13. Mason

Mason

13

A laugh echoes down the hallway at the shop and it fills my chest.

Ever since the day I convinced Reed to leave the apartment and we went rock climbing, she's been spending more time at the shop while I'm here. She'll sit in the office and work on whatever project is underway with her online blog. Or she'll hang out up front with Lyla and Fel.

While I used to keep the door shut when I was working, now it's always open. Like my bedroom door at home. I don't like it when there's a barrier up when Reed's around.

If I can't hear her, I might miss something.

This girl makes me fucking paranoid—among other things.

I thought I heard her screaming for me when I got out of the shower last week, but it was just my imagination playing tricks on me. I'd been thinking about her while I was in the shower, and I let myself give into those fantasies.

So when I stepped out, I swore I heard what I'd been imagining. If it was, she wasn't ready to admit it, so maybe it was just wishful thinking.

It's becoming impossible not to think about her. No matter how much I tell myself she's still healing, and I'm not the kind of man who wouldn't take advantage. She's impossible to resist when she's beautiful, smart, and funny. The list gets longer every day I'm around her, learning every unique tick that draws me in.

Like how her hair's impossible to tame, no matter how hard she tries. It's always falling in front of her face, and when it does, her highlights draw out the golden hints in her brown eyes.

Or how she blinks twice as fast when she's thinking one thing and saying another.

We're still figuring each other out, so she's careful. But eventually, the truth always comes out because she can't help herself.

And then there's her laugh that's a borderline giggle. Innocent in all the ways that shouldn't be possible when the girl has been through hell.

She's tough as nails, but she doesn't see it. The tiniest, strongest little thing I'd like to wrap my arms around.

She makes me want to be a man I'm not—carefree, unguarded.

I'm going to mess this up if I'm not careful, so I'm trying my best to keep my distance.

"It looks good in here." Sage stops in the doorway to my room at the shop. "Finally starting to move in?"

This room used to be an oversized closet that was turned into its own tattoo room when I started taking on more clients. So there was nothing on the walls, and I didn't mind it. Even if I'd made the move to LA, I wasn't sure it was a permanent thing, and I didn't want anyone to have to deal with my mess if I left.

Looking around now, there are a few pieces starting to fill the emptiness.

"Getting there." I look around, realizing I'm settling in.

The plan to bounce around until something felt right changed the moment Reed bulldozed into my life.

Every day I settle in a little more. And now that she's been hanging around the shop, teasing me for my boring space, I've started slowly changing things up.

Band posters, art, and images of tattoos I've worked on.

Then there's my favorite piece, hand-drawn in the corner. Reed took a Sharpie to the wall and drew a picture above the light switch. It's two stick figures on a rock wall. The one at the top has long wavy hair, and the one still climbing is twice her size.

Reed said she'd immortalize the win she could have had if I wasn't a giant, and it was too fucking cute to cover up.

She doesn't have an artistic bone in her body, given the stick limbs and mismeasured proportions, but it's the one thing I look at when I need to make sense of the mess in my head.

Reed challenges me without having to say it. She forces me to look at things I've been avoiding. She sees me for who I could have been if things had gone differently in Vegas.

On a table in the corner of the room is a picture of my sister. She's the only one in my family I care to remember. And it's the reminder that no matter how much Reed starts to break through my defenses, I need to keep my distance for her own good.

I've failed one woman in my life. I'm not doing that a second time.

Sage rests against the doorframe with his arms crossed over his chest. He leans his head back to glance both ways down the hall before looking at me again.

"How's my sister doing?"

"Better." I pop my knuckles. "She's been happier this past week."

"Good." Sage nods. "Carter hasn't stopped calling. I have a feeling he's going to snap soon. She hasn't said anything about him reaching out to her, has she?"

"No."

Not that it means he hasn't.

Sage got Reed a new phone last week, and she's been spending a lot of time on her computer. But I don't plant those seeds of worry in Sage because I'm not ready to face them myself.

Besides, Sage is wired lately with the stress of Lyla not feeling great and Reed refusing to move to the compound.

"It's been a month and a half. How long do you think he's going to keep this up?"

Sage wipes his hair back. "Wish I knew."

"What does he want?"

"Her."

Knowing that and hearing it aren't the same thing. Obviously, Carter is still after Reed, but I was hoping at this point, his frustration had more to do with her article than her. No such luck, and I shouldn't be surprised, given I know how priceless she is.

Sage shakes his head. "Carter thinks I'm holding her hostage."

"Big fucking ego on that guy, huh?" I breathe out a laugh. "He actually thinks she'd go back to him?"

"She did for six years."

Sage's jaw clicks and my fists clench. He's right, and for some stupid reason I hadn't considered that. This isn't the first time Carter's done this. She's gone back before. I don't know what I'd do if she chose to do it again.

She wouldn't—she can't.

Maybe the girl who showed up that first night would have let him talk her into it. She was shaking and scared. But Reed isn't that girl deep down. She's strong and fearless. I refuse to let my mind entertain it.

"She's not going back," I say, even if it's only to convince myself. "So, what are we going to do about him?"

"Still figuring that out." Sage steps into the room. "He's been smart and has stayed in San Francisco for the time being. He knows the Twisted Kings can't step into that territory without starting shit with the Iron Skulls, so he's waiting me out. But it won't last forever, and I'm not starting a turf war when he's bound to leave eventually."

"What makes you think he will?"

"Because I'm not the only one who's patient. He'll try to get Reed eventually if she doesn't go to him. We just need to be ready once he does."

"He's got clout. Money. Connections." Including my father. "Even if he does show up, you can't just bury him at the compound and expect they won't come looking. Especially since his ex is your sister. You'll be the first stop in the investigation."

"Unfortunately, you're right. Which is why I've got bigger things in mind than just burying him six feet under."

"Like what?"

"You can't take guys like Carter down when they're at the top. You have to knock ‘em over first. Play the long game. While I'd rather take a knife to his face, that's not hitting him where it counts. Only one thing matters to shitheads like him."

"Money."

"Yep, and Reed said Carter invested in your father's hotel expansion in San Francisco, so I think that's our in."

"You want to hit his finances, and you want to use my dad to do it?"

Sage nods.

"You know I don't talk to him, right?" Just the thought has my skin crawling.

"I don't need you to." Sage plants a hand on the back of the chair in the center of the room, dropping his voice so no one can hear us. "But we both know the shit your dad's capable of. There's no way his hands are clean. That's why you've got my sister writing that article, to dig up the dirt."

He makes it sound like I'm using Reed when really, I'm just trying to help her get vengeance on her ex.

At least, I think.

"Come by the club this weekend, and let's chat. I need to understand how your dad runs shit. I'll take it from there. Steel and his crew in Vegas are willing to help because I guess they've been having their own issues with Zane Enterprises."

Steel is the president of the founding Twisted Kings charter, and he's been helping out Sage and his club after everything that went down last year. But I'm not familiar with Steel's crew like I am Sage's. And the couple of run-ins I had with members on the Strip left a bad taste in my mouth.

"You trust them?"

"A year ago? No fucking way. But just like shit went down here, Steel cleaned house as well. Things are changing."

Change is good, but they're bikers. I'm not stupid enough to think everything they do is legal.

Either way, I don't really have a choice. Sage is right. If Carter is anything like my dad, we can't just walk up to him on the street and pump him full of bullets. Taking guys like him down is a little more complicated.

"All right, we'll come by this weekend."

"Good." Sage slaps a hand on the back of the chair. "Maybe then Lyla can work on convincing Reed to stay."

That has my stomach sinking, even if that might be a good thing for her.

With Reed out of the apartment, things could go back to normal. Sage would protect her from her douchebag ex, and I could move on. If she wasn't in my space twenty-four seven, filling the air with her soapy scent and burying herself in my senses, maybe I could ignore this warmth she's been welling up inside me.

Maybe then I could get laid and release the tension that's slowly been building.

So why does the thought of that make my skin itch?

I can barely look at another woman, much less imagine touching one.

But Reed—the way she fits next to me. How she's tiny and fierce and fills up an entire room with her smile. How she melts against me when she doesn't mean to. How her body relaxes when I'm protecting her.

I can't erase the comfort of her presence. The feel of her at my side. When she's close, I think maybe Lyla has been right all along about destiny. You just need the right sign from the universe to understand it.

Because Reed feels like she could be it for me.

Laughing comes from down the hallway, and Sage looks over his shoulder.

"I swear my wife and sister are going to be the death of me." He shakes his head, smiling because he doesn't consider that a bad thing.

"Sage." Reed pops up in the doorway, the brightest smile on her face. It widens when she looks at me. Or maybe I'm imagining it. "Lyla was hoping you had more of those ginger chews. Dinner just made her nauseous."

"In the top drawer in the office. I'll get them." He moves to the door.

"I'm capable, you know?" She glares at her brother.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. But if anyone's taking care of my girl, it's me."

Reed shakes her head, but she's laughing.

Sage looks back at me before disappearing. "Saturday."

I nod as he heads down the hall.

"What's happening Saturday?" Reed asks after her brother disappears.

"Sage wants us to come by the compound. We need to chat."

She hums, and even if I'm sure she knows what it's about, she doesn't ask.

"Ready to go?"

"Yep." She pats her purse.

It's already nine-thirty, and my last appointment ended thirty minutes ago, so I'm ready to get out of here.

Reed follows me to the front of the shop. And even if she's been spending more time down here, she doesn't come and go alone. She makes sure she's always with someone, and that at least puts me at ease.

"Later, guys." Echo pops a bubble and smiles at us from behind the front counter.

She's balancing the money in the register and closing the daily books. For the longest time, her hair was half black and half blonde, straight down the middle. But a week ago, she went and had it bleached, so she's even brighter than usual.

"Bye, Echo." Reed waves.

I hold the door open for her and lock it behind us since no one else should be coming or going tonight. Reed is quiet as we make our way along the front of the shop, and I love how close she walks to me, so I can almost feel her body heat radiating off her.

"What's that?" she asks when we're approaching the gate that leads to the apartment.

Sitting on the ground is a bouquet of flowers, and I immediately get a bad feeling.

Reaching down, I pick them up. "No note."

Reed's pause tells me that doesn't matter. We both know who these are from as her eyes gloss over. She's staring down at them as her shoulders start to shake.

"Daisies." It's a whisper carried away with the city noise. "Carter."

I toss them in the trash on the street and am tempted to light them on fire. Turning back to Reed, her arms are wrapped around her chest, and she's shaking, so I hurry to get her upstairs.

Carter is going to get what's coming to him. And I'm going to be the one to do it.