Night is Darkest Page 8

  “Listen, Lacey…” He patted her knee then drew away as though unsure of what to do. “You know I’m no good at this emotional shit. So, I’ll just say this. I’m happy for you and Ty. You guys surprised me before, that’s all.”

  It would have been impossible to speak around the band constricting her chest so, instead, she nodded.

  Tyler cleared his throat to break the extended lull in the conversation. “I noticed when I was hooking up the call monitor that the house phone had been switched off. Were you getting a lot of calls today, little one?”

  Grateful for something else to talk about, she nodded again. “Nothing ridiculous but, like I told Mason before, a bunch of reporters tried to get in touch not to mention all the people who just found out about Rob one way or the other.”

  This time Mason’s hand entwined their fingers and stayed. The knot of tension unwound a bit when she relaxed, eliminating the artificial gap forcing them apart.

  “It annoyed me after a while so I killed the ringer. But it really pissed me off when that shithead reporter crossed the line by infecting my comp with a virus because I wouldn’t answer her calls. Can I press charges if you guys can figure out who did it?” She frowned as she thought back. “I don’t think I’ve backed up my data in a while. I had some digital pictures of Rob on there from Ty’s birthday party that might be lost forever. Bitch.”

  “I think I saved copies of most of those when you emailed them to us all.” Mason displayed his rare, but awesome, full-on smile. “I definitely kept the one where you busted Rob making out with Gina as blackmail. That’s a classic.”

  She swallowed hard against the memory of laughing over that image the next day. Everyone had teased Saint Rob for getting drunk enough to haul his timid girlfriend outside for a few stolen kisses and maybe something more. It’d been so out of character for her brother, Lacey’d assumed Gina would be joining the family soon.

  “After we’re done here, let me see what I can do. I might be able to restore them.” Ty was the most technologically savvy of the three of them.

  “Thank you.” She stared across the room into the smoky depths of his eyes until Mason asked another question.

  “Did the aggressive reporter identify herself in any way?”

  “No. She just kept saying, ‘We have to talk’.”

  “Did she mention the name of her publication?” Mason’s intensity made the query seem like part of an interrogation.

  She thought back to the messages she’d erased from various sources. “No, I don’t think she did. Someone called from all of the big papers and news channels though.”

  “If she didn’t say she was a journalist or identify who she worked for, what made you sure she was a newshound?”

  “I-I’m not positive. Let me think.” She tried to remember when she’d first come to think of the woman as The Annoying Reporter in her mind. “I guess it was because, in one of the very first messages, she said she wanted to get my side of the story.”

  “How many times do you think she called, little one?” Ty seemed concerned which worried her in turn. Had she missed something? For several days her mind had been scattered between grief over Rob and Ty’s betrayal.

  “Probably a dozen times a day.” She shrugged.

  “Do you remember what she sounded like?” Mason commandeered her attention again.

  “Well, it was definitely a woman. She sounded average. Not young, not old. She didn’t have an especially high or low pitched voice. The only thing I noticed besides her irritating demand was a slight scratchiness. Almost like…well, like my voice after I’d been crying a lot. At first, I almost felt bad imagining she was going to get fired for not getting inside info but she was so pushy that I decided she probably couldn’t get anyone to talk to her with such a bad attitude.”

  Ty winced before he asked, “And you deleted all the messages?”

  “Yeah, they were overflowing my voicemail. Not just hers, all of them.” She felt foolish now and it made her defensive. “But it won’t matter, right? Except to us, this isn’t going to be big news forever. She’ll go away in a day or two.”

  Mason squeezed her hand. “I hope you’re right, doll. I’m going to head out for a while now and ask some more questions but, if I don’t get a hit, I’ll have to agree with the chief. Rob was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

  “I’m going with you, then.” Ty stood up from the desk.

  “No, stay here with Lacey. I’ll come back as soon as the crowds play out to see how you’re doing tracking her caller. Put someone on the phone records while you work the PC. If you need help, we can bring in one of the guys from the cyber crimes division.” He didn’t have to say that any one of them would pitch in to help Rob and his family.

  The cushion rose when Mason’s bulk unfurled from the dainty furniture. She peeled her gaze from his perfect ass at eye level, then escorted him to the foyer. On impulse, she hugged him tight. Trim muscles flexed under her grasp, which surrounded his waist. Surprise eased her worry when he put his arms around her instead of backing away. He held her close, breathing deep with his face pressed to her still damp hair. After a few blissful moments she forced herself to let go, reaching up to press a quick kiss to his cheek.

  She borrowed Rob’s line, “Stay safe.”

  “You too.” He left without looking back.

  When she turned, she caught Tyler staring at the spot where they’d stood. She couldn’t decipher his cryptic expression.

  “I didn’t even think, Ty. Should I stay away from him?” She rushed to replay the moment and consider the appropriateness of her actions as she returned to the office. This changing dynamic would take some getting used to.

  “You never have to worry about that, little one.” He brushed her hair back from her brow. “You were clear from the beginning that you wanted us both. Do what comes natural when you’re around Mason. Believe me, I understand.”

  “Because you’ve shared women with him before?” She tried to make sense of the situation. If he’d mauled another woman not ten feet from her she’d have been seeing red.

  “No. Because I know you love him and I do, too.”

  “Then why are you fighting?” The deliberate formality between the men had been nearly palpable. “Life is too short to distance yourself from the people you love.”

  “That’s exactly my point, Lacey.” With that, he plopped back down at the desk. He tinkered with the computer until she gave up hope of continuing the conversation. She curled into a ball on the loveseat, with a book she’d never be able to read, while a million thoughts clamored for her attention.

  ***

  Mason winced when the sight of the board, covering the gap where he’d smashed the etched glass in Lacey’s door, greeted him on return. He made a mental note to pick up a replacement pane to install on his day off.

  The long, unfruitful night of getting hit on by cheap whores had put him in a bad mood. No amount of jiggling manmade cleavage, G-string-clad booty or mile high stilettos filling the dives he’d canvassed could rouse his interest. His cock had lain dormant in the face of carnal sights that would have enticed him just days ago. His body betrayed him, wanting only things he couldn’t have.

  The reminder of the incident earlier didn’t help.

  Despite what he’d told Ty, and himself, it stung to see desire arcing between the pair of them. It made his blood boil with lust. He’d bet his mint 1952 Mickey Mantle card that watching them fuck would be the hottest thing he’d ever seen. The thread of envy weaving through his desire ashamed him. He should be ecstatic for the new couple but he couldn’t hush the niggling voice urging him to join in even though a committed threesome could never work long-term.

  Both Ty and Lacey had extended open invitations through their body language earlier in the night. He’d fled the house but going out hadn’t served him any better. Worry had plagued his mind the entire time he’d been separated from them, even though he hadn’t found a single fact to justi
fy his unease. No one remembered seeing Rob, or hearing anything unusual, that night.

  Before he could turn the knob, the door swung open and Tyler asked quietly, “Are you going to stand out there all night or are you going to come in?”

  It wasn’t sarcasm. The uncertainty in his best friend’s eyes cut like a knife.

  “I came back, didn’t I?”

  “I figured you at fifty-fifty on that one.”

  Mason didn’t clue him in to how close he’d come to breaking his promise.

  “Did you find anything, Mason?” The weary timbre made it clear Tyler didn’t have high expectations but Mason shook his head anyway.

  When Ty joined him on the porch instead of leading the way inside, he knew something was up. What did he want to keep from Lacey? “What’s going on?”

  “I found something.” He tensed. “Well, a couple somethings actually.”

  Senses on high alert, Mason waited. “Start with the worst and work your way back.”

  “Right. Well, her computer was definitely targeted. I got it up and running but the email from her anonymous sender didn’t have a virus. I think opening it triggered code already lurking in the background of her operating system. We’ll have to call in some help to find out more than that because the entire message is corrupted. All the text is jumbled. I can’t make heads or tails of it. The complexity makes me think it was professional and specific.”

  “Son of a bitch.” Mason braced himself on the porch railing, arms locked straight as his head dropped. His exhalation puffed out in a white cloud. “I was hoping we were wrong on this one, Ty.”

  “I know.”

  “What else?” He sighed. How much more could he take?

  “I spent some time trying to recover the rest of Lacey’s data files. You know, her pictures and shit. It wasn’t too hard to get it all back but there were some…uh…extra goodies in there, too.”

  “Like what?” The run-around piqued his curiosity. Tyler didn’t often mince words like this.

  “I think you better come see for yourself. She’s crashed on the little couch in there. Wouldn’t go to bed until she knew you were back safe.”

  Guilt raised Mason’s hackles. “Fine. Let’s get this over with. I want to go home for a few hours before our shift starts.”

  “You could bunk here. Lacey wouldn’t mind. She cares for you Mason…”

  “It would never work. Not tonight. Not ever.”

  “Come inside and check things out before you decide. Just keep your voice low.” Tyler ambled away before Mason could object. He deserved the cool treatment but it rankled nonetheless.

  In the office, Ty drew up a second chair he’d scavenged from the kitchen then situated the monitor so they could both view it. Mason kept his eyes averted from Lacey’s sleeping form to ensure he limited his temptations. Sitting knee to knee with Ty when frustration rode him hard was bad enough.

  After he spared a quick glance in the direction of the measured, steady breathing Mason could detect in the quiet room, Ty navigated through the folders on Lacey’s hard drive. Under My Pictures, an innocuous looking directory titled Stuff caught his attention. When Ty double clicked then turned the thumbnail feature on, Mason’s eyes bugged out.

  Pornographic images littered the screen. Judging by the sliver of the scroll bar on the right, there were thousands more where these had come from. “Whoa.”

  “Yeah, no kidding.” The husky tone of Ty’s reply made it clear he sported a hard-on at least as painful as the one suddenly jeopardizing Mason’s zipper.

  Graphic pictures of full-frontal male nudity were the least outrageous items in her bawdy collection. Most of the photos featured women being pleasured by multiple men in various ménage scenarios. A large percentage also depicted men engaged in salacious acts with other men—on their knees giving blow jobs, kissing, jerking off together and even having full anal intercourse. But the scores of BDSM scenes included in her fantasy repertoire fascinated him most.

  Ty’s left hand dropped to his crotch, rearranging the notable bulge there while he navigated the mouse with his right hand. The corner of his mouth pulled up in a mischievous grin that did nothing to settle Mason’s raging hormones.

  “I made a copy of a few of my favorites to show you. There’s more to her than you want to admit. More than we let her be when we’re blinded by the little girl we knew growing up.”

  Mason didn’t bother to mention Rob’s threats about keeping their hands to themselves around her. The man had been right. They were too rough for his sister. Mason refused to disgrace the memory of his friend by betraying his wishes the moment he wasn’t there to enforce them.

  “You can’t change my mind with some dirty pictures, Ty.”

  “Fair enough. But, come on, take a look anyway. She has some good shit in here.”

  Mason knew he should get up and leave but he was horny, male and only human. The first image Tyler displayed full screen kept him riveted to the chair. A blindfolded woman lay spread-eagled and tied with silk scarves to a mammoth king-sized bed. One man fed her his giant cock while the other knelt between her thighs as he plowed into her pussy.

  In addition to arousal, a sense of loss rocked him. He’d never indulge in fantasies like these again. He couldn’t see having a threesome with anyone but Ty. Though they’d never touched each other during one of their liaisons with an adventurous woman, the act itself was a kind of sharing he couldn’t conceive of undertaking with someone other than his partner.

  Ty had just flipped to the next file—a woman in a suspension harness flanked by several men with their cocks in hand—when something rustled behind him. They’d been so engrossed in the decadent imagery that they hadn’t noticed Lacey yawn and stretch.

  She’d already made it most of the way to their spot by the computer before Ty started frantically clicking windows closed. Those little X’s in the corner must have been hard to hit accurately when most of his blood supply had ventured south because he’d only managed to get rid of a couple by the time she crossed the intimate space.

  “You’re back.” Her sleep warmed arms looped around Mason’s neck in a fleeting embrace as she murmured, “Did either of you find anything?”

  In an act of desperation, Mason gave in to his urges and stroked her hair, hoping to keep her face tucked against his chest while Ty hauled ass on Operation Hide-The-Smut but she didn’t hold the awkward position for more than a fraction of a second.

  “What the… Are you guys looking at porn?”

  Chapter Eight

  “Busted.” Ty didn’t bother to conceal his lopsided grin.

  “Did Rob ever use this computer?” Mason wanted to know.

  “Are you asking if it’s my porn?” Lacey propped a hand on one hip and raised her eyebrow. Who were they to judge? The smell of cheap liquor and cheaper perfume billowed around them. And, if the hungry gleam in their eyes was anything to go by, they had enjoyed the fruits of her searches.

  “Well, uh… Yeah. I guess that’s what I’m asking.” At least Mason had the good grace to clear his throat in chagrin.

  Screw this. She was done hiding what she wanted most. Like she’d said to Ty before, life was too short to take detours. “Hell yes, it’s mine. Can’t a girl admire the scenery every once in a while?”

  “Um, Lace, this looks more like a habit.” Laughter danced in Ty’s eyes.

  “Well, what the hell good is an internet connection without porn? Besides, it’s not like I’ve had any fun myself. Unlike you guys, I’ve led a repressed, chaste existence.”

  “Hey now, what about the Spaghetti-O debacle?”

  “Your pride is so easily wounded, stud.” She winked at them. “I meant until recently.”

  “So you’ve never tried any of these things, little one?”

  Under the heat of their combined stares, she thought she might melt. How much should she confess? Had they found the other files on her hard drive? She settled for part of the truth. “I wanted to.” />
  “What aren’t you telling us?” Mason’s eyes crinkled as he squinted up at her.

  She focused on untangling her fingers from the hem of her T-shirt. They knew all her tells. Instead, she tried to deflect his scrutiny. “Why do you care, Mason? I thought you weren’t interested in my sex life.”

  “I just assumed you’d want to clue us in to any other personal tidbits so we can wipe this drive before we turn your computer over to our cyber detective in the morning.”

  Her pulse raced and she put out a hand to steady herself on the desk. “Why are you going to do that? To track down the reporter?”

  “Damn it, Mason. You have a big mouth sometimes.” Ty’s hands encircled her waist and lifted her across Mason’s imposing frame before settling her in his lap. The space in the room seemed to get much, much smaller as all three of them tucked into the tiny alcove together.

  She peeked up at Mason. The serious stare he used to scan her reaction encouraged her to buck up. Though she addressed Ty, her words were meant for the natural leader of their little group. “It’s alright, Ty. I want to know what’s going on. I can handle it.”

  He nodded, “I don’t think Anon Y. Mous is a reporter. I think someone else didn’t want you to get their message, so they scrambled the email.”

  Thankful she already sat, she tried to play off the ice freezing her veins. “No problem, I’ll just answer the phone the next time they call.”

  Neither man said a word.

  “Is the ringer back on?” The hair on her nape stood on end.

  “There hasn’t been a single call all night, honey.” Ty situated her closer to his heat. “I think your informant might have given up.”

  “We’ll get the data back, Lace.” It would be easy to believe Mason’s assured confidence. “Just let us know if there’s anything else we need to move off this machine before morning.”