Page 61 of Forbidden Cravings

It was a question I’d asked myself repeatedly, questioning if it would have made a difference. The clouds swam by as my gaze fell upon them.

“I struggled with my feelings,” I admitted. “I didn’t want to fall for her, knew you’d see it as betrayal, that you’d hate me forit. But it happened. We said it would only be one night but…” I turned back to him, meeting his hazel eyes. “One night wasn’t enough. I’m lost without her. It wasn’t just one night, it was deeper, and she left a mark on me that I can’t and won’t erase.”

He dropped his head in his hands. “She’s my little sister, Mason.”

“And I’m in love with her, Ty. Love like I’ve never felt. To lose her would destroy me.”

He peered back up at me and I saw the question in his expression, the thing he needed to hear from me. The test of my loyalty to our friendship. The one that would leave Casey broken, and me riven. I swallowed back the pain that squeezed my heart like a vice so that each pound reverberated through me with a sharp ache.

Those eyes were penetrating as he waited for me to speak, and I wondered if he knew what my response would do to his sister. What it would do to me. I turned back to the window.

“When she’s safe, I’ll leave her alone.” The words left my mouth like dead weights, each shredding through me with the impossibility of ever healing. “I won’t touch her again nor see her again.”

I heard him sit back in his seat, my mind so riddled with thoughts of never seeing Casey again that I barely heard him say, “Do you really love her?”

“Yes, she…she makes me feel complete. Like there was a void in my soul before she filled it, one I didn’t know was there until she was in it.”

“Fuck, Mace.” He rose, and I glanced back at him just as he grabbed my collar and tore me from my seat. I didn’t fight back this time. There was no fight left in me except the one that wanted to murder the men who had taken her. There was nothing left to give Tyson because as much as I didn’t want tolose Casey, I didn’t want to lose him, and I hated that he was forcing me to give her up.

“Tell me what you love about her,” he demanded.

My brow creased as I questioned him.

“Just tell me.”

I thought about her, my heart wrenching with each thought. “Everything. I love how she challenges me, how she talks back and tests my patience.” My smile spread at the thought. “I love her confidence, how she can evaluate a situation like the one with Tides as if she’s head of the family. She’s intelligent and sharp and I love that about her. But I also love the amber in her eyes and how it deepens with her mood, the way her curls bounce when she’s happy, and the way her smile lights every part of my dark heart. There isn’t anything I don’t love about her.”

He jerked my body, bringing me closer to him, his eyes studying me. I was being vulnerable, and Tyson was the only one aside from Riley and now Casey who ever saw that side of me.

“Will you keep her safe?”

I scrunched my eyes, not sure where he was going with this. “I’d die to protect her.”

His lips pursed, a lethal gleam overtaking his eyes. “You hurt her, Mason, and I won’t care that we’re like brothers. I’ll tear you to pieces.”

He shoved me back and walked down the aisle, raking his hand through his auburn hair so that it formed messy spikes.

“And if you knock her up, you marry her.”

“I’ll marry her anyway,” I said, surprising myself. He looked back at me, his eyes wide, as wide as my own were.

“Damn, you do have it bad. I don’t want to hear any details. Keep that shit to yourself and if I hear you fucking her or catch you doing it, I’ll beat the shit out of you.”

I snorted, knowing it was a meaningless threat because he still wore the fading bruises from our last fight.

My phone rang. I expected it to be Donelli again, but Casey’s number flashed, sending my adrenaline soaring.

“Casey,” I answered, her name coming out in a rush as Tyson moved next to me.

“Mason Brinks,” a male’s voice came through the phone.

“Who is this?” I asked, all vulnerability gone. “And where the fuck is Casey?”

“You don’t get to ask the questions, Brinks.”

“Where the fuck is she, asshole?”

“You know, it was so easy to unlock her phone with her bloody finger. And perfect that your number was the one in her most recent calls.”

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