“That depends on you,” Mason said, his smirk disappearing, his expression growing more serious than I’d ever seen it. “See, I don’t really care much about where you’ve been or what you’vedone. People deserve the chance to start over. But I care about where you’re going, because it’s going to drag Dom along. He’s too stubborn and crazy about you ever to see what kind of stupid shit he’s getting himself into. Doesn’t matter that he’s already been hurt, and it wouldn’t matter if he were lying in the gutter dying because of you...he still wouldn’t see it, and he wouldn’t admit it even if he did.”
Leave it to a brother to get right to the heart of the problem. He was putting into words the very thing I had struggled to articulate the night Dom had been hurt because of me. It wasn’t that I didn’t think Dom was somehow failing to understand that it was dangerous, but he had never been what one would call a long-term thinker. He could see the immediate danger, but he couldn’t see the danger it posed to the rest of his life, to his very way of life.
But Mason, despite his reputation as a frivolous playboy, had homed in on the problem.
“So here’s the thing,” Mason said, snubbing out this cigar. “You need to figure out what you’re going to do. If you’re going to stay, then you need to find a way out of the shit you’re in. If you’re not going to figure that out, you need to leave... quickly. The sooner the better for the sake of Dom’s heart, got it?”
I braced. “Or?”
“Or I tell everyone who and what you are,” Mason said simply, but it was that simplicity that made me believe him in an instant. “Nothing personal.”
“Oh,” I said with a snort, standing up and flicking the cigarette away. “This is about as personal as it gets, but I understand. You see a threat to your family, and you’re taking steps to make sure it doesn’t become... well, an even bigger threat, I suppose. I would be a blind, ignorant fool if I didn’t understand what you were doing, and I’d be heartless and selfishif I tried to be upset about your promise. We have to protect what’s ours, after all.”
“That we do,” he said, and his mouth turned down at the corners. “I get no pleasure from this.”
“I don’t expect you do,” I said with a shrug. “But if there’s anyone who understands what it’s like to do something because it must be done, irrespective of whether one wants to or how they feel about it, then it’s me.”
“I think our motivations for making that kind of choice are very different.”
“Perhaps in most things...but not when it comes to Dom.”
“God,” Mason said with a sigh so heavy I was surprised it didn’t have actual weight. “You do love him, don’t you?”
“I do.”
“Then make your choice, and make it fast, because you don’t have a lot of time,” Mason said, walking up the stairs. “And for the record...I hope you choose this family, instead of The Family, for whatever that’s worth to you.”
He slipped through the door, letting it close gently on the rock the worker had left, but the sound was still incredibly loud to my ears. I was left to stand there, feeling the weight of his words, and sighed. “It means a lot, Mason, it means more than you could ever understand.”
I stared up at the sky he had been peering up at for so long, and I wondered what I was going to do. It was no longer a simple case of leaving Dom because it was easier on me, and more importantly, safer for him. Our lives were twined together now, and nothing I did was going to change that, not easily anyway. I had given him up once, and it had been the hardest thing in the world to do at the time. And that had been before Dom had entirely found his way into my heart, before he had come into my life and shown me the things I’d been missing foryears, showing me parts of myself I had forgotten and now never wanted to let go of again.
Once had been hard enough, but to do it again?
I think I would rather burn this city to the ground than lose him again.
DOM
I frowned when Mason returned, and scowled when he winked at me. He shot a curious glance toward Micah and Moira, who were clearly arguing. The night had been pretty good for the most part, so I didn’t know what the problem was, but it was showing signs of going from a contained argument to one that spilled out.
“What were you doing?” I asked Mason because, for a minute, I didn’t believe his bullshit about going to check on Levi.
“What’s that?” Mason asked, glancing toward Moira and Micah again. “What’s going on there?”
“Teenage angst and motherly smothering,” I said. “What were you actually doing with Levi?”
“Oh, making out sloppy style,” he said. “I can see why you gave up on pussy to be with him, the things he can do with his tongue.”
“Jace,” I called out. “Your boyfriend is talking about how great it was to make out with my boyfriend.”
“What?” Jace barked. “Mason, stop being a fucking idiot and get over here. Christ, can’t anyone leave you alone for five goddamn minutes without you causing bullshit?”
“Snitch,” Mason said with a laugh, but obediently did as he was told. Of course, he was probably going to find a way to get under Jace’s skin, but that was pretty standard.
Levi came back a few minutes later, smelling strongly of smoke and giving me a wide-eyed look when he saw me waiting. “What?”
“Have fun with your make-out session?”
“I...beg your pardon?”
