image in front of me.

"And I'm out," Roadkill said as he practically ran away, making himself as small as possible in order to squeeze by Mad Bell.

"Can we talk?" Mad Bell asked, and despite the wild look in his eyes, his tone was calm.

"I don't think that's a good idea," I said, blindly reaching for something to cut or clean. I ended up with a handful of onion. I did not want to cut that. But I wanted to seem available even less.

Fuck you, life. Fuck you.

Pulling out a knife, I got to chopping, doing my best to ignore the man moving closer to me. He stopped on the other side of the prep table, next to the stool Roadkill had vacated.

"Maisy," he said. The softness of his tone almost got me. Almost. I wasn't going to do this. Not here. Not now. Maybe not ever.

"Where's your wife ?" I asked bitterly. I didn't really want to know the answer, I was simply being a bit of a bitch and reminding him that he had one. It felt so good to be able to throw that at him.

"Probably attempting to steal as much of my shit as she can while I'm not there."

I stopped cutting and looked up at his words. That sounded fucked up.

I couldn't believe someone would do such a thing. This was the person he married? What did that say about him?

I was starting to think that maybe I'd dodged a bullet.

Then I saw the tightness in his jaw, giving away how much that pissed him off. He didn't want a wife that would treat him like that.

Shit. Had I gotten it all wrong?

Mad Bell was a simple man. He didn't strike me as the type to want a lot of drama and stress in his life. Then again, he did go for me after I made his life hell and tore his sanctuary to pieces every single time I worked.

"I can see your mind running wild behind those beautiful blue eyes," he said. "If you'd let me explain, maybe even do a bit of groveling, it might save you the trouble of letting your mind run away from you."

I snorted, rolled my eyes, then cocked my head at him.

"Grovel? Why would you say something like that… unless you really fucked up and you have a wife and you made me a…" I couldn't even stomach saying the word.

"No. I need to grovel because I handled what happened between us badly. I shouldn't have let you get away. You ran, but I should have made it clear that you didn't have to." I narrowed my eyes at him. Should I even believe the things that came out of his mouth anymore? "Should have made it clear that I wanted you to stay."

Well, it looked like I found that one thing. Damn Roadkill for putting that thought in my head just now.

Mad Bell's words nearly made me lose my breath. All it took was someone saying they wanted me. So simple. So right.

Yet, it came at such a complicated cost right now.

"And I need to say I'm sorry for ever letting her touch you." My eyes went wide at his words. "If I had it my way, my past wouldn't ever tarnish you. I'm so fuckin' sorry that it did. I'm so pissed my past is coming back to bite me in the ass right when I thought I might finally have something good in my life."

"What do you want, Joe?" I asked over a dry throat. I didn't want to get choked up, but I couldn't help it. There was nothing but openness and honesty in his hazel eyes.

"I want to tell you everything. I want to fix what's between us." He took a deep breath, letting the air out slowly. "If it's too much, I get it. I'll walk away, I promise. You tell me what you need and I'll respect it. But I'm askin' for a chance to set the record straight first."

"Okay," I said, feeling shaky about it but also so curious as to what the hell was going on that I couldn't say no.

With a trembling hand, I cut into the onion. My eyes were burning. I swore the tears were there because of the onion and not this conversation.

His steps were purposeful as he walked around the prep table until he was by my side. His hand carefully grabbed the knife, slipping it out of my grasp and moving it away. Then he gently grabbed my upper arms. I didn't fight him as he turned me until I faced him, though I didn't dare look up yet.

"Hey," he said softly, nearly a whisper. His hands went to my face, thumbs wiping the stupid wet trails that tracked down my cheeks. It wasn't just the onions. That was what I got for being stubborn and going through with cutting them, anyway. "I'm sorry. I'm so fuckin' sorry, Maze."

"You should be," I said, half-teasing to break the tension. Drama choked the air and I hated it. "Start from the beginning."

I was willing to hear him out.

Then I'd decide what came next.

"Take a ride with me."

"I'm working," I said, looking up at him with an expression that said he knew better. In fact, I was a little pissed at myself that I'd let him distract me this long. I should have been…

His eyes cut to something behind me.

Fucking hell. Those men were worse gossipers than Stella's grandma on bridge night.

"Go!" Payback yelled, a little hopeful ring in his voice that had me rolling my eyes so hard I imagined he could feel it.

"I love a good second chance too," Boom said, but I barely heard it over the whooping and cheers from whoever was on the other side of the order-up window watching the show.

Mad Bell raised a questioning brow at me. I was quick to nod. Anything to get me away from all the prying eyes.

He slid his hand into mine and whisked me away without another word.