“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.