Page 75 of The Ranger Gets His Girl

Well, figuratively, not literally.

He felt the back of his head and winced in pain. Someone must've hit him on the back of the head. His hand came away wet and sticky. He knelt and searched the pockets of the coats in the closet.

He pressed a kerchief to his head and kept refreshing Malia's apps to see where they were and if any other messages were sent.

His heart raced to see another from Lee.

Where the fuck did you go?

Back to the Penthouse to take care of some business.

Do you still have him?

Passed out in the closet, yeah.

Good. Boss just arrived. GTG show a bitch a good time.

Lee's laughing emoji made Mason see red. He was going to kill someone tonight. A cold calm went through him, and he remembered the app to listen into her phone.

He pulled up the app and clicked around until he found what he was looking for. He turned the sound down so no one guarding the door would hear. Then he held it to his head.

"Lucy, wakey wakey," Malia said in a sing song voice. Groaning came faintly through, and he strained to hear.

"What? Where am I?" Lucy's words were slurred and groggy, but Mason's stomach twisted in nerves. He was both relieved she was alive and scared of what was to come next.

"You passed out at the bar, so I brought you back to my place. Don't worry. You're perfectly safe. I just have some questions for you, honey." Mason felt nauseous at Malia's overly sweet tone. Dread filled his stomach and made his hand shake.

Lucy groaned. "No questions. Too tired. Talk in the morning."

A rustling sounded through the phone, then Lucy gasped, "Ow, stop, that hurts."

"You're not going to get her to talk that way," Malia said flatly. What way? What were they doing to her? God, help her.

A deep voice replied. "You brought her here against my wishes. You stay out of this and let me do what needs to be done."

"I slipped her some drugs. All we have to do is ask, and she'll spill whatever secrets she's hiding," Malia said.

Lucy whimpered as he replied, "She'll tell us everything anyway. What's your name, girl?"

"Lucy."

"And your husband? When did you get married?"

Mason winced. If they'd given her some sort of truth drug to make her talk, this was about to go sideways.

"Mason. Wedding in December."

"Very good. Now why are you here?"

"To have lots of sex and write my book," she said sluggishly, then whimpered again.

The man laughed and a thud sounded through the phone. Lucy gasped and cried.

"This is pointless. She knows nothing," he said faintly.

"Lucy, sweetie, why was Mason following me yesterday?" Malia asked. Mason's entire body froze.

Oh no, she had seen him.

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