And then there was the idea that I might have actually put Mason in danger. What if he wasn’t as tight with this other crime family as I thought he was? If I put him in danger, then I put Toby in danger. If anything happened to him…
I almost choked at the thought as tears threatened me. That was a thought I didn’t want to acknowledge in my head. But there it was. And it was glaring and frightening.
“What’s wrong?” Marla asked noticing my change in mood.
“I… I just had some terrible thoughts,” I said. “God, what have I done?”
Marla placed her hand on mine. “It is going to be ok. You have to relax a little bit. I know it’s tough sometimes, but that’s always been a problem for you. And it’s because you are too conscientious.”
“What?” I almost laughed. “I’m not sure this has much to do with what is going on inside my head.”
Marla shrugged. “I think I know you more than you know yourself. Trust me; I’m right about this.”
“About what?”
Marla smiled and winked at me. “You know.”
She went back to eating her food.
I shook my head and resumed eating my meal, the momentary terror in my mind was gone and I could breathe easily.
I tried to push the negativity away and just enjoy the party. I talked to Marla for a bit and then I chatted with her mother, who was determined to teach me how to make her outstanding Dutch Apple pie. I actually wasn’t a fan of fruit pie, but I didn’t have the heart to tell her that. She was so bent on making sure I knew.
By the time I got home, I was exhausted and ready for bed. And as I laid down I was comforted to find that I actually felt fairly safe for myself. I was worried about other people now, but for the first time in several weeks I was not worried about someone coming into my place and doing something to me.
But I didn’t yet have confirmation that anything had actually been done. I was just going on my own instincts. For all I knew it had all gone terribly and there were now far more certain things about to happen to me, but I chose not to dwell on it. I just wanted to think about Mason and that dream. Maybe even have another one…That would have been lovely.
No. It was best if I didn’t nourish the infatuation I was having about Mason. He was not the type of man I wanted to get involved with and despite what he might have been thinking; it wasn’t going to happen between us.
But then again, he’d never expressed any romantic interest in me. Which was the sort of thing that wreaked havoc on my self-esteem and caused my paranoia to run rampant.
When would my life return to normal? That’s all I wanted.
CHAPTER 11
Mason
“Ah, sliced it!”
I yelled towards the sky while my ball lurched to the left of where I was aiming. It had started as a pretty shot, and I thought it was going to get me up on the fairway a good distance, but then at the last moment it had sliced to the left.
A chuckle erupted beside me.
I glanced over at Ty Wells, a business partner of mine I was playing a round of golf with. He was laughing his head off. That was the way Ty liked to do things; he always had to have a psychological edge on you, and nothing gave someone an edge like that then to have someone laughing at their every mistake and constantly undermining their self-esteem.
A lesser man would have let it get to them, but I’d been blessed with a competitive nature that I let it roll off me.
“That was almost as pretty as your last shot, Ty,” I said.
“Oh, you think so? Well, I’ll remind you that my shot went straight.”
“Yeah, it did. Straight towards the lake.”
Ty laughed. “That was three holes ago and I still hit par on that one.”
“Yeah, a par five which I finished in three strokes,” I reminded him.
Ty glared at me. “Wow, you are taking the gloves off today.”
“I’m just pointing out the flaws in your game. Weren’t we doing that?”
Ty laughed. “Touché,” he said. “But I’ve only begun to pick apart your playing.”
“Alright, then. Pick away.”
We hopped in the cart and I drove us down the fairway to a spot where we could both get to our balls and play them as needed.
As I stepped out of the cart my phone rang. Checking the caller ID, I saw it was a blocked number, which probably meant it was someone from the Zeffari family reporting to me about how things went. I’d been fairly nervous asking for their help, but luckily my old friends were ready to jump in and help me.