Mase looks even more uncomfortable now and Dec looks like he might vomit.
Liv frowns up at her husband. “If you are about to tell me she was a former cougar of yours, we might have a problem, and by problem, I mean a broken hand for me and a rattling jaw for you.”
Mase looks horrified now. “No, she is not a former cougar. I don’t have any former cougars.”
“She was a former business associate of Mason’s,” Dec tells us now, drawing my focus to him again.
It’s plausible and yet, it doesn’t quite ring true and when I look back at Mase, I know it’s a lie. Who the fuck is that woman and why is Dec so reluctant to tell me the truth about her?
“Are you two going straight home?” Mase asks his brother rather than me.
I expect him to reply with a simple yes because that had been my understanding of our plans. That is not what I hear.
“I need to pop into the club for a while. It’s a busy night and if it gets too busy, they might be short staffed.”
Liv looks at me and seeing my confused and hurt expression, stops dead, and frowns across at Dec. “Are you dropping Anita off home first, or shall we?”
He shrugs.
Stepping back, I glare up at him and shake my head. “Don’t you dare shrug and apparently not give a shit about how I am getting home!” I am fuming.
“Liv,” Mase interrupts. “I have some business. Club business to deal with, so why don’t you take Anita and when Dec and I are done, he’ll drop me home.”
This is bullshit. I know it, Liv knows and so do both men. This was never part of tonight’s plan, so why has that changed? The woman in the restaurant.
“You are talking bollocks here, Mase. Total and utter crap, but, whatever. Keys!” Liv’s final word is a demand and there is no doubting how angry she is.
“Baby—”
She cuts him off. “Keys or I’m taking Anita to catch the all-night bus. Your choice.”
“Like fuck you are!” He gives her his keys. “We’ll talk when I get home.”
“You bet we will.”
I turn to Dec who appears to be in turmoil, something between anxious and sorry.
“Go home with Liv and I can pick you up later when I drop Mase back.”
It’s at moments like this I wish I was more like Liv. She wouldn’t leave here until Dec was in no doubt that he was in deep shit and that she would be getting answers from him one way or another. Shit! Mase has somehow managed to get himself in deeper shit with Liv than Dec is with me and in my heart, I know that woman in the restaurant who was at the centre of this was connected to Dec, not Mase.
With a desire to be more Liv like, I shake my head and take a few steps back.
“Whatever, Dec.” I begin to walk away then glance over my shoulder to fix him with my gaze. “You never know, I might even be at Liv’s when you deem me worthy of knowing what the fuck is going on…or I might not.”
I turn back and continue walking, hoping Liv is hot on my heels.
“Cupcake. It really isn’t what you think.” His voice is filled with desperation and part of me wants to turn back and comfort him, offer him some kind of sign that it’s okay.
I don’t. Just. Instead, I don’t look back at all but do shout back to him over the sound of Liv’s steps catching up with me. “You have no clue what I think, because you didn’t bother to ask.”
Chapter 22
Declan
“Fuck!” Mase roars as he watches his car disappear and then he turns to me.
“I know, sorry.” I try to calm his wrath, but that only seems to encourage it.
