Bruised Angel (River of Lies #2) (17 page)

“I need a sleep after that” Knox groaned as he rubbed his stomach.

“What? You ate without me?” Blades voice boomed from the dining room door.

“There is still some left, do you want me to heat it up for you?” Chelsea said standing to fill a plate for him.

Blade beamed at her and nodded his head vigorously. Chelsea smiled back at him and took his plate into the kitchen to microwave the bacon and pancakes that were left over. When she came back she placed the plate in front of Blade who thanked her enthusiastically before devouring the food at break neck speed.

“You’ve got yourself a good woman” he said to Mason between mouthfuls.

“Yeah I do. But I cooked what you’re eating big man” Mason said with a wink.

Blade nearly choked on his food as he looked up with exaggeration at Knox, holding his throat.

“Are you trying to kill me? Your sergeant at arms, your protector, your guy, you’re trying to kill me with his cooking” Blade said pretending to faint back into chair.

Chelsea laughed as she watched the show.

“Eat ya food will yer. We’ve got work to do” Knox laughed shaking his head.

Blade didn’t need a second reminder as he gulped down the rest of the plate. At one point Chelsea wasn’t sure whether he was going to lick the plate clean. She gathered up the dishes and took them into the kitchen, while she was washing up, Mason snaked his arms around her waist and kissed her neck.

“Thank you for breakfast it was beautiful, I didn’t know you could cook” she said.

“I can’t. Kelly did it, she just let me take the credit” Mason laughed.

Chelsea laughed and flicked some bubbles at Mason, who yelped and jumped backward before scooping out a big handful of dishwater and dumping down Chelsea’s front.

“Hey that was no fair, I only got you with a little bit of soap” she whined.

“Revenges a bitch” Mason grinned.

Chelsea raised an eyebrow and lifted the glass out of the sink and threw the water all over Mason.

“Yep it is” she laughed as Mason stood looking at his front which was now soaked.

Mason stared up at her and shook his head slowly; he flashed Chelsea a wicked grin and leapt towards her. Chelsea screamed and dodged him running out of the kitchen into the dining room, where she stood on one side of the table while Mason was on the other.

“You know I have no problem leaping this table” he said with a grin.

“I’d believe that” Chelsea said with a laugh “Alright, I’ll come around and we will call a truce. Alright?”

Mason grinned and nodded slowly. Chelsea edged her way around the table and held her hand out, she stepped cautiously towards him. When Chelsea got within an arm’s reach she turned and ran.

“Psych” she screamed as she raced towards the bedroom.

Mason laughed as he chased her. She knew he had no problem catching her and was letting her win. As she got into the bedroom she stripped her clothes from her body so that she was naked when he burst in the room which stopped him in his tracks.

“Oh girl you play unfair” he laughed.

Chelsea winked at him and smiled. Mason grinned back at her, but his smile dropped when he looked down at her leg. She followed his gaze and noticed that the blood now dried and crusty had covered most of her thigh.

“Shit” she said as she looked down at her leg.

The wound had gaped open, having torn slightly more in Maddison’s attack the day before. It was starting to look red and angry around the edge which meant there was an infection starting to set in. Chelsea swore again and went into the bathroom. Mason followed close behind her as she pulled a face washer from under the sink and wiped around the edges, wincing as the water stung the cut. Chelsea took the antiseptic from the bathroom drawer where Kelly had left it and applied some, feeling it sting. She covered it again with fresh gauze and looked up at Mason who was pale.

“Good as new” she smiled at him.

Mason shook his head and kissed her gently on the cheek. Mason went into the bedroom and stripped his shirt off. Chelsea saw his tattoo again it was the most beautiful phoenix rising from fire surrounded by brightly coloured hibiscus flowers and the name ‘Augustine’ in script under the picture.

“Who is Augustine?” she asked.

Mason looked up at her as he stripped off his jeans and flopped back on the bed completely naked.

“My Mum” he said.

Chelsea nodded, she had tried to ask Kelly about Mason’s Mum, they never spoke about her and she didn’t want to probe.

“Is she alive?” Chelsea asked.

Mason shook his head and reached into the second drawer on his bedside table. He pulled out a photo of a woman with the most piercing blue eyes she had ever seen. Her brown hair cropped around her face and on her hip she held a chubby black haired baby who Chelsea instantly recognised as Mason.

“She was beautiful Mason” Chelsea said not able to take her eyes off the stunning woman in the picture.

Mason nodded his head as he ran his hand through his hair and scratched at his chest. Chelsea leant over and kissed his shoulder as she placed the photo on his bedside table. Her breasts brushed his chest. She scolded her body for its reaction at the wrong time.

“Mason what happened to her?” Chelsea asked.

Mason closed his eyes and put his head against his headboard sighing deep into his chest.

“You don’t have to tell me. I’m sorry I shouldn’t have asked” she said realising how much pain it seemed to be causing him.

Mason shook his head and clasped her hand bringing her fingers up to his lips and lathering kisses over them.

“It’s alright. You told me your baggage it’s only right that I tell you mine” he said clearing his throat and closing his eyes against the tears that were forming.

Mason cleared his throat again and ran his free hand up through his hair.

“As you know my Dad is a bikie. They aren’t guys who just like to ride Harley’s and Choppers and catch up to drink every now and then. They are hardened guys. They have seen death, they have caused death” he said.

Chelsea nodded remembering Kelly’s story of Knox shooting the two club members in the face for raping her. Mason looked at her out the corner of her eye.

“As part of that world my Dad, the members, my family, well they have managed to piss a lot of people off. Bad people off. Some on purpose, some through just being bikies of a different patch” he explained clearing his throat again. “Well when I was twelve, it was school holidays, my Dad and the club members had gone to another chapter for the annual catch up”

Mason ran his hand through his hair again, and Chelsea recognised how difficult it was for him to let her in. She gently ran her finger nails up his leg and over his stomach, resting her head on his shoulder.

“Anyway they were all gone and it was just me and my Mum here. Kelly was out, staying at her friend’s house. Mum and I were sitting watching television when the glass door shattered and three guys burst in. Mum screamed at me to run, but the guys grabbed me and one held me” Mason said closing his eyes as a tear slipped down his cheek.

Chelsea frowned and reached out wiping the tear from his cheek with her thumb.

“They raped her, every hole, every place, they destroyed her. She didn’t cry, she didn’t say word, she just took it. I couldn’t do anything I was being held there, but I didn’t try to fight, I didn’t try to scream I just stood there peeing my pants and watching” he said as his voice broke and more tears slipped from his eyes.

Chelsea squeezed his hand and kissed his shoulder. She felt helpless and there was an anger boiling inside her that she realised was what Mason had felt when she had told him her story. She wanted to track down the men and kill them slowly and painfully. She squeezed her eyes shut to keep her own tears from falling.

“After they finally let her die, they left her just lying there in her own blood in the middle of the living room, her body torn open and her colour gone. I sat there beside her body until the next morning when Kelly came home and was able to contact my Dad” he said hiccupping a sob.

Chelsea shook her head.

“Oh Mason, no child should have had to go through that” she said swiping at her own tears that fell from her eyes onto his shoulder.

“That’s why we have the club meetings here now, because Dad won’t leave, he felt like it was his fault. He became an angry man. He never blamed me. I did enough blaming myself for both of us” Mason said shaking his head.

“You were just a child. What could you have honestly done, they may have killed you too” Chelsea said.

“Sometimes I wish they had” he said lowering his head as his shoulders began to shake under the weight of his tears.

Chelsea knelt up, wincing at the pain in her thigh as the skin stretched over the muscles and took him in her arms. She sat holding Mason until his tears had dried. Just holding him, in silence, sharing nothing but love, Mason looked up at her and forced a smile.

“Thank you” he said.

Chelsea smiled and kissed him gently on the lips.

“Anytime” she said.

He smiled and stretched as he lifted the blanket for them both to climb underneath. Chelsea moved in close to his side and hooked her leg over his. She felt his thigh against her crotch and the urge to grind against him was strong, but she didn’t think it was a good time to do such things. They lay in silence until soon sleep took them both. For the first time in days Chelsea’s dreams were pleasant and were filled with the love that her and Mason shared rather than the torture she received from Carl.  It did mean that by the time she woke up she was throbbing and sticky between her legs and was grateful to see Mason still in the bed and still with his thigh tucked deep between her legs. She couldn’t help but rock back and forth the feeling of pleasure overwhelming her she couldn’t hold back the little moan that escaped her lips.

“Oh I like waking up like that” he said with a smile.

Chelsea’s face reddened at being caught pleasuring herself on Mason’s thigh, but it didn’t stop her rocking back and forth.

“Would you like some help?” he asked with a crooked smile.

Chelsea nodded and rolled on her back, feeling Mason’s fingers begin to work over her button that throbbed with pleasure and working inside her. Suddenly he hooked his fingers inside her and with his thumb continued to work her clit. Chelsea’s eyes widened as the feeling intensified. She spread her legs wide and couldn’t control the shudders that rocked through her body.

“Oh my God” she screamed as she gave one last shudder.

Chelsea tried to slam her legs shut as she felt the juice spray from her down the bed. She was mortified that she just wet herself. Her face turned a bright red.

“You didn’t piss Chels” Mason said with a smile, reading her fear.

Chelsea formed an Oh with her mouth.

“What was it?” she asked.

“One very satisfied girl” he said with a laugh and kissing her mouth.

She couldn’t argue with that, she had never experienced something so intense, not that she was overly experienced in anything sexual. With Mason though she wanted to try everything, there was nothing she wanted to keep out of bounds for him. She wanted the healing that he alone seemed to bring.

Chapter Sixteen

Mason got up and went to the bathroom, she could feel a dull throbbing in her leg around the wound and looked down. The wound was beginning to weep again, so Chelsea took the gauze off to see the wound looking worse than the day before, it was redder and angrier and there was pus beginning to ooze. When Mason came back he stopped and frowned looking down at her leg.

“Chels, that doesn’t look good” he said.

Chelsea looked up and nodded.

“I’ll have a shower and wash it, then put some more antiseptic spray on it and wrap it again, it should be alright” she said standing from the bed gingerly and wincing at the pain.

Mason nodded as he began to strip the juice soaked sheets from the bed. Her leg was hurting more and to say she was a little concerned was an understatement, she was starting to panic about it. Chelsea didn’t want to go and see a doctor, she didn’t want to have to explain that she caused the wound herself and she couldn’t go to Brenda because that would mean she would have to admit to breaking her promise. Chelsea closed her eyes and sighed before turning the shower on and stepping under the hot water, which just didn’t seem to be hot enough.

When Chelsea had dressed her wound and came back into the bedroom she saw that Mason had changed the bedding but wasn’t in the room. Chelsea looked at the bed and thought about how she could easily climb in and go back to sleep. She suddenly was exhausted. She pulled out some warm tracksuit pants and a hoodie, but yet still the chill caused her to shiver. Chelsea didn’t understand why suddenly she was so cold.

When Chelsea left the room going in search for Mason she found him in the dining room eating some dinner Kelly had left for him. He looked up at her and frowned.