Mason:Inked Reapers MC(22)

"I'll go out first. You hang back here." He gave me one more kiss. A  tender, sweet kiss on my forehead, and then he was gone. I leaned my  back against the door, trying to wipe away the memory of his touch. I  had to forget it, I had to. This couldn't go on. Someone was going to  get killed if we kept it up.



After a few minutes there was a soft knock on the door. "Hey, Lucy." Sting's voice didn't sound angry. "Lucy, you in there?"                       
       
           



       



I looked around for another escape, but the tiny window was too high up and too small to be of any help.



"Yeah." I finally answered, unsure of what to do next and not having many options.



"You okay? The waitress said you've been in there awhile."



I turned the water on in the sink and washed my hands. "I'm coming."



When I pulled the door open Sting stood in front of the door, looking at me with a mixture of annoyance and concern. "You okay?"



"What? Yeah. That coffee just hit me too hard this morning. I should  have eaten first." I tried to walk past him but he grabbed my arm and  pulled me back to him.



"I saw those Reapers in here. They talk to you?" His grip bit into my skin, pinching the tender spot under my arm.



"Who? No one talked to me, Sting." I wanted to look around the  restaurant, to see if Mason was still there, but I couldn't feel him.



"Good. You stay away from those pricks." He pointed his fat finger in my  face, inches from my nose. What had Kerri seen in him? Spit pooled in  my mouth, begging to be hurled at his face, but I resisted the urge. We  may have been in public but that wouldn't stop Sting.



"I got that message already from your big brother." I yanked my arm out of his grip and headed toward the door.



"Didn't you order breakfast?" he called after me. I ignored him and kept walking.



He followed me the entire drive back to the compound.





CHAPTER NINETEEN



MASON





Massy was chattering away at the kitchen table in their new house.  Something about buying a new dishwasher or something. I wasn't listening  anymore. My mind was on Lucy and wondering how the hell to get us both  out of the fucking mess we were in.



I had to remind myself more than once that barging into the complex and  just taking her out of there would only result in more bloodshed and  wouldn't get us the happy ending she deserved. Tick lit another  cigarette and blew the cloud of smoke into my face.



"You even here, man?"



Massy stopped talking and focused on me. "Yeah, Mason. What's the deal?  You've been in lala land the last few times I've seen you. What gives?"



"It's that chick again." Tick shook his head. "He's got the hots for a Disciple chick."



"She's not a Disciple," I ground out, slamming my hand down on the table.



"Okay. Okay." He shook his head. "He's got it bad for her. I've never  seen him like this. This guy used to stick his dick in any pussy that  could tolerate his hard ass, now he won't even talk to the whores at the  clubhouse."



"Really?" Massy looked at me with that knowing look. The one chicks got  when they thought they had you pegged for keeper material.



"I don't' want to talk about this. I thought you were making us dinner, woman?" I waved my hand at the empty table.



"Yeah, it's in the oven." She waved at hand in the air. "If this girl's  with the Disciples, I can't imagine Marcus is good with this."



"Good with it? He hates it. Fucking told Mason here that he is to stay  away from her. You know what this blockhead does?" Tick scratched his  smooth head while he continued to shake it. "This asshole goes and fucks  her in the bathroom at the diner."



"I didn't say I fucked her," I interjected.



"You didn't have to. I saw that look on your face when you came out, and  then I saw her as she got in her car a bit later. That girl was well  fucked, and it sure as hell wasn't Sting."



"So what are you going to do, Mason?" Massy stopped laughing. "Is she worth getting kicked out of the club?"



"Out is the goal, but no, getting booted isn't going to help." I rubbed  the back of my neck. All of this plotting and planning was starting to  wear me down. Massy gave Tick a worried glance then stood from the  table.



"Maybe I can talk to her, or Marcus. I've known him since we were kids. He dated my older sister for a little while, maybe-"



"No." Tick gave her a pointed look. "You stay the fuck away from Marcus  and all of this. I've already told you, I don't want you at the  clubhouse anymore. Not until this is all over with."



"You're being an overprotective ass," she shot back at him, but I could  see she didn't hold much heat behind the words. Her eyes were getting  that glassy look Lucy started to get when I started giving orders.



"That might be so, but it's your ass I'm protecting. You listen to me on  this, Massy." He stepped around the table and pulled her to look at  him. "Don't you dare do anything dangerous or stupid. You stay out of  this, got it?"                       
       
           



       



"Yeah." She nodded, but I knew that look too.



So did Tick. "If you step so much as one toenail in the clubhouse, I swear you won't sit for a week."



"I'm pregnant," she huffed. Neither of them seemed to mind I was in the  room. Then again, we'd been family for so damn long, it wouldn't  surprise me if he carried through with his threat right there.



"Your ass can still take a beating." He made his point with a pinch to  her well rounded backside. She only shook her head and let out a loud  sigh.



"Whatever." With an exaggerated eye roll she turned and went back to her  cooking. As tough as Massy always presented herself, when it came to  Tick she softened like warm butter.



"She goads me too easily." Tick laughed as he watched her walk away. "I  think the idea of us getting out of the club scares her, but she won't  talk straight about it. Always curves this way or that."



"She's never known anything but the club, Tick," I pointed out. Her  mother had been an old lady to a member, and her sister was married to  one. They moved out of state, transferred to a smaller charter up north.



"I know." He ran his hand over his head again.



"This domestication of yours." I waved my hand in the air. "It works for you? You like it?"



He studied me for a long minute, like he was searching for something.  "Remember when we were kids and we'd see the other kids with their dads?  We'd play that game, trying to make up a dad for us?"



"Yeah." I nodded. "It was a stupid game for stupid kids," I added. That  time was a world away from where we were. Neither of us knew our dads  and it took a long while before I wised up that I never would.



"Nah. It was two kids trying to fill up this hole our assholes dads left  when they walked out." I didn't say anything to that. He wasn't wrong.  "I don't want my kid to ever sit on a porch step trying to remember what  I looked like, or try to replace me with some imaginary father."



The image of Lucy swollen with my baby inside her belly hit me, nearly  knocking the breath out of me. Her dark pixie hair pinned back away from  her face, wearing one of those summer dresses she likes, and her hands  rubbing her belly. My baby. My girl.



"You don't have to leave the club, Tick. You can have Massy and the baby with the club's support."



"Fuck that. " He snorted. "I'm not gonna risk my ass for no cartel  bitch. That deal is going to get us killed. Look at Jasper. We still  haven't found him, and tell me you don't think those fucking Disciples  put a bullet in his head the minute he wanted to phone back to us."



He had a point. We both knew, hell, we all knew, that was exactly what  happened. Marcus didn't agree, but that wasn't a shock. It was just one  more thing he seemed to turn a blind eye to when it came to the  Disciples.



"You're right. I know it, man. Okay. Then we keep moving towards getting our out." I finished off my beer.



"So how many more runs do you think we need before we can start laying the groundwork for our out?"



"I think at least two more big ones. You know, there's a chance Marcus won't let us out that easy."



"Because of Lucy you mean." He plopped back down at the table with me.  "You know if you take her, help her get out of Jayson's clutches, he's  going to come after you. And if he comes after the club, Marcus will  join him."