“Youbitch!” Conyers yelled, “I’ll have you arrested! You fucking bitch!”
“Now, now, Billy boy,” Weaver laughed, “Language! This is a ‘family’ event after all…” she said, throwing his words back at him. She must have heard more of the conversation than I’d realized.
She grinned at me and leaned down to where Bill sat on the floor, trying to stem the flow of blood from his nose.
“And besides… no cop is going to arrest an itty bitty little girl for putting a perv who grabbed her ass in his place,” she laughed. She stood and linked her arms with mine, pulling me back to the booth.
“Woot! And I got it all on video!” Jeri yelled from the booth.
“Thanks, Weave,” I said, running my hands through my hair. “I don’t think I could have done that without ending up in jail tonight, but Ireallywanted to…” I sighed.
“I figured as much, especially after I saw the email he sent the boys,” she said, her eyes narrowing. “Think I could get away with it a second time?” she raised an eyebrow at me and made as if to turn back to Bill and his buddies.
“Nuh uh, hotshot,” I said, pulling her back. “Can’t have you in jail for your whole leave. How’d you manage it, anyway?”
“I have a friend in the Captain’s office who owed me a favor,” she said. Her face sobered, some of the mischief leaving her face, replaced by little worry lines between her eyebrows.
“They’ll be okay, sis. It will just take a little time,” I reassured her.
“Time.Shit!” she yelled, looking at her watch. “You need to go!” she said, thrusting a bunch of papers at me from one of the millions of pockets in her uniform.
“What do you mean?” I asked, confused as hell as I looked down at the papers.
“Whatsisname… Cameron? He’s at the airport waiting for us to pick him up. He texted Sonny asking if someone was coming, or if he should just request an Uber.”
“What? Bill said he canceled?” I asked.
“Nah, he was just delayed. He’s waiting on you. I’ll stay here and watch the booth. You can go get him and get him back here in recordtime. Plus,” she grinned up at me, “I figured you two had some things to work out.”
“I love you, Weaver,” I said, hugging her close.
“I love you too, Lee,” she laughed, “Now get going! Faster than a speeding bullet, and all that!”
I grabbed my phone from the booth, then took off as Jeri and Weaver hugged and chatted like old friends. Which, well, they were.
Traffic on 76E was a mess, a fuck ton of construction seemed to always be going on downtown. We didn’t have Spring in Akron, we had orange barrel season. If we didn’t have a foot of snow, there were orange barrels everywhere.
I sat on the expressway getting ready to head south on 77, glancing at the paperwork, which included a printed email from Conyers telling the boys he had heard from Mason’s manager and he was canceling.
I glanced at the date on the email. It was the dayafterthe twins’ accident. Son of a bitch. How could that have been? I glanced at the time stamp on the email. It was the night before Mason left. That made absolutely no sense. How would Bill have known Mason couldn’t be here? What the fuck was going on?
I couldn’t wait to see the video of Weaver punching him. I was sure the twins would enjoy watching it over and over.
I parked in short-term parking and ran into the terminal. Before I’d even gone ten feet, I saw Mason standing by the baggage claim, a backpack over one shoulder and his ubiquitous phone in his hand.
His face was pale, but his cheeks flushed pink when he saw me. We both stood there, looking at each other for a moment, both of us frozen. I wasn’t even sure who moved first, but before I knew it, he was in my arms and our lips met for a scorching kiss.
When we finally came up for air, I had to subtly try and reposition myself, because somewhere along the way I’d dropped a metal pipe in my pants. To my delight, Mason seemed similarly affected.
“Mason, what—” I began, but he stopped me.
“Lee, I can explain everything,” Mason began, “And I really want to, but if we’re going to make the con on time we have to leave rightnow,” he said. “And wehaveto be on time. There’s more riding on this than you know. I want you to know that I love you, too, and I just hope you can forgive me for everything once you know the whole story.”
There was worry and fear in his eyes, but Mason’s beautiful blue and gold orbs glittered with passion and I couldn’t stop myself from leaning back in to taste his lips.Thiswas my Mason, not the terrified mess of a man who had left me in the hospital waiting room.
“Transform and roll out, then!” I whispered against his ear. He laughed and his eyes glittered with emotion as we headed out to the parking lot hand in hand.
We practically flew as we made the drive back to the convention center in record time. Somehow, even my body felt lighter now, like I’d been carrying around this huge weight so long that I didn’t even recognize how much it had worn me down. We parked in the area reserved for exhibitors, and I led Mason into the Hall.
