by Erin Trejo
The line is quiet for a few seconds. Maybe he hung up? I would if I was him. The last time he and I had a run in I knocked out half of his teeth.
“What kind of ideas?”
“The kind that involves big shipments and that half breed bastard you call a brother steppin’ into the spotlight.”
Well that got his attention. I know it did.
“Friday. I’ll meet you at the docks. You know which boats belong to me.”
The line goes dead, but my smile expands. Step one is now in play. Now, to get Whit to agree to tell me what I need to know. Then, I can move forward to step two.
24
Whitley
“You have lost your fucking mind. You think he wouldn’t come back? He sat with you while you barfed Whit. Not even I am willing to do that,” Jackson snickers at me. I take a pull from the bottle of bourbon and wince as it slides down my throat before passing it back to him.
“He left while I was asleep. Who the fuck does that?” I grumble.
“The man that came back for you last time. I’m pretty sure he likes you Whit. The motherfucker was moaning and groaning in his sleep all night. Oh Whitley, I love you,” he mocks.
“If you’re gonna sit there and mock me at least do it right.”
My stomach quivers as I look over my shoulder and see Mason standing in the doorway with his arms crossed over his broad chest.
“How the hell did you get in?” I snap as he grins at me.
“This isn’t the safest or the best put together apartment. I could probably kick my way through the fuckin’ wall.”
As he comes toward the couch my chest tightens. I wonder how much of our conversation he heard. Mason drops onto the couch next to me and reaches over to drag my body against his. With his lips kissing my neck, he mumbles, “Hi.”
“Hi.” My voice catches in my throat. His lips are like a fire that burns across my skin.
“And you thought he wouldn’t come back?” Jackson asks breaking our moment.
Mason pulls back, but his gaze doesn’t leave mine. “You didn’t think I’d come back?”
“I just didn’t think you had a reason to.”
“I’ll always come back, Whit.”
Those four words send me over the edge of my sanity. The way he watches me, and just takes me in. It’s almost more than I can handle. I’ve never had anyone care for me besides Jackson. I’ve always had what I thought was love, but it wasn’t. Alvaro wasn’t love. He was a user. He used me for his own sick purposes like so many others before him.
“I’m leaving this barf fest,” Jackson mumbles as he pushes himself up and off the chair.
“No, stay. I need to talk to both of you,” Mason says.
He presses his lips quickly to mine before pulling away, but still holding me to his side. Jackson sits back in the chair as we both wait to hear what Mason wants to talk about. I hope it isn’t anything bad. I don’t know that I can take anymore shit right now.
“I talked to my Prez. I can’t pull back on my end of the job with Armando. I tried to talk to him into using someone else, but it didn’t go over very well.” His hand tightens around me.
“I told you not to put me before your club.” Suddenly I’m a little pissed. I didn’t want to come between him and the club. They’re his family. They are all he has and I would never want to fuck that up or have it change.
“I didn’t fuckin’ ask you, did I? Either way, somethin’ has to be done. This isn’t up for a fuckin’ discussion Whit. You can’t handle what we need to talk about you take a damn walk and Jackson and I will work shit out.” He’s never talked to me like this before. He’s never once acted this way. I want to shove away from him and storm into my room, but I don’t. I’m held in place by the safety I feel when I’m with him.
“What do you need from me?” Jackson asks while looking between the two of us.
“Let me explain a bit. Armando is a big time Columbian dealer. We run a shit ton of product for him. A majority of our money comes from his shit. I want him out. That can’t happen unless,” before he can finish Jackson speaks.
“You have another supplier.” Mason nods his head. “And you have one in mind?”
“I do. If drug kingpins were on tiers, my guy would be on tier two, while Armando is on tier one. All we need is to bump Armando off of his goddamn tier and pave the way for my boy to step up. He has the resources and I know for a fact that if Armando was out, there would be a lot of happy people. Blowback wouldn’t be too bad. There are a very few out there that are loyal to that fuck,” Mason says filling us in.
“Sounds like you’ve got it all figured out,” Jackson adds.
“Not quite everything. The guy I have lined up doesn’t really like me very much. I’m pretty good with his brother. We’re meetin’ this Friday. This takeover is goin’ to be hard as hell, but I need some help here.”
“What the hell could we help with? I’m not into that shit Mason,” Jackson tells him.
“I know, but I need a lookout guy.”
“So, I assume your club isn’t in on this?”
“No, like I said I can’t go to them. I went to my Prez and he didn’t like what I had to say. This happens then it’s all on me. I need to know that Whit is out of harm’s way. I need to know that whatever the fuck Armando did is done and over.” I gasp at his words.
“Don’t you dare do this for me,” I warn him. I pull out of his grasp and stand tall. My hands are on my hips. I glare daggers at him, but he just smirks at me.
“Don’t tell me what the fuck to do darlin’. I think we established that when we first met. Didn’t we?” I can see the challenge in his eyes, and I want to accept it. I want to take it and push him the way he does me. It wouldn’t do me any good, but still I want to try.
“No. Fuck that Mason. And fuck you. I told you I was nothing. Don’t treat me like I’m something. This shit between us will be over and none of it will matter anymore.” As I say the words I take a step away, but Mason leaps to his feet in front of me.
“This is nothin’? Is that what you really think?” he roars.
“Oh, shit,” Jackson mumbles.
“I know exactly what it is.”
“You think you know. You’re fuckin’ stupid Whit,” Mason hisses.
“This is going to end badly,” Jackson says softly.
“I’m just being honest here Mason. We fuck. It’s what we do,” I tell him.
“It’s what we do? That little talk we had before you lost your shit? That was nothin’.” Mason’s grinding his teeth and his jaw is clenched tight.
“You should stop while you still can Whit,” Jackson says under his breath.
“Listen to your boy Whit. You better stop this shit before it pisses me off.”
The way Mason growls should scare me, but all it does it make me wet. I don’t understand this thing between us. I don’t know what it is.
“I don’t listen to anyone. It all started with a fuck in an alley. That. Was. It.”
His eyes flicker with fire before he moves toward me. I can vaguely hear Jackson cursing behind me. Mason wraps one hand around my throat as he walks me backwards. My back hits the wall roughly when I hear Jackson shuffling out of the room. When I look up and meet Mason’s gaze my stomach drops.
“I’ve never felt a connection with anyone except for my sister. I never wanted to. I didn’t fuckin’ ask to find you. I didn’t ask for you to storm into my goddamn life and tear it apart, yet here you are. This is the fuckin’ hand we were dealt Whit. You can act like this means nothin’ to you, but I can’t. I will chase your ass to the other end of the world if I need to.”
I don’t get a chance to respond. Mason’s lips cover mine and his tongue searching for mine. The way he kisses me makes my knees weak. His hand stays around my throat, squeezing tightly. The ache inside of me is overwhelming.
25
Mason
She drives me fucking insane. Everything about her makes me want to
slap the shit out her while fucking her senseless. Letting her neck go I move my hands down to her hips, sliding them under the hem of her shirt I’m fucking relieved there is nothing beneath it.
“I’m gonna fuck you right here. Right now. I’m not stoppin’ for a goddamn condom and I don’t give two shits if you give a shit,” I warn her.
I unbuckle my jeans quickly and shove them and my boxers to the floor. I lift Whit in my arms and wrap her legs around me. Her eyes dance with uneasiness, but I don’t give her the chance to voice her concerns even though they are clearly seen in her eyes. I push inside of her like she is a high I can’t get enough of. Whitley moans as I fill her. I bring my lips to her neck and start kissing and sucking at her delicate skin. She tastes like heaven. I grunt into her neck as I thrust inside her, each thrust going a little deeper.
“Tell me again this is nothin’, Whitley. Fuckin’ tell me!” I roar against her as I plunge even deeper still.
“Mason, you know what this is,” she pants.
The harder I thrust the more I need her to realize how wrong she is. This is something. This is more than she wants to admit it is. It has been since the very first day when I fucked her in the alley. We both know it, so why the fuck is she trying to deny it?
“Such a little slut Whitley. You fuck me like a little whore. Keep doin’ that.”
Grunting with each thrust, she tightens around me. Fuck, I could get used to feeling her just like this. I bite into her neck just as Whit lets out a scream. Her pussy strangles my dick as her body goes taut. She comes roughly while screaming my name. That’s exactly what I wanted to hear. The sound of my name coming from her perfect fucking lips. I unload inside of her, letting her have everything in me. Without pulling out of her I turn and walk us into her room. Both of us are panting for air and sated. When I get to her bed I pull out and lay her down, her overly fucked body looks so goddamn perfect on display for me. Climbing into the bed next to her I pull her into my arms and sigh. This is what contentment feels like. It has to be. I’ve never felt this before in my life.
“There was more than one guy,” she says so softly I almost don’t hear her.
“What do you mean?” I ask knowing, but needing to hear her say it.
“Alvaro. He took me to his place. There were a bunch of guys there. I thought he was having a party at first. What I didn’t know at the time was that I was the only entertainment.”
The words come out of her mouth and my body coils up tight. I don’t know that I can handle hearing this shit. I need to hear it so that I can handle this the right way but fuck me, this is going to kill me.
“What… What happened?”
Forcing the words out of my mouth is harder than I thought it would be. It’s not like this is shit the guys and I haven’t done in the past, but this is different. This is Whit we’re talking about. This girl is mine, and whatever I need to do to make this right I fucking will.
“We were drinking a lot. Alvaro called me over to him. At first I thought it was what Alvaro wanted. I thought that I was making him happy, but when they were all finished, he looked at me like I was the most disgusting thing he’d ever seen. He told me he had to go back to Cuba and that he wasn’t taking me. He said I was nothing more than a common whore to let that many men fuck me the way they did. I thought he loved me. Hell I even thought I loved him. When Armando offered the deal I took it. I thought, ‘What the fuck?’ Might as well have a round with the Columbian drug lord, but when he walked me into that warehouse and I saw the other men it all came rushing back to me.”
Her words are like a knife slicing through my skin. It aches. It bleeds. It fucking hurts. I want to curl her up in my arms and stop the pain, but I can’t. They aren’t my wounds. They’re hers and that’s what makes it even worse.
“Your hair?” I ask taking a deep breath.
“They liked to pull it. Assholes kept saying I had the hair of a good whore. After you left me in that hospital, I just couldn’t take it. The faces, the words, what they did, it just all kept creeping back. I couldn’t change what they did to me, but I could change what they liked about me. I cut it all off and thought that it would help end the fucking nagging voices in the back of my mind telling me how good of a whore I was for them.”
“Did it work?” I ask as Whit looks up at me and I see her bright eyes are now full of unshed tears.
“No. It eased it, but you’re the only one that can make it stop Mason. When I’m with you, nothing else seems to matter. No other noises can break through. It’s so fucking welcoming that I forget that you aren’t mine to keep.”
Before she has a chance to continue I grab her face roughly in my hand and say, “Keep me Whit. Say the fuckin’ words and you can have me. This doesn’t have to end. You are the only one tryin’ to end it. I don’t want it to end. All you have to do is say that you want to keep me,” I’m nearly begging her.
I can’t stop myself. I want this woman more than I have ever wanted anything. I want her more than the fucking air I breathe, but she won’t give in. She’s stubborn as hell and I think that’s part of why I like her so much.
“It would be so easy to say those words Mason, but I can’t. You aren’t mine and all I’m doing is creating problems for you and your club. I don’t want to be the reason you fight with them. I can’t. I won’t be. I’m not worth that much,” she says softly.
My nerves are on edge. I’m sick of hearing her talk the way she does, but I know she isn’t going to stop. My cell phone rings in the living room, but I ignore it.
“You are worth a hell of a lot more than you think you are Whitley. One day I’ll make you see it. I’m not goin’ anywhere. You hear me?” I ask looking her directly in the eye. I can see that she wants to give in to me. It’s all there for her, but that stubborn streak just won’t let her. She just smiles and says not one word. “Do you hear me?” I growl this time. Her eyes stay glued to mine as she nods slowly. Maybe I am slowly breaking her down and bringing her around to see what I fucking see in us.
“Go answer that. It’s annoying,” Whit says with a smile when my phone just keeps ringing. I press my lips to hers before climbing out of her bed. I head into the living room where my discarded jeans lie on the floor. I grab them and get my phone out of my pocket.
“What?” I snap as soon as the phone hits my ear.
“We got a situation. Look at your phone,” Viking says and his voice is pissed. Pulling the phone from my ear I click on the message.
“Son of a fuckin’ bitch. Who sent it?” I roar and it tears through my throat so hard it vibrates my chest.
“Alvaro Diaz. Seems you’re just pissin’ everyone off,” Viking chuckles through the line.
“What the hell do you want Viking? This is all a big fuckin’ joke to you, yeah? Why send this to me? Why call at all?” I know talking to my Prez like that is a death wish, but I’m not asking my Prez these questions. I’m asking my friend.
“I get it Mason. I don’t fuckin’ like it, but I get it. I know you’re plottin’ somethin’ and I want to know what it is.”
“You brushed me off Viking. You didn’t want shit to do with this before. Why now?” The line goes silent for a long time. I can hear him breathing on the other end before I hear the flick of the lighter.
“I fuckin’ thought you’d back down. I never thought you’d go goddamn rogue on me. If she’s what you want then I’m in brother, but we need a plan.”
“I have a plan. I don’t need your help.”
I’m just about to hang up the phone when he speaks again. “I know you don’t. I want to help though Mason. You’re my goddamn VP, but more than that you’re my brother. You’re my best friend. What kind of man would that shit make me? Turnin’ my back on my family? I can’t fuckin’ do that. Now pack up your girl and her little friend and get your asses over here.”
The line goes dead as a smile creeps across my face. It’s damn good to have my boys back.
26
Whit
ley
“This is stupid,” I mouth as I stand with my arms crossed over my chest. Mason moves around the room tossing random shit in a bag. My shit.
“You’re stupid if you think I’m leavin’ without you,” Mason snaps over his shoulder. I raise an eyebrow to challenge him, but whatever happened on that phone call has him all worked up.
“Are you going to tell me what happened? You said you saw a picture. What the hell does that even mean?” I ask trying to get some kind of information. Mason doesn’t say anything, but when I see he left his phone lying on the end of the bed in his caveman state, I grab it. Scrolling through while he tosses more of my clothes in the bag, my body goes numb.
“No! I won’t let it happen again!” I nearly scream when the next picture comes into view. Tears are slipping down my cheeks as my heart races faster. I didn’t realize that I said that out loud until Mason pulls the phone from my hand and stuffs it into his jeans.
“I’m not lettin’ that happen to you again. Ever. Do you hear me? Look at me Whit. That shit? It’s the past. It will never happen again. You get me?”
I can’t look at him. After everything I’ve told him and then he had to see it with his own eyes. My body trembles as that night replays in my mind. The look in Alvaro’s eyes, the hate that he held inside of him. That picture was taken without me even knowing. It’s me, sprawled out, being held down. One man holds each wrist and ankle while the others fucked me mercilessly. He saw it. The thought of Mason seeing it makes my stomach roll. What must he think of me now? Does he truly believe I’m the whore they all claim me to be? His hands grip my face and he roughly pulls my eyes up to meet him.
“Whatever you’re fuckin’ thinkin’ you need to stop Whitley. I’ll take care of him. He isn’t goin’ to touch you. You’re mine now. You’re not his. Do you understand me?” I nod my head absently because I don’t know what else to do. Mason releases me and grabs the bags. I’m not Mason’s. How could he possibly want me after what he’s seen?
