Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
MASON
T yson hadn’t spoken to me, ignoring me, even as I watched the worry etch further into his face. I paced the cabin of the plane until I could take it no more.
“Are you ever going to talk to me again?” I asked him, throwing my hands in the air.
He remained silent, and I ran my hands through my hair in frustration.
“What do you want from me, Ty? I can’t take it back, nor would I if I could.”
Still, he stayed silent.
“Fuck you, then. If you can’t trust me enough to know I won’t hurt her, to believe me when I say I love her, then you’re a bigger ass than I thought.”
I sat, staring out the window, clenching my hands over and over to calm the nerves that were ricocheting through me.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked, his voice calm.
It was a question I’d asked myself repeatedly, questioning if it would have made a difference. The clouds swam by as my gaze fell upon them.
“I struggled with my feelings,” I admitted. “I didn’t want to fall for her, knew you’d see it as betrayal, that you’d hate me for it. But it happened. We said it would only be one night but…” I turned back to him, meeting his hazel eyes. “One night wasn’t enough. I’m lost without her. It wasn’t just one night, it was deeper, and she left a mark on me that I can’t and won’t erase.”
He dropped his head in his hands. “She’s my little sister, Mason.”
“And I’m in love with her, Ty. Love like I’ve never felt. To lose her would destroy me.”
He peered back up at me and I saw the question in his expression, the thing he needed to hear from me. The test of my loyalty to our friendship. The one that would leave Casey broken, and me riven. I swallowed back the pain that squeezed my heart like a vice so that each pound reverberated through me with a sharp ache.
Those eyes were penetrating as he waited for me to speak, and I wondered if he knew what my response would do to his sister. What it would do to me. I turned back to the window.
“When she’s safe, I’ll leave her alone.” The words left my mouth like dead weights, each shredding through me with the impossibility of ever healing. “I won’t touch her again nor see her again.”
I heard him sit back in his seat, my mind so riddled with thoughts of never seeing Casey again that I barely heard him say, “Do you really love her?”
“Yes, she…she makes me feel complete. Like there was a void in my soul before she filled it, one I didn’t know was there until she was in it.”
“Fuck, Mace.” He rose, and I glanced back at him just as he grabbed my collar and tore me from my seat. I didn’t fight back this time. There was no fight left in me except the one that wanted to murder the men who had taken her. There was nothing left to give Tyson because as much as I didn’t want to lose Casey, I didn’t want to lose him, and I hated that he was forcing me to give her up.
“Tell me what you love about her,” he demanded.
My brow creased as I questioned him.
“Just tell me.”
I thought about her, my heart wrenching with each thought. “Everything. I love how she challenges me, how she talks back and tests my patience.” My smile spread at the thought. “I love her confidence, how she can evaluate a situation like the one with Tides as if she’s head of the family. She’s intelligent and sharp and I love that about her. But I also love the amber in her eyes and how it deepens with her mood, the way her curls bounce when she’s happy, and the way her smile lights every part of my dark heart. There isn’t anything I don’t love about her.”
He jerked my body, bringing me closer to him, his eyes studying me. I was being vulnerable, and Tyson was the only one aside from Riley and now Casey who ever saw that side of me.
“Will you keep her safe?”
I scrunched my eyes, not sure where he was going with this. “I’d die to protect her.”
His lips pursed, a lethal gleam overtaking his eyes. “You hurt her, Mason, and I won’t care that we’re like brothers. I’ll tear you to pieces.”
He shoved me back and walked down the aisle, raking his hand through his auburn hair so that it formed messy spikes.
“And if you knock her up, you marry her.”
“I’ll marry her anyway,” I said, surprising myself. He looked back at me, his eyes wide, as wide as my own were.
“Damn, you do have it bad. I don’t want to hear any details. Keep that shit to yourself and if I hear you fucking her or catch you doing it, I’ll beat the shit out of you.”
I snorted, knowing it was a meaningless threat because he still wore the fading bruises from our last fight.
My phone rang. I expected it to be Donelli again, but Casey’s number flashed, sending my adrenaline soaring.
“Casey,” I answered, her name coming out in a rush as Tyson moved next to me.
“Mason Brinks,” a male’s voice came through the phone.
“Who is this?” I asked, all vulnerability gone. “And where the fuck is Casey?”
“You don’t get to ask the questions, Brinks.”
“Where the fuck is she, asshole?”
“You know, it was so easy to unlock her phone with her bloody finger. And perfect that your number was the one in her most recent calls.”
“If you hurt her, so help me, I’ll gut you until you’re screaming for mercy, then leave your body out for the crows to pick at until you're dead.”
“So full of that bravado, Brinks. My boss wants you dead…well once he sells your whore off to the highest bidder. Imagine how that will feel watching her get fucked right before he puts a bullet through your eyes.”
“You’re dead, fucker,” I roared, my calm obliterated. “I’ll cut a piece of you out for every insulting word you just muttered. And your boss can put the pieces back together while I carve him up until I’m satisfied that enough of his blood covers the ground.”
“Bring it. We’re waiting at Donelli’s latest construction site. One he won’t be completing because he won’t make it. If his son’s death doesn’t kill him, knowing we sold his snotty daughter to another high bidder certainly will.” Shit, they had Angie, too, and Tony was dead. The nightmare kept getting worse. “Get here soon. Your girl’s got a nice set of tits, and I might need to break her in before the boss sells her off.”
The line went dead. Tyson was pale, the anger creased into every part of his face, the same anger that was burning through me. I looked over to see my men with the same expressions. No one threatened one of us, especially either of our sisters. Especially not my girl. The ire that lit my bones mingled with the terror of her being hurt, of anyone touching her. I would burn the world down around the Bad Omens if they hurt her and Tyson would be at my side. If we died, we’d go down fighting and taking as many of them with us as we could.
“We’ll get her back,” I told Tyson, trying to bolster my confidence and his. I’d almost lost Riley this way, and now I might lose Casey. The Bad Omens had found my weakness, and it was the women in my life. Riley was safe now. Of course, I’d thought she was safe before. But now there was no way anyone was getting close to her with Tides on guard. After Randall broke through his ranks, I was certain he’d dealt with any faults in his defenses. And once we found Casey, she wasn’t leaving my sight again. I didn’t care if she complained that I was making her uproot her life. She would deal with it. There was no way I would let her outside my protection.
“Damn right we will. And then I can beat the shit out of you every time you touch her.”
“You’re gonna have bloody knuckles then, because I plan on touching her often, especially after this.”
He gritted his teeth, but I noted the slight tug of a smile.
“Let’s go murder some Bad Omen.”
“Fifteen minutes until we land, boss,” Breck called out, and I took my gun out, readying it, then grabbing another and tucking it in my waistband.
“Shame you didn’t bring the sexy flight attendant,” Tyson muttered, arming himself. “My tension could use some release.”
“Are you shitting me?” I asked. “I thought you said she wasn’t worth the fuck?”
He shrugged. “She wasn’t, but having those pretty lips around my dick right now sure would feel good.”
“There’s something wrong with you, Ty. Get your head out of your pants and focus.”
“I focus better after I come. You’ve had me off my game and I haven’t had a good fuck in a week.”
“You need help,” I teased, shaking my head, my anxiety growing with every minute that passed until we landed.
As we pulled into the hangar, the tension rolled in waves through my body. Breck lowered the stairs, exiting the plane first, his gun at the ready. Three more of my men followed before Tyson and I exited.
My car was in the hangar, and I headed to it, not taking notice that my men hadn’t finished sweeping the place. It was a rookie error, one I was too calculating to let happen, but my mind was on getting to Casey in time.
“Mace,” Tyson said, stopping me at the bottom of the stairs. I peeked back at him just as he caught up with me, his eyes frantic. “Get your ass back on the plane and let them do their job.”
Only then did I realize my mistake. Tyson snagged my shirt to yank me back to the plane as I cursed myself. “Fuck, I—” A gunshot split the air, cutting my thought short. The bullet ripped through my shoulder, sending me stumbling several steps back, but I managed to get a round off before all hell broke out. Tyson yelled something about them being hidden and pulled me down and toward the plane tire. I’d been sloppy, too rushed and worried about Casey to follow normal protocol. And that one reckless move might have cost us everything.