The Price of Mason (Forbidden Men 10)

And I never would’ve been so rude or honest to Reese either.

When I finally drifted off, my dreams were a confusing chaotic mix. First, I was back in the bathroom, wearing nothing but a towel and bitching out Reese. Except, in the dream, she didn’t run off like a kicked puppy. She strode up to me, her eyes blazing with anger and life, and she poked her finger into my chest before telling me I was only treating her so badly because I was trying to hide how much I wanted to fuck her.

I stared into her blue eyes for a moment before nodding and agreeing, “Yeah. You’re right.”

Making an aggravated sound, she jerked her hands into the air and sputtered, “Then just get it over w

ith and fuck me already.”

So I did. It all happened the same exact way I took Monica, except when I opened my eyes, I saw Reese’s face. I groaned from the bliss as I pumped into her.

But then this cackle, like the wicked witch’s from The Wizard of Oz, filled my room and I looked up to find both Patricia and Monica standing over us, their faces painted green and noses long as they wore black robes and pointed hats.

Reese screamed and ran off, so Patricia and Monica jumped onto these vacuum cleaners and flew after her, yelling about how they were going to make her pay for going anywhere near me. As they sped through the clouds, they had to dodge these paper airplanes and flying candy bars that Reese kept chucking at them to impede their progress.

And that’s when I woke with a gasp to a hand bumping against my bare shoulder.

“What?” Blurry-eyed and half out of it, I lifted my head from the pillow where I had it buried and blinked my sister into focus.

Dude, what had I eaten last night to dream that kind of shit up?

When she asked if I was going to get up or sleep the day away, I checked the time and cursed fluidly. “Dammit, I forgot to set my alarm clock. Why didn’t you wake me up earlier?”

I flew out of bed and grabbed the first pair of jeans I saw, yanking them on over my boxers, grateful I’d taken a shower before going to bed last night.

“I tried.” Sarah moodily scowled at me. “You were totally out of it.”

Made sense. I’d been dreaming pretty hard. “Do you need a ride to school?” I asked as I scoured my drawers for a comfortable T-shirt to wear. “Or is Mom taking you again?”

“Mom,” Sarah said, watching me dress. “Ask me about last night,” she finally ordered.

I paused in the middle of pulling my shirt on and glanced her way.

Last night?

At first, my mind was blank. What the hell had happened last night? But then, ahh, it all came back in screaming, awful detail: stuck spying on Eva Mercer, botched appointments with clients, and encounters with innocent girls while I wore nothing but a towel.

Sarah knew nothing about the gory, awful parts of last night, though.

“The babysitter,” I realized, snapping my fingers. “Right. How’d she do?”

My guts tightened instantly, worried my sister hated Reese.

If she did, I’d get the glowing girl fired before her next night to babysit. But a part of me dreaded that possibility, even though it’d probably be safer for her to be far away from me and my home, where Patricia might accidentally discover her name and start connecting dots. Yet another part of me really wanted her and Sarah to, I don’t know…connect. Sarah needed someone to talk to and bond with, but still… It’d probably be best for Reese if I got her away from us.

Holding my breath, I waited nervously for the feedback. I would know for sure whether or not Reese had been worth spending even a second fantasizing over if Sarah told me she’d been treated awful last night.

But my sister’s face lit up with the biggest, brightest smile I think I’ve ever seen her make.

“I love her,” she gushed. “She is so cool. She put makeup on me and made a camp for me…in the middle of the living room. And she read me stories, and, and… And she acted like she might really like me. We ate cookies and s’mores. It was so awesome. Do you think she might really like me?”

“Hell, yes,” I answered immediately. “Why wouldn’t she? I mean, you’re okay, for a twelve-year-old.”

All the while, I mentally shook my head, amazed, because I’d never heard Sarah talk this much at one time before. Usually, she avoided long sentences because her speech patterns weren’t the best and she accidentally drooled more when she talked. The whole process made her seriously self-conscious, so she tended to not even try.

But she was so excited to tell me about her night, she didn’t even care about any of that as she gushed on, telling me everything. Her CP kicked in more when she was animated like this, too, making her body waver and jerk. But this morning, that couldn’t even bother her. She was just a girl, eager to tell her brother about the amazing time she’d had with her new babysitter.

I almost burst into fucking tears to see her so happy and carefree. In the middle of telling me about the junk food she and Reese had snacked on, she paused to frown. “Why are you staring at me like that?”