“Had it not been for you, that day would’ve been a million times worse.”
Jackson slowly spun to look at him.
He paused, dragging his gaze from Jackson’s. No way could he face the man while offering his appreciation after that shameful day. “Thank you.”
Jackson was silent. After a few seconds, he nodded and mumbled something under his breath. A half-assed, forced smile came after. “I’ll see you later.”
As Jackson walked out the front, glass doors, Mason appeared in his eyeline, also watching Jackson’s departure. When he turned and noticed Dash, he sauntered closer, leaning on the doorframe. “Got a minute?”
“Sure,”Dash said, though he’d prefer to get a breather between one confrontation and the next. “Why not?”
Mason closed the door and sat in the chair that groaned under him. “I want to apologize. I overstepped yesterday.”
Dash relaxed a little, not expecting that. “You were worried. I can’t fault you for that.”
“Yeah, worried is fine, but tracking you down?” Mason said. He stared out Dash’s office window. “I let Jackson get me worked up.”
“I should’ve messaged you myself.”
“Make sure you teach him a codeword for next time.”
“Next time?”Dash asked, eyeing Mason. “I figured you came in here to persuade me to end things again.”
“I watched a possessive alpha—unclothed and unarmed— ready to lay his life on the line to protecthis omega.”
Dash rolled his eyes. “That was the instinct talking. I’m not an omega, Mason.”
“I know that but seeing him like that—and then seeing you cling to him and th?—.”
“I wasn’t clinging,”Dash snapped.
“If you want to argue semantics, fine,” Mason said. “I know what I saw. No way in hell am I getting in the way of whatever this is.”
“Even if it means the business might suffer?”
“We’ll work on the changes you suggested and move on as carefully as we can,” Mason said. “You’ll get no more arguments from me about it now.”
As if Dash needed more guilt heaped on his shoulders. He was being a selfish ass, putting his desire for Emerson above everything else in his life. It wasn’t fair.
But after a life denying himself, it was hard not to be a little selfish for once.
Mason walked closer and eyed the file on Dash’s desk. “Is this the file Jackson said you walked out of that informant meeting with?”
Dash sighed. “Jackson told youallof my business, did he?”
Mason shrugged. “Not like you wouldn’t have gotten around to telling me today.”
Dash hauled Randall’s thick file out of his messenger bag and dropped it beside Jackson’s.“Thisis the file I got access to that night. The other one is full of intel Jackson brought with him regarding the Lachlins and their sleazy attorney Crenshaw.”
“There’s got to be close to a thousand pages between the two,” Mason said, flipping through a few pages in Randall’s file. “We’ve already lost a couple of days. We’re going to need as many hands as we can on deck to go through both.”
“I want some time alone with them first. Plus there’s the NDA we need to tiptoe around,” Dash said.
Mason nodded. “Want me to see if I can free anyone up in the meantime?”
Dash nodded. “Can’t hurt to get at least one or two freed up, just in case.”
“I’ll work on that while you dig through this mess,” Mason said.
