MASON (Second Chance Novels Book 2) (9 page)

And that's the end of our special little talk. We eat in silence. He doesn't need to press any further, or to point out that a happy relationship shouldn't be part of a goal. Nor did he press to talk about Dig, because we both know what he'd say. Ledger looks at me again with his eyes narrowed. Fuck his ability to figure people out. About ten seconds of his silent glaring and he shakes his head and walks toward his sleeping bag while he mutters "idiot" one more time. Fuck him.

The next day we climb and keep the conversation about work and sports. I confess more about my Army days, but not much. He talks about the next property he wants to buy, but every word is superficial and we both know it. Neither of us can forget last night's conversation, but neither of us revisits the subject.
 

We climb most of the day and by mid-afternoon, Ledger's ready to buy his own set of climbing gear. Physically spent, we return to camp for dinner, then relax with one more cigar. Ledger finally confesses what I already knew about this weekend.

"I didn't want to leave her," he says shaking his head. "And I made sure Shelby would be around in case Cam needed anything, but God, closing that door was the hardest thing I've done since we found her."

"I know. Frankly I was surprised when you asked to come out here."

"Yeah. She needed this so she can trust herself to be without me. Neither of us want her to feel stuck in this relationship, so I forced myself to drive away from the house. She hides it well, but she's forcing half the strength she's showing. I'm so proud of her, but I wish she didn't have all the stress."

I listen to him in hidden awe. To hear him speak about Cam is like listening to something out of a movie. The sincerity, depth of love, all that shit guys aren't supposed to notice…that's what I notice between the two of them. It's fucking beautiful. And I feel exactly none of that with Shelby. She's a good woman and she's important to me. She's fun to be around and I certainly enjoy our time. Our physical connection can be hot, too. But that's a list of qualities, not a reason to live and breathe. The jackass across the fire is right about me and her.

"Ledge," I say. He looks over as his cigar glows in his hand.
 

"Yeah?"

"What the hell am I going to do about Shelby?"

He smirks. "I don't know, but figure it out soon and be honest with yourself. That the only advice I can give."

We sit longer in the silence until that smartass says, "Ready to sing kumbaya yet?"

"Fuck off," I chuckle this time before nodding a goodnight and walking to my sleeping bag.
 

Ledger and I break camp the next day after some mild whitewater kayaking. The drive home is quiet. Early evening hits before we get back to town, and the first thing I see is Cam coming out to greet Ledger on the sidewalk. Jesus, you'd think they hadn't see each other for a month. I call over a pointless goodbye once I have my gear in my truck. They both wave politely then walked inside still stuck together. I shake my head in frustration and drive away, still wondering what to do about Shelby.
 

Only ten minutes later I pull up to my apartment and see Dig's car waiting for me. I smile. Even though I told her to relax for the weekend, that fiery woman didn't relax at all. As much as I'd hoped she would give herself a break, her need to keep investigating impresses the fuck out of me.
 

Still smelling like a campfire, I swing my old Army duffel from the bed of my truck and walk to my front door.

"Dig?" I call when I see the empty chair. I glance to the wall opposite the board and see her there, sitting on the floor looking…oh,
God
…somebody beat the shit out of her. She's got a swollen, shiny black eye, abrasions on her cheek and a wide cut near her hairline. The dried blood on her forehead turns my stomach. She won't even look at me.

Holy
fuck
, someone's going to die when I find out who did this.

"Who."
 

I can only squeeze out that single word through my anger at the sight of Dig's bruises. I drop my duffle and crouch down beside her. I want to take care of her, but I'm smart enough to only sit beside her. She'd hate it if I babied her, so I remain passive when every instinct in my body wants to pick her up and check over every inch of her. I want to heal every wound I find. She has no tears, but I want to kiss her swollen eyes anyway.
 

She simply shakes her head and closes her eyes. She clenches her jaw and I can see the pain she's trying to hide. There will be fucking hell to pay.
 

"Come on," I say bluntly as I reach my hand to help her up. "Hospital."

Her eyes flare as she lashes out at me. "You think I'm going to let a handful of punk-ass little bitches send me to the hospital?"

"How many little bitches?" I force myself to ask plainly, trying to slow her down.

"Five." She grits out.
 

No wonder she's so beat up. One or two wouldn't have been able to touch her. Not only are they assholes, they're
stupid
assholes. They thought this attack would break her? No, she's only more determined now. I can see it in her eyes. This woman is a genuine badass.

"They sent five? Fucking cowards," I mutter. "Fine. No hospital, but I'm checking you out here. I served as a field medic a few times. I need to see what kind of damage they did."

"I'm not sure how bad it is. I haven't moved a whole lot since I got here," she said slightly quieter.

"When was that?" I ask sedately, trying to calm her down even more. I can't figure when she got hit based on the coloration of her black eye and the scab formation from the road-rash on her beautiful cheek.

"Really early this morning. Sorry I barged in. I didn't feel like being home."

I look at her face and I know how hard it was for her to say that last sentence. In every part of her life, Sofia DiGiacamo is ruled by decision and instinct.
Feelings
are rarely the basis for any course of action.
 

"This is not barging in, and you know I don't care that you came here," I say as gently as I can without pissing her off for coddling her. And sitting beside her, seeing her angry and in pain, this is pulling me apart. One piece of me is ripped in her direction, wanting to let her beat me up so she can let off her anger again. Another strong part of me is pulled toward the board, ready to identify which of these cowards sent those thugs after her. A final part of me wants to take her in my arms as gently as I can to caress away the memory of the attack.
 

Dig takes a deep breath and starts to get up, but is halted when my phone rings. We both stop because the ringtone is Shelby's.

"You should get that," Dig says.

I hit the decline button and look directly at her. "I'll call back. I have to check you out first. It's either me or I'm dragging your ass to the hospital."

She grits her teeth one last time and looks at me for a moment before she finally nods. "Let's get this over with."

I gingerly help her up off the floor and I can see on her face the effort needed to stand. The willingness to rely on me is difficult for her, too, and to pretend the movement didn't hurt.
 

"You don't need to do that, Dig. I know how tough you are, but I also know how much pain you're in. Don't bother hiding it."

"Do I look like I need a fucking life lesson right now?"

I smirk. "Guess not. Light's better in the bathroom. Let's go."

I follow her into my stark-white bathroom and she pulls her shirt off gingerly. I want to fucking kill someone the minute I see her. She's bruised nearly everywhere. There are kick-marks in her ribs, abrasions on her shoulders, hand-shaped bruises around both biceps, and fucking pinch-marks in twisting patterns along her side and belly. Fucking assholes went past a beating and took the attack to a personal level. I can picture them shouting in her face while they dug their fingers in. I can see her refusing to scream no matter how much they hurt her.

I force my anger not to show, as this exam is a clinical exercise. I force myself not to smirk, too. I'm standing here with Dig, who is topless in a sexy black bra…in the least-sexy scenario possible. This is not how I've ever imagined her topless around me, and I've imagined this more times than I would ever admit. I lift her arms one at a time, feeling her shoulder joints in turn while I inspect for damage or swelling. Moving to her abdomen, I gently prod my fingers along the bruises, checking for knots underneath. In order to aid my process, she pulls the waistband of her jeans down her hip so I can check one of the worst bruises along her stomach.
 

I try for some conversation, hoping to distract her from her anger and pain. I'm trying to distract myself, too. I'm smart enough to keep the topic on-point. She wouldn't put up with anything else. "Ok, Dig. I have to know…how many hits did you get in?"

She suppresses a wince as I tilt her neck carefully in a few directions before I move my hand to her torso again. She grits her teeth before she answers.

"A hell of a lot more than they expected. Not nearly as many as I wanted."

"Sounds about right," I say…then without meaning to, I rest my entire hand over the bruise along her hip, skin to skin. My thumb brushes along her hip once because apparently I have no control anymore at all. I don't want to move my hand away. I want to pull her against me, guiding her body into mine so I can try to take her pain and feel it for her.
Fuck
. I need to stop this line of thinking. With all the resolve in my being, my hand moves from her hip up. I force my movements to remain a part of my exam, focusing next on her ribs. One at a time I feel her bones until I find two which are broken.
 

"Fucking assholes," I mutter under my breath. Then I look at her and speak as evenly as my anger will allow. "Stay here. I've got tape."

A few moments later I'm back at her side with a roll of white cotton athletic tape. Dig rests her arm on my shoulder as I tape her entire side. That stick-on cast does little to ease the pain or heal the bones, but it does protect her from more damage in the mean time.

"Thanks," she says simply.
 

"You're staying here tonight," I say.

She looks pissed and is about to protest until I give her a hard look.

"Don't argue with me on this," I say with flat determination. "Until I know who did this and where they are, I'm keeping you close."

"Listen,
Mase
," she says harshly. "I'm not some pathetic little girl who needs a big strong man to take care of her. I can fucking deal with this myself."

I grit my teeth and take a deep breath before I get in her face. "Listen,
Sofe
," I mock. "Last time I checked, we're partners on this. Well, as your partner, it's my job to look out for you. So like I said, don't fucking argue with me. You're staying."

She's gritting her teeth right along with me, then clenches her jaw. She's got nothing to say, most likely because she knows I'm hell-bent on this. Our silent stand-off goes on for only one more moment before I soften my tack.
 

"Come on, Dig. I know you can rely on yourself. Better than anyone I know," I say honestly. "And I also know it's been a long time since you've had a real partner…someone who has your back no matter what, someone you can rely on without question. I'm your partner, Dig. The kind you
should've
had this whole time. Let me watch out for you. The better we both are, the faster we finish this."

Her eyes soften, too, as she looks at the ceiling and nods.
 

"Thank you," I say. "Have you eaten?"

She shakes her head and walks to the table to sit down, allowing me to take care of her still. She carefully returns her shirt back over her head while I very specifically don't look at her. I focus on my task and rustle around in the fridge. I don't have much, but I crack some eggs and dice a few quick veggies and an onion to put in and we have a decent scramble. I toss a generous amount of shredded cheese on the finished product and we have an ok dinner.
 

"Thanks," she says, finally relaxing. "This is perfect."

I bring her a few Advil along with a glass of water, and she rolls her eyes.
 

"Roll your eyes at me again and I'll kick your ass," I say.
 

This time Dig cracks a smile. "Right. Thanks for dinner."

"Yep. And don't think I didn't notice."

"Notice what?"

"Earlier. You said something about not needing a big, strong man," I say after a mouthful of eggs. "You think I'm big and strong. You almost made me blush."

"Jackass," she smiles.
 

We eat in silence for a few minutes and then she surprises the hell out of me. "How was camping?"

Most of our time spent together is focused on the project, or sometimes on external topics like sports or our jobs. Asking about a personal part of life is rare. I finally have an in for asking about her tonight, as well. I want to know everything.