Mason:Inked Reapers MC(10)

"Lucy." I cupped her chin and brought her gaze back to me, but her eyes darted down the road.



"I have to go. Please, Mason. I have to go." She yanked away from me and  jumped into her car. I stepped out of the way so she closed the door  and looked down the street to see the same asshole sitting at the stop  sign ahead. Her car growled to life- she needed an oil change and  probably a new transmission from the sound of it.



"I'll be by tomorrow." I promised. She looked behind her and pulled out  of her space in into the street without looking back at me. I'd bet  anything Jayson hurt her. And fuck if I was gonna let that slide.





CHAPTER EIGHT



LUCY





Jayson stopped talking to Jessica when I walked into the clubhouse. His  eyes told me his anger hadn't subsided after our chat earlier. My arm  still hurt from where he squeezed me and shook me as he bellowed into my  face. The stench of liver and onions from his breakfast still lingered  in my nostrils.



"Where the hell were you?" He yelled from the bar.



"Went to grab some breakfast." I held up my food container.



"Yeah. I heard about your little date." He made his way over to me. Jessica shot me a sympathetic glance from behind him.



"I wasn't on a date, Jayson. I picked up my breakfast after I ran to the  post office for Lucas." I pulled out the receipt and shoved it at him.



"I don't want to hear you're hanging with that Reaper asshole." He  snatched the flimsy paper out of my hand. "You work here, and if he's  gonna keep stopping by your room, you need to start collecting my fee."



As far as I knew, Mason didn't know there was a fee. He took me for a  club whore. Which was worse? I didn't even know anymore. "Fine. I'm  gonna go eat." I turned and left him glaring at my back. Fuck him.



How the hell was I going to tell Mason he had to pay me if he came by  again? I'd never collected the money before. The guys dealt with Jayson.  Now I had to give him a quote? My bed creaked when I sank into it, my  breakfast sat cold in its container on my night table. I had no  appetite. Everything got shittier with Jayson. He enjoyed making my life  hell, and I had no idea why. I hadn't done anything to him. I'd never  even met him until Kerri brought me to the clubhouse.                       
       
           



       



It would be easy to blame Kerri for my situation, but she never made me  go with her. I should have known not to bother with the club. I  remembered enough from high school to know these assholes were bad news.  After Mom died, I didn't have anything. Every penny I had went to her  bills and her funeral expenses. The few friends she'd had all jumped  ship when she took a turn for the worse. People just can't stand to  watch death take over a person's life.



Coming back to Spring Valley hadn't been my first choice, but I knew I'd  be able to get some work and find a place to rent that I could afford. I  only wanted to crash at Kerri's for a while, just until I got on my  feet. When she mentioned the club, I should have ran. Hell, when she  told me she was dating the VP, I should have ran and taken her with me.



I pulled the nursing brochures out again. Mason had fished them out of  the trash and left them on my dresser. Jayson couldn't stop me from  taking a class. Just one, in the mornings, before I needed to tend bar  for the men.



Imagining life outside the club was dangerous, but for the moment, I let  myself wander. Working at a hospital would be nice. The day shift, so I  could go home at night and have dinner with Mason- wait. No. Mason was  just another biker. How'd he get in my daydreams? I needed to push that  idea away and quick. Being with Mason would just be a team change, the  game would be the same. And I'm sick of the game.



The evening shift on a Friday never left me longing for excitement. The  strip club did twice as much business, which meant the girls would be  busy out there all night long. Leaving me to deal with the members that  didn't feel like strolling the five hundred feet to the club. Jayson  never let the members fuck around with the girls on busy nights. They  were for paying customers.



"Lucy, a little bird told me you were with Mason yesterday." Lucas took a long pull of his beer.



"You need a new bird." I wiped down a few glasses. A group of guys  racked up the pool balls in the far corner, carrying on about a bet.



"He's trouble, Luce." The big brother tone made me smile.



"So are you." I winked and moved on to the next glass.



"I'm serious. Jayson will have your head-"

"Lucas, I have no interest in Mason or any other biker. When I'm done  here, I'm moving on. Away from this town, this club. So relax okay?"



"He's never gonna okay that nursing shit." He scratched his chin under the beard that was long overdue for a clip.



"I know." I nodded. "But maybe you could talk to him?" I leaned over the  bar, letting my breasts press against his hand. His eyes went straight  for my cleavage and he sighed.



"One day, I might just visit your room there, little lady." He  threatened. It was the same empty threat he made every time he stepped  in for me with Jayson.



"You'll do it?"



"I'll try." He sighed. "I'll tell him we could use someone with medical skills around here."



"He'll hate you for it." I grinned at him again. Whatever hold Lucas had  on Jayson, worked to my benefit. But, I knew there was something there-  something that gave Lucas an edge.



"He can't hate me." Lucas slid the empty bottle toward me and stalked  off into the back room. Two other guys followed him. "Beers, Lucy!"  Lucas's voice shook the wall. Asshole. Just loved to throw his weight  around after he got through being sweet with me.



"You really think Lucas is going to be able to help?" Jessica asked as she tied her apron on.



"I don't know. But I have to do something. There has to be something  after all of this." I leaned pulled out a few bottles of beer from the  cooler.



"Look. Jayson hates the Inked Reapers. If he thinks you're starting to  hook up with the Mason guy- it could be bad for you. Real bad."



"I'm not hooking up with anyone. I just want to get through this  nightmare and move on." I cradled the beers in my arms and headed off to  the back room. I could feel her staring at my back. She knew how bad I  wanted out of the club, but she also knew how bad Jayson could be about  it.



Lucas sat at the table in the back room with Jayson and a few of the  other patched members. I barely knew their names, and really couldn't  have cared less about them. One of them, the guy with piercing through  his tongue, I knew him. He came to my room once in a while. Never wanted  to fuck, just wanted me to jerk him off. I could feel him eyeing me as I  handed out the beers to the guys.



"We can't let them get through the next month. They have to fuck up."  Jayson slammed his hand on the table just as I placed his beer down. He  glared up at me, like it was my fault he almost spilled the bottle. "Get  out." He jerked a thumb toward the door.                       
       
           



       



"Gladly." I mumbled and made my way out. I slowed down as I walked back  to the bar, listening to Jayson ramble on about the Reapers.



"I want their territory. The next run, I want it fucked up, and I want the blame on their doorstep."



"Hey, Lucy!" Jessica jerked me back to reality. They just started the  alliance with the Reapers, why would fuck with it already? I've never  paid any attention to club business before, not my business, not my  problem- but Mason would be on the receiving end of that shit storm if  Jayson managed to do what he was planning. Telling Mason could- no-  would get me killed. Not telling him could get him killed. "Hey, where's  your head?" Jessica grinned at me as she pushed a few drinks my way.  "The guys in the pool room."



The door opened as I put the drinks down by the pool table. Before I turned around, I knew what I would be facing.



Mason stood only a few feet from me. He nodded toward me, then stalked  off toward the back. Jessica looked from me to him, then called back to  Jayson that he had company. I busied myself with cleaning off tables and  getting more drinks flowing for the dozen guys sitting around the  lounge. Better to keep him away from me, and show Jayson I wanted  nothing to do with him.



That lasted all of an hour. After Jayson was finished with his little  meeting he walked Mason over to me, slapping him on the back. "All  yours." He waved at me as Mason walked back to my room. I shot Jayson a  glare who only rubbed his fingers together in response. Collect his fee.  Right.