by Ali Parker
I nodded. “I’ll listen to what he has to say, but I’m making no promises. I think I’m dodging a bullet here. I got scalded. I don’t want to get burned, and Mason is definitely a guy who could burn me.”
“Okay. That’s all I can ask. I’ll stop by tomorrow,” she said and walked out the door.
My energetic cleaning streak was over. I flopped down on the couch and thought about what she had said. I didn’t want to see him. If I looked into those eyes or got close enough to smell him, it would be dangerous. I didn’t want to fall into the same trap twice. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
Chapter 31
Mason
I’d texted twice and Adelaide had not replied. I knew Deanna said to talk to her in person, but truth be told, I was a little intimidated by the idea. I knew she was pissed and now that I had crossed the line into too many days of not explaining the situation, I was in precarious territory. There was a fine line and I had fallen right over it.
I wasn’t going to wait any longer. I had to tell her my side of the story, knowing she was probably going to tell me to get lost. I needed to say it and then I could clear my conscience. I didn’t want her thinking I had betrayed her. I couldn’t live with that. Her expression had been replaying through my head for days. I thought about how I would feel if I were in her shoes. We were alike in the way of being guarded and naturally untrusting of others. I didn’t like her thinking I wasn’t trustworthy. She could think I was an asshole and that wouldn’t bother me a bit, but I didn’t want her thinking I was a cheater or a guy who used women for sex. I was a lot of things, but I wasn’t that.
I checked the time. It was almost ten. Things would be slowing down for her at the coffee shop. I had tried to tell myself I could wait until tonight. I was going to go to her apartment and talk to her through the door if she wouldn’t let me in. I couldn’t wait. I wanted to see her. I actually missed seeing her face. If I sat around thinking about it much longer, I would talk myself out of it altogether. I grabbed my keys to the Sheene, my helmet, and my light jacket since I wasn’t going far and wouldn’t be going fast.
I rode to the shop, happy to see it was slow when I walked through the door. I immediately saw Adelaide, bent over and doing something below the counter. I had to look at her ass. I had missed that very fine ass. I walked to the counter, taking off my riding gloves, and waited for her to notice me.
She stood and turned around, a smile on her face that fell away the second she laid eyes on me. “Oh,” she muttered.
“Hi.”
“What do you want?” she snapped.
“I want to talk to you.”
“I’m busy.”
I looked around the coffee shop, noticing there were only a couple of customers in the place and none of them looked like they were going to be ordering anything anytime soon.
“Adelaide,” I said her name, letting it roll off my tongue.
“No.”
“One minute, please. I’ll buy one of those American things,” I said.
She rolled her eyes. “Americano. It’s an americano. I don’t have a minute.”
“Adelaide, you can give me a minute and we can go somewhere a little more private, or I can say what it is I came to say right here, nice and loud.” I growled.
She glared at me. “You are such an asshole.”
I grinned, knowing I had won. “Fine. I’ll give you that. Do I get a coffee?”
“No. I’ll give you one minute.”
She stomped away, going through a door before coming back a few seconds later. There was a young woman behind her. She looked me up and down, before looking at Adelaide with a look of apprehension. I ignored it. Adelaide walked around the corner, heading for the same quiet corner where I had asked her to dinner that first time.
“Thanks,” I muttered, when she stopped and glared at me, her arms folded over her chest in a protective nature.
“What? I don’t have time for this bullshit.” She groaned.
“Adelaide, I had nothing to do with what happened on Friday,” I told her.
She shrugged. “Whatever.”
“No, not whatever. This is serious. My brothers did that. I had no idea they were going to try and set me up,” I explained.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. You’re an innocent victim. I’ve heard the story. I need to get back to work,” she said, turning to walk away.
I reached out and grabbed her arm. She looked down at it before looking back at me with fiery eyes. I immediately let go of her. “Give me a minute to explain.”
“No. I don’t care.”
“Bullshit. You don’t know the truth. You are making an assumption about what you think you saw and you’re wrong.” I hissed.
“Still don’t care,” she said in nasty tone.
“Yes, you do. If you didn’t care, you wouldn’t be this pissed,” I argued.
“You don’t know me, don’t pretend you do,” she snapped.
I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath and praying for patience. “I’m not pretending anything, but you don’t know the truth.”
“Let me try and explain this to you nice and slow. I. Don’t. Care. I don’t care what your excuses are. I don’t care what the truth is. This isn’t something I care about,” she said, gesturing back and forth between us.
“Liar.”
“Call me a liar again and see what happens,” she challenged.
“You’re being stubborn and defiant, because you think I did something to purposely hurt you. I’m telling you I didn’t.”
“Fine. You’ve said your piece. You’ve cleared your conscience. We don’t have to say anything more to each other. Let’s just go back to hating each other. Let’s face it, we are so incompatible it would have never worked,” she said nonchalantly.
“No, you’re incompatible with anyone. You have this idea you’re Little Miss Perfect and the rest of us are all shit.”
She shook her head. “I’m not perfect. Never claimed to be, but I’m not going to be tossed to the side the first time some blonde with big tits comes your way.” She hissed, her eyes glaring into mine.
“That’s not what it was, and you know it. You’re doing this on purpose,” I accused.
“Doing what? Forcing you to go out with pretty, rich blond women?”
Her choice of words told me my suspicions were correct. She was hurt. She thought I had used her and lied about what I wanted.
“Adelaide, will you please listen to me?” I asked, softening my tone.
She sighed, her anger dissipating slightly. “No. I can’t. I don’t want to. I don’t want to deal with any of this. I’m not going to get caught up in this thing with you. You’re not the kind of man I want in my life.”
That hurt. She may as well have slapped me across the face. My immediate, instinctive reaction was to strike back. She had drawn first blood, but I was not going to turn around and run away with my tail tucked between my legs.
“Really? You sure about that? I think you want me for something. It felt like you wanted me inside you when you were digging your nails into my back. It felt like you wanted me in your life just then.” I snarled.
Her mouth dropped open, her eyes darting around the coffee shop to see if anyone heard me. “You asshole. You’re disgusting. Get out of here.”
I shook my head. “No.”
“Mason, this is exactly why I don’t want to be around you. You’re rude, vulgar, and obnoxious.”
“Right back at you, princess. What’s the matter, you don’t want any of your customers or employees knowing you lowered your standards enough to take me on a wild ride? You don’t want them to know how much you enjoyed it when I was fucking you? When I was making you scream with pleasure,” I whispered.
Her lip curled in disgust. “No. I don’t. I would never willingly admit we ever slept together. That was a mistake, one I don’t plan to make again.”
“You already did, remember?” I said with a wink.
&nbs
p; She was shaking her head, sneering at me as if I were the lowest piece of garbage on the street. “I did. You’re right. Like I said, it’s a mistake I won’t make again. Leave. Now. I’m not fucking around, Mason.” She hissed, her eyes shooting fire at me.
I stared back at her, trying to remember why I had been so worried about what she thought she saw that night. “I guess my initial opinion of you was accurate. You’re right about the mistake thing. It was a mistake to think you were actually human under the ice queen thing you’ve got going on. You wanted to get laid and I was the man to do it. Next time you want to get off, find a vibrator. No man should ever be subjected to you.”
Anger flashed in her eyes. “Trust me, a vibrator is a million times better—at least it doesn’t talk.”
I smirked. “Have a nice life, princess.”
“You too, asshole,” she called out, talking to my back as I shoved the door open.
The woman was horrible. I couldn’t believe I had fooled myself into thinking there was a chance at something real with her. We were a lot alike. I realized then that wasn’t a great thing. She could cut deep with her words, just like I knew I had cut her with my own insults. I hated that I had let her get to me and bring out that side of me. I usually saved that kind of talk for one of the guys in the bar. I had never spoken like that to a woman and I wasn’t feeling all that great about it.
I pulled on my helmet and thought about going in and at least apologizing for the things I had said. I turned to look through the window and saw her glaring at me. That was all I needed to change my mind. She was pissed as hell and would only lob more vicious insults my way. Things were already bad enough between us. I didn’t want to make it worse.
Somewhere in the back of my mind, I remembered she was close to Dalton. I would never disrespect Dalton. I would save the apology for him. I hoped he would understand I would never be in the same room with that woman again. I knew he cared for her, but I couldn’t stand the woman. She was nasty, mean, and one of the coldest human beings I had ever had the misfortune to meet. That was saying a lot considering the crowd I usually ran with.
I would love to turn Adelaide loose on some of the tough bikers who thought they were invincible. She would fillet them with her fierce stare and her harsh words. I zipped my jacket halfway. I was hot as hell after that little fight with Adelaide and didn’t want to wear the damn thing at all. I yanked on my gloves and hopped on my bike. I wanted to hit the open road and keep on going.
That’s exactly what I was going to do. I would go home and grab some of my shit and leave. I would head north. Maybe visit Canada for a while. I wanted to put some distance between Adelaide and me. New York City wasn’t big enough for both of us. Hell, the United States wasn’t big enough. I was going to Canada for a nice, long extended vacation.
I pulled my bike into traffic. My mind already imagining me riding through the mountains with nothing but the wind to accompany me. I did a mental checklist of everything I needed to take care of before I left. I wasn’t coming home for a while. Adelaide had won. She had effectively run me out of the country, and I wasn’t the least bit ashamed.
Chapter 32
Adelaide
My body was shaking all over. It was the letdown after the surge of adrenaline I had been infused with while facing off with Mason. With him gone and the fight over, reality slammed into me, hard and fast. I managed to walk behind the counter, pretending everything was okay as I made my way into the small back stockroom. I walked straight to the wall and rested my forehead against it, dragging in long, deep breaths to try and calm my nerves.
I hated that I let him get to me. I hated that he said those horrible things. I really hated I had said equally horrible things. I shouldn’t have said what I did. I knew he was telling the truth. I felt it in my gut, but I had still lashed out at him. That had been wrong. He’d been trying to explain, and I shut him down. It was out of fear. I could admit that. I was terrified of getting too close and getting really hurt by him. I knew he was one of the few people capable of doing that to me. My defensive nature was to keep him at arm’s length. I couldn’t let him in. If I did, it would hurt.
I was embarrassed for admitting I was jealous of the mystery woman. I hated that I was. I never really considered myself a jealous person, because I never allowed myself to truly care for anyone enough to care.
“Damn it, Mason.” I groaned.
He was making me feel all kinds of things that were very uncomfortable. I just needed to put it all behind me. I wouldn’t see him or talk to him for a few weeks and the pain would fade. I wouldn’t feel anything for him. It would all go away. I just had to get through the period of discomfort—one day at a time.
I walked to the office, grabbed my clipboard with my inventory sheet on it, and stayed busy by counting supplies. I was scaling back on how much I kept on hand. I needed to cut costs and having extra inventory on hand was eating into my profits. I had always kept a cushion, but not anymore.
I focused on the task, blocking out the world. I was going to do a better job managing my paper products, I decided after picking up napkins and cups, which had fallen to the floor and had to be discarded. It was truly throwing money in the garbage. I walked back to the office, preparing to write up a notice for the communication board. I needed all the staff to be more conscientious about our supplies.
“Hey,” Deanna said, knocking once on the door.
I looked up, feeling guilty about the way things had gone with Mason. I was expecting her to lecture me and express her disappointment in the way I had handled things. I did feel horribly guilty for my behavior.
“I didn’t realize it was already eleven,” I murmured, not looking directly at her.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, immediately knowing something was wrong.
I sighed, shaking my head. “I’m sorry.”
“You’re sorry for what?”
“For losing my cool with Mason.”
She groaned. “I take it that means the two of you talked?” she asked, sitting down in the chair I had pushed up against the wall.
I wrinkled my nose. “I don’t know if you can actually call what we did talking.”
“I’m guessing you’re not referring to sex,” she muttered.
“Definitely not. He came here.”
“Today?” she questioned.
“Yes. He left a little bit ago. It didn’t end well. I don’t think we will be having friendly drinks and dinner anytime soon,” I told her.
“Addy, did you let him tell you his side of things?” she asked softly.
I shrugged. “Kind of. I mean, I already knew. It doesn’t change things.”
She looked disappointed. “Doesn’t it? If you wouldn’t have seen what you saw that night, wouldn’t you still be thinking about a relationship with him?”
“I don’t know. We might have gone out again and realized we really didn’t like each other. This just saved us a step.”
“Maybe not. He might be your guy, the one who makes you really happy. Don’t you at least owe yourself the chance to find out? Don’t you want to know if things could have worked out between you?” she pressed.
I shook my head. “I don’t know. I don’t think so. I don’t think we would have ever made it past a few dates before the shine would have worn off the new relationship. We would have ended up right where we are now. I’m saving us a lot of time.”
“You mean you’re missing out on the good times you would have had together,” she pointed out.
“It wasn’t that good,” I retorted.
“I wasn’t talking about the sex. I was referring to how happy you were even if it was only for a day or two. You never get that way. You were considering something with him because there was something there you liked. When was the last time you even thought that way about a man? You usually go on one date and decide immediately you don’t like the guy. Mason made it past the first, sailed through the second, and you were ready for number three
on Friday,” she reminded me.
“Yes, I was and then fate intervened and set me back on the right track.”
“Bullshit. Nothing intervened. You’re being stubborn and I hate to see you miss out on something great just because you refuse to see beyond your own misguided opinions of the man,” she snapped, her frustration evident.
“I’m sorry. I really am. I think it’s better I don’t get caught up in something with him. It’s too weird for you. It’d be like me dating Dalton,” I told her.
“No, because I can see something between you two. Dalton sees it now as well. He was pretty floored when I told him, but once the shock wore off, he realized it’s been staring us in the face this whole time. We never saw it then, but now that we know, it’s like, duh!” she said with a small laugh.
I sighed, rubbing a hand over my eyes. “It’s too late. You saw and now it’s time to unsee it.”
She laughed, ready to come back with a witty retort when her phone started ringing. “Dalton, I was just telling Addy that you and I are going to force her and Mason to kiss and make up,” she said, answering the phone call.
I scowled at her. “Nope. Not going to happen.”
I watched her face pale as she listened to whatever it was Dalton was saying. I didn’t realize he would have such a strong reaction to the very idea of Mason and I getting together. Tears were shimmering in her eyes. I realized then that something was horribly wrong.
“Where?” she croaked out the word.
She was nodding, getting to her feet. “We’ll be right there.”
She wiped her eyes and looked at me. A sense of immense dread washed over me.
“What is it?” I asked, almost afraid to hear what had made her cry.
“Accident,” she whispered.
“Dalton? Is he okay?” I asked, turning around to grab my purse from off the back of my chair where it was hanging.
