“It only happened that one time before you were married.” He hoped the news softened the blow some. Probably not much. Because his brother had also been sleeping with a perp before he married her, too, just as he said. Just not the night he claimed.
“It wasn’t like they worked together all that often,” he droned on because he had to fill the silence before he slid around to her side of the booth, plied her with beer and took her in his arms to soothe away the hurt his brother had caused.
Been there, done that. Never again.
“They only rode together when he wasn’t on an undercover assignment,” he said.
She sat up straighter. “He was on an assignment at the time. I know he was, because I was still working at the department.” Her entire demeanor seemed to take on strength. He almost let her have this one.
“The night he told you he was with the perp… It was the night of his bachelor party.”
“He didn’t have a bachelor party. I didn’t have a bachelorette weekend, either. We agreed to save our money for…” He knew before her voice faded that she was getting it. Her expression seemed to freeze.
“She was at his bachelor party. Said she’d been one of his guys longer than most of them and couldn’t not be part of the big send-off.”
“He slept with Gwen.” It was more statement than question. Mason nodded anyway, taking no pleasure in confirming it.
After a long swig of beer, elbows on the table, she folded her hands together. “And the perp, he did it with her multiple times.”
As often as it had taken to get the indictment he’d been after, according to the report. Undercover work gave a cop more leeway, and Bruce took advantage of it. Mason knew his brother well enough to realize Bruce would see his actions as some kind of sacrifice for the job—proving to his superiors that there was nothing he wouldn’t do to bring down the bad guys.
“I hope to God he wore a condom.”
Half choking on the swallow of beer he’d taken, Mason put down his mug, motioning to the waiter for one more. “It was a long time ago,” he said. He tried not to think about the woman he’d slept with, the woman sitting across from him—and how much he wanted to do it again.
Wasn’t going to happen. No matter how everything played out. Bruce was family. And still in love with his ex-wife. His brother had mentioned, more than once, that he was planning to renew his relationship with Harper. Mason wouldn’t take his own happiness at the expense of his brother’s.
Harper wouldn’t have Mason again anyway, he was certain of that. The memory of that look on her face…a man didn’t forget something like that.
“I’m sure he wore a condom,” he said now, needing to arrive at the truth about Bruce, get Gram settled and get out of town. “But if you’d caught an STI from him, you’d have known long before now.”
“I’m sure you’re right.” Harper stood, grabbed her purse. “Listen, I have to go home,” she said. “Kelsey from next door came over to stay with Brianna while I’m gone, and it’s a school night for her. I promised I’d be back no later than ten.”
It was quarter to. She lived about three minutes away. He’d purposely checked on his drive in. But he nodded. “I’ll be in touch in the morning,” he told her. Because he needed her help.
She nodded. Reached for her wallet.
“I’ve got this,” Mason said. “I’m going to order a soda to go and then head home.”
“You’re going back to Albina?”
If he said he’d rather not, would she offer him a night on her couch? He wanted to know. Badly.
“I’ll be home by midnight,” he told her, figuring the drive would do him good.
He had work to do.
And very little time to get it done.
CHAPTER EIGHT
BRUCE HAD SLEPT with Gwen. In the larger scheme of things that mattered not at all. Miriam’s injuries were what mattered. Brianna’s well-being, too.
It wasn’t like she and Bruce were still married, or even had feelings for each other, except mutual respect where raising their daughter was concerned.
And there was little reason for shock where his infidelity was concerned. It wasn’t like he’d been faithful after he’d “come clean” the first time about the night he’d slept with another woman. He’d promised her then it had been a one-time thing. The only time. He’d said work had gotten away from him.