Page 63 of Forever Your Touch

“You can try. I don’t play fluff games. Hardcore, baby, hardcore.”

She gave him a what-the-fuck look. They both knew she could kick his ass any damn day of the week on any game she chose. He was just trying to get her to smile. The pain on her face was a mixture of physical aches and the emotional pain Ray had caused her.

“We need to lay down a bet on that.”

“Uh, no. I like to keep my hard-earned money, thank you very much.” He stood to throw his now empty coffee cup away, and he heard her gasp. “What’s wrong?”

“Yourshirt…it’s all bloody.”

Oh. She’d scared him for a minute. “You asked me not to leave you, and I didn’t, Josephine. That meant no going home to change.”

“You stayed all night?”

“Yeah. I slept on the floor. Nik needed the lounger more than I did. Fucker doesn’t get much sleep since Rose came home.” He came back over and sat down, finally catching the expression on her face. It was filled with shock, wonder, and something he couldn’t put a name to.

“No one’s ever done something that nice for me except my family.”

Mason leaned up and kissed her forehead. “You deserve a little nice here and there.”

His phone buzzed again, and they saw it was Ray. He was tired of the fucker calling his phone, so he answered it. “Ray.”

“Can I talk to her?”

“She doesn’t want to talk to you.” He hardened his voice. “Now, stop calling my fucking phone.”

“Asshole, let me speak to my girlfriend.”

“Why the fuck aren’t you down here at the hospital instead of calling my damn phone?” Fucker didn’t know when to quit.

“Because I had to clean up the mess in the front yard.” He said this like he was talking to a five-year-old. “Mom said the neighbors had been gawking at it since yesterday and gossiping. Mom hates to be gossiped about.”

“So, your mom’s feelings came before your worry for Josephine?” This time the anger was hard to hold back. “You fucking shit-faced bastard. When Keith and I get our hands on you, you are going to learn how to treat a woman instead of being some pansy little mama’s boy.”

“Mason!”

He glanced at Josephine. Her face was screwed up with worry.

“Not a word,moye dragotsennyy. It’s time someone taught him to be a man.”

“Is that Jo?”

“Yeah, and she doesn’t want to fucking talk to you. Come on over here, I dare you. Keith and I will be waiting.” He hung up on the bastard and tossed his phone back on the bed. Fuck, he needed a good fight. If Jo went to sleep later, maybe he and one of his brothers or Keith could hit the ring. Anything to get rid of this pent-up anger.

“Don’t hurt him, Mason. Please.”

She was crying, and it wrenched his heart apart. She still loved the bastard. Didn’t mean he wasn’t going to teach Ray the lesson of a lifetime.

“Don’t cry, JoJo.” He jumped up and sat with her on the bed, pulling her close. “It’s going to be okay.”

“No, it’s not.” Tears spilled, and great heaving sobs came out of her chest. “I have to leave him, and I don’t know what I’m going to do. I love him, but I don’t think he loves me as much as I do him. It’s not right, Mason. I try to ignore how much it hurts because I love him, but him putting his fishing trip ahead of being here with me, this time it was too much. I gave him an ultimatum. He chose fishing.”

That fucking bastard. He was going to beat him bloody.

“Josephine, I need to ask you something, and I hope you’ll be honest with me.”

She nodded, her face scrunched up.

“Like I told you before, I make my own decisions about people based on my own experiences with them. When it comes to Ray, your family is right about him. He’s shit.”

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