body as a tool, which is exactly what she’s doing now. As angry as I am, I’m incapable of using her. She’s worth more than that, even if she doesn’t realize it.
I force my lips from hers, and her eyes pop wide with shock. Reluctantly, I unhook her legs to place her gently to the ground. I put as much distance between us as possible in the confined space.
“I can’t do this.” I run a hand through my wet hair. “I won’t.”
“Why?” Her voice threatens to unman me. “Will you look at me?”
I contemplate saying no, telling her that looking at her will only remind me of all I’m about to lose. I can’t bear to see her regard me like I’m just some guy rather than her only guy.
“Please.”
I shake my head, but peek up at her. “What?”
She’s covering her breasts with her arms; her lip quivers. “I love you.”
The words hit me like a roundhouse kick to the head. “What? How . . . what?” I blink and lean closer, sure I misheard.
“I know this is soon and sounds crazy, but I’m in love with you, Mason. The head-over-heels kind, the making-big-changes kind, the forever-and-ever kind.”
“How drunk are you?”
“Not drunk enough that I don’t know how I feel.”
This is bullshit! All of it.
My thoughts spin with confusion. “What do you want from me, Trix?” My hands shake as I step closer to her, not sure if I want to grab her into my arms or wrap my hands around her neck.
She stands tall, confident. “I want to be a better woman for you, wake up every morning with you. I want you to wonder what kind of mother I’ll be and dream about the future we’ll have together. I want you to want to marry me, spend the rest of your life with me, and be proud to do it. That’s what I want from you.”
A low growl rumbles in my chest. “That’s a lot to ask seeing as you just told me you’re leaving me for someone else.”
Her gaze sinks to the floor. “I know. But there’s a lot you don’t know. If you’d give me time to explain, I think you’ll understand. I hope you’ll understand.”
“Start fucking talking.”
Twenty-seven
Trix
I take a shaky breath and wipe my eyes with the hem of the T-shirt Mason gave me to wear. Sitting cross-legged on his bed, I want so badly for him to hold me in his arms, but he’s all the way across the room. His back is to the wall, elbows on his knees, with his head in his hands.
“It took me two years of working at Zeus’s, trying to get close enough to every biker who came in and hope beyond hope they knew something.” Every word that leaves my lips seems to deliver Mason physical pain, but he needs to know. He needs to hear it all. “When I met Hatch, he warmed up to me, and it was easy to get him talking. Found out he had ties to Northern California.”
Mason’s eyes stay downcast, his fingers fisting in his hair.
“When he got drunk, he was like an open book, treated me like his confessional. The things he told me . . .” I shake my head at the memory of his admission.
No one messes with us, sunshine. Gotta guy who gets off on cuttin’ up people. Even killed a girl doin’ it.
“Fuckin’ hell,” he mumbles beneath his breath.
“He took off for a year, and I thought it was over—that he was dead and that everything he knows died with him—but he’s back now.”
I wait, for something, anything. Silence thickens the air between us.
“Say something.” I’d go to him, but his body language is screaming to be left alone.
He rips his hands through his hair, and he spears me with an icy-blue glare. “You’re asking me to do the impossible!”
My body jerks to touch him, but I sit back, refusing to take away the space he needs to process. “Is it? Is it impossible?”
“To sit back while you date someone else? Someone with ties to a murderer? Yes. It’s motherfucking impossible.”
“I don’t want him. I want you. Forever. After this is over, after I get the name of the man—”
“And if you don’t?” He shrugs. “What then, huh? How long will you be fucking this guy before you finally give up?”
I don’t know. Can a time limit be put on this kind of thing? I shake my head. “It took me years to get him to