Page 84 of Sin for You

“Probably not.” Turned out the boy who Dane beat the fuck out of, the local pastor’s son, had a closet full of skeletons that Dice had managed to dig up, along with some damning proof of the shit he’d been doing.

If he’d succeeded in his sick fucking plan to hurt Everly, I knew without doubt, she wouldn’t have been his only victim. There was no way to get proof of that, but the drugs he’d tried to use on Everly, the drugs he used himself, that was another story. We had all we needed to blow his world apart. Daddy didn’t want that shit spread about and was willing to drop the charges against Dane to guarantee it.

Things had a way of coming out, though, didn’t they? That little fucker wasn’t getting away with what he’d done. As soon as Dane was in the clear, everything Dice got was being delivered to the cops. “Might have something for you in a week or two, though,” I said.

“Shit, okay. Whatever you need.”

We were both quiet for several long seconds.

Mase cleared his throat. “So I’ve been acting like an asshole,” he muttered. “Drowning my feelings in drink and treating my friends and family like shit. I’m sorry, man, for what I said to you.”

I knew the feeling. Controlling the urge to lose myself in a bottle the last week had been hard to resist, but after talking to my mother I was fucking determined to.

“Nah, you were right.”

“Yeah? Which part of my drunken rant?”

“I should’ve taken better care of Quinn.” I swallowed hard. “You don’t have to worry about any of the Ramblers going near her.”

“That was a shitty thing for me to say. First, Quinn doesn’t need me to act like the overprotective big brother. She knows what she’s doing. I trust her judgment. Being dumped sucks, bad. Quinn’s already been through it, more than once…and I just, I hated the thought of her going through this hell again.” He sighed. “I was wrong to put that on you.”

Now I felt like an even bigger asshole.

“She still seeing the same guy? She’s not mentioned anyone the last few times we’ve talked.”

I cleared my throat. “No. They’re through.”

“She okay?”

“Yeah, it wasn’t serious.”

Yep, going to be sick.

“You know, I kind of thought you and her would get together while she was home,” he said all casual, like it was no big deal.

“What?” I choked.

Mase chuckled. “You two always seemed to have this…I don’t know, connection. I know how protective you are of her.” A muffled voice came through in the background, and Mase said something in return but I barely heard it, still in shock.

“She could do a lot better than me,” I heard myself rasp.

“Why do you always say shit like that?”

“Like what?”

“Jesus, Bull, you need to get that shit from your mother out of your head. She’s a nasty drunk and a crappy mother. The only thing coming out of her mouth is fucking noise.” More muffled sounds came through the line. The sounds of the PD in the background. “Yeah, you’ve made some bad decisions in the past, but for the right reasons: your family. Hell, I’m not spotless. Only you got caught. That doesn’t change who you are. After the losers Quinn’s dated, you’d be a fucking prince.”

I choked out a laugh. “Was that meant to be a compliment?”

Mase laughed. “Yeah. Don’t want your head getting too big.” His laughter died down. “Christ, Logan, I’d be fucking over the moon if you dated my sister.”

“You know, don’t you?” I forced out.

“Yeah, dickhead, I know. It took me a minute. I had to remove my head from my ass and sober up to work it out, but you two weren’t fooling anyone.”

My heart was racing. “You’re not pissed?”

“Why the fuck would I be pissed?”