Page 19 of Forever Your Touch (Manwhore #4)

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Mason paced.

He sat and fidgeted.

He paced some more.

Waiting was a bitch.

He asked the nurse if there were any updates, but she told him no.

He tried calling Keith, but he was in the air, so his phone was off.

He paced until the other people in the room asked him to sit.

He sat and fidgeted some more.

Leaving wasn’t an option. What if the surgeon came while he was gone? He and Jo both agreed to tell the hospital he was her brother so they would let him stay.

It wasn’t like she was having heart surgery or anything. They were fixing her leg. Nothing to be worried about.

But he was terrified.

She’d looked so afraid when they’d told him he couldn’t go any farther, it shattered him. He felt helpless, and that feeling only got worse as the minutes passed.

The watch on his wrist laughed at him. She’d only been gone about forty-five minutes, but it felt like hours. They’d needed to prep her, so she might be in surgery by now or she might not.

He was going nuts.

His phone buzzed. He glanced at it. Ray.

Motherfucker.

He let it go to voicemail.

He started pacing again, and the other people gave him looks that promised repercussions if he didn’t knock it off.

Fuck them.

He’d do whatever the hell he wanted to do.

His phone buzzed again, and he ripped it out of his jeans, ready to scream at Ray, but found a text from Dimitri instead. Becca was on her way to Saint Mary’s. Her water broke.

Jesus. Thank fuck he was already at Saint Mary’s. He shot off a text saying as much and to call him as soon as he got here. Becca had to be freaking the hell out. The girl was terrified of crowded places, and an emergency room in New York City could be crowded as fuck.

One more fucking thing to pace about.

His life had become a series of worries. He was the carefree one. When the shit had he started caring this much about people?

When his brothers’ wives came into the picture and introduced him to the world of being an uncle.

Sure, he loved his brothers and their wives, but his nieces and nephews? He’d literally die for them. The new baby counted in the latter category.

He missed fun Mason.

But he wouldn’t trade those kids for the player he used to be. They owned him.

About as much as Josephine owned his heart.

The player had been played.

What the fuck was he going to do about his feelings for her? She’d shown him earlier how much she loved the fucker she lived with. Despite everything, she’d wanted to call him. He was the cause of her hurt, and she wanted to call the motherfucker.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

He was so screwed.

His phone beeped again. It was a series of text messages from his family telling him to get his ass to the hospital. The baby was coming.

He sent back a group text to let them know where he was and why.

And the flood of replies began. He stopped trying to keep up with them and shoved the phone back in his pocket.

His family would come find him here. As much as he wanted to be down there with them for Becca, he’d promised Jo he wouldn’t leave her alone.

And dammit, he wasn’t going to leave her alone. Becca would have his entire family with her. Jo would only have him until Keith arrived. Or Ray. He was probably on his way here now. Mason still hadn’t decided if he was going to punch him or hold him while Keith did. Or maybe they could take turns.

Jo would be pissed, but he didn’t fucking care. It was about time someone taught Ray the etiquette of taking care of his woman and the consequences when he didn’t.

Viktor and Sara arrived first, minus the kids. The babysitters had been on alert for the last two weeks and were ready at a moment’s notice. They were going to earn some serious cash tonight.

“Is she okay?” Sara hugged him. She gave the tightest hugs, and Mason needed it more than ever.

“No, they took her into surgery a little over an hour ago. Her leg’s all mangled.

The ligaments and tendons are torn and severed.

The doctor didn’t say too much, but I got the feeling it was really bad.

” He sorta got the vibe the good doctor was going to let the surgeon explain to Jo exactly how bad it was.

“What happened?” Viktor asked, handing him a cup of coffee, which Mason took gratefully.

“Her bastard boyfriend, knowing the girl can’t take two steps without potentially killing herself, let her cut the grass.

The lawnmower went right over her leg.” He closed his eyes, remembering the sight of her butchered flesh.

“She soaked through the towels before the ambulance even got there. They managed to get the bleeding stopped and then rushed her to surgery.”

“She’s clumsy?” Sara let him go and stepped back. “She didn’t seem that way when she was at the house.”

“She sat most of the time there. She told me with the babies, she tried to stay seated as much as possible. Couldn’t risk falling and hurting them.”

“Where’s her boyfriend?” Viktor frowned.

“Fishing.”

“The fuck?”

Conner had somehow snuck up on them all, Mateo attached at the hip. Kade couldn’t be far behind. He and Angel never let that kid out of their sight for long. Mason wasn’t surprised they’d brought him.

“Fucker, don’t go stealing my lines.” Viktor fist bumped his twin.

“Language.” Sara wagged her finger at them all and then pointed to Mateo. At eight, he was still small, and they all assumed it was his premature birth. The kid had been born at twenty weeks and survived. He might be small, but he was a hell of a fighter.

“Your girl good?” Conner asked after winking at Sara, who rolled her eyes and walked away muttering about hot sauce.

“Hot sauce?” He glanced to Viktor for an explanation.

“She’s threating to catch me asleep and put hot sauce in my ear.” Viktor shrugged. “Not sure what that would do, but…”

Conner laughed. A full-on laugh that made both Viktor and Mason go completely still. It was such a rarity to hear him laugh.

“It will cause severe pain, and you won’t be able to hear right for weeks. It’s a hell of a good torture instrument.”

“ Sí .” Mateo nodded. “Juan has done to me.”

That shut them all up. Being raised in the cartel meant the kid saw a lot, and sometimes the things out of his mouth terrified them.

But when he spoke of the torture he’d endured, not realizing that was what it was, it made them all want to hunt Juan, the man responsible for raising Mateo, and murder him.

“Juan will never hurt you again, mio .” Conner squatted to look the boy in the eyes. “Remember my promise?”

“ Sí .” The kid’s green eyes went hard and cold, and it made Mason swallow nervously.

“I will bring you proof next week.”

“You found him?”

“Sí.” Conner grinned, the smile full of the promise of death. The expression in his black eyes matched the one in his nephew’s perfectly.

Dear God.

“Enough of that,” Viktor said, ending that particular conversation. “Kade hears you talking about that, he’ll be pissed.”

“Promises are promises, Viktor.” Conner stood and ruffled the boy’s hair. “I’m just fulfilling a family obligation.”

They all let it drop.

“Now, about your girl…”

“She’s not my girl.” Mason cut Conner off.

“Why the hell not?”

“Uh, because she’s in love with someone else?”

“When has that ever stopped a Kincaid? Boy, didn’t we teach you anything?”

“Fucker…”

Mateo giggled, and some of the tension went out of him. That boy’s laugh was magical, considering he’d looked like a stone-cold killer moments before. Maybe he would be all right.

“Conner’s right,” Viktor said. “You need to fight for her.”

“Weren’t you the one warning me off her a few days ago?” Mason shook his head. These people and their advice were whiplash-worthy.

“That was before you told me the asshat was fishing instead of at her bedside. No respect. He needs to go. I like that girl, and I like you around her. Some of that cockiness goes away, and the real you shines through. It’s nice to see.”

“Asshole, you’re just as cocky as me, and you know it.”

“True, but it’s toned down around my family. I’m more me since I met Sara. I like me, and I’m liking you more and more around Josephine.”

“Jo,” Mason corrected him. “She doesn’t like to be called Josephine.”

“Isn’t that what you call her, though?” Viktor arched a brow.

“Hells yeah.” His first hint of a smile slipped out. “I only do it because it irritates her.”

“The little things are what you’ll remember the most, son.”

They all jumped when Ronin Kincaid spoke. Bastard could skulk better than even Conner could.

“Where’s Mama?” Conner asked, pushing Mateo out from behind his legs and giving the boy a look.

“Downstairs with your brother and his wife. The girl’s spooked.”

“They’re here already?” Shit. How was he going to be there for both Jo and his family?

“Yes, I came up here to check on you.” Ronin slapped him on the back, his father’s way of hugging his grown-ass son. “How is she?”

“In surgery. We won’t know anything until they come out and talk to us.”

“Then we’ll take turns waiting with you and Becca.” Ronin walked over and sat down, a cough slipping out. “Girl’s as nervous as a cat. Dimitri’s with her, but the minute more than two or three people come in the room, she gets antsy.”

“She’s got severe anxiety of crowds, Papa.” Mason took a seat beside him, needing to be near his father. Ronin exuded the kind of strength all his sons could only wish for. “She had a rough life. It left a mark on her. Don’t judge her. You don’t know her story.”

Mason did. She’d told him all about growing up with a father who was more interested in his motorcycle club than how her crack whore mother treated his kids.

She’d confessed how she and Jackson, her brother, sometimes stole food from the grocery store so they wouldn’t starve.

Becca had been through enough without her father-in-law adding to it.

The softest smile graced his father’s face. “You’re growing into a fine man, Mason. I’m proud of you.”