Deception. Betrayal. Mistrust.
It seems the closer Rayne gets to the truth, the more she finds herself wanting to run away from it. It's complex and terrifying-more than she ever fathomed.
New family members, good and bad, pop out at her like a br...
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𝗠ason wasn't answering his phone.
Kai tapped his fingers anxiously against his thigh, thrumming a pattern on his trousers as he looked out the back window of Rueben's BMW. No matter what he and Mason had gone through in the past, he always answered his phone. Accusations or not, Mason never left him hanging. He could be outrightly upset with Kai, and still, he'd always get that I'm okay, I'm safe text.
It was one of the few things that made their relationship work—one of the things that allowed them to repair every time Kai had fucked it up. Mason had always given him that outlet, that opportunity to reach out and fix what he'd broken, even when he didn't deserve it.
As he sat in the car, watching the trees pass like green and brown blobs, he couldn't shove away the nagging feeling that something was wrong. Because even if Maverick had manipulated the narrative against him, Kai knew that Mason would reach out.
There had to be another factor preventing his husband from sending a text.
And to no one's surprise, Kai suspected it had to do with the homewrecking tramp currently occupying Mason's passenger seat.
"Where are you turning?" Kai questioned, peering between the front seats.
"There's a shortcut through these woods," Rueben answered, accelerating, "Mason liked to use this path whenever we had to go to the hospital because he liked the relief the forest gave him. It helped him forget about his destination, even if it was short-lived."
Right.
Of course, Mason had his own secret path to a hospital because he was just the type of person to never reject another on the basis of his own fears. He was the type of person to put his reservations on the back burner for the ones he loved. The kind who'd make sure to take care of others first, even if it meant he was dying from a bullet wound or throwing himself out a window.
Mason always found a way to make the situation decently okay for him because if it meant saving another person was on the agenda, he'd do it without hesitating. Kai was often jealous of his personality, but most of the time, he was just a worried husband.
Maverick hadn't deserved a second of Mason's time. While his husband was putting himself through Hell to get him to a four-walled, white, squared-tiled floor-shaped noose, Maverick had taken advantage of his kindness—his blind loyalty.
Kai would make him pay for the stunt with the audio footage as soon as he got his hands on him. He'd show him just how much he wanted to cheat on Mason. Only, not with sex. No—he'd cheat his husband out of the same friendship he'd promised he'd stay out of because Kai no longer cared.
Mason would forgive him over time because Mason loved him.
But Kai would never let him within ten feet of Maverick again, mafia partners be damned.
