Chapter 1
Mason
Kerrie lifted a brow as I walked through the door and
huffed loudly. “What the hell, Mason?”
“Nice to see you too, sis.”
I walked over to Courtney and placed a kiss on her head, ignoring
Kerrie’s heated glare on my back. “Hey.”
She smiled widely, her bright eyes dancing with delight
and peered behind me before her face dropped, “Where is she?”
I smiled and cupped her cheek, “Relax, she’s just
settling the kids then she’ll be in.” The grin that covered her face made my
heart smile and I gave her a wink.
“Don’t ignore me Mason,” Kerrie grumbled and I turned to
her. I was having trouble reining in my anger at the state of her and I
clenched my fists to try and steal the fury swirling inside me, its intensity
making my lungs tighten and my heart beat crazily as my eyes roamed over the
mess some fucking bastard was gonna pay for.
One of her blackened eyes was shut tight, the swelling
large and furious as the purple skin pulled taut against the inflammation. She
had numerous grazes and bruises on her face as her swollen split lip still
trickled a trail of blood down towards her chin even though it had been
stitched hours ago. But what I was having real trouble with was the knife score
straight across her throat and I rubbed my face with my hands as I blew out a
hefty breath.
“I can handle this Mase; you shouldn’t have come all the
way home for this,” she said as she narrowed her eyes on me and I sank my teeth
into my lower lip to restrain the scolding I wanted to give her.
I scoffed and shook my head, “Kerrie it’s a few hours on
a plane. It takes longer to drive to bloody Scotland. You’re my sister and I do
not like what I’m seeing here.”
She sighed as she hoisted her beaten up body into a
sitting position and I reached out to help her but she hissed at me. “When you
handed over the business to me, Mason, tell me why.”
I shrugged at her, not understanding what she was
expecting from my answer, “I’m not sure what you mean. You’re my sister and it
was the right thing to do.”
She nodded and pursed her lips, “But you could have
handed it over to Sam or Greg, so why me?”
“Because you’re a tough bird who has her head screwed on
and isn’t gonna go into things all guns blazing without thinking it through.
You understand the ins and outs and you know how to deal with stuff .”
She opened her palms, sweeping them across the bed and
nodded, “Thank you, so what the hell are you doing here?”
Running my tongue over my teeth, I leaned into her and
narrowed my own eyes, “I am here because no one fucks with my family. I don’t
care if you’re gonna be an arse with me Kerrie, but I’m here to sort this
shit.”
“You are a fucking caveman. I can handle this, I didn’t
and don’t need your help. You left this shit for a reason and I not happy
knowing you’re gonna run back every time there’s a problem.”
“Tough!”
She huffed and shook her head in frustration but conceded
the fight and leaned back onto the headboard. “So where’s my little people and
where are you staying?”
I stood back up, more relaxed now that Kerrie had
accepted how things were gonna be. “We’ve rented a house and they’re already
round at Layla and Lucas’s.”
I flinched at her hurt look but smiled as I took her
hand, “I didn’t know what to expect with you so I stopped them from coming
until I was sure you could handle them. George is going through some issues at
the moment and I didn’t wanna upset him more.”
She frowned at me as Courtney came to sit beside her,
both of them concerned with what I had said. “What issues?”
I exhaled noisily and shrugged. How did I put into words
what I couldn’t even explain to myself.
“I don’t really know but he seems to be drifting away
from me and clinging on to Ava too much,” I clicked my tongue as my stomach
clenched with George’s recent behaviour. “It’s like
Jack Lacey
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