Refresh (23 page)

“Follow me,” I tell Alisha when we get to my house. Opening the front door I hear Mason in the kitchen and pray there are no sharp items around him because I’ll intend on using it to stab the ever loving shit out of him. “Mason!”

“Yeah, baby?”

“I’m home and I brought someone.”

“Oh yeah?” He walks out of the kitchen and stops dead in his tracks when he sees Alisha. “What the fuck?”

“Hey, Mason.”

“Hey, Mason.”

My worst nightmare is coming true. Everything Heather told me is true and here she is standing in front of us. The secret I’ve been holding to keep her safe is falling apart. Alisha isn’t supposed to be here. She’s not supposed to know Caroline or know anything about her. I made sure of it.

“What the fuck are you doing, Amber? Is that why you’ve ignored me?” I growl. “You had the nerve to come here
and
then move?”

She walks closer to me and my eyes dart to Caroline who is standing there with anger shooting from hers and her hands are crossed tightly over her chest. Fuck.

“I told her the truth. Don’t call me Amber anymore. I needed to see you. Please let me explain.”

“Fuck, I can’t. Alisha, you fucking know better. We had a deal. You knew what you had to do and you knew what was at risk if you didn’t follow the rules. No wonder Devin’s been fucking losing his mind.”

“Devin,” she huffs and turns around. I see how rigid and shaky her body is. “Devin’s a piece of shit.”

“A deal? Devin?” Caroline screeches. “What deal, Mason? Can someone fucking tell me what’s going on? Why is Devin involved? What the hell is going on?”

“Caroline, please,” I beg her. “Give me a moment and I’ll explain everything.” I turn back to Alisha, “Why are you here?”

“I needed to bring Lila here. I need her to be safe. There’s a lot going on right now, Mason. No one is safe anymore.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“They know I’m still alive, Mason. I thought I was safe. I made up a story and thought everything would work out. I thought everything would be okay. I messed up all right?” She cries and hugs her body. “I messed up and now I need to make it right. Don’t you get it?”

“How? All the papers were forged and we did everything right to get you into protection, Alisha.”

“Money talks,” she whispers and looks away. “I need you to promise me if anything happens you’ll look after her,” she cries. “Please Mason. She doesn’t have anyone and I can’t keep her safe anymore.”

“Alisha give me a minute.”

Turning around, my back’s facing Caroline and Alisha because I can’t face either of them. When your whole world comes crashing down, everyone you wanted to keep safe is now in danger, and people you never wanted to see again show up without a warning.

“Please Mason.”

Before I can say anything shots are fired and bullets come flying. “Get down,” I shout and dive for Caroline to protect her.

“Mason,” she screams. “What’s going on? Mason!”

I take her face into my hands and kiss her. “Stay down, baby.”

“Mason?” Her voice shakes and I kiss her again before grabbing my gun and rushing outside to see if I can get any visuals. The car gets away before I can shoot or get the license plate number. Standing in the middle of the street I look around again and try to find something I need to get those mother fuckers.

“Fuck!” I yell and call for back up.

“Mason!” I hear Caroline scream and rush inside to find Alisha in a pool of blood. “Is she?”

Bending down on my knee I try to find a pulse and get nothing. “Fuck,” I mutter and grab her purse to look for anything to help me with the case I’m trying to solve. Inside there’s an envelope and I quickly put it in my jeans when I hear sirens. “Baby.” I take Caroline and carry her to the barstool. “Stay here, okay?” She frantically nods and I make my way outside to deal with the shitstorm brewing.

Squad cars and an ambulance surround the house as I keep Caroline in my view to make sure she’s not going to up and run away. I tell the other officers what I witnessed and text Clarke to let him know what’s going on. Everyone’s doing their investigation and my mind can’t be clear. All I’m thinking about is Caroline and keeping her safe. Doing everything I can to assist I finally get the okay to leave. Before doing so I head upstairs and grab anything she might need. There’s no way she’s coming back to this house, not after finding out about Evan and Alisha’s death.

Getting everything I need I quickly head downstairs and let the officers know if they need to question Caroline to let me know.

When I stand before her she’s shaking and her head’s down. The EMTs check her out and everything’s fine. Since Caroline saw everything I did there was no reason to keep her for long or bring her to the hospital. “I need to get some stuff done. Can I take you to Tonya’s?”

“Yeah. That’s fine. Are those my things?” She points to the duffle bag I have in my hand. “So that’s it then? I can’t come back to my house.”

“It’ll be taped off for a while. We can get everything you need just let me know. I grabbed some outfits and things you’ll need. Do you want to go upstairs and grab anything else?” Caroline shakes her head and puts her hand in mine. When I get her in the car and get in the driver side I look over and her eyes are closed. Fuck I don’t know what’s going through her head.

Walking into the station after dropping off a pissed off and scared Caroline with Tonya I’m ready to punch a wall and knock out some people.

“Does anyone want to fucking tell me what’s going on?”

Devin looks up and shakes his head. “I told you she was here! Now she’s dead and the gang’s making moves.”

“What was the point in keeping her away?”

“She never informed them she felt she was caught. There are no updates so how the fuck are we supposed to know what’s going on. Not much we can do on our end and the PD in California is swamped. If Alisha can’t listen to simple instructions there’s not much we can do. I asked for your help and now we’re fucked.”

I slam my fists on my desk and slump down in my chair. “This is bullshit. She’s dead and there aren’t any clues. What’s Mike saying?”

“Nothing, man,” Devin responds and Scott walks in.

“Don’t do that,” he barks.

“Not now, Scott,” Devin yells back.

“Okay ladies what the fuck is going on and someone better talk.” I look at both of them and no one says anything. “Seriously come on. We all talked about this and we worked our asses off. What the fuck is going on between the two of you?”

“Nothing, Ryan. Scott’s fucking lost his mind. Too much drinking, huh? You drunk right now, buddy?” Devin snarls and Scott gets in his face.

“I know what you did, you fucker. I know!” he screams and heads outside. I look at Devin and we follow him out, but it’s too late.

“Drop the knife!” I hear Devin scream and look to see someone in a mask stab Scott and run off. Without thinking, I chase him down.

“Stop right now!” I yell, but the asshole goes faster and makes a sharp turn. I’m on him until we cross the street and I’m hit by a car. “Fuck!” I cry. I attempt to get back on my feet quickly only to see the car getting away. Taking out my gun I try to get a clear shot, but there are too many civilians around. “Fuck.”

I need to get Caroline safe. I need to get her out of Tonya’s house and keep her away from all this shit. Not needing to deal with anyone telling me to go to the hospital and get checked out I text Clarke and tell him I’m on my way.

As soon as I get to Clarke’s, Caroline rushes out and jumps in my arms.

“Mason,” she cries. “You’re okay. I was so scared. Clarke told me everything.”

“I’m okay, baby. But get your things. We need to go to my parents’ house.”

“Okay.” She slowly lets me go and slides off me. “Everything’s changing huh?”

“Yes, baby. Everything’s changing.”

I wait outside when Clarke comes out and I see the distress on his face. We talk about what happened and what internal affairs is doing.

“It’s a fucking mess, Clarke,” I tell him. “Scott’s in the department spewing shit about Devin and then gets stabbed and I get hit by a car? What the fuck’s going on?”

“No idea. Have you talked to Mike? Devin’s informant?”

“No.” I shake my head. “I haven’t talked to him in a while. Why? What’s going on?”

“Honestly I don’t know,” Clarke answers and rubs his face with tension and frustration. “We got to find out what the fuck’s going on or else more lives are going to be threatened.”

“I know, Chief. I’ll try and talk to Devin. When I left the station he was talking to IAB since I gave them my statement already.”

“Be safe out there and let me know if you hear anything.”

After almost fifty hours going through notes, interviews and talking with Clarke and Devin I finally get back to my parents’ house and find Caroline curled on my bed holding my sweater. Sitting down on the edge of the bed next to her I lean down and kiss the top of her head.

“Mason?” she mutters and her eyes slowly flutter open. “You’re okay.”

“I’m okay,” I tell her and watch as she slides up to a sitting position. “I’m sorry I kept Alisha and Lila a secret. There’s a lot going on with them and none of it is good.”