Shonda joined the Sharps at the hospital, because she, like everyone else, was worried about Charlie. He was known and loved community wide. She couldn’t recall a time when he wasn’t officiating some town function or another. And when he’d caught her and Erica sampling pot behind the local movie theater, he’d let them off with only a warning.
In addition to being there for developments on Charlie’s condition, Shonda figured being close to Zack would get her the real-time updates on Erica. What she hadn’t planned on, and what shouldn’t have surprised her, was Mason’s emotional withdrawal. It seemed as if he’d met his quota of handing out comfort. While in the last few hours she’d admittedly needed it to get over the shock of her friend being kidnapped, she could stand on her own two feet now. Either way, it was essential to remember she was the one who’d sent him on his way last night. The one who’d basically said she was done with all the back and forth.
As if Shonda reached out to him with her thoughts, he appeared before her. All six foot four inches of alpha male. “It appears Zack isn’t coming back with my coffee. I’m going to go pick some up. Do you want anything?”
“Sure,” she cast a glance around and counted heads. “Do you want me to go with you to help carry anything back?”
“I think I can handle four coffees,” Mason responded dryly.
“Okay. Two cre—”
“I know how you take it.” He pivoted on his heel and walked off.
She pinched the bridge of her nose and counted to ten, then she added another twenty to be on the safe side. Tempers were frayed, and it was important for her to recall that when she wanted to do him bodily harm.
Twenty minutes later, Shonda was wondering what was taking Mason so long. She supposed one of their group should have gone and helped him carry the drinks after all. But Mr. High and Mighty had refused. Though why she cared if he needed assistance was beyond her. He’d made it clear he wanted nothing from her. Nothing but a no-strings-attached fuck-buddy, if she was inclined to be receptive to his terms of no dates, no love, and no expectations. Just friendship.
Because she already had strong feelings for him, she had declined and sent him on his way. Maybe a different woman might have taken him up on it, hoping to eventually change his mind and gain his love, but not her. No, she’d been burned one too many times. Thinking to go into a relationship and change the other person was asking for trouble. It never worked. The one with the delusions of happily-ever-after would always find their heart crushed.
These thoughts rattled about in her head and made her close to mental. The what-if and should-she-try-to-make-it-work scenarios were playing on a continuous loop in between the generous heaping of dear-God-I-hope-Erica-is-okay thoughts.
“Shonda, dear, would you mind seeing what’s keeping Mason?” Connie Sharp asked, a warm smile on her face.
“I’ll go.” Dane popped up like a jack-in-the-box. “I want to find Zack and make sure he’s all right, anyway.”
“I didn’t ask you, dear. I asked Shonda,” his mother stated. “You can keep me company for a bit.”
Shonda liked Connie, but the other woman seemed keen on setting her and Mason up since they’d all been closeted together. It got on Shonda’s last nerve. She could only imagine what the commitment-phobe Mason must be experiencing. Did the woman not know her son at all? Did she think he was as willing to form a relationship as either of his brothers? The poor woman had another think coming. The more he was pushed in that direction, the more he’d back pedal and run the other way.
“I’ll be happy to go check,” Shonda said with an insincere smile. “Be right back.”
Amusement flashed in the older woman’s tired eyes. The sparkle lit up the blue, making her wonder what Connie had been like when she was younger. Had she been like Mason? Carefree and breaking hearts? Like Dane, who was staid and family oriented? Or a mix of the two like Zack, who seemed to laugh easily and love with every fiber of his being?
“Thank you, dear.”
“Think nothing of it,” Shonda said dryly.
When she found Mason, he was leaning against the counter, being treated to a display of luscious breasts barely covered by a white, V-neck t-shirt. The critical part of her brain said the woman had no business wearing a lacy demi-bra with girls that large. Hell, her nips could be seen over the edge of the cup. The thin material of the shirt did nothing to hide their dusky color.
Mason said something and made the woman giggle, and Shonda’s green-eyed monster rose up, claws bared. “Excuse me,” she called from her place in line. “Your mother is waiting on her coffee, and the line is backing up. Do you mind letting this poor girl get back to work?”
A slow glance over his shoulder to survey the line made him reluctantly acknowledge the truth of her words. He met her frosty gaze with an arctic one of his own. Shonda’s heart shriveled. Deep down she recognized by letting her jealousy show, she’d just cemented the end of their relationship. It didn’t matter she’d called it quits yesterday. This scene was the final nail in the coffin of their affair.
Shonda told herself it didn’t matter that he’d blatantly accepted the tramp’s proffered number, or that he’d stepped by her without a word. But it did. To keep a look of indifference on her face and continue to stand in line was the hardest thing she’d ever done.
A few more minutes passed, and it was her turn to order. “May I get a slice of lemon pound cake?”
Might as well take a page from Erica’s playbook and drown her sorrows in a tasty treat. Shonda handed her money to the smirking barista, gave a polite smile, and spun away.
Mason was nowhere to be seen. For that, Shonda was grateful. She didn’t think she could keep the tears at bay this time. What she hadn’t counted on was Dane standing off to one side, observing the whole incident. His large frame resting against the wall by the ladies room was pure bad luck. Shonda needed to go by him for her escape.
“Shonda.”
His warm, understanding voice made her stomach hurt. He’d gotten them coffee earlier that morning. He knew! This exact thing was what he had been trying to save her from when he jumped up earlier to offer to fetch Mason and their order.
“It’s fine. Really. Do you mind?” She gestured to the restroom door behind him.
“Not at all,” he said, flashing her a roguish grin.
One second, she was stepping forward to rush into the bathroom, and the next, she was in his arms, having the life kissed out of her. Holy hell, the man could kiss. The bag with the pound cake crashed to the floor as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Strictly to hold on so she didn’t stumble, or so she told herself.
“What the fuck?” snarled Mason’s deep voice behind them.
She was jerked roughly from Dane’s embrace.
“If you don’t want her, there are plenty of hot-blooded males who do,” Dane taunted.
Mason’s large fist smashed into his brother’s nose.
Shonda screamed as blood gushed down Dane’s face. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
“Me?” Mason asked, incredulous. “I’m not the one kissing my brother.”
Snickers sounded around them, and his brows drew together as he realized what he’d said. Even Dane, back flat against the wall with his head angled to stem the flow, snorted.
“You know what I mean,” Mason snapped.
“The last I checked, you were accepting a phone number from the coffee chick,” she retorted, seething mad. “You don’t get to tell me who I can and can’t kiss. So go to hell.”
“Gladly.”
His long strides took him away in record time. Shonda stared after him, oblivious to everything and everyone around her.
“Uh, sweetheart? Do you think you could get me some paper towels or something to help stop the bleeding?”
Dane brought her back to the situation at hand.
“Oh God! I’m so sorry,” she gushed. picking up the bag with her cake, she dug out the napkins to shove in his hand.
“I’m going to smell lemons the rest of the day,” he joked.
“I don’t think you are going to be smelling anything anytime soon,” she retorted. “What were you thinking with that bonehead move?”
“Did you enjoy it?”
How his eyes sparkled with humor at a moment like this, Shonda would never know. “That’s beside the point.”
“No, I’d say it’s exactly the point. We both enjoyed it and pissed off my brother in the process. Perfect, wouldn’t you say?”
“There’s something seriously wrong with the men of this family,” she muttered. “Come on. Let’s get you looked at. I don’t like the angle of that nose.”
“Yeah, it hurts like a bitch.”
“Well, if it’s any consolation, you took that shot like a champion. I think anyone else would be knocked out on the floor.”
“Is it any wonder why I adore you?” he teased.
“Come on, Romeo. Let’s go.”
He dropped an arm across her shoulders. “For support.”
“Uh huh,” she said. She halted their forward motion. “Oh shit.”
“What?”
“Your mother is going to be sooooo mad at me.”
“Who do you think gave me the idea to kiss you?”
“No!”
His answer was a shit-eating grin.
“She’s the devil!”
After a few more steps, she paused their progress again. “Wait, you didn’t want to kiss me?”
“Are you serious right now?” he asked in disbelief. “Hell yes, I wanted to kiss you. More than that, if we’re being honest. But you’re Mason’s girl.”
“So I need to add delusional to the list of this family’s flaws.”
“The both of you can keep kidding yourselves, but the rest of us have eyes.”
As they sat in the emergency room, waiting for the doctor to set Dane’s nose, he confessed to something that went toward healing her battered heart. “Just so you know, I’ve been wanting to kiss you since the first time I saw you my freshman year of high school. There you were in your cheerleader uniform, strutting your stuff down the hall, pony tail bouncing in time with the hemline of your tiny skirt. I had to carry my backpack in front of me for a full fifteen minutes to hide my hard-on.”
Shonda ducked her head and bit her lip to hide her grin.
“Shonda?” His deep, serious tone had her head whipping up. “It was worth the broken nose.”
She couldn’t contain the smile if she tried. “You say that now.”
“I’ll say it forever.”
“Why couldn’t you have been the brother I fell in love with?”
The words, once they left her mouth, horrified her. Dane didn’t appear surprised by her slip.
“Timing. I’m sure had I met you on that plane first, you wouldn’t have looked at my ugly, older brother twice,” he teased. “But I promise, mum’s the word.”
Relief flooded her. “Thanks. And I’m sure you’re right. Mason who?”
His next wide smile caused him to wince from the pain. “I’m thinking you are going to owe me some TLC. That should piss him off more.”
Her snort of laughter made him grin and wince again.
After Connie came in search of her youngest son, Shonda returned to the waiting room closest to Charles’s room in the ICU. Zack returned at some point, which to her way of thinking was a relief. If she had to sit any longer under Mason’s continuous glare, she’d scream.
Zack’s silence and covert glances at his phone bothered her.
“You’re awfully quiet,” Shonda noted. At his guilty start, she dropped her voice to scarcely above a whisper and asked, “What are you planning?”
He darted a quick glance around the room before returning his gaze to hers. “Nothing.”
She narrowed her eyes in disbelief. Did he think she was born yesterday?
“You are, and I want in on it,” she insisted in a harsh whisper, slashing a quick look in Mason’s direction before refocusing on Zack. She nearly laughed when Zack shot him a grin. His brother rolled his eyes and turned away.
“Nicely done,” she murmured with an appreciative smile.
“Thanks. Years of practice.”
“Now spill.”
“You aren’t going to let this go, are you?”
“No.”
Zack studied her for a moment, and she wondered what he was thinking. Did he see a pathetic excuse for a woman who sat around stealing longing looks at his clueless older brother? She hoped he saw her as nothing more than Erica’s concerned best friend. Anything else would be humiliating.
She shot another quick glance Mason’s way. He sat, studying them coldly from his side of the room.
“What’s he so angry about?” Zack asked.
“He probably thinks I am going to seduce you to the dark side like I did to Dane,” she joked not bothering to keep her voice down.
That got his full attention. “You and Dane? What did I miss?”
“While you were outside, your mother sent Mason for coffee. When he didn’t promptly return, she sent me to find him,” she said. “Your mother had the bright idea to convince Dane to steal a kiss. Mason broke his nose.”
Zack laughed for the first time in hours.
“It’s not funny!” she exclaimed.
He laughed harder as Mason surged to his feet, flipped them off, and stormed out the door.
Shonda bit her lip to hold back her own chuckle. “Okay, so maybe it’s a little funny.”
“I wondered where they were. Thought maybe they were making a dinner run.”
“No, your mom took him home. She said she wanted to take a nap, but she’d return with food for everyone.”
“So you’ve been stuck in here subject to the silent treatment for the better part of the day with me and my idiot brother. Poor girl.”
“Okay, enough stalling. Now we’re alone, what’s going on? And don’t tell me nothing. I want to help.”
He popped up to pace. “I can’t involve you in this, Shonda. Christie is clinically insane. It’s impossible to try to figure out what she’s got going on in that crazy head of hers.”
“You aren’t involving me. I’m involving myself. Erica’s the only family I have left. We’re sisters of a sort,” she insisted. Shonda spent enough time alone during holidays to quantify that statement. Well, she did have her mother and father, but since Eva was always flying to parts unknown and Shonda only saw Luigi on the rarest of occasions, it was like Erica was her only family.
Wordlessly, he unlocked his phone, pulled up the messages, and handed the device to her. A hand flew to her mouth and moisture flooded her eyes when she scrolled through the attached pictures. Nausea churned in her stomach, and she wanted to vomit at the sight of her battered friend.
“Ohmygod! Have you shown these to the police?”
“Not the recent ones. She wants me to meet her alone. You can see where she intends to call me.”
“Zack? You know I’m an ex-realtor right?”
He appeared confused before the light bulb went off. Hope flared to life in his eyes.
“Tell me you recognize those rooms.”
“I believe I do. I remember taking people on a tour of that place. It’s abandoned now. The city condemned it a few years back.”
Zack jerked Shonda to her feet.
“Where is it?” he practically yelled.
“Get your fucking hands off her!” Mason’s low growl came from the doorway.
Shonda felt a small thrill of appreciation for his possessiveness. On the flip side, she wanted to smack herself and say, “snap out of it!”
“Jesus, Mason. I’m not hurting her.”
“But you are,” Mason said, menace still present in his tone.
Zack spun his head back to gaze into her face. What he saw must have convinced him that he was indeed hurting her. Slowly, finger by finger, he released her.
“I’m sorry. I…” She let out a small gasp as he reached over to jerk down the neckline of her shirt, exposing her shoulder. “What the fuck? Who did this?”
She winced and avoided looking in Mason’s direction. Shonda feared Zack would flip if he found out they’d kept the explosion and mugging from him and Erica.
Zack nearly lost it anyway. Livid, he swung in his brother’s direction. “You did this?”
“No, give me some fucking credit. She was mugged last week. Earlier today, I forgot and grabbed her arm.”
“I’m sorry, Shonda. I didn’t know. Shouldn’t have grabbed you like that,” Zack said, contrite.
“Yeah, so how about you step away from her so she can fix her shirt, Mr. Grabby,” Mason groused.
“Why should it matter to you?” Shonda snapped out the question, irritated by his high-handedness. She could damn well fight her own battles.
When she would’ve shoved past Mason to run out the door, Zack reached out. He was careful to only grab her hand this time. “Shonda, where’s the location of that house?” he asked her desperately.
“I’ll need to check my old files for the exact address. Can you follow me back to my apartment?”
“Hell no!” Mason bellowed, stepping between the two and cutting off Zack’s reply. “No one is going anywhere until you tell me what’s going on.”
“Dammit, I don’t have the fucking time for your jealousy, Mason. Get a clue already,” Zack snarled and shoved his brother’s chest. The force of the blow drove him into the wall.
For a moment Shonda felt this had to be like the clash of the Titans. Two virile, pissed off men standing toe to toe, ready to do battle. Mason was the first to back down, which surprised her.
“Zack, I wasn’t being jealous. I’m not a complete idiot. I recognize something’s going on. Did you find where Christie’s holding Jacob and Erica?”
“We think so.”
“Let’s go then. I’ll drive.”
“Someone has to stay for Charlie,” Zack said. “We can’t leave him alone.”
“The doctor said he wasn’t waking anytime soon. Mom will be back in a little bit,” Mason informed him. He placed a large hand behind Zack’s neck and guided him toward the exit. “Let’s go.”
Mason went white upon seeing the Erica’s condition. Her battered face and bound hands churned up his gut. In his whole life, he’d never been able to tolerate someone hurting women, children, or animals. It sent him into a rage. Perhaps that was why he went off on his brother in the hospital. It couldn’t be another man’s hand on Shonda made him insane with jealousy. He’d have to care more than just a casual lover for that. And loving a woman wasn’t something he intended to do. Ever. It only led to lies, betrayal, and heart break.
“Mason, we can do this,” Zack said.
“No, it’s okay. I’m okay,” he stated, grim but determined.
They all took a set of folders to browse through and compare to the background of the pictures. As they’d finished searching the last of Shonda’s files, the phone rang. Unknown number.
Giving the universal gesture of stay silent to the other occupants of the room, Zack answered on speaker phone.
“Hello, lover,” Christie purred.
Rage touched Zack’s features, but his voice was semi-calm when he spoke. “Christie.”
“Are you ready to play a game?”
“Haven’t you drawn us into this one against our will for the past six weeks?” he retorted.
Mason mouthed, “Don’t piss her off.”
Her laughter came across the line. “Yeah, it’s been pretty fun.”
“I want to speak to Jacob.”
“Not your little whore? You surprise me, Zack. I mean, I know you sent the kid to live with my parents when your slut moved in,” she said nastily.
A muffled cry of pain sounded in the background. Mason assumed it had to be Erica. He watched as Zack fought for control. “Please. Just to see if he’s all right.”
“Sure thing, lover.”
Her footsteps on hardwood could be heard as she went to a different room. It clued them in that Erica and Jacob were being held in separate rooms.
“Jacob, talk to your father,” she ordered.
“Dad? Dad?”
Tears streamed down Zack’s face. Mason felt a lump form in his own throat. A quick glance showed Shonda had become emotional as well.
“Hey, lil man. You doing all right?”
“Yeah, but I think Erica’s hurt. She—“
“Enough. You’ve heard him. He’s fine. I’ll call you in an hour and tell you where to go.”
“Christie! Christie!” Zack shouted.
She disconnected without another word.
“Don’t let him leave. I may have something,” Shonda told him as his brother stalked away.
Mason got up to trail him. “Zack.”
“I need a minute, Mason,” Zack snapped.
“Shonda thinks she found the house.”