Chapter 12
PARKER
“You guys could have tried to be quiet,” Reid says, arms crossed and a glare aimed our way when we enter the living room.
I go to say something snotty back—the words are on the tip of my tongue—when Mason makes a frustrated noise that drags Reid’s hard gaze to his brother. Mason levels Reid with an intense look that Reid shrinks a little under. I have to fight back the smile that threatens to break free at the sight.
“Reid, you need to get over your problem with Parker,” Mason demands, voice steely.
Reid’s eyes narrow. “Why? It’s not like he’s going to stick around if you’re just fu—”
“Do not finish that sentence,” Mason says, his gaze gone cold. “I’m in love with him, and Parker’s here to stay. So get over your issues because I’m not dealing with infighting for the next forty years.”
“Forty years?” Reid says in astonishment.
Mason shrugs as if he didn’t just drop a nuclear bomb. “He’s not going anywhere. I’m in love with him.”
Reid just keeps staring. “It’s not… It’s not just physical?”
Dante groans at Reid’s stupidity and looks toward us with clear pity in his eyes.
I do feel a little bad that Reid can’t read obvious cues.
Mason’s annoyed gaze turns on Reid but softens when he swings his gaze toward me and holds out his hand in a silent show of affection.
I take his hand in mine, forgetting about Reid, forgetting about everything crumbling around us, and focus on the perfect feel of Mason’s hand pressed against mine.
“It’s so much more than physical that I can’t even try to explain it,” Mason admits softly, sky-blue eyes shimmering as he looks up at me.
I lean over to kiss him softly, ignoring the annoyed gasp that comes from Reid’s direction.
The front door barges open and lets in a blast of cold winter air.
Soon the sound of Claude stomping his feet on the outside mat echoes around the entryway.
When I pull away from Mason to turn around, I find Claude carefully taking off his boots on the mat before stepping farther inside.
“Did not take long,” Claude says with a childlike grin. “I have found a buyer for Mason’s government dirt.”
Mason looks skeptical. “What’s the price?”
“Jacob will go free.”
“And they’ll stop going after us,” Mason supplies, eyebrows lifted in this sexy devil-may-care sort of way.
I can’t help but grin in delight at his newfound confidence.
Although, I think Mason was always this way, it was just often buried under the anxiety, which he still feels, but maybe just a little less with me standing by his side.
Claude blinks slowly. “That is a big ask. Do you all not understand you are wanted dead?”
“No, we get it,” Dante pipes up from the sofa. “But we don’t care.”
“It will go both ways,” Claude argues.
“And then they’ll have to tell us who they are so that we don’t go after them,” Reid points out.
Claude looks a little put out but slips his shoes back on and returns outside with an irritated huff.
I let go of Mason’s hand after giving it a good squeeze, then move to sit beside Dante on the couch.
Tilting my head back against the soft cushions, I let my eyes drift closed for a moment.
Everything is too much. It’s all too much.
The sound of the sliding glass door has me opening my eyes to glance over at Hayden.
His shoulders are still hunched, eyes a little lifeless, and I can’t contain that feeling of utter asshole that I felt earlier once Mason pointed out that maybe what I said was insensitive.
But it never crossed my mind that Hayden didn’t know the plan, didn’t know the entire point of why Jacob was so obsessed with him.
Although, after Hayden’s reaction, after Hayden called him Jake multiple times, I’m starting to wonder if maybe I don’t know the entire point of why Jacob is obsessed with our insufferable boss.
Hayden plops down at the dining table with an air of resignation, like he can’t give any more up before losing it all.
I consider crossing the room to comfort him, but I fear saying or doing the wrong thing again and making everything worse.
So, instead, I stay on the couch beside Dante and smile at Mason when he lowers himself beside me, pressed against my side in a way that settles all the jagged, aching pieces inside of me from Jacob’s absence.
“Alexis is kind of cool,” Reid says, effectively breaking the tense ice.
Dante snorts fondly. “Of course, you’d think so. She’s fucking terrifying.”
Reid smiles with stars in his eyes. “I want to be her when I grow up. Maybe I’ll go to law school.”
“A lawyer who moonlights as a vigilante,” Dante says with a curl of his mouth. “Sexy, baby.”
Reid practically preens. “Right?”
“You’d hate being a lawyer,” Mason points out with a roll of his eyes. Everyone turns to look at him. “Reid, you’ll get kicked out of court the first time you sass back at a judge when they do something you don’t like.”
“Well, I’d make them listen.”
“Of course,” Mason replies sarcastically.
“Anyway,” Reid says, changing the topic. “What are you going to do now that you’re not digging up dirt for Uncle Marc?”
Mason shrugs. “Don’t know. I think I’ll take some time off and help all of you get this drama settled, then I can figure myself out, see what I want to do.”
Hayden shifts uncomfortably at the table, drawing everyone’s attention toward him, but everyone else shifts their gazes away, while I can’t seem to look anywhere else.
I pat Mason’s leg before standing and then heading into the kitchen.
I go about the familiar routine of boiling water in Mason’s kettle.
I make two cups of peppermint tea and settle at the table opposite Hayden.
Hayden circles his uninjured hand around the warm mug, mouth twitching at the corners like he wants to say something.
“Is there anything you want to tell me?” I ask softly.
Hayden keeps his gaze on the tea. “No. We just need to get Jacob out.”
“Alexis will handle it.”
“Maybe.” Hayden hums and sips the still scalding tea. His gaze shifts to mine, sharp and assessing. “Robin won’t speak to me.”
“I’m sure there’s a reason.”
His laughter is pained and bitter. “Yeah, maybe. Or maybe I’ve spent the last four years trying to do everything perfectly to earn favor, and it was all for waste.
In so many fucking ways actually. I’m never good enough, ever.
It’s my fault Jacob is where he is and…” He curses and tosses himself back against the chair, closing his eyes tight so he doesn’t have to look at me.
“You look nothing like him, but you look identical at the same time. It’s fucking cruel. ”
“Well, my hair is much longer.”
“Yeah,” Hayden says with a forced laugh. “Those same fucking eyes though.”
I reach across the table to rest my hand on Hayden’s. “Boss, it’s okay to love him, to love us.”
Hayden yanks his hand away as if he’s been burned. He stands sharply and stares down at me like I’ve said the most disgusting thing he’s ever heard. I feel a little lightheaded at his attention. I’m not used to it.
“Love is a useless emotion, Parker.” Hayden’s chest heaves as he stares down at me, pain radiating from every molecule of his body. “At least for me. Now stop trying to perform woo woo emotional crap on me, and let’s figure this shit out.”
I watch Hayden’s back as he heads toward the front door, no doubt to go pester Claude into hurrying the deal up.
But just as he’s about to yank it open, Claude pushes in with another blast of freezing air.
They stare at each other for a moment before Hayden lifts his chin in defiance under Claude’s careful gaze.
“I have a deal,” Claude announces, hands in his pockets as he rocks back on his heels. “Psycho redhead, you better have as much dirt as you insinuated.”
Mason skewers Claude with a look so pissed off that Claude looks a little shaken by it, which pleases me more than I can ever say. Beneath all his anxiety and fears, Mason is a little spitfire, and I’m so excited to watch him flourish.
“Well, if you can hand over enough dirt to take down twenty percent of the District of Columbia, then you will be a very beloved man.”
Mason stands from the couch in a hurry. “I have more than that after years of digging.”
Claude hands Mason a piece of paper. “Here’s an IP address to upload the data to, and in return Jacob will be let free without any charges, and you’ll all be free to go about what you have been doing for years.”
“But we need to know who we’re dealing with so we don’t go after them,” Reid points out again.
Mason hurries off to the second-floor study before he can hear Claude’s reply. But I’m a little thankful because I’m not sure Mason needs to know.
“Your buyer is”—Claude looks down at his phone with furrowed eyebrows—“Johnathan Wagner?”
Reid gasps. “As in… one of the Wagner brothers… the dudes who own literally everything in the United States?”
Claude shrugs. “I do not know them, but they are buying the data, and they are the ones who wanted an end to your behavior. But now that they have their data, they are not afraid of you.”
“But why would these guys want us to stop?” Dante asks in confusion, looking around at all of us.
“They’re the top conservative donors in the country,” I tell him, thinking about the different ways in which this current news could fuck us forever.
This feels a lot like getting into bed with the enemy.
“They lobby Washington hard, and they basically shape the country. They are probably highly motivated in keeping the status quo, if not in favor of it being skewed toward the bad guys.”
Hayden groans in frustration. “Are we signing anything or is this a handshake deal?”
Mason reappears from upstairs, a grin on his beautiful face. “It’s uploading now.”
Claude smiles. “Let me make a phone call.”
“Do you stay on the payroll after this?” Hayden asks, eyes squinted in suspicion at Claude.