How did he convince her to end it this time? She’s an adult now, not a teenager scared of her father.”
“He was gunning for the club because of me. Chelsea ended things so he’d give up on that. Not that it really fucking helped; the cops haven’t stopped watching us.”
“Fuck. So why’d she marry this other guy?”
I shrug. “I don’t fucking know and I don’t wanna fucking know. All I know is she keeps insisting it was arranged by their fathers, but whenever I see them together, she’s all fucking over him.” And telling her friends how fucking magical shit is with him.
“It sounds like you’re better off without her, Mace.”
“Yeah, I fucking am.”
The worst thing about lying to yourself is you buy that shit when you say it, but in the dead of night when you’re alone, you know those lies are a pile of shit because you’d do anything to get her back. The one thing I know for sure is that I would have rather stayed in jail knowing I had her to walk out to one day than being free and knowing she’ll never be mine again.
“Okay,” Alexa says, collapsing onto the couch in between us, “we’re going to watch some Big Bang Theory, and neither of you are going to argue with me over this.”
I groan. She loves that show and has subjected us to it for too many years to remember.
Hayden laughs at me. “You’re outnumbered, brother.”
“Fuck, you like it now?” He used to hate it like I do.
He nods. “Yeah, this chick I was dating for a while got me hooked.”
“Fucking women,” I mutter. How they get us to do shit we never fucking imagined doing I’ll never know.
It’s around 9:00 p.m. when I pull up outside Hearst’s place. He and Chelsea live in Hamilton on the river. Their house reminds me of my parents’ home, the house I grew up in. Fucking huge and opulent, designed for status.
I knock on the front door, agitated and pissed off about being here. About having to deal with Hearst. I’d fucking choose dealing with Chelsea’s father over this motherfucker.
A woman who I presume is their housekeeper lets me in and tells me to wait in the foyer while she lets Hearst know I’m here. She returns a few minutes later and motions for me to follow her, leading me down a long, wide hallway to his office. Advising me he’s in the middle of a meeting, she points at a chair against the wall of the hallway, indicating for me to sit and wait.
Jesus, I’d be just as happy to shove the USB at her and tell her to give it to him, but I know Scott wants me to personally hand it over, so I sit and wait.
Hearst takes his sweet time coming out, stepping into the hallway looking as angry to see me as I am to see him. “I take it you have the USB.”
I hand it over. “Yeah.”
He holds it up. “This is everything I asked for?”
“Fucked if I know. I’m just here to deliver it.”
He clenches his jaw. “I fucking knew relying on your club was a bad idea.”
I step closer to him, my fists ready to meet his face again. “I might not know the details of what’s on that USB, but my club always comes through with the goods, so if you fucking asked for something, it’ll fucking be on there.”
“Perhaps you should have said that.”
I ball my fists, trying like fuck to keep them by my side. “Fuck you.”
Something flashes through his eyes, something dark and fucked up. “You seem on edge, Mason. Not having much luck replacing Chelsea and that talented mouth of hers?”
I reel.
My mind stretches.
Snaps.
Fucking reaches breaking point.
“The fuck did you just fucking say to me?” I snarl.
He looks fucking satisfied at that question, but before he can throw more shit at me, the door to his office opens, and Chelsea’s father appears. Glancing between Hearst and me, he says, “Joe, you done here? We need you.”
I step back, keeping my eyes on Hearst. “Yeah, we’re fucking done here.”
Hearst jerks his chin down the hall. “The exit’s that way. Don’t fucking touch anything that’s not yours to touch on your way out.”
With that, he and Novak disappear back into his office, slamming the door in my face.
Motherfuckers.
I suck in a deep breath, steadying myself, but mostly steadying my fucking thoughts. I have an intense fucking desire to smash his place to shit, but I