Page 96 of Foxx
This time, I move to knock the fucker out, but I don’t have to. Mia backhands him, hard.
“Fuck,” Mason says, clearly pissed at himself for saying that. “Sorry, I deserved that,” he grunts out.
I run my hand through my hair, fold my arms over my chest, and step back, chuckling as my girl takes full control.
“I’m aserverhere, and even if Ididwant to take my clothes off for money, that would be my decision, not yours. You seem to have no problem coming to places like this, yet you’d criticize me for working here? Fuck that!” she snarls.
I chuckle some more.
“Shut the fuck up!” Mason seethes at me through clenched teeth.
We lock eyes, staring each other down. Each of us knows what the other is capable of, and that it wouldn’t end well for either of us.
I grasp Mia’s arm, keeping my eyes on Mason. “We’re going to have a fucking conversation about this like adults. Aren’t we?”
Mason’s chest heaves. His arm hangs at his side, still holding his gun.
“So we’re clear, Mia isn’t some fling for me.”
Mason doesn’t relax, but his eyes go from DEFCON 1 to slightly less enraged.
“He’s helping me, okay, Mase?” Mia says. “I didn’t tell you this, but the day Nic died…when we were shopping, she saw someone outside of the Yard. I thought originally that it was Aiden, so I came here to work to find out…”
“You went undercover? Alone?” Mason scoffs. “You’re out of your fucking mind!”
He’s not fucking wrong.
“Let me finish!” she yells.
Roz comes around the corner, freezes in place, and raises an eyebrow at me. I shake my head no. She shrugs her shoulders, then turns around and leaves as fast as she came.
“I wanted to bring you and the club proof,” Mia says. “But…I have no idea why…Aiden and I, we just…fit.”
“I’m gonna fucking puke.” Mason makes a gagging sound, acting like a fucking baby, quite frankly.
“Man the fuck up,” I tell him, leaning on the bar. “She’s a fucking grown woman. Just listen to what she’s saying.”
Mason pauses, looking between Mia and me. “All right.” He nods to her. “Start talking.”
Mia takes a breath. “Nic insisted that there was someone else there when she was raped. A third man. Aiden says Dagger was always around the Yard. Plus, Mase…he had Nic’s knife.”
That gets Mason’s attention. His free hand flexes as he thinks.
“He gave it to me as a gift,” I tell him. “He’s a prick, but he isn’t stupid.”
“Setting you up?” Mason suggests.
“Maybe, or just planting it for a rainy day.” I shrug. “That’s what we have to find out.”
“I think Nic was scared ofDagger,” Mia continues. “I thinkhewas there. And within the first week of working here, he started coming on to me. Who knows what he would’ve done if Aiden hadn’t stopped him!”
Mason knows, just like everyone else, what Dagger is made of.
“So, this isn’t real?” he asks, pointing between us, confused.
“It’s very much real,” I tell him firmly, itching for a smoke, but I’ll save it for after we beat the fuck out of each other.“Dagger has been my contact for distribution up north for the last two years. He wants us to get in bed with the mob.”
“That would be plain fucking stupid, wouldn’t it?” Mason asks, scrubbing his face with his hand, calmer now.
