Moments with Mason (A Red Maple Falls Novel, #3)

by Theresa Paolo

  He fell to the ground, clutching his crotch and tears of relief poured down Cassie’s face.

  She turned to run, slamming into a hard chest. She flung her arms out ready to fight when her eyes met familiar green eyes.

  “I’m okay,” she assured him, but his eyes quickly diverted, focusing on Dylan who managed to get to his knees.

  Mason stepped around her his fist coming down on Dylan’s face. Over and over and over.

  Blood spurted from Dylan’s nose, but Mason didn’t stop. His fist was relentless, striking with unmistaken fury.

  “Mason, stop!” she yelled, afraid if he didn’t he would kill Dylan. Not that she cared, the bastard deserved to die, but Mason didn’t need that on his conscience. The sound of bone breaking filled the room. “Mason! Please!”

  But it was as if he couldn’t hear her. He had slipped into the darkness, and she couldn’t pull him out.

  Chapter 22

  “Mason! Enough!” Words finally penetrated the raging wall of anger he fell behind as Matt’s hands latched tightly onto his shoulders and tossed him to the side.

  He took deep hard breaths, trying to control the anger that still burned through his veins. The bastard groaned as two officers lifted him, and Mason jumped up ready to hit him again. He didn’t get the right to moan. He didn’t deserve to even breathe.

  “Knock it off!” Matt shoved him up against the wall, holding Mason at arm’s length and using all of his weight to keep him there.

  “I’m going to kill him,” Mason growled through gritted teeth.

  “It’s over,” Matt said.

  Mason wanted to yell it wasn’t over. Not until the bastard was dead, but his eyes caught Cassie’s fear-stricken gaze across the kitchen. Her beautiful golden eyes were wide and her face paled.

  “What… what have I done?” Mason asked, all the anger and rage lost to the shame and worry.

  He went to move, but Matt held him back.

  “Let me go,” he demanded.

  “Are you cool?”

  Mason nodded, his eyes never leaving Cassie. “She needs me.”

  Matt’s hold loosened, and Mason hurried across the kitchen.

  “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” He took her face into his hands, not realizing the blood on his skin until it was too late. He dropped his hands and stepped back. “What did I do?”

  The fear that had been in Cassie’s eyes were burned into his mind. He kept seeing it over and over. He swore to himself he would never scare her and he did.

  She needed someone to comfort her and instead he walked away from her when she needed him most. He used his fists, wanting that bastard dead, refusing to stop at nothing. Even Cassie couldn’t get through to him no matter how much she begged.

  Now that his mind was clearing he could hear those pleas clearly. The panic and fear in her voice. The desperation and despair. He did that to her. What the hell was wrong with him?

  “Mason?” she said that same despair in her tone. Her eyes glistened with unshed tears and he wanted to hold her. To tell her everything was going to be okay, but how could he do that when his hands were stained with blood?

  “I’m sorry,” he said and backed away farther. “I’m so sorry.”

  He couldn’t look at her and know that he became everything that she hated. He turned away from her, feeling his heart break as he walked away with the realization that he became the monster she was scared of.

  ***

  Cassie couldn’t watch Mason walk away no more than she could stand to see the anger on his face.

  He wanted to protect her, and she loved him for that, but he still scared her. No matter how much she called out to him, he didn’t hear her. He got lost to the darkness and she couldn’t pull him out.

  “He’ll be okay,” Matt assured her.

  “I know,” Cassie said because despite everything, Mason was strong.

  Matt rested a comforting hand on her shoulder. “I have to ask you questions. We can wait if you want.”

  Cassie smiled at the sweet tone of his voice the underlying concern that shown through though it was obvious he was trying to stay professional. She couldn’t believe that not so long ago this man in front of her was someone she feared. That she looked at him with disregard instead of respect and appreciation.

  That day in his cruiser when he played twenty questions with her, it had nothing to do with her. He was doing exactly what Mason or anyone would do. He was protecting his family. She didn’t see it that way only because she really didn’t have a basis to compare it to. She had Francine for a short time, but even those few short years of love and family didn’t erase the years of neglect. Cassie didn’t know what it was to do everything you could to protect the ones you loved, but now. Now she more than understood it. It’s the reason she let Mason walk away without a fight.

  She loved him unconditionally. It was a love so strong and so fierce that it filled her heart and bled from her pores. And his love that she knew was just as intense made him act in a way that wasn’t him. That brought out something dark inside of him and by letting him go she was giving him the space he needed to work this out himself.

  He needed to clear his head and get a fresh perspective. He was running on fear and anger. Nothing good ever came from that combination.

  Matt spoke to his deputies then turned back to her. “I can give you a few minutes.”

  Cassie shook her head. She spent her whole life waiting… waiting for someone to adopt her, someone to love her, waiting on making her escape, on reentering the world after she did escape. She had spent so much of her life waiting, and she was done.

  She looked at Matt with determination in her eyes. “Let’s get this over with.”

  The questions were nothing she didn’t expect, and while in the past she would be hesitant to boldly answer with the truth, she was done hiding, so she answered every one of Matt’s questions, making sure not to leave out a single detail.

  “If you’re willing to press charges, which I hope you are, we can have him booked for violating the order of protection against him and for attempted murder.”

  The words sent chills down her spine. She had no doubts in her mind that Dylan didn’t have any intention of killing her. She could still feel the strength of his hands against her windpipe, see the black holes of hell in his eyes, but to hear the words uttered out loud made the possibilities all that much more real.

  What if she hadn’t taken that class? And Mason showed up too late? What if he found her motionless on the floor? She couldn’t imagine what was going through his head and to think she watched him walk away without saying a single word… Guilt slammed into her, hard and ugly.

  Mason’s capacity for forgiveness was endless, but this… what if he couldn’t forgive her for not going after him? She thought she was doing the right thing, but now, she wasn’t so sure.

  “Where is she?” Terry’s voice floated through the house loud and determined.

  “Don’t you tell me I can’t go in there, Scotty boy. I will call your mother.”

  “Are you okay for visitors?” Matt asked.

  “You can let her in.”

  “Scott, let Terry in.”

  “That’s what I thought,” Terry said as she hurried into the kitchen in a mass of red hair and her usual leopard print. “Oh my God, sweetie are you okay? I heard everything on the police scanner and rushed over here as soon as I could.”

  “Where did you get a police scanner?” Matt asked.

  “On my phone. They have an app for it.”

  Cassie saw Matt shake his head before Terry threw her arms around her. “That son of a bitch is lucky I wasn’t here. I would have beat him over the head with a frying pan. Are you okay?”

  “I’m okay,” Cassie assured her. “Thanks to that self-defense class you organized.” Terry squeezed her harder and while she used to see that as a threat now she reveled in the comfort of it. Cassie caught Matt’s gaze and he nodded. Without a single word, she thanked
him for teaching her the moves that saved her life. She’d be forever indebted to him.

  Terry pulled back. “Let me look at you.” Her eyes scanned Cassie up and down, stopping momentarily on her neck. Cassie hadn’t looked in a mirror, but she had a suspicion that Dylan left his mark. Terry didn’t mention anything, and Cassie was grateful. “Where’s Mason? I heard they needed an ambulance.”

  “Let’s just say he wasn’t the one being carried away on a stretcher,” Cassie said.

  “That’s my boy!” Terry announced proudly.

  “You okay here?” Matt asked, and Terry waved him away.

  “I’m here. She’s fine. Go Sheriff. I got her.”

  Matt disappeared into the living room, and Terry sat down in the seat beside Cassie, taking her hands in hers. “I’m so sorry this happened to you.”

  “I’m not. It’s finally over. He’s going to go to jail, and I can finally live my life outside of fear.”

  Terry gave her a faint smile then met her gaze. “So why do you look so scared still?”

  “It’s just Mason. He was so angry.” She had seen the rage burning in his eyes, the black void that couldn’t be reached. She’d be lying to herself if she said she wasn’t scared. Seeing Mason lose control like that was terrifying. “He completely lost it. I know he was protecting me, but the truth is, he scared me.”

  “We all have a dark side, sweetie. It’s the people who live in the dark that you should be scared of not the people who took a wrong turn and get lost there for a little while.”

  Terry’s words resonated deep inside her. Cassie watched the minute Mason emerged from the darkness and came back to the light. He might have succumbed to his anger, but he would never let it control him. He was too strong, too good.

  Terry patted her hand. “How about some tea?”

  It was a simple question, but the sentiment caused an explosion of emotion. This crazy and wild woman who loved leopard print and who Cassie didn’t even know a couple months ago, who had selflessly come to her rescue when she was at the bottom of her luck somehow had become one of her closest and dearest friends. Now she was here for her when she really needed a friend and Cassie had no idea if Terry really knew how much that meant.

  With a smile that she couldn’t believe she had in her after everything she went through today, Cassie said, “I would love some.”

  Chapter 23

  A couple hours later there was a knock at Mason’s door. He didn’t bother answering it. It was probably one of his family members coming to check on him. God knows word had probably already spread through the town like a raging wildfire. Everyone would be inquiring for more information and sticking their noses where they didn’t belong.

  The knocks stopped, and he let out a breath, resting his head back on the couch when the door flew open.

  He knew he locked the damn thing when he got home. He didn’t want to be bothered; he thought that would be enough to keep people away. He should have known better. His family didn’t understand the concept of privacy.

  Matt stood in the door, and Mason let his head fall back to the couch. Matt was the worst offender. He was regretting ever giving him a key. “Get out.”

  Always a good listener, Matt shut the door and sat down beside him on the couch.

  “What part of I don’t want you here do you not understand?”

  “What’s going on?”

  Mason clasped his hands together, noticing the dried blood, the faint ugly swirls of black and blue that had started to form. He was disgusted with himself and for what he did.

  “I did the one thing I swore I would never do. I scared her. I’m such an idiot. How is she? Please tell me she’s okay.”

  “She’s going to be okay.”

  “She shouldn’t be alone. I should’ve stayed with her, but I couldn’t. Not after what I did.”

  “It’s okay. She’s not. Terry heard what happened and stopped by to check on her. She said she’d stay with her.”

  “Good.” Mason had never been so happy for Terry nosing into other people’s business than he was right then. He found relief in knowing Cassie wasn’t alone.

  “I’m actually more concerned about you right now,” Matt said. “You watched the woman you love fighting for her life and then you beat the shit out of that guy.”

  “I’ve replayed it over and over in my mind, thinking of what I should have done differently. And the thing that bothers me most, I wouldn’t change a thing. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”

  “I know, and I wouldn’t blame you either.”

  “Yes, you would. You’re the Sheriff. You abide by the law. You don’t break it.”

  “I’m also human and a brother, a husband, a soon to be father. If someone ever laid a hand on any of the women I love, I don’t think my oath would mean a damn. I’d kill the sonofabitch.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. I wouldn’t even have to think about it.”

  “Seeing that bastard’s hands on her made something inside of me snap. I couldn’t see clearly only colors. White then black then red. I wanted him dead and I wasn’t going to stop. If you didn’t show up…” Mason shook his head as he became fully aware of how out of control he was. “I’ve never felt anger like that.”

  “Welcome to the club, brother,” Matt said, patting him on the back.

  “Do I at least get an honorary t-shirt?”

  “Nope. Just the inability to sleep until you know she’s home safe. The desire to hurt any guy who looks at her and an unexplainable need to protect her even though she doesn’t need your protection, just your love.”

  Mason ran a hand over his face as he took in Matt’s words. “Sounds awful.”

  “Compared to the alternative, living without them, it’s the best deal you can ask for.”

  “I guess when you put it that way.”

  “Do yourself a favor and don’t mess it up.”

  “I think I already have.”

  “Not even close. She loves you. Give her tonight then go to her tomorrow. A night of sleep and a fresh day’s perspective will do you both good.”

  “I doubt I’ll be sleeping.”

  “Try,” Matt said. “You going to be okay?”

  “I’ll be fine. Go home to your wife.”

  “Call me if you need me. Whatever time.” Matt headed to the door and Mason called out to him. “Yeah?”

  Mason didn’t say anything when Matt looked back at him, but he didn’t have to. They were brothers, and Matt knew without any words spoken, exactly what Mason was thinking.

  “You’re welcome,” Matt said before walking out and closing the door behind him.

  Chapter 24

  Cassie couldn’t sleep, and it had nothing to do with her fear of Dylan finding her. Matt assured her he was behind bars and would be there for some time.

  No, the reason she couldn’t sleep was because she missed Mason.

  She hated how hurt he looked as he stepped away from. Hated that she didn’t try to stop him. She was in shock but she knew then just as she did now that he was only protecting her. Terry was right. Everyone had darkness inside of them, and she didn’t hold it against him for falling into it for a moment, especially given the circumstances.

  He could never live in the dark; he was filled with too much light. His smile practically sparkled, his green dark gaze could electrify an entire room. Someone like Mason would never intentionally hurt someone unless he had good reason and dammit he had good reason.

  Dylan was going to kill her. She saw it in the black holes of his gaze, felt it in the unrelenting grip of his hands on her throat. She might have fought Dylan off, but Mason made sure that he wouldn’t get away. He saved her life by giving it back to her.

  She sat up in bed. She couldn’t sleep until she saw him. Until he knew that she wasn’t scared of him. That she loved him, including the dark crevices of his mind.

  She pulled on her jeans and slipped into her leather coat, running for the door. The only prob
lem was, she didn’t have a car. The night was dark, but the full moon cast a glow that helped break up the blackness.

  Her eyes landed on Terry’s leopard print bike propped up against the house. Walt had picked her up a few hours ago and too tired to fight with the bike to get it in his car, he’d said he’d come back for it in the morning.

  Terry wouldn’t mind if Cassie used it. Without Mason’s reassuring words, his hand holding her seat, the warmth of his body near hers, she wasn’t sure if she could do this. She took a deep breath. “For Mason you can,” she said to herself as she kicked her leg over the seat.

  She recalled everything he had told her, remembered how she raced along the back road of the brewery and pedaled. Remembered the freedom she felt as the wind tossed her hair and Mason’s cheers as he caught up with her.

  She thought of his smile, focused on the strong lines of his face, his beautiful dark green eyes and the way they lit up whenever she walked into a room. She pedaled, refusing to look back only ahead as she made her way to the brewery.

  The bike picked up momentum and she pedaled harder when the wheel hit a jagged spot in the road, causing the handlebars to jerk to the side. Her body flew off the bike and she flung her hands out to break her fall. She landed with a hard thud, her hands and knees scraping across the roughened road.

  The last thing she was going to let stop her was a bump in the road. She ignored the stinging burn spreading up her arms and legs and hopped back on the bike.

  When she reached the parking lot, she was winded, gasping for air, but she wouldn’t stop. Not when she was so close to him. She leapt off the bike and rested it against the wooden structure. She could see light seeping out from beneath the door and knew he was in there working. Probably unable to sleep like her.

  She fished out the key he had given her only a few days ago and slipped it into the lock. For a second, she thought about knocking, but ignored the thought and pushed the door open. She stepped into the brewery and saw Mason behind the bar, wiping down the shelves that held Kate’s growlers.