Mason:Inked Reapers MC(37)

"From Marcus maybe, but those two hens woulda pecked her to death." I laughed.



"Mom loves her, especially now that she's giving her a grandkid, and got  the noose around my neck." No matter how derogatory Tick made marriage  sound, I'd never seen the son of a bitch so damn happy. "You found your  girl?"                       
       
           



       



"Yeah. I found her. She's fine." I looked back at the cabin, through the  window. Lucy stood in the kitchen drinking a bottle of water. The white  tank top she wore barely covered her flat stomach, and her purple  panties hid nothing from my view. Since when did she wear thongs?



"We'll swing down this afternoon if Massy's ready."



"She'll be ready." Tick took a deep breath, letting it out slow into the phone. "Your girl better be worth all this shit."



I kept my eyes glued to Lucy while she pulled her hair into a pony tail.  The tank lifted up, almost showing the swell of her breasts. "Yeah. She  is. See you this afternoon." I didn't wait for a reply before I hung  up.



Lucy stood in front of the fridge, holding the door open, searching for  breakfast. I hadn't thought about eating, at least not about food. I  slid up behind her at the fridge, wrapping my arms around her waist. She  didn't even jump.



"How'd your phone call go?" she asked without looking back at me.



"Good. You gonna make us breakfast?" I nuzzled the soft base of her neck, basking in her morning scent. Sex and sleep.



"Well, I'm not as stocked up as I thought I was. We have cereal or cereal on the menu." Grabbing the milk, she shut the door.



"We can stop on the road." I took the milk from her. There wasn't enough  for even one of us to have breakfast. If I hadn't gotten to her, how  long would she have gone before she ran out of food? That car of hers  might have made up the mountain the first time, but I didn't give it any  credit to make it a second.



"Where are we going?" She stepped out of my grasp and turned to lean against the counter.



"After we pick up Massy, I'm taking the two of you up north. There's a  cottage that belongs to Massy's grandmother. We should be okay tucked up  there for a while. We'll pick up provisions on the way. Tick will join  us later when this all settles down."



"I've never asked you about club business, but I'm asking now. What's  going on? Are you in danger from more than just Jayson and Marcus?" The  little wrinkle in her brow tugged at me.



"Both of the clubs have been working with the cartel for a while now. We  had to make the truce in order to do business with them because  Bernardo, the one running shit for the Mexicans, didn't want a turf war.  Since then, both Marcus and Jayson have been trying to trip the other  into doing something stupid, make the Cartel believe the other wasn't  honoring the truce. Julio-Bernardo's brother-had some other grand plans.  He got both of the MCs to try and take out Bernardo. Tick and I were  the decoy, making Bernardo's wife think we were taking out Bernardo so  she could be with Julio, but Julio had the Disciples on standby taking  out Bernardo and Carmella, his wife."



"Shit. Like a really bad soap opera." She gave me a sly smile. "How do you keep up with who's on your side and who's not?"

Good question. Marcus not doing shit about Jasper's death played into  everything, but I had no clue how. He seemed to be in the dark about  Carmella being a target while we were down there. Tick didn't think he  knew about Lucas taking over both clubs. If he did, Marcus sure as hell  wouldn't be wasting time looking for me, he'd be hunting down Lucas.



"I take good notes." I tapped the side of my temple. "It's all up here."



She rolled her eyes and gave a sexy laugh. "Whatever. Do I have time for a shower?"



I looked at my phone. "You have exactly two minutes to get your naked ass in the shower. I'll be there in three."



The pixie rolled her eyes again and sauntered past me, heading back to  the room. I reached out and gave her ass a swat, enjoying the jiggle of  her cheeks as she bounded down the hall and into the bathroom.





CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO



LUCY





Biking down the highway, my arms wrapped around Mason, was the calmest  moment I had in months. I snuggled closer to him as he revved the engine  and picked up speed, and I'm pretty sure he did it on purpose whenever  my arms started to slack around his middle. The man needed my touch  almost as much as I needed his.



The decision to leave my car behind at the cabin had, of course, been  his. I liked my little rust bucket, and I argued that he could fix it up  for me if he thought it was such a death trap. In the end, he shook his  head and told me to get on his goddamn bike if I knew what was good for  me. I knew what was good for me, the bossy man pretending to glare at  me from his motorcycle.                       
       
           



       



As much as he blustered, I knew he'd never lay a hand on me. Not in any  way that didn't make my insides melt. I let him have his way on the car  thing; as much as I liked it, he was right. The thing barely made it up  to the cabin. Besides, when he strapped my helmet on under my chin he  did promise to come back for it later.



Taking an exit from the highway, Mason moved his hand from the  handlebars and placed it on my thigh. I squeezed him even tighter, and I  heard him laugh. "It's okay, babe. Almost there." He called back to me  over his shoulder. "And I can handle this baby with no hands."

"I believe you," I quickly said into his ear before he got any bright  ideas in that department. I still wasn't used to being on the back of a  bike, and empty country road or not, I had no interest in any parlor  tricks while I was on it.



Twenty minutes later we pulled into the drive of a small ranch house.  The screen door needed fixing, but other than that everything looked  pristine. The flowers in the beds along the side of the house bloomed  with confidence, and the fresh cut grass smell still lingered in the  air. I took a deep breath when I climbed off the bike. It had been such a  long time since anything felt close to a home, and this place smelled  every bit of one.



Tick bounded out the front door before Mason stepped foot on the porch.  "Hey." He jerked his head to the side and Mason followed him around the  house.



"Lucy, go on inside. Massy's in the kitchen." Mason peeked out from the corner of the house.



I found Massy sitting at the kitchen table holding a rag. She stared out the back window at the small yard, not making a sound.



"Hey, there." I tried to sound pleasant, like we weren't both worried  and stressed out about what the men outside were talking about. When she  turned to look at me, I gasped. A large gash ran down the side of her  face. I noticed then the rag had blood on it. The wound had stopped  bleeding for the most part, but the skin was still raw and jagged at the  edges. Her eyes filled with tears.



"Did Tick do this?" I demanded, taking the rag from her and moving to the other side of her chair in order to get another look.



"No. Of course not. He's still standing, isn't he?" She tried to grin,  but the movement must have hurt because she ended up cursing. "Jayson  was here," she said through her hiss when I dotted the blood away from  her cheek.



"Jayson did this?" I whispered, sinking into a chair and letting the  weight of that hit me. Jayson was looking for me, and he knew I'd be  with Mason. It only stood to reason he'd check Tick's house. Who else  would know where Mason ran off to, if not his best friend. "You need  stitches." I focused on the moment; I could let my guilt take me over  later. The cut was ragged, but could still be stitched up. Jayson may  not have let me go to school for nursing, but he couldn't stop me from  reading all the books I could get from the library, or watching every  reality show involving emergency care.



"He came looking for Tick, but he wasn't home. He'd gone to get me eggs.  We didn't have any and I wanted some scrambled for breakfast. He didn't  believe me that Tick wasn't here, and the screen door was locked. He  punched through the screen and shoved me away."



"Jayson's an asshole. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." The tears built in my eyes.



"It's not your fault." Tick walked over to Massy and squatted down in  front of her. "Plans have changed, baby. I'm going to take you two up  north, after we get this looked at."



"It's already started to heal, Tick," I spoke up, earning myself a glare  from him. "If you wait much longer they won't be able to stitch it  properly. She needs to go now."