Page 62 of Mason

“Easy,brat.”

Viktor. Viktor was here. He’d find Jo and keep her safe.

“I’ll ride with him.” Viktor sounded scared. Just how badly was he hurt? “Keith, can you ride with Jackson’s friend? I know he’d appreciate it until he can get to the hospital.”

What? Jackson’s friend…his ears started to ring, and it drowned out whatever they were saying. It was so loud.

He wasn’t sure how much time passed, but the next thing he heard was more voices than he could count, voices yelling, and then nothing. Just the blissful joy of silence and no pain.

The low murmur of voices woke him, but he struggled to open his eyes. The steady beeping of machines alerted him to the fact he might be in a hospital. It sounded a lot like the monitors he heard when he visited Ava every day while she’d been in NICU.

But why was he in the hospital?

He hurt enough to be in a hospital, though. His head was killing him. What the fuck happened to him?

And where was Josephine?

As he lay there, the voices became clearer until he could make out Viktor and his papa talking quietly.

“What did the doctors say?”

“They’re waiting to see if the swelling goes down. They don’t want to crack his skull open if they don’t have to.”

Shit, that didn’t sound good.

“Any word on Jo?”

“No. The police are keeping this close to the vest. They won’t tell us a damn thing.”

Police? He struggled to wake up, to open his eyes, but he couldn’t.

“That going to stop you?”

“Fuck, no.” Viktor sounded angry. “As soon as they clear out, my forensic team is going in. We’ve already questioned Gage.”

“Gage?”

“You remember Becca’s brother Jackson is in a motorcycle club?”

His father made a rude noise, and Mason wanted to laugh. He knew how his father thought of MCs. Lawless and bullies. Granted, some were, but he’d gotten to know most of the guys in Jackson’s MC, and they were loyal to each other. Good guys.

“Jackson had one of his men on Jo. We couldn’t spare anyone. I’d have had to pull someone from an assignment, and Mason told me not to. I should have done it anyway. Then this shit wouldn’t be happening.”

What shit was he talking about?

“What did Gage have to say?”

“Not much.” He heard his brother stand and start to pace. He tried to focus, but he was so fucking tired. It got harder and harder. “He never saw the fucker. Said the guy came up behind him, and after that, nothing. He and Mason appear to have been hit with the same pipe. Gage just got a hard hit on the head. Mason, though…”

Mason what? What did the fucker do to him?

He strained to hear what Viktor said, but he couldn’t fight the darkness edging out his awareness and got pulled back under.

The next time he became aware of voices, they were clearer than before, but his eyes still refused to open.

“How is he?”

He didn’t know that voice.