Mason: #6 (Allen Securities) Read Free Page A

boy in a towel as well.
    “Well, Mommy still wants to see you,” he said as the children slipped into their pajamas. “She just had some things she needed to get ready, and now she wants you to come see her new place.”
    They both froze, the fear etched on their faces. He tugged on their hands and led them to their room.
    “Are we going to live with Mommy?” Lucy asked. Her eyes were wide with worry, and he hated to see it there.
    “No, baby,” he said and reached out for them both.
    They ran to his arms.
    “This will always be your home,” he said. “Mommy just wants you to visit her for a bit. She misses you.”
    Tommy spoke with his face still buried in Mason’s shoulder. “Then why didn’t she come sooner?”
    Mason sighed. He knew the question was going to be asked. It was one he’d asked many times before.
    “She was just busy,” he said, knowing it sounded as lame as it was.
    Tommy stiffened in his arms and pulled back, his face red.
    “Well, I’m not going,” he said. “I’m busy. Tori is going to take me back to the park.”
    Mason sighed.
    “Look, buddy,” he said. “Mommy is coming tomorrow, and you need to go with her. I promise that it will only be a month, and then you’ll be home to play with Tori all you want.”
    The boy stared hard at Mason. The child had obviously inherited his mother’s stubborn nature. He walked around his sister and father to the other side of his bed and climbed in.
    Experiencing the cold shoulder of a child was the worst.
    “You’ll feel better about it in the morning,” he said. At least he hoped that was true.
    Lucy climbed into her bed, and he shut off the light.
    “Goodnight,” he said.
    Lucy sighed. “Night.”
    Tommy flipped over to the other side. Professional-level silent treatment.
    Mason shook his head and stepped out of the room before shutting the door.
    When he entered the living room, he found Tori picking up her things from around the house. Guilt spread through him. The kids weren’t the only ones who were upset.
    “You heard?” he asked.
    Tori looked over to him from the door and nodded.
    “They’ll be gone a month,” he said.
    She nodded again.
    “Will you come by tomorrow?”
    Her gaze darted to the hallway leading to the bedroom before she nodded again.
    Tori opened the front door and paused, her back still to him.
    “Night,” she said stiffly.
    Mason sighed. “Night.”
    She was out the door before he’d even gotten the words out. She hurried to her car, and he watched as the headlights drifted off around the corner. All his happy thoughts from before had vanished.

Chapter Four
     
     
    Her fitful sleep haunted Victoria as she drove toward Mason’s home the following afternoon. The whole drive she kept replaying the previous evening’s events in her head.
    She stifled a yawn, wondering if she should have handled leaving Mason’s house better. Maybe that would have helped her get some decent sleep.
    Mason wanted her. There was no way she’d been mistaken about the desire in his eyes. What that meant, she couldn’t really say, especially with the children going off to their mother’s.
    Her heart ached at the thought of them with Sarah. She’d heard nothing but bad things about the woman. Not only had she left Mason with a broken heart, but she’d had no problem running off to pursue her acting career, leaving her sweet children behind like an afterthought. The very idea of it made her gag. Those kids deserved more than that.
    They deserved someone who cared.
    It had been chance that had led her to start watching them. After she’d broken her leg during the chase by the Los Malos bikers, she had received so many surgeries.
    The procedures had helped her regain full use of the leg, but there was no chance for her to finish school on time. She’d had to take a year off in order to heal and get the therapy she needed.
    Jess, her sister, and Taylor had been worried for her. She wasn’t like them. She couldn’t bounce