Bang (Blast Brothers #2) - Sabrina Stark Page 0,72
I could totally envision it. "But what was Brody doing?"
"What else? He was trying to separate them."
"Did he have any luck?"
"Not really," she said. "I mean, there's two of them and only one of Brody. And the camera guys – they're no help at all, because all they want is the footage."
"So, what happened?"
"So eventually, a couple of carpenters step in and help Brody yank Mason and Chase away from each other. And by now, they're both covered in blood–"
"Oh, my God," I said. "So they seriously hurt each other?"
"No. But Chase ended up with a bloody nose when his face hit something."
I bit my lip. "You don't mean Mason's fist?"
"No," she said. "And that's the other crazy thing. It was like neither one of them wanted to go full-boar on the other one. But Mason was still royally ticked, even after the scuffle."
"And what about Chase?"
"Oh, he was loving it. After they were pulled apart, he laughed his ass off."
I frowned. "And what did Mason do?"
"Well, he wasn't laughing. I can tell you that. And I think he's gonna have a black eye."
I cringed. "You think? Or you know?"
"Well, the last time I saw him, his eye looked a little swollen. But that was hours ago."
"So, where is he now?" I asked.
"Probably at the hotel."
"So he left after the fight?"
"Not right after," she said. "He stuck around for maybe an hour, but then he had to leave."
"Why?"
Sounding beyond annoyed, she replied, "Because Chase is still whistling."
I couldn't help but snicker. "Seriously?"
"Oh, yeah. And you can tell he's totally loving it. But Mason isn't. And the whole time, the camera guys keep following both of them around, like they're waiting for Mason to totally lose it."
"So…did he?"
"No. But I could tell he wanted to."
"Gosh, I'm so sorry," I said. "That sounds really stressful."
"Yeah, tell me about it." She sighed. "And what's Mason's problem, anyway?"
It was a good question.
At the moment, I wasn't thrilled with Mason myself. Still, I had to say, "Well, as far as the fight, it sounds like Chase was the one who started it."
"No. Mason started it by complaining about the whistling."
"Yeah, but afterward, Chase was totally goading him."
"Maybe," she said, "but that's no excuse to get violent."
"I never said it was. I'm just saying, it sounds like Chase got exactly what he wanted. I mean, you said he was happy, right?"
"Sure, but what about Brody?" Arden said. "He didn't want that. Do you know, he's got three houses going? And his brothers, they're supposed to show up and look pretty for the cameras.
"Yeah, well…"
"Do you know what they're not supposed to do?"
"What?"
"Cause a giant ruckus on a work site. Do you know, we lost a whole day of progress thanks to your boss?"
Hoping to lighten her mood, I teased, "Don't you mean your future brother-in-law?"
"Oh, please," she said. "He hardly considers me family."
I couldn’t disagree, but I could sympathize. "Yeah, well, maybe he will after the wedding."
"Oh, please," she said. "You don't believe that any more than I do."
"Well…Maybe I'm trying to look on the bright side."
"With Mason?" she scoffed. "There is no bright side."
"Oh, come on," I said. "That's not quite true. I mean, he's really good to Willow."
"Yeah. And terrible to everyone else."
"But that's not true either," I said. "He's really good to his brothers, right?"
"Not today, he wasn't."
"Yeah, but we all have bad days. Why should Mason be any different?"
"I'll tell you why," she said. "Because all of his days are bad. I swear, he never smiles."
This wasn't true either. In fact, now that I thought about it, Mason had been smiling a lot more than he used to. And not just at Willow. At me, too.
Of course, there'd be no smiles now. After all, we weren't even friends.
On the phone, Arden was saying, "I'm not even sure he's human."
As she said it, I couldn't help but recall how cold he'd been during our last phone conversation.
No. Not just cold.
Cold and cruel.
Who knows, maybe Arden had a point. Maybe he wasn't human.
And honestly, why was I bothering?
With the way Mason was acting now, he didn't deserve a champion. No, what he deserved was a good kick in the pants – if not physically, then definitely verbally.
And just three hours later, I had my chance to give it to him.
Chapter 43
Cami
I was half asleep when my cell phone buzzed on the night stand. With a start, I sat up and glanced at the nearby clock. It was past midnight.