36. Mason
THIRTY-SIX
MASON
She’s fucking beautiful like this, spread out before me, soaked from the rain and her arousal. My eyes glance up every few moments, making sure her gaze is glossy from how I’m making her feel, not from her disappearing somewhere I can’t reach.
I suck her clit into my mouth, my cock jerking when I feel it pulse against my tongue.
Her legs tremble from where they’re wrapped around my shoulders, small moans coming from her perfect mouth as she thrashes against the carpet. My teeth bite down slightly, and the scrape is all she needs, her body shaking violently as she moans through her release.
I suck up her pleasure, reveling in her taste until I feel like I’ll die if I don’t get inside her. The wet material of my jeans sticks to my skin as I rip off my pants, sliding up her body so my mouth can tangle with hers.
“Do you like the way you taste on me, baby?” I whisper into her mouth.
She moans, her lips pressing harder against mine.
My cock throbs against the heat of her pussy, precum dripping from my hardened shaft and mixing with her wetness. I thrust my hips, sliding the length of me against her, watching her eyes roll back when I hit her overly sensitive clit. Pleasure races up my spine at the friction.
My hands grab hers, pulling them until they’re suspended above her head, her wrists gripped tightly in my hold. She leans into our kiss, her back arching, teeth biting into my lower lip until blood floods my mouth.
She mewls, and my cock slips down, splitting apart her pussy lips and gliding inside of her.
Goddamn .
I push in farther, burying myself to the hilt at the same time my eyes lock onto hers, emotion swirling through her gaze. The sight makes my heart skip and my hips jerk out of rhythm. Her walls flutter around me, massaging my shaft on every stroke, and my abs tense up, knowing I could come immediately from how amazing she is. From how personal this feels.
Tingles pulse inside of me like an electrical current, her hardened nipples brushing against my chest, our breaths mingling in the space between us.
My grip on her wrists relaxes, my hands moving from where they were pinning her down and intertwining our fingers. I’m balls deep inside of her, hitting her cervix on every stroke, and still, it doesn’t feel like enough. I’m not sure it ever will with her.
Her eyes are slightly unfocused as my cock massages her insides, heat coiling at the base of my spine, welding our energies until they fuse together.
Pleasure races up and down my body, goose bumps covering my legs. I continue my deep thrusts into her body, grinding my pelvis against her clit on every forward motion, my stomach tensing every time her back arches as she fucks me back.
She’s so perfect.
Her body stiffens, pussy molding around me, and I groan as sparks shoot through my middle. What looks like surprise flickers through her eyes, and she sucks in a gasp, turning her head away. I release one of her hands, moving to grip her jaw, bringing her gaze back.
“Look at me while you fall apart on my cock, baby.”
And she does, her body squeezing me so tightly it makes my balls tighten, the vein on the underside of my dick physically throbbing as my vision goes white, and I shoot my cum deep inside of her.
Holy shit.
I collapse on top of her body, my head resting in the crook of her neck, the wet strands of her hair tickling my nose. Her heart is racing under mine, our beats syncopated like we’re two harmonies of the same song, and I can’t remember sex ever being like this.
“I love you,” I mouth into her skin. My stomach clenches with the silence, but I don’t expect to hear her say it back. I just… need her to know.
Her breathing is low and deep. “I love you too,” she whispers.
My heart stutters before drop-kicking me in the chest and beating double time, happiness suffusing every single cell.
She loves me .
And with those words I know, without a shadow of a doubt, I want to have a life with her.
I will never find another love like Lily. She’s my person . My little bird. And I’ll do everything I can to help her find her song.
* * *
A few hours later and I’m back at the motel. Anticipation careens through me as I realize that once I clear the air and explain things to Lily, I’ll be able to give her everything. And in order to give her everything , I need to make a plan.
First, I’ll call Don and explain what’s happening. I’m sure he’ll be pissed at the lost income, but he can get the fuck over it. Deep down, he only wants the best for me, and once he realizes there’s nothing he can do to change things, I think he’ll back down.
Then I need to come clean to Lily, tell her everything she doesn’t know, and introduce her to the real me.
Mason.
She has to understand. She will understand.
My mind is whirling, anxiety eating away at my insides as I try to envision the best possible outcome. I’m a planner. Someone who knows that in order to ensure success, you have to plot things out. Make sure there are no ways it can fail and have backup plans just in case.
This …this has failure written all over it.
But I know I need to try.
Nerves jumble my stomach until I can’t focus, my legs bouncing underneath the desk. I grab the pack of Parliaments off the corner, not even trying to fight the urge, and head outside to light one up, allowing myself to sink into the relief of nicotine.
I lean against the side of the building, the brick scratching against my back. One of my legs rests behind me on the wall, the flick of the Zippo flaring in the darkness for a split second. But that’s all it takes to see the blacked-out Suburban in the lot.
My body freezes, the hairs on the back of my neck rising, warning me that something is off . Slowly, I bring the flame to the end of the cigarette, and I inhale a drag, letting it settle in my lungs. My jaw tightens as the Suburban pulls from its spot and slowly makes its way to where I am. I push down the feeling of panic that’s swirling through my middle, taking another drag and flicking the ashes on the ground.
But I already know.
If I’m being honest with myself, I knew the moment Olivia’s voice scratched against my eardrums.
The Suburban pulls up to the curb, the back door opening. I watch, my chest squeezing tight, as shiny black shoes clack onto the pavement. When I see his face, the reality of my situation bears down on me like the weight of a thousand missed decisions.
My father’s brother.
My uncle Frank.
He’s always been my father’s lapdog, realizing early on he didn’t have what it takes to make it to the top. So instead, he’s dedicated his life to riding coattails. Doing the dirty work. Being the muscle behind the scenes.
My stomach twists, but I make sure to keep a passive look on my face. He closes the door, leaning against the car, his right leg crossing in front of his left.
The silence is tense, but I don’t give a fuck. I’m not breaking first. Words from The Art of War run through my head, the entire reason I’ve memorized that damn book staring back at me from the face of family.
“Move swift as the Wind and closely formed as the Wood. Attack like the Fire and be still as the Mountain.”
So I stay still and silent, the burning sizzle of paper from my cigarette harsh in the air as I bring it to my lips and inhale.
“Get in,” Frank finally says.
I smirk, taking another drag. “Get fucked.”
His lips thin. “It’s not a request , Alexander. Your father wants to speak to you. In private.”
My heart stutters, nausea roiling deep in my gut. “That’s a shame because there’s nothing I have to say to him.”
He sighs. “You’re making this more difficult than it needs to be.”
My brows rise and I flick the butt to the ground, stomping on it with the bottom of my boot. “ I’m not doing anything. I’m simply saying no. How did you find me here?” I ask the question, but I already know the answer. And I’m so fucking. Stupid.
The moment we left the gas station, I’m sure we were followed. It’s what I would have done. It’s what I have done a hundred times, when I tracked my marks. You can always find someone, and that’s why I’ve been diligent in covering my tracks for years.
Until Lily.
Frank tilts his head down, huffing out a laugh. “Mason.”
The name slams into me, but other than the slight rising of my chin, I don’t show the upheaval spinning inside.
He smirks. “Your father is president of the United States. You really think we wouldn’t find you?”
“Not yet, he isn’t.”
His grin widens. “Semantics.” He straightens off the car. “Olivia is losing her fucking mind. We don’t want to make things…difficult.”
“That sounds like a you problem, Frank.”
“Maybe it is.” He nods, running a hand over his mouth, his flashy watch glinting off the yellow lighting from the street. “But a lot of problems can be caused by other people, Alexander.”
My spine straightens. “What’s that mean?”
He shrugs. “It means whatever you think it means.”
My jaw clenches, bile rising through my esophagus and burning the back of my throat. This is the exact type of shit I ran away from. Once you sip from the fountain of power, it’s easy to become greedy for the taste, and my father and his goons are desperate to quench their thirst.
Thomas Wells makes the laws, but that doesn’t mean they apply to him.
My chest pulls.
Frank walks over to me, and my muscles tense, forcing myself to stay in place, to not jerk away. The closer he gets, the easier I can see the deep frown lines that mar his face, more defined than they were a decade ago when I saw him last. When I was little, he used to pull me to the side, place his hand on my shoulder and squeeze tight, leaning in close to whisper advice in my ear. Like the snake to Eve, manipulation in its highest form.
He does the same move now, and it takes everything in me not to rip his arm from the socket. But I stand stoic, letting him say whatever it is he wants to say. I’ve learned from my mistakes—I won’t ever show emotion around any of them again.
“It’s a shame, you know?” His voice is low. Quiet. “Single parenting is hard. It’s so easy for kids to just…slip away.”
My heart stalls in my fucking chest, lungs compressing, terror pouring through my insides at the thinly veiled threat. My nostrils flare, teeth grinding so hard I feel a molar start to crack.
He leans in closer, his breath blowing across my face. “Get in the fucking car, Alexander.”
Don’s repeated warnings scream in my head, all the times he reminded me what would happen if I continued to be so goddamn stupid.
And now I’ve put Lily and Chase on their radar.
I’ll do anything to protect them.
So for the first time in a decade, I do as I’m told, and I get in the fucking car.