You Know I Need You (You Are Mine #4) - Willow Winters Page 0,31

can make me feel better—not right, but better.

“You hear anything from your guy?” I ask Mason as I turn from the two men digging my father’s grave. I’m desperate for someone to blame this on. It’s hard to grasp it’s real, let alone just a random occurrence. I’ll fucking lose it if he says yes, but that’s what I’m praying for. I’m already on edge. Anger is so much easier to handle than despair. If this was because of me, I’ll never forgive myself. My heart clenches as Mason stares back at me.

“It was natural causes,” he says lowly with more sorrow than I anticipated. I have to turn from him and face the nearly empty parking lot as the wind whips at my face.

I bite back the need to cry and simply nod my head.

Just a blood clot. Just bad luck. There’s no one to blame or kill.

That’s what hurts the most.

“I’m sorry,” Mason says, offering his condolences again. He gives me the space I need as I walk off a few feet closer to the empty plot and I’m grateful for it.

“Your girl,” Mason starts and then clears his throat. “You’ve got to do something for her.” His voice is weak like he’s begging me.

“You’re the one who said I can’t,” I remind him as I turn back to face him. He told me not to. To not even think about texting her back. James is tracking my phone, just like we’re tracking his. He’ll know the moment I message her.

“When I asked about her being followed, you said it wasn’t your guy,” I add.

“This is different,” Mason says like it wasn’t devastating that someone could’ve been watching her. If they’re watching her, they could be setting her up. If she really felt eyes on her, that is. There’s not a hint of activity at our place and we haven’t seen anything ourselves.

“She’s not doing too well.” My blood turns to ice as I wait for him to spit it out. Not her. I swallow thickly.

“This morning she said, ‘everyone in her life dies,’” Mason tells me with a deep crease in his forehead. “She needs someone.”

“You’re the one who said she has to believe it too. That we’re over with.”

“I know, I know,” Mason says.

“So, which is it?” I practically scream, the words ripping their way up my throat. Light-headed, freezing and desperate for this all to be over, my world spins around me, too fast for me to keep a level head.

“I’m sorry, I just … it’s rough seeing her like this.” I can’t stand it. This is torture. Maybe it’s the punishment I deserve but it’s as if I’m dying from a thousand tiny cuts, and I can’t stop a single one.

With a chill hammering into my bones, I finally face Mason. My voice is ragged when I ask, “Do I go to her, or not?” If it was up to me, I would. I would hold on to her and lie in bed, denying everything and hiding away with the woman I love. All I can imagine, though, is that the door would be kicked in at some point. He’d come for me, and she’d be right there.

Mason’s expression falls and he runs a hand down his face before taking a half step closer. “My mistake, man, I’m sorry. Jules is there. She’s not going to leave her. Just … just wait a little longer.”

“How much longer?

“We don’t have shit. Lapour’s record is clean and there’s no evidence of anything. We’ll have to plant it. Including tampering with his emails and credit card data.”

“How long?” I question again, not bothering to hide the irritation in my voice.

“Only days.”

Days … I can wait days. Everything will be right again after that, and I’ll make it better. I nod, pacing in a short circle. Just days. The seconds tick by so slowly.

“After what happened in his office …” I voice the concern that’s repeating in my head on a loop. “The way he brought her up. Like he was …”

“She’s safe. I have her locked away with Jules and she doesn’t even know it.”

“Locked away?” I ask, stopping in my tracks.

“No one’s getting into that house. And Jules knows not to take her out. If Kat wants to go somewhere,” Mason says and snaps his fingers, “there’s a security detail that’ll be on her the second the door is opened.”

“So, she’s safe?” Knowing she’s all right makes not being with her a little easier to swallow.