“Nothing rehearsed.Just honest,” she said.“I’ll ask you about some of the footage we’ve got.You give me your take.No right or wrong answers.”
“Sounds like a trap.”
She grinned.“Only if you make it one.”
She fiddled with a few cords, and then held up a hand.“Rolling.”
My gut twisted.
Mac glanced up from her monitor.“Okay, Mason.Let’s warm up.Tell me, what does the Social Club mean to the Fallen Lords?”
I exhaled slowly, staring past the lens.“It’s… ours.Not just a bar.It’s where we come together.Where we’ve built something solid.It’s for the town, too..We give ‘em a place to drink, laugh, and blow off steam.”My throat tightened.“It’s family.”
Mac nodded, her eyes warm.“That’s good.Really good.See?Not so bad.”
I relaxed a fraction.Just talking.I could do that.
She clicked her mouse, and the monitor flickered.Footage rolled of Wrecker out at the farm, shirtless in the July heat, tossing hay bales like they weighed nothing.Alice laughed in the background, giving him shit for showing off.
I barked a laugh.“Christ, he’s such a ham.”
“Yeah?”Mac smiled.“What do you see when you watch this?”
“That man’ll do anything for his woman, even if it means being an idiot on camera.He pretends he hates the spotlight, but look at him eating it up.Loves making her laugh.”
“Good sound bite,” Mac murmured and typed something on her laptop.She let the clip run a few more seconds before cutting it.“Okay.Let’s try another.”
I nodded and leaned back.This wasn’t so bad.
Then the screen flickered again, and my heart slammed against my ribs.
The alley.
Adley and me.
Pressed up against the brick wall behind the Social Club.Her hands in my hair, and my mouth devouring hers like I hadn’t eaten in years.
I shot to my feet.“What the fuck is that?”
Mac held up both hands.“Mason-”
“Turn it off.”My voice cracked like a whip.“Right now.Turn that shit off.”
She clicked pause, the frozen image of Adley’s flushed face filling the screen.My lungs locked up.I raked a hand through my hair, pacing.“How the hell did you get that?”
Mac’s voice stayed even, calm.“We installed cameras around the Social Club and clubhouse, remember?Standard coverage.It’s all automatic.I didn’t go looking for this, Mason, it came to me.”
I spun on her.“Who’s seen it?”
“Just me.This is all just raw footage.I pulled it myself.”
I stalked closer, and pointed at the frozen screen.“Delete it.Right now.Wipe it.”
Her eyes softened, but her mouth tightened.“I can’t.”
“The hell you can’t.”My voice shook, half fury, half fear.
“Mason,” she said gently.“I get it.I do.This is private.It wasn’t meant to be filmed.But I have a job to do.This show is about your world, your lives, the truth of it.And that-” she nodded at the screen, “that is real.Raw.Compelling.”
