Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 130512 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 653(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130512 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 653(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
A tear leaked out.
I hated this.
Ding.
Beltraine: We’re not far from your place. I can swing around and pick you up.
Screw it.
LoganMaddy: Pick me up a block over. Go to the house with the red door. I’ll be there in fifteen.
My computer dinged again, but I shut it down.
This was stupid of me. I knew that. I also didn’t care.
Being sad sucked.
19
MASON
Itried being quiet when I crawled into bed, but the second the mattress pitched to the side, my body tipped and my ribs felt like they were trying to rip out of my body. I groaned, unable to hold it in.
Sam yelped, jerking up and throwing a hand out toward me.
It hit my face, which made me groan again.
“Wha—?” She reached over and turned on the lamp, then gasped when she saw me. “What the fuck happened to you? Oh my God, Mason.” She lunged for me, but stopped, looking too scared to touch me. She lifted the sheets and gulped, seeing the rest of me.
I finished crawling in and collapsed on the bed, mumbling, “My legs shouldn’t be too bad. Some bruises. The fucker got some good kicks in.”
She went still. “The fucker got some good kicks in? What are you talking about?”
I rolled to my back, still groaning and reached for Sam. I patted her on the waist, my other arm over my eyes. That light was killing me. “Let me sleep, babe. I’ll be better in the morning.” I wouldn’t groan, not in front of the kids. Or Logan. Or Nate. Or anyone else. But it was just me and Sam here. I could be the baby I wanted to be right now.
“Mason,” Sam said softly, touching my skin cautiously. She sucked in a breath when I hissed from the pain. “This is insane. What did you guys do?”
“Can I sleep first?”
“No,” she said firmly. “Now.”
I heaved a deep sigh, ready to start talking, but Sam touched my arm gently. “Hold on. I can’t handle seeing you like this. I want to grab Taylor and let her be a nurse for you, but I’m assuming Logan doesn’t look much different. Nate too? They’re leaving early in the morning.” She slipped from the bed, padding over to the bathroom where she began rummaging through the cupboards.
I waited to talk, wanting to rest anything and everything until she could hear me clearly. She brought over a couple washcloths, antibiotic ointment, and dressings. When she crawled back on the bed, kneeling over me, she gave me the nod. “Okay. Start explaining.” She began cleaning me up as I did, pulling away the dressings the biker had put on me after the third fight.
“Logan needed to let off steam, so that’s what we did. Him and I. Nate didn’t—”
“Get beat up? Like you and Logan needed to?” She wasn’t mad. She sounded more resigned but frustrated. “What are you into, Mason? It’s time to loop me in.”
I’d been keeping everything to myself. I wanted to get through the funeral, and I knew she’d be torn between trying to help me and taking care of the kids. But I had to admit I didn’t like it. I’d been doing my thing, and she was doing hers. We weren’t a unit right now.
“I know,” I told her. I started talking, telling her everything that happened from the beginning as she recleaned my wounds and put new bandages on me. I’d just finished when she climbed off the bed.
Pausing, she gave me an inscrutable look before sighing. “Stay here. I’m going to get you some ice packs.” She returned with some pain relievers and extra water as well, putting them on the bedside stand. “Okay. Sit up.”
I leaned forward.
She placed the ice packs around my arm and began taping them in place. She’d done this for me for the last two decades. She did both of my arms, since I’d fought with both. Though, fuck, I couldn’t move much now.
She held out two pain relievers. “Open.”
I opened my mouth. She dropped the pills in and brought the water to my mouth. After I swallowed them down, she got back into bed and settled in. She handed me one of the last ice packs so I could hold it against my face and put the other over my ribs.
I hissed at all of the cold contact. “I should’ve just done an ice bath.”
She raised an eyebrow, her lips pursed. “Next time.”
I looked over at her. “You’re not happy with me?”
She dropped the mask and let me see how unhappy she was. “I get that you needed to work off steam. But you didn’t have to do three fights. Jesus, Mason. Three?”
I flashed her a grin, which hurt. “It felt good to be fighting again.”
“That isn’t a statement I enjoy hearing from you.”
“Sam.”
She sighed again. “I get it. I remember how I was when I met you and Logan for the first time. Of course I get it, but what’s the point of the excessive amount of fighting?”