Wicked Nights (24 page)

He didn’t say anything as he set it aside. He pulled her wet tank top up and off her body. She held on to the wall and his arm, watching him while he worked on getting her clothes off. He took great care with her. Pouring enough soap into the loofah to clean a landfill he dragged it along her body. The bubbles crackled against her skin and Addison closed her eyes. His touch was light. The loofah brushed along the skin of her neck, down to her shoulders to wipe away the mess that surely remained. He squeezed the sponge and a fast-flowing stream of bubbles slid between her breasts down the rest of her body.

She opened her eyes, watching him as he worked.

Her nipples stiffened as he brushed the sponge over them. Even with the hot water running down her back, he still had a way of making her body respond. The loofah moved lower, smoothing over her belly before he kneeled in front of her.

Still clad in his T-shirt and jeans, he lifted her leg so that her foot rested on his thigh. She clutched the wall and the shower door, watching as he took precise care with her body. He rubbed the loofah in circles on her thigh, starting inward and moving outward before he finally moved to her calf. He surprised her by leaning in to kiss her knee before continuing to bathe her.

He switched to the other leg and Addison pulled back from him. “I can’t do this.”

He stared up at her. “Do what?”

She stepped back in the water spray and washed all the bubbles away. “You just killed a man and here I am getting wet for you.”

She didn’t mean to yell it, but the shower echoed her words louder than she actually wanted. He stood, towering over her with his toned body and handsome face.

“I’ll leave then.”

Her mind refused to form a sentence as she watched him go. She had no fucking clue what to think and no fucking clue as to how she would sort her emotions either. Addison slid down to the floor of the shower and sobbed.

* * * *

Mason waited for her to come to him. He’d left her alone, escaping to his room to change from his dirty, wet clothes. He left his shirt off and pulled on a clean pair of jeans, deciding to go to the weight room while she did what she had to do.

“Is Addison okay?” Matty came in and spotted him on the bench press.

“Would you be okay if you saw your lover shoot a crazy man in front of you?”

Matty nodded. “She’ll be fine though, right?”

Mason didn’t know the answer to that question. With what dirt Mason had on Jesse, he wasn’t sure how Addison had survived this long. She had been nice by calling him a stalker. He’d found the reports she’d made about him sleeping outside her house. Following her around town. The nut groped her. She stayed at her office and Jesse started doing drive-byes there. She reported him to his superior, and although they did take action, somehow the scum weaselled his way back onto the force. He’d kept a low profile for a while, but once the whole Skulls thing had started up, Jesse had made it his mission to keep track of them. By association, that meant Wicked Angels too, which had only intensified when Addison had taken on his case.

“Mason!”

At the sound of her voice, Mason pushed the weights off him and jumped up, heading down the hall towards the apartment.

She stood in a towel, shaking. He went towards her, pulling her against him. He wasn’t so sure that she’d come around from this. Her shock had yet to wear off and he had a feeling that her wanting to be near him would wear off sooner.

“I don’t have any clothes.”

“I’ll get you some.” He moved to the dresser and found a shirt of his and some shorts. He handed them to her, watching her.

“I’m going to be sick.” She rushed to the bathroom with Mason following.

He let her finish retching before he moved in. He laid a cold wet cloth on her forehead.

“I thought I had it all figured out,” she said.

“What?”

“You and me.” She closed her eyes. “At the hotel. We were in the bathtub talking about how great this was, how wonderful we are. I was so ready to say that I loved you, which is crazy, right? I know little about you other than the way your cock feels inside me.” She grabbed the wash cloth and sat up. “I was ready to say it, though. I actually started picturing our little family. You, me, our potential baby. I thought I could be a damn good judge while you do whatever it is that you do.”

She leant back against the wall. “But who are we really kidding? I don’t want to believe you do any of the bad stuff you’re accused of, because you do have Matty’s sister, the motorcycle run and the homeless woman to make up for it. I can’t live with those rose-coloured glasses anymore. Not after what happened a few minutes ago.”

She swallowed, glancing towards the shower. “And that…” She pointed to the shower. “I watched you murder a man in front of me and you bring me in here and begin washing my body and it feels like nothing happened. It’s like we’re back in the hotel again with your hands all over me. You touch me and I get wet. I wanted nothing more than your mouth on me and that realisation scares me a lot.”

Mason folded his arms over his chest. “Why?”

“Because I obviously have no moral code anymore.” She met his eyes. “I’ve been fucking a murderer for the past week and it felt pretty damn good. That’s not okay. Somewhere in the depths of my mind, I know and believe that is not okay.”

He didn’t say anything. Mason licked his lips as silence fell between them. How could he not have known that this day would eventually come?

“I can’t be your lawyer anymore.” A sob leaked out and she tried her best to cover it up. “I can’t have anything to do with you or the MC.”

Those words felt like a knife to the chest. Mason finally looked away from her, searching for words. If he was smart, he would walk away. Deep inside, he knew that Addison was a fantasy. He’d wanted her and got her. It was too good to ever last.

“Can I say something?”

She didn’t respond, so he continued.

“I only do what I do for a good reason. That sick bastard had it coming. I could see the hurt in your face, in your body language.” He took a harsh breath. “I had to stop him. The justice system does nothing to those who work in it. He got several slaps on the wrist and they reenlisted him to abuse his power. If I hadn’t stopped him, he could have taken his sick fantasy to a whole new level and hurt you even worse than he already did.” He met her eyes. “I’m not going to beg you to stay with me if you really want to go. But nothing between us has changed for me. I still want to be with you.”

She stood and tightened the towel around her. “I’m going to change, then I want to go to a hotel.”

He didn’t like the idea of it, but nodded anyway. The main threat was gone, so she had the right to do whatever she wanted, wherever she wanted. “I’ll wait in the main room for you.”

He went to the bar and Lila slid him a beer. He shook his head and picked his cut up off the end.

“She’ll come around.” Lila leaned against the counter and reached for his hand. “Things always have a way of working themselves out.”

He pulled the cut on. “We don’t have a lawyer anymore and I have a feeling that we’re going to need one pretty soon. See if you can find someone to take us on.”

Addison came out into the room and he stood. She didn’t say anything as she walked past most of the club members. He followed her outside to his truck and climbed in the driver’s seat. He waited for her to get settled before starting the engine and backing out. Conversation didn’t seem important, so Mason didn’t try to talk to her. He knew her mind would eventually take over, even when her body still responded to him.

Driving through Tampa seemed to take longer than necessary. Mason had no intention of getting to a hotel quickly, and even though they weren’t talking, he still had her next to him. He wanted to keep it that way for as long as possible.

When he finally pulled in the parking lot of the Hampton, he put the truck in park and glanced over at her. She didn’t seem too hurried to get out. They sat there, staring at the building, not talking. He couldn’t bring himself to urge her to get out and she didn’t seem to want to.

He rubbed his eyes. Everything seemed so damned important at the moment. Almost like he was on trial again. He wanted to make her see whatever potential good he had instead of focusing on the one thing she simply couldn’t forget.

“I really thought all the bullshit was behind us.” She stared ahead, not looking at him. “I thought that our life could be like that hotel room. That we had something that could outweigh this shit.” Tears filled her eyes. “Obviously we don’t because here we are.”

He struggled with what to say. “What do you expect, Addy?”

She sniffled, sobbing softly on her side of his truck. “I don’t know. I thought I got over the pile of bloody clothes in the bathroom floor thing, and I thought you got over me going out alone during a war thing. I don’t know about this, Mason.”

He wanted to touch her. He wanted to take away the hurt. “There isn’t anything I could have done differently.”

“So that makes it right?” She finally turned towards him, eyes red from the tears. “You can’t go around shooting people at every fucking whim. Conflict isn’t resolved that way.”

Her idea of justice seriously differed from his. “So I was just supposed to watch him grope you? I was supposed to watch him hold a gun to you? To force his mouth on you?”

Tears streamed down her face. She blinked a few times. “Killing is not the only solution.”

“Yeah?” Frustration gnawed at him. “What should I have done? He had a gun. In an immediate threat, you are allowed to use like force to defend yourself or your loved one. Do you not understand that he was heading in the direction of harming you to get to me? Do you think if I had called and complained about it to the cops that they would have given me the time of day? I’d have had a bullet in my head before I even picked up my phone. If I hadn’t done anything, he probably would have stripped you. Raped you. Right there just to prove he had the bigger cock.”

“Jesse wouldn’t have done that.”

“Oh, really?” Mason chuckled lightly. “I got a report on your little friend. He’s from Miami-Dade County. Thirteen reports of women accusing him of stalking them from the time he was sixteen to the time he left three years ago. Nothing ever came of the cases which is probably the only way he kept his job. Two of those women reported that he went inside their home and masturbated on their beds.”

Addison stared at him.

“And you told me that he knew about the gasoline that started the fire. Someone had to have entered your house to soak your carpets. I’m not entirely sure it was him, but it could have very well been. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least.”

“How do you know this stuff?”

“I fucked a girl in the records department of Miami-Dade County Police.” He shrugged. “I called in a favour.”

Addison shook her head. “How can you be so cavalier about this?

“Jesse wasn’t a good guy. I know you know that. I also know you well enough that the reason you’re upset is over the action I committed, not necessarily me.” He blew out a breath. “You don’t like murder. I get that. You need time to process it, and I get that too. Take the time. I’m sorry that it happened in front of you. If I could take that part back, I would. But I’m not going to do this dance with you every time something like this happens. I told you I’m not a good guy. I told you that this life is messy. I’m not expecting you to just get over it, but I do think, to some extent, that you need to get used to it.”

She huffed a breath. “Get used to your life of crime? What if I can’t? What if this is a deal-breaker for me? For us? I don’t want to delve into a level of sociopathic tendencies that seem to revolve around the Wicked Angels Club. What makes one life less worthy than another? Or what’s better, who gives you the right to play God? That stupid patch on the front of your damn vest?”

He just had to pick a lawyer. “I don’t want you to go, but if this is a deal-breaker for you, then you might as well go now.”

“No. I want you to tell me how this is supposed to go.” She blinked a few times, the tears gone and her anger shining brightly.

“So I’m supposed to have a no-killing clause in my club?”

She laughed, though not from humour. “Why not? You have a no-hitting clause. Evidently hitting a woman is a far worse crime than killing a man.”

He pursed his lips. He had to admit she was good. She was a damn good lawyer and he didn’t have a response for her. Maybe that’s what she wanted. She wanted him to feel defeated so he’d give in to her requests.

“I’m not killing saints, Addy. You’re forgetting that point.”

“Yes. You’ve told me. You have a good reason for everything you do.” Addison turned away from him and stared out the side window of the truck. “You asked me what I wanted at the hotel. I want you to figure this out, because, quite frankly, I’m done thinking about it. I can’t do it anymore. I’m physically drained. I’m emotionally drained. I’m mentally drained.”

Mason could see all of that. He felt some of it too.

“I told you that I wasn’t a good man.”

Frustration showed in her beautiful features. “I don’t like that about you. You do all of this crap and you say it’s for a good reason, but I have no idea how you can sit there and act like it’s no big deal.”

“What are you getting at?”

“I’m trying to understand you.” She shook her head. “Jesse was right. There is plenty between us that is so secretive. I don’t know you. I wanted to say that I love you and I don’t even fucking know you!”

She opened the door to the truck and climbed out. He watched her go inside the hotel and turned the key to start the engine in his truck.
Jesse was right.
Those words ripped at his gut hotter than a double-edged sword. He didn’t like talking about club business with her. Mostly because it wasn’t any of her business. She knew what they’d been accused of and she also knew what he was capable of.

Mason sighed. He liked the idea of her knowledge being more hearsay instead of first-hand experience, though. If he ever needed someone to defend him, she’d probably be the last person to come to his defence. Yeah, he’d fucked up royally.