Page 41 of Forever Your Touch

“I don’t want to see you get hurt,brat.” Viktor set his paper plate down and walked over to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. “This might not turn out the way you want.”

“You think I don’t fucking know that?” He turned away from Viktor and his sympathy, clenching his fists at his sides. The need to punch someone or something simmered under the surface of his skin.

“Whatever happens, you know I’m here for you,da?”

“Da,” he whispered. “Spasibo.”

“You’re welcome.”

Mason walked his brother out then went upstairs to find Josephine, his heart aching. They spent the next couple hours setting up her studio, and for once, he was grateful to escape. Being around her right now hurt more than anything else, but he knew he’d not be able to stay away from her long.

But for tonight, he needed the breather.

Chapter Eleven

All four of them met the plane. It had been years since Mason had seen his parents and his grandmother. He paced, as did Kade. Nikoli sat in one of the very uncomfortable chairs by the baggage claim working on his new game that was very hush-hush. He wouldn’t even let Lily, his wife, test it out. She was as big a gamer as Nik and Mason were.

“The plane’s landed,brat. Calm down,” Dimitri said, looking at the terminal boards. “They have to get through customs, and then they’ll be here.”

“I know. I’m just so worried about Papa.” Anxiousness ate away at his sanity thinking his father could die. It was a worry that never left him. He’d probably spent the most time with their father, including Nik. Ronin had taken the base job about a year before Nik left for high school, but Mason had stayed longer. He hadn’t moved to Virginia until his sophomore year. It gave him time to get close to his father. Just the thought of losing him nearly broke Mason.

They’d scheduled an appointment with best oncologist in New York, but it wasn’t until next Thursday. How were they supposed to get through nearly a week without knowing what was going on?

“How’s Becca doing?” Dimitri’s wife was close to the due date of their first child. No one knew if it was a boy or a girl because the baby had decided to be stubborn and not cooperate.

“Cranky, miserable, and ready to be done with being pregnant.” He sighed. “She swears if I ever put her through this again, she’s leaving me.”

Mason laughed despite his foul mood. Becca was the sweetest person he’d ever met. She never had an unkind word for anyone. If you didn’t know her, you’d think Dimitri could walk all over her, but that woman bossed his brother like nobody’s business. Mason adored her.

“You fuckers will be coming over the day the kid is born to help me paint the damn nursery. Becca has picked out two colors, pink and a soft blue. She refuses to let me paint it a neutral color like yellow. We have everything for the room, but until we know the sex, it’s an empty shell.”

“You put the furniture and shit together, didn’t you?”

“No. Becca won’t let me until the room is painted for fear we’d get a drop of paint on something.” He shook his head. “That’s what plastic sheeting is for.”

“Didn’t she tell me yesterday her brother is coming to visit when the baby’s born?”

Dimitri’s face went from disgruntled to unsure. “Yeah.”

“But?” he prompted.

“But I don’t know. Her brother just got out of jail. He’s an ex-con and a member of an outlaw MC. How do you tell your wife you don’t want her brother around because of all that?”

“Wait, her brother’s in a motorcycle club?” His eyes widened. Mason was fascinated with motorcycle clubs. He watched every show he could on bikes. He even had an old, rusted out frame of a bike in his uncle’s barn. Once he got his own place, he wanted to start restoring it.

Dimitri rolled his eyes. “Leave it to you to skip over the ex-con part and go straight to the motorcycle aspect.”

“Dude, chill. Becca loves her brother. From what she told me, the two of them looked out for each other growing up. I think if you try to keep him away from her, Becca will put the fear of God in you. He’s family. Ex-con or not, he’s always going to be her family, which means he’s our family too. Deal with it,brat.”

“TíoConner!”

They both turned to see Kade’s son, Mateo, launch himself at Conner. The man picked the boy up and hugged him, a grin spreading across his normally stoic face. The kid loved Conner more than he did both his parents. Mason kept that observation to himself, though. He wasn’t sure what happened between Conner and Mateo down in Florida, but it left a lasting impression with the boy.

Mateo had been stolen from his parents at birth and raised in theLos Muertoscartel. Conner, Kade, and Angel went after him as soon as they discovered this, but a lot of mental damage had been done to the kid. Mason wasn’t sure Mateo would ever be truly all right.

“You’ve grown a foot since I saw you,sobrino!” Conner’s black eyes twinkled. Mateo was helping to bring Conner back from whatever dark place he’d been in when he came back from Afghanistan. They’d all feared they’d never get their brother back, but Mateo was helping to pull him back into the light. Mason would always be grateful to the kid for that.

“No tengo.” The little boy grinned with his denial. Mateo still spoke a lot of Spanish, but with everyone’s help, his English was almost as good as his grasp on his first language.

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