“Compelling?”I barked a bitter laugh.“That’s Adley.Slayer’s daughter.You think he’s gonna sit back and watch his little girl being mauled in an alley?No one knows about me and Adley.”
Mac cringed.“I kind of figured that since you two barely look at each other when other people are around.”
“So delete it,” I ordered again.
She shook her head.“You guys all signed contracts that whatever the camera record we are free to use.”
“So who cares if this is going to fuck everything up as long as you get some good TV out of it?”I growled.
“I’m not airing this tomorrow,” she said firmly.“You have time to tell the club and Slayer.No one will see this for probably two weeks.After that, the network will see it, and it won’t be in my hands anymore.”
I dropped back into the chair and buried my face in my hands.Two weeks.Christ.
Mac’s voice softened further.“I don’t want to hurt you, Mason.Or Adley.I like her.I like you.But I can’t pretend this doesn’t exist.”
I dragged my hands down my face, stared at the screen.Adley’s lips swollen from my kiss.My hand splayed over her hip.Her eyes closed like she was giving me everything.
The most perfect moment of my life.Captured.Exposed.
“Son of a bitch,” I muttered.
“I’ll lock the file,” Mac said.“No one sees it for two weeks.You have my word.”
“Some word,” I snapped, but the venom drained out of me quick.She was just doing her job.“What the hell am I supposed to do with that?”
She sighed.“Talk to her.Decide what you both want.I’ll give you a couple of weeks, Mason.Use them.”
I stood, my legs shaky.The light felt too hot, the air too thick.“This was supposed to be harmless,” I said, my voice low.
“Not so much harmless as honest,” Mac corrected gently.
I couldn’t look at the screen again.Couldn’t see what we’d done blown up in high definition.I stormed out of the office, the door slamming behind me, and my chest tight like I’d swallowed fire.
The empty hallway spread out before me.No one there.No one knew what was on that footage except for Mac.
Adley and me, we were a secret no longer.
And in two weeks, the whole damn club would know.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Adley
The clang of glasses and the low rumble of voices wrapped around me as I weaved between the tables with a tray balanced on one hand.Monday nights weren’t the wildest at the Social Club, but they weren’t exactly slow either.A steady stream of bikers, friends, and locals filtered in to eat burgers, drink beer, and throw darts.I’d gotten used to the rhythm.Carry drinks, smile, take orders, and hope no one got too rowdy.
Except tonight, the rhythm was off.
Not because of the crowd.Because of him.
Mason.
He was behind the bar like always, but he wasn’t really there.His shoulders were tense, movements clipped, and his eyes darted up toward the cameras bolted in the corners like they were ticking bombs instead of harmless recorders.He barely said a word to Thorn, who’d been ribbing him most of the night, and when I went up to grab a round of beers, he didn’t even glance at me.Just shoved the bottles across the bar like I was any other waitress.
It stung.
After everything at the lake, the kisses, the blanket under the stars, I thought maybe we’d turned a corner.But Mason was colder tonight than the beer he served.
I pasted on a smile and delivered the drinks to a table of regulars, but my mind wasn’t on them.It was on him.On the way his jaw clenched whenever I came too close.On how his gaze cut away like it burned to look at me.
