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I have to admit, the truck ride from Inglewood to the heart of downtown was . . . tense. To say the least.
Neither of us is acknowledging dinner. The gun range. His fingering meatthe gun range. It’s like there was this big elephant sitting in the back seat, just looking between the two of us and waiting. To be honest, I thought about faking sick tonight.
But . . . like always, Missy popped into my mind, making me feel guilty for abandoning her, so I put my big girl panties on—literally, I wore a thong in case another “situation” occurred—and joined Mason in his truck after the sun went down.
Now, we’re standing in front of what looks to be an abandoned warehouse, right outside the fashion district.
This area of town isn’t great. The poverty and crime rates are high, and while those two things don’t go hand in hand, theft and violence do. Mason parked the truck a couple blocks away, in a parking garage, and we had to hike here, so I’m glad I wore my old sneakers.
At least I’m not in a leather skirt, heels, and a corset tonight. I’d opted for a black T-shirt, black pants, and black shoes, so I at leastlookthe part of a ninja in the night, even if I don’t feel like one.
To be honest, my stomach is cramping because I have no idea what we’re walking into.
“How the fuck do we get in?” Mason murmurs. The place is huge and if whoever has Missy is using this as some kind of base of operations, I’m willing to bet they have the place rigged to know when someone’s here.
I scan the building, though, in the dark alleyway, it’s more than difficult.
“There.”
He follows my line of sight to a busted window a couple stories up. There’s an old, teetering fire escape that I could reach with a little boost.
“Lift me up there.”
“Hannah.”
I roll my eyes. “Like you can’t pick me up?”
“It’s dangerous.”
“Do you have a better idea?”
He looks like the ladder personally wronged his grandmother.
And then it dawns on me . . .
“Are you afraid of heights?”
“Did I say that?”
I suppress a chuckle. Mason Carpenter being afraid ofanythingis astounding to me.
“It’ll be fine,” I assure him and he shoots me a dark look. “It’s not even that high. You probably—definitelywouldn’t die from a three-story fall. And this thing was built back when stuff was made to last. It’s not falling off from us.”I hope.
Okay, you definitely would die, especially on the hard concrete alleyway below, but I don’t tell him that.
“Look. I don’t need scared of heights Mason, right now. I need fearless, hot, big-muscled Mason who makes me feel like I’m safe for the first time in my life.”
His jaw ticks and despite the heat burning on my cheeks, I feel triumphant at the subtle shift in his demeanor.
I got him.
With a deep sigh, he steps up behind me and I turn away so he can’t see my triumphant smile.
He places his hands around my waist and if we were anywhere besides a dirty alley that looks like rats have raised entire family trees of their offspring here, it would be hot. It still makes me blush, though mostly because when he lifts me up, my ass is nearly eye level with his face and I can’t stop thinking about this afternoon.
I grab the ladder and he hoists me higher to reach my foot to the bottom rung, slipping and almost crashing to the ground below. Mason, in his precarious position, puts a hand firmly on my ass to steady me.
“Jesus fucking Christ,” Mason grits under his breath and I can’t decide if it’s because he’s worried about me or because he just really doesn’t want to do this.
