Victoria looked down at her simple black leggings and t-shirt. Dowdy was the only word that came to mind.
She shook her head. It didn’t matter in the end. She wasn’t driving to Mason’s house to go on a date. She’d say goodbye to the children and then head on to her physical therapy. As it was, she was cutting things close by even stopping by, but she just had to see them before they left.
Victoria pulled up behind a shiny red Porsche outside the house.
She swallowed hard at the extravagance and quickly made her way up to the house.
Before she could even knock, Mason opened the door. His face looked pinched, and for a moment, she wondered if she shouldn’t have stayed away.
He stared at her for a moment, his eyes following the length of her body. Her face flamed.
“I have therapy,” she said. His eyes came back up to hers, and for a moment, she wondered if she saw the same heat from last night.
“Tori!” Lucy shouted and pushed past her father to grab Victoria’s hand and pulled her inside.
Victoria brushed past Mason. Her face heated once again as his comfortable scent of mint and soap washed over her.
“Mommy has a new friend,” Lucy said excitedly. “He’s taking us to meet movie stars.”
Mason grunted in irritation, and Victoria could guess his thoughts on the subject.
Unsurprisingly, Sarah was stunning as always. She wore tanned flowing pants that Victoria knew only from fashion magazines to be palazzo pants and a shear gold sequined top. The woman screamed glamor, and next to her, Victoria felt about as small as the look on Sarah’s face suggested she felt about her.
Victoria held out her hand and smiled. “Your children are amazing.”
Sarah wrinkled her nose and looked like she’d rather eat rotten eggs than shake her hand.
A warm, soft hand slipped into hers.
“It’s nice to meet you.”
She stared in surprise at the man standing next to Sarah. He was quite a bit older than her. Gray was already starting to show through the dark brown hair around his temples. Still, she smiled back at him. His welcome was far more charming than Sarah’s.
“I’m Sam. I’ve been working with Sarah on the set of my film,” he said. The lines around his face creased as he smiled. “And you must be Tori. The children have told us all about you.”
Tommy pushed between them, forcing their hands to separate. He pulled her back until she was standing next to Mason.
She glanced over to Mason, but his eyes remained fixed on Sarah. Victoria felt her heart fall a little.
“So now that the kids have seen the babysitter,” Sarah said, “I think we can go.”
She stepped over to the door like she knew the whole room was watching. Something about the way she spoke filled Victoria with irritation.
The children walked quietly to the door and followed their mother out.
Victoria stood there for a few moments, unsure what to do.
Surprise passed over her when Mason placed a hand at her waist to guide her to the door. His thumb rubbed against her shirt in a comforting way she couldn’t help but love.
They made their way to the car and stopped just outside.
Sarah stood frozen near the Porsche, glaring at them, or more specifically Mason’s hand on her. Her piercing brown eyes narrowed when she looked over to Victoria. Hatred filled her face, a hatred Victoria didn’t even know she could elicit.
After all, when she’d got caught up with the Los Malos, that had simply been about being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and it was not like she’d personally done something to earn their wrath.
Mason cleared his throat when Sarah’s piercing gaze slid over to him. His hand dropped away.
Not wanting to look at him, Victoria swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat. She had to get out of there quickly before the tears started to fall.
“The children said they won’t leave until she hugs them,” Sarah said, her tone full of barely concealed contempt.
Victoria hesitated before then heading over to hug both the children as tightly as she could. She kissed each on the cheek and could feel her tears starting to well up for a totally different reason. She sniffed loudly and tried to ignore the huff that Sarah let out.
Lucy stepped in and placed her hands on each cheek. The little girl stared hard at her.
“It’s only for a few weeks,” she said, her voice as serious as if she’d just heard the same speech elsewhere. “Then we’ll be back to have fun.”
Victoria gave a choked laugh and nodded. She stood and looked down at Tommy, who watched her with concern. It was clear he still distrusted the situation.
“Have fun,” Victoria said with a smile.
He gave a solemn nod and then glanced over to his father before speaking.
“Take care of Daddy,” he said.
That seemed to be all Sarah could take.
“Time to go,” she said and gave them a firm push toward the car.
The children climbed in, getting secure in their seats with a bit of help from Sam, who climbed into the driver’s seat after that and closed his door. Sarah remained outside the car still, her face awash in irritation.
Victoria glanced over to Mason, who was once again fixed on Sarah. She shook her head.
“Goodbye,” Victoria said quietly before racing to her car.
Mason watched as Tori drove away and hated that she’d been so upset. The whole situation was bullshit. Having to play nice with she-beast was torture and even more so when she kept making little comments.
“Really?” Sarah said, her arms crossed over her chest as she watched Tori drive away.
He frowned. “Really what?”
She gave a little snicker and shook her head.
“Banging the babysitter?”
Mason glanced at the car to make sure the kids were inside with the windows closed and couldn’t hear them. He glared at Sarah. She always did seem to know when he found a woman attractive.
“It’s not exactly like she’s a child,” he said, the words were out before he could even stop them. Why hadn’t he just told her they weren’t involved?
Sarah’s face pinched up, making her already sharp features even more so.
“You always did like the sweet ones,” she said and stepped a little closer. “But dirty was always way more fun.”
He nearly laughed at her husky voice. The thought she still has some sort of power over him was laughable.
He rolled his eyes and stepped back. This was childish. He wasn’t going to fight with her over this when she’d been the one to bail on their relationship and family. Their relationship had been over for years if he were being honest. She only forced the truth of it when she left.
“Looks like now I’ve got best of both worlds,” he said.
Sarah huffed loudly and swung open the passenger-side door. The back window rolled down, and he hugged each of his children and kissed them on their chubby cheeks.
“Be good,” he whispered. “And I’ll call as much as I can.”
Sarah snorted from the front seat.
“We’re going to have so much fun we won’t even think about Daddy,” she said.
Tommy frowned at her and looked like he wanted to say something but didn’t.
Sam turned in his seat and handed him a card.
“This has the home phone on it,” he said. “Call when you can.”
Mason nodded. He never would have thought the new boyfriend would be someone he liked. He almost felt sorry for the guy.
He pulled back from the car and closed the door. His heart squeezed as he watched his children’s little faces in the back of the car as they drove off.
A whole month without them. He still didn’t know where to start.
Mason shook himself. He’d just stick to the plan of throwing himself into work until they were back where they belonged.
Chapter Five
It didn’t take Mason long to head back to the Allen facility. Without the kids, silence ruled the house. More than an hour alone was torture.
Now, as he sat at a table in the conference room, he had time to reflect on how much things had changed.
He’d forgotten what it was like before with Sarah, how little noise the children made and how often they walked on egg shells around her.
Mason clenched his fist as he waited for the meeting to start. Everyone seemed to sense his mood and lingered in the hall.
Reed was the first to step in. He sat at the head of the table and turned toward Mason after laying a pile of folders on the table.
“How’d it go?” Reed asked quietly.
Mason ran a hand over his stubble. He hadn’t bothered to shave that morning. Spending as much time with the kids was the most important thing on his mind.
He sighed loudly before looking over to his cousin.
“It was fine.”
Reed raised a brow. “We talking about the same woman here?”
Mason laughed. “Same old Sarah. Looks like she’s got a new man.”
Reed furrowed his brow with worry. “And how do you feel about that?”
Mason shrugged. Wasn’t much to feel at that point. He sure as hell wasn’t interested in getting back together with her. At this point, he was just exhausted and hoped she wouldn’t play any custody games.
“He seems okay,” Mason said. “Think he actually likes the kids. Glad they’ll have someone who cares.”
Reed clapped him on the back. “You’ll get through this. Before you know it, they’ll be right back where they should be.”
Mason nodded. He knew that was true, but it was hard not to worry. That’s what parents did.
“So what are the plans while they’re gone?” Reed asked.
Mason nodded to the papers on the table. “You’re looking at it. Seems like a good time to stay busy.”
Reed gave him an odd look for a moment and spread out the folders he had in front of him.
Mason watched him with suspicion.
“So,” Reed said, more nonchalantly than normal, “how is Victoria taking all this?”
Mason frowned. “She came by this morning to say goodbye.”
“Maybe you all should get together. Go out for dinner or something.”
“With Tori?” Guilt ate at Mason. She’d been so sad earlier, and he was certain that Sarah had gotten to her. If the woman had any talent, it was tearing people down with words.
“We’ve all seen the way she looks at you.”
Mason shook his head. “She’s a little young, don’t you think?”
Reed snorted. “When did you turn into such an old man?”
“I’m not—”
“Look, I’m just saying it wouldn’t hurt to start dating again.”
He stared at him, not really sure what to say. Somehow admitting the attraction to Tori did make it seem like he wanted to screw the babysitter. And that’s exactly what he wanted to do.
Mason let out a sigh as the other men filtered into the room, ending the uncomfortable conversation.
“All right,” Reed said. He stood and looked around the room at the men as they shuffled in. “Let’s get started.”
He slid the pile of folders into the middle of the table, and everyone grabbed one.
Flipping to the first page, Mason could see their latest clients all had something in common.
“Bike parts?” Mason said and looked over to Reed.
He nodded.
“The last five places to hire us all have the same problem, motorcycle parts either being stolen from their shops or in transit. Something bigger is definitely going on.”
Mason frowned. This really seemed like something the police would normally take over. In most cases like this, it was just petty theft. Sometimes it was a new business trying to cut out the competition, but that was still pretty rare.
“What’s the deal?” Cage, one of his younger cousins, asked. “Why are we on this?”
Reed looked around the room and sighed. “There’s a chance it’s connected to the Los Malos.”
Cage’s expression darkened.
Mason stared at his cousin in surprise. Months ago they had busted up the biker gang and sent a good number of them to prison. Most weren’t due out for a couple years.
It hadn’t been without cost, both in lives and permanent injuries. Cage had been lucky enough to survive getting shot, but his leg problems remained a reminder of the danger of the Los Malos.
“Ryder and I have been looking into this,” Reed said, “and it’s got all the markings of the gang.”
“We’ve been talking with Charlie,” Ryder cut in. “He’s had no luck tracing where the parts are going, but his sources spotted a couple Los Malos members.”
“Yeah, but these guys don’t even have a leader anymore,” Mason said. “Their bike shop was sold, and we haven’t had any issues for months.”
Reed shook his head. “All the more reason for them to quietly get back into the business.”
Something smelled about the situation to Mason.
The facts didn’t add up. The Los Malos had always been a hierarchy, an organization centered around someone with a bunch of lackeys. Most of the guys in the gang were just thugs who couldn’t rub two brain cells together, let alone come up with a complicated scheme.
If the Los Malos were back in operation, it meant they were working for someone.
“I want all of you to read through the files and start running down leads,” Reed said. “If the Los Malos are back, you can bet they will have a score to settle with us.”
He stared directly at Cage. The other man nodded grimly.
“Your top priority is Alex and Whitney. The gang might come for what they think is theirs, and I’m not about to take a chance.”
Cage nodded. The boy he’d adopted with Whitney had lived a hard life under the shadow of the gang. Just being connected to the Los Malos was bad enough, but he’d lived through it and somehow managed to come out okay.
Reed looked around the table.
“Anyone connected with the gang is top priority. Right now they are stealing bike parts,” he said. Reed’s gaze settled on Mason. “Tomorrow it might be guns again.”
Mason’s thoughts wandered to Tori and her possible connection to the Los Malos. Surely she wouldn’t be in danger. She’d only been involved with the gang by chance. Wrong place, wrong time.
They all knew that Ando, her father, had his criminal connections, and the Los Malos hadn’t been happy when he’d stepped in to help out Ryder. But Mason couldn’t really see them coming after Tori.