Laina He watched me, and I continued stroking his hair. Benji and Rick moved away from the sofa and spoke in hushed voices off in the hallway by the bathroom. I could feel the urgency between them. They were angry. Frustrated. Trapped. There was nothing any of us could do to make this any better. Mason had to just suffer through it. I looked over my shoulder at Benji and Rick. Neither of them was paying any attention to us. So I leaned forward and pressed my lips to Mason’s. He smiled when I pulled away. “What was that for?” “I needed it,” I whispered. “It was for me.” “I need another one.” I leaned forward again. The second kiss was tender. His lips were warm and soft, a stark contrast to the stubble along his jaw. I could smell the musk of his cologne along with the coppery scent of his blood. When we parted, I continued raking my fingers through his hair. Every time he blinked, it was harder for him to open his eyes.
Mason“Son of a bitch,” I mumbled, shielding my eyes against the glare as I tried to open them in the morning. The brightness was not doing my headache any favors. “Sleeping beauty wakes,” Benji said dryly from somewhere nearby. I groaned and gingerly moved around to prop myself up on my elbows. I managed to open my eyes and looked blurrily around. Benji was sitting on the opposite sofa. He was leaning forward with his elbows resting on his knees and his hands clasped together between them. “How’s your head?” I forced myself to sit up. I made sure to move slowly in case I invited another bout of dizziness, but luckily, none came. “Better.” “How much better?” I rubbed my temples gently and leaned back against the couch cushions. “Like I got hit with a baseball bat instead of a crowbar sort of better.” Benji snorted. “So about the same as last night?” “No. Better than last night. Definitely.
Mason Benji shrugged one shoulder. “He’s not happy. But he knows it wasn’t in your control. I’m going to try to find a solution that works for everyone. I told him I’d keep him posted. I gave him the twenty grand, though. Took it out of your envelope.” “Good,” I nodded. “He shouldn’t have to wait for it. Not after what I did to his car.” “It was an accident.” “No. I should have expected it. I was reckless and foolish to think they wouldn't pull a stunt like that.” “But you still want to race on Saturday?” I stared down into my glass of water. “Yes.” “Why?” “Because I can’t let them win. I can’t let them continue thinking this is how you operate. I won’t tolerate it. I’m taking back my title. My place. I’ll be damned if Sid or Mark continue to run the racing scene. I’ll be damned if they win.” “This is just vengeance talking.” “So what if it is?” “Is it ve
LainaWork was soul-sucking on Sunday evening. All I wanted to do was get back to Mason and make sure he was recovering well. He was all I could think about. It took everything I had to stop myself from calling him. If he was asleep, I didn’t want to wake him up. So I called Rick instead, who told me that he and Benji had been out of the house, but they’d stopped by to check in on Mason around six in the evening. Apparently, he had made it up to his bedroom and was out cold but doing fine. Rick told me that he and my brother were going to head out that night and meet with some car guys to try to find one to race. He promised me he and Benji would stop by my work and give me a key to Mason’s place so I could see him after work. They came by an hour before my shift ended. Benji didn’t seem too thrilled to be handing over a key to Mason’s house, but he did it regardless. “Thanks,” I said as I pocketed it. “I’m off at nine, so I should be th
Laina More laughter bubbled out of me. “You’re so bad.” Mason ran his hands over my hips and down my thighs to my knees, which were planted on either side of his hips. Then he worked his way back up, this time slipping his hands up the inside of my black button up. “Are you telling me you don’t want this, Laina?” I bit my bottom lip. My brain was telling me this was a bad idea. He was still hurt and should be taking it easy so he could recover. But my body was straining to be free of my clothes. To feel his hot flesh against my own and to have his cock buried inside me. “I want this,” I whispered. Mason popped open the bottom button of my shirt and then the next and the next until he had worked his way all the way to the last one. He undid that one, too, and then pushed the shirt open, revealing my plain black T-shirt bra. Had I thought this was going to happen tonight, I would have worn a sexier one. “Take it off,” he said.
Mason“You ballsy motherfucker.” I opened my eyes. It was morning. Definitely morning. Sunlight was streaming in through the cracked blinds of my bedroom. I could feel the warmth of it on my face, arm, and shoulder of the arm I had out of the blankets and wrapped around Laina. I rolled halfway over and looked over my shoulder to see Rick standing in the doorway of my bedroom. His words had woken me, and he was shaking his head while grinning at me. “You’re lucky it’s me standing here and not Benji. He might have done Sid and Mark a favor and killed you in your sleep.” I rubbed at my eyes. “What time is it?” “Seven thirty.” “Why the hell are you waking me up so early?” Rick grinned. “I think we found a car.” He hooked his thumb over his shoulder. “Meet me downstairs. We’ll talk about it. And try not to wake her. She’s had a rough couple of days dealing with your shit.” I listened to Rick’s footfalls on
Mason I glanced over my shoulder and up the stairs to the still open door. I could see sunlight streaming out of it and could picture Laina still sleeping in my bed. “I don’t know yet,” I said. “Bullshit. You’re into her.” “Of course, I’m into her. I wouldn’t be doing this if I wasn’t. She’s the first girl since—” I stopped talking and shook my head. No sense in going there right now. “Since Evelyn?” I nodded. Rick sighed. “Well, you’ve got good taste. I’ll give you that much. She’s a good girl, Mason. Try not to fuck it up, huh?” “I’ll do my best,” I said. “Speaking of Laina,” he said under his breath. I twisted slowly around to look up the stairs. Laina was descending. Her thick mane of hair was curled wildly and tangled from sleeping. Her eyes were still a bit heavy, and her cheeks were flushed. She had on the same black jeans and black button-up she’d been wearing when she s
LainaThe hot stones being rubbed on the bottom of my feet felt heavenly after the last couple of days I’d had. The young woman doing my pedicure smiled up at me. “Is it too hot”? “No,” I said. “It’s perfect. Thank you.” Ginny was beside me. Her chair was on full-blown massage mode, and her body was being jostled around as a rolling ball in the back of the chair pressed into her shoulder blades and spine. She groaned and nodded appreciatively. “We need to do this more often.” “Agreed,” I said. After the massage and spa portion of the pedicure was done, the estheticians set to work painting our toes. I had chosen a dark purple color with a bit of glitter in it, while Ginny had favored a hot pink. She looked over at me as she turned down the intensity of her chair so her foot wouldn’t be moving while it was painted. “I can’t believe I missed Saturday night. And all that shit went down. It’s insane.” “Be glad you weren’t there. It sucke