Double Coverage (33 page)

Mason was like a drug to Piper; he was hard to resist and she was always chasing that first high when she was with him. She couldn’t help herself and now Mason was deliberately trying to make Piper jealous and it was working.

“Who wants to play?” Jax asked, while grabbing a pool stick and chalking it up.

“I do,” Piper said, “But I don’t know how to play. Will you teach me?” Piper grabbed Jax’s bicep, gave it a squeeze, and planted a kiss on his lips.

“Sure thing, darlin’. I don’t mind showing you how to shoot.”

Piper knew how to play pool, she was actually very good and Mason knew that, so the look of confusion on his face was priceless. That was until Piper bent over to shoot and Jax Stepped up behind her, bending over her so he could guide her properly. That was when she returned the same sarcastic smile Mason gave her. Two could play at this game.

Piper knew it was going to drive Mason crazy for him to watch Jax have his hands all over her, showing her how to play pool, even though he knew damn well she knew how to play because she beat his sorry ass multiple times. Payback is a bitch, she thought, as she bent over, letting Jax take her hand in his and show her the proper way to shoot.

***

Mason stood to the side of the pool table with Brooke up against his chest and a beer in his hand while he watched Jax put his hands all over Piper. He was five seconds away from pushing Brooke to the side and putting his fist through Jax’s face. Jealousy soared through Mason’s body and he knew he deserved it. The minute Brooke walked in the bar, he took advantage of the situation and used her to make Piper Jealous. Clearly, his idea worked, but he didn’t think about the repercussions. Now he had to act like Jax groping Piper wasn’t bothering him.

Mason wanted to rip the pool stick out of Piper’s hand and take her to the back room again. He was so mad at her. She knew how to play pool, she hustled him the night they finally had sex for the first time. Watching Piper play pool with Jax almost felt like she was having sex with Jax in front of him. Mason couldn’t take it.

“Why are you so tense?” Brooke asked, while rubbing her hands up and down his chest.

She looked beautiful, he had to admit that. She looked damn sexy walking in the bar, so it wasn’t very hard for him to take one for the team and make out with her in front of Piper. Although, it did burn him a little, since the woman was like an incurable disease. He just couldn’t get away from her.

“Not tense. That’s just muscle you’ve been missing out on…you know, since you broke off our engagement.” Mason whispered in Brooke’s ear. He wanted to make it seem like he was having an intimate conversation with Brooke, when in fact, he was shooting out words of hatred toward her.

“Mace, you know I told you I was sorry for that.”

Mason brought Brooke closer by placing his hand on her lower back and pulling her in. He took a quick peek at Piper and noticed she was looking at him. Mason lowered his mouth so it was right against Brooke’s ear.

“Sorry isn’t going to cut it, Brooke. If you want to make it up to me, you have a lot of sucking up to do, and I mean a lot of sucking up.” Mason made sure to emphasize the word “sucking.” If things continued to not work out with Piper, he was going to have to get pleasure from someone.

Brooke moved her hand from Mason’s chest, down to his crotch and gave it a squeeze, jolting him from his position.

Ryker started laughing and pointed at Mason. “She totally ducked you, man.”

“Ducked me?” Mason said, confused.

“You know…” Ryker said looking around, but everyone had no clue what he was talking about. Ryker rolled his eyes and continued. “You know, when someone gooses you, they grab you from behind; well, she totally grabbed your dick…so she ducked you.”

Ashlin shook her head and hugged Ryker. “There is something wrong with you.”

“You want to be ducked?” Ryker asked, while wiggling his eyebrows?”

“Tell me when and where.”

“Looks like you’ve met your match,” Jake said, while holding Lexi in front of him.

“No, I think Ashlin is far above Ryker. She has class; Ryker is just…an ass,” Lexi said, while smiling.

Ryker held his chest and faked being hurt by Lexi’s words. “How you wound me, doll.”

Mason was barely paying attention to the ribbing that was going back and forth amongst his friends. How could he focus when Jax had his arm wrapped possessively around Piper’s midsection and was nuzzling her neck? Mason felt like his veins were going to pop and bleed out from the amount of fury running through his body. He couldn’t take the disgusting display of affection between Piper and Jax much longer; the scene between them was slowly eating him alive.

“Mason, were you even paying attention?” Lexi asked.

Mason shook his head. “Sorry, what?”

Lexi pointed at Brooke. “She asked you a question.”

He looked down at Brooke, who looked upset. He hated that a little piece of him felt guilty for making her upset. He didn’t want to feel bad for her because she put herself in the position she was currently in, but a little part of him did pity her. She tried so hard to get his attention; it was pathetic and hard not to feel sorry for the pleading woman standing in front of him.

“What did you ask?” Mason said gently, since everyone was watching him, including Piper.

“If you wanted to get out of here with me,” Brooke said, with a twinkle in her eye.

“Yeah! Get it on, man!” Ryker said, while thrusting his pelvis toward Ashlin, with his hands on his hips.

“You’re a pig,” Hannah said, throwing everyone for a loop.

“Jealous, much?” Ryker asked, while throwing an arm around Ashlin and pressing a kiss to her temple. Hannah rolled her eyes and walked back toward the bathrooms, making the smile vanish from Ryker’s face.

“You’re a dick, man,” Mason whispered.

“Speak for yourself.”

“So…” Brooke asked, as she rubbed her hands from Mason’s shoulders down his stomach and then looped her fingers into his waistband, slowly stroking his bare skin that she was able to expose. Mason jerked at her touch and caught Piper staring at him with fire radiating from her eyes.

Mason smiled at Piper and then looked down at Brooke. “Sure. Let me settle my tab and I’ll walk you out. I need to get some sleep anyway, if I plan on kicking this douche bag’s ass tomorrow,” Mason said, while pointing to Jake.

“Bring it man. My rookies will be running circles around your sorry ass tomorrow.”

Mason scoffed and lifted Brooke’s chin up so he could place a kiss on her lips. She smiled up at him with complete satisfaction as he turned and talked to Piper.

“Do you mind pulling yourself away for a moment to settle my tab?”

Piper rolled her eyes, placed a gentle kiss on Jax’s lips and walked toward the register, away from everyone.

Mason watched as her perfectly round ass strode toward the register. Damn, he didn’t think he would ever be able to get over the walking wet dream that was in front of him. Her hair cascaded over her shoulders in vivid dark shades of red and her shirt clung to every curve of her body, making Mason’s mouth water. He knew he just had her earlier in the evening, but good God, he needed her again and Brooke was not going to satisfy that need, but that information didn’t need to be communicated to Piper.

Piper went around the bar and started pressing buttons on the touch screen register. Mason went up next to her, so he could be close enough to smell the sweet scent that permeated from her body. He was pathetic.

“How much?” Mason asked in a clipped tone; he was having a hard time masking the frustration the night had produced.

“Fifty-six dollars, not including gratuity,” she said, while not looking at him.

“Service was poor tonight, so don’t plan on getting your twenty percent.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that, maybe if you would have spent less time on acting like some ditzy blonde who didn’t know how to play pool and more time doing your job, then maybe you would be getting a bigger…tip.” Mason laced his words with malice and emphasized the word tip, alluding to the fact that she could have Mason over Jax.

“Who’s to say I even want your tip,” Piper asked, cluing in on what Mason actually meant.

“You were begging for it earlier.”

“I can hardly think what happened earlier was begging, more like you attacked my body and I had no chance to fend you off.”

“Is that right? Well, I might as well not waste my time then. I have a willing and able body ready to fucking pleasure me from my toes to the top of my God damn head. Lord knows, she’ll give me whatever I want, wherever I want and not fucking sass me about it.”

Piper’s eyes lit with fire once again, sending instant satisfaction through Mason’s body, so he continued his spiel. “And, God, does she look good tonight. Her tits are so…”

Piper cut him off. “Finish that sentence and expect your dick to be cut off.”

Mason threw his hands up in defense. “Seems like my little firecracker doesn’t want me taking another girl home.”

Piper got in his face and poked him in the chest with her finger. “I swear to God, if you take her home tonight, if you fuck her, you can kiss any chance you have with me goodbye. I don’t want that whore near you, you hear me? All she wants is your dick.”

“And what do you want?” Mason asked, trying to hold back the smile that her instant jealous rage caused him.

She dropped her head in defeat. “I don’t know what I want.” She looked up at him and her silver eyes pierced through his soul. She was no longer angry; she was upset and the look she gave him cut through to his core. “All I know is, I don’t want you near her. I can’t take it if you fuck her. I know it’s not fair of me, since I have Jax, but if you fuck her Mason, it’s over.”

Her confession took him by surprise. So she didn’t necessarily want him, but she didn’t want anyone else to have him either. How was that fair?

“Come home with me, Piper. Come home, not to fuck me, but come to spend time with me. I want to be near you, please.” Mason held his breath as he waited for her reply. If she really had feelings for him, she would spend the night with him.

“I can’t Mason, Jax is here.”

“Fuck Jax. Spend the night with me…or I spend the night with Brooke.” Mason didn’t want to have to threaten Piper, but he so desperately wanted her to be with him tonight. He needed to hold her in his arms, breathe in her scent and show her that what was going on between them was not just physical. There was a deep pull between them that was unmistakable.

“Please, Piper.”

Piper looked over at the group and then back at Mason. “Fine. I will meet you at your place. She better not go home with you.”

“She’s trash compared to you, baby. You know you’re what I want, what I need.”

“Alright. I will see you tonight.”

Satisfied, Mason walked away, grabbed Brooke by the arm and pulled her out the bar, but not before he said goodbye to everyone, even Jax. Piper eyed him and silently asked what the hell he was doing with Brooke. He gave her a quick wink and walked out the door. He wanted to make it seem to everyone else that he was going home with Brooke, when in fact, he was dumping her in the first taxi he saw so he could hurry home and prepare for Piper. He wanted everything to be perfect when she came over.

***

Ryker walked Ashlin to her car once everyone left the bar. They didn’t stay out too late because they did have a game the next day and they respected their sport enough to not throw it away by partying.

Ryker didn’t know what the hell was going on with Mason and Piper, but when Piper didn’t go home with Jax, the party at the bar got very awkward. Piper spouted out how she needed to clean the bar and didn’t want Jax waiting on her; it seemed a little sketchy, but then again, Mason did leave with Brooke in tow.

Ryker felt bad for Brooke, Mason was clearly stringing her along to make Piper jealous, but the girl kept going back to him, so it was her own damn fault, in Ryker’s eyes, if she got hurt.

Ashlin and Ryker walked in silence to her car. Ryker was too busy thinking about Hannah to even come up with some topic of conversation to fill the silence between him and Ashlin. Ryker still was playing the last conversation he had with Hannah over in his head. He tried to act like the words he said to her and her judgmental tone didn’t bother him, but they did. Hannah acted out tonight in a way he had never seen before and Ryker wondered if it was because of Ashlin’s presence. Hannah seemed to tense up once Ashlin was around; he couldn’t blame her, Ashlin was gorgeous. She had grown up to be a gorgeous, brilliant woman, but she still did not compare to his Hannah. For some stupid reason, his heart was on reserve for Hannah, even though his brain and…little brain were telling him otherwise.

Ashlin stopped in front of a sporty red car a couple of blocks down from the bar. Ryker frowned at her for parking so far away.

“I don’t like you walking these streets by yourself. You should have parked closer, or you should have asked me to walk with you once you got here.”

Ashlin giggled. “Don’t be ridiculous, but thank you for your concern.” They stood there for a second, just staring at each other. For some reason, Ryker found himself tongue tied when he was staring into Ashlin’s eyes. There was so much history between the two of them. They had been through hell and back together; they were each other’s firsts for pretty much everything and the reason why they survived their shitty lives and the reason why they’d made something of themselves.