Chapter 22

 

“Mason! Enough!” Words finally penetrated the raging wall of anger he fell behind as Matt’s hands latched tightly onto his shoulders and tossed him to the side.

He took deep hard breaths, trying to control the anger that still burned through his veins. The bastard groaned as two officers lifted him, and Mason jumped up ready to hit him again. He didn’t get the right to moan. He didn’t deserve to even breathe.

“Knock it off!” Matt shoved him up against the wall, holding Mason at arm’s length and using all of his weight to keep him there.

“I’m going to kill him,” Mason growled through gritted teeth.

“It’s over,” Matt said.

Mason wanted to yell it wasn’t over. Not until the bastard was dead, but his eyes caught Cassie’s fear-stricken gaze across the kitchen. Her beautiful golden eyes were wide and her face paled.

“What… what have I done?” Mason asked, all the anger and rage lost to the shame and worry.

He went to move, but Matt held him back.

“Let me go,” he demanded.

“Are you cool?”

Mason nodded, his eyes never leaving Cassie. “She needs me.”

Matt’s hold loosened, and Mason hurried across the kitchen.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” He took her face into his hands, not realizing the blood on his skin until it was too late. He dropped his hands and stepped back. “What did I do?”

The fear that had been in Cassie’s eyes were burned into his mind. He kept seeing it over and over. He swore to himself he would never scare her and he did.

She needed someone to comfort her and instead he walked away from her when she needed him most. He used his fists, wanting that bastard dead, refusing to stop at nothing. Even Cassie couldn’t get through to him no matter how much she begged.

Now that his mind was clearing, he could hear those pleas clearly. The panic and fear in her voice. The desperation and despair. He did that to her. What the hell was wrong with him?

“Mason?” she said that same despair in her tone. Her eyes glistened with unshed tears and he wanted to hold her. To tell her everything was going to be okay, but how could he do that when his hands were stained with blood?

“I’m sorry,” he said and backed away farther. “I’m so sorry.”

He couldn’t look at her and know that he became everything that she hated. He turned away from her, feeling his heart break as he walked away with the realization that he became the monster she was scared of.

***

Cassie couldn’t watch Mason walk away no more than she could stand to see the anger on his face.

He wanted to protect her, and she loved him for that, but he still scared her. No matter how much she called out to him, he didn’t hear her. He got lost to the darkness and she couldn’t pull him out.

“He’ll be okay,” Matt assured her.

“I know,” Cassie said, because despite everything, Mason was strong.

Matt rested a comforting hand on her shoulder. “I have to ask you questions. We can wait if you want.”

Cassie smiled at the sweet tone of his voice, the underlying concern that shown through, though it was obvious he was trying to stay professional. She couldn’t believe that not so long ago, this man in front of her was someone she feared, that she looked at him with disregard instead of respect and appreciation.

That day in his cruiser when he played twenty questions with her, it had nothing to do with her. He was doing exactly what Mason or anyone would do. He was protecting his family. She didn’t see it that way only because she didn’t have a basis to compare it to. She had Francine for a short time, but even those few short years of love and family didn’t erase the years of neglect. Cassie didn’t know what it was to do everything you could to protect the ones you loved, but now. Now she more than understood it. It’s the reason she let Mason walk away without a fight.

She loved him unconditionally. It was a love so strong and so fierce that it filled her heart and bled from her pores. And his love that she knew was just as intense made him act in a way that wasn’t him. That brought out something dark inside of him, and by letting him go, she was giving him the space he needed to work this out himself.

He needed to clear his head and get a fresh perspective. He was running on fear and anger. Nothing good ever came from that combination.

Matt spoke to his deputies then turned back to her. “I can give you a few minutes.”

Cassie shook her head. She spent her whole life waiting… waiting for someone to adopt her, someone to love her, waiting on making her escape, on reentering the world after she did escape. She had spent so much of her life waiting, and she was done.

She looked at Matt with determination in her eyes. “Let’s get this over with.”

The questions were nothing she didn’t expect, and while in the past she would be hesitant to boldly answer with the truth, she was done hiding, so she answered every one of Matt’s questions, making sure not to leave out a single detail.

“If you’re willing to press charges, which I hope you are, we can have him booked for violating the order of protection against him and for attempted murder.”

The words sent chills down her spine. She had no doubts in her mind that Dylan didn’t have any intention of killing her. She could still feel the strength of his hands against her windpipe, see the black holes of hell in his eyes, but to hear the words uttered out loud made the possibilities all that much more real.

What if she hadn’t taken that class? And Mason showed up too late? What if he found her motionless on the floor? She couldn’t imagine what was going through his head and to think she watched him walk away without saying a single word… Guilt slammed into her, hard and ugly.

Mason’s capacity for forgiveness was endless, but this… what if he couldn’t forgive her for not going after him? She thought she was doing the right thing, but now, she wasn’t so sure.

“Where is she?” Terry’s voice floated through the house loud and determined.

“Don’t you tell me I can’t go in there, Scotty boy. I will call your mother.”

“Are you okay for visitors?” Matt asked.

“You can let her in.”

“Scott, let Terry in.”

“That’s what I thought,” Terry said as she hurried into the kitchen in a mass of red hair and her usual leopard print. “Oh my God, sweetie are you okay? I heard everything on the police scanner and rushed over here as soon as I could.”

“Where did you get a police scanner?” Matt asked.

“On my phone. They have an app for it.”

Cassie saw Matt shake his head before Terry threw her arms around her. “That son of a bitch is lucky I wasn’t here. I would have beat him over the head with a frying pan. Are you okay?”

“I’m okay,” Cassie assured her. “Thanks to that self-defense class you organized.” Terry squeezed her harder, and while she used to see that as a threat, now she reveled in the comfort of it. Cassie caught Matt’s gaze and he nodded. Without a single word, she thanked him for teaching her the moves that saved her life. She’d be forever indebted to him.

Terry pulled back. “Let me look at you.” Her eyes scanned Cassie up and down, stopping momentarily on her neck. Cassie hadn’t looked in a mirror, but she had a suspicion that Dylan left his mark. Terry didn’t mention anything, and Cassie was grateful. “Where’s Mason? I heard they needed an ambulance.”

“Let’s just say he wasn’t the one being carried away on a stretcher,” Cassie said.

“That’s my boy!” Terry announced proudly.

“You okay here?” Matt asked, and Terry waved him away.

“I’m here. She’s fine. Go Sheriff. I got her.”

Matt disappeared into the living room, and Terry sat down in the seat beside Cassie, taking her hands in hers. “I’m so sorry this happened to you.”

“I’m not. It’s finally over. He’s going to go to jail, and I can finally live my life outside of fear.”

Terry gave her a faint smile then met her gaze. “So why do you look so scared still?”

“It’s just Mason. He was so angry.” She had seen the rage burning in his eyes, the black void that couldn’t be reached. She’d be lying to herself if she said she wasn’t scared. Seeing Mason lose control like that was terrifying. “He completely lost it. I know he was protecting me, but the truth is, he scared me.”

“We all have a dark side, sweetie. It’s the people who live in the dark that you should be scared of, not the people who took a wrong turn and get lost there for a little while.”

Terry’s words resonated deep inside her. Cassie watched the minute Mason emerged from the darkness and came back to the light. He might have succumbed to his anger, but he would never let it control him. He was too strong, too good.

Terry patted her hand. “How about some tea?”

It was a simple question, but the sentiment caused an explosion of emotion. This crazy and wild woman who loved leopard print, and who Cassie didn’t even know a couple months ago, who had selflessly come to her rescue when she was at the bottom of her luck somehow had become one of her closest and dearest friends. Now she was here for her when she really needed a friend, and Cassie had no idea if Terry really knew how much that meant.

With a smile that she couldn’t believe she had in her after everything she went through today, Cassie said, “I would love some.”