Mason asked me years ago if I wanted him to take care of Keith and his father, but I didn’t want it on my conscious and I wonder if he had anything to do with it, but why would he wait until now? Maybe it’s somehow wrapped up in the mess with ‘D’, I heard the guys talking about the DA having something to do with his release.
How could he not tell me?
I can barely take a full breath and a hand covers mine on the counter. I look down at the strange tattoos covering the back of Jax’s hand and fingers. The one that I’ve always wanted to ask about is the angel wings on his right hand ring finger.
“You knew.” It’s barely a whisper. “And you let me find out like this.”
Regret crosses Mason’s face and a flash of anger movesthrough his eyes as he looks over my head at Jax. “What?” I turn and tip my head back to look at Jax, but my knees are weak and I have to slap both hands on the counter for support. His large arm twines around me and pulls my side to his front. “You knew about it, too?”
Icy blue eyes look down at me, but he doesn’t utter a word. Even more betrayal sucks the air from my lungs. I push his arm off me and turn to go out the back door, I can hear Jax’s footfalls on the wood floor behind me, but I keep going.
To anyone else, I probably look like a petulant child marching across the yard to my stables to hide, but I don’t care. I need to get away from all the eyes on me, and the air in the room felt thick. I need the air of my stables.
The news report said they were tortured. My stomach roils as I imagine bloody crime scenes and I stop over the trash barrel and hold on to both sides, waiting to see if I’m going to lose my lunch.
“Lepa.” Jax stands behind me and wraps his arm around my stomach.
“Stop! Let go!” I push off the barrel and turn on him, taking two steps back. “I’m sick of everyone acting like I’m some kind of porcelain doll!” I turn and press the back of my hand over my mouth and take a few more steps away from him.
He stays where I pushed him and holds his hands up in front of him. “I do not see you like that, lepa, on the contrary, you are one of the strongest women I know.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
JAX
SHE FALTERSfor a second and her eyebrows pull together. “Then why not tell me? Why let me find out like that in front of everyone?”
Keeping my hands in front of me, my chest constricts from the hurt and betrayal that moves across her face, and I take a few seconds to decide what I am willing to tell her. Someday, I will tell her everything, but not today. “My reason for not telling you is selfish, and I never expected you to find out like that.”
She watches me but doesn’t say a word as her hands fall to her sides. That’s when I hear Mason’s footfalls approaching the stables. Her eyes jump to the big entrance and watch him step up beside me.
“Marley…” He starts to say something, but she interrupts.
“Did you have anything to do with it?” The question is thrown at him like a spear. She takes a step toward him withher finger pointed at him. “And don’t you dare forget, Mason Wade, that I can read you like a book.”
He slices his head to the left once. “I wasn’t there.”
This catches her off-guard and she drops her hand as she steps back again, the crease between her eyebrows is deeper as she stares at him for several moments. “But you knew it was happening.” It’s not a question and sounds more like a spoken thought than a statement as her eyes drop to the floor between the three of us.
“Marley.” Her eyes snap back up to him and she holds her hand up to silence him.
“If you knew it was happening, then you know who did it.”
It’s slight, but years of working in the field together and learning every twitch that could be the difference between life and death, in my peripheral, I see Mason’s body go stiff and he fists his hands at his sides. Marley sees it, too.
“It’s not my information to share, Mar.” He lifts his ball cap off his head and scrubs his fingers through his hair before he sets it back down. “I can’t tell you.”
It’s at this moment I realize the level of betrayal she feels, because her face falls and hurt shines in her eyes. “Is it because it’s work related?” The question is a whisper, hoping he’s not intentionally keeping her in the dark.
The twin silent communication happens in front of my eyes. They stare at each other before he looks down and tears fill her eyes as her shoulders fall. The person she trusts most in the world is choosing someone over her, and it’s killing me that it’s hurting her. On the flip side, I can feel the anger directed at me from Mason.
I didn’t want to tell her like this. Until just a minute ago, I wasn’t sure that I would ever tell her. I don’t want to be a wedge between her and Mason, that would hurt her too much. It looks like either way, I’m going to hurt her today.
“It was me.” Both heads swivel in my direction. Marley’s eyes are wide, and she looks between me and Mason, who has looped his thumbs in his pockets and looks at his feet. She opens her mouth to say something but closes it, and her eyes slowly move down my body as she zones out, probably thinking the worst. Smart girl.
I take a step towards her. “Mason had nothing to do with it.”
“I think I should let you talk,” Mason says and starts to turn.
