Chapter Eighty-Eight
The room grew silent and Kelley saw the half-smile form on Lee's lips. He gave him a pointed look and hardened his features. Lee shook his head and finally relented with a chuckle.
“I walked in on Mason dry-humping Andrea.”
Connor barked out a laugh and Kelley looked at Mason. Lee was laughing too and Mason just shook his head as he mumbled something about Lee bleeding.
“I was not dry humping her.”
“I just saw your half-naked ass, a bra, hair and you grinding on top of her. What do you call that if not dry humping?”
“Why were you even half naked with her?”
Mason sighed and stood up, pacing the length of the room. “There are things you guys don’t know.”
“Like the fact you had her move in.”
The surprise showed on Kelley’s face. “You let her move into your house? With Grace there?”
“It’s my house and Grace is my daughter and yeah I let her move in, okay? It was the best choice.”
“Shit you move fast, Mason.” Connor’s voice broke the tension and Mason sat down raking his hands through his hair.
“She spewed some shit about just wanting to get to know Grace?”
Mason glared at him. “Kelley …”
“Don’t Kelley me, Mason. You were the one who was very adamant that you couldn’t lose Grace. I made you a promise that you wouldn’t. So enlighten me on what has changed.”
There was a knock on the door and Mason stood up. “It’s Andrea. I asked her to come so we could all talk, you’ll want to hear this, Kelley.”
“You bet I want to hear this.”
Mason sighed and gave Kelley a pleading look. Kelley held up his hands in surrender as Mason opened the door. Kelley watched as a pair of arms went around Mason’s waist and his arms hugged the woman in front of him. ‘That went south fast,’ he thought to himself.
“Andrea you remember Lee from school, he’s a lawyer now and handles all our legal affairs, both personal and for the business.”
“Will it be weird if I ask what bra you’re wearing today?”
Kelley laughed first followed closely by Connor. Andrea blushed slightly and laughed too as Mason swore at Lee, mumbling words like grave and shallow. “Hi, Lee, and I’m sorry you walked in on that.”
“I’m sorry, my sense of humor is out of whack, always has been.”
Andrea turned towards Kelley with her hands stuck out. “We haven’t met yet. I’m Andrea.”
“Kelley Alexander.”
Andrea pulled her hand back and in the blink of an eye, a gun was pointed at his face. Connor appeared at her side with a gun aimed at her head. Lee blinked and Mason’s face held shock. “Whoa! Andrea!”
“He’s one of them, Mason! You’ve put Grace in danger! He’s a liar and he’s not your friend!”
Kelley stood there unperturbed, his hands in his pockets as he looked at Andrea. “One of who?”
Mason moved around her, standing in front of Kelley as he raised his arms. “Andrea, Kelley’s not just a friend, he’s my brother and I’m telling you he’s not who you think he is.”
“He’s an Alexander and that means he has ties to The Club.” The gun in Andrea’s hand didn’t waver.
“Connor, lower your gun.”
“Not a chance, Kelley, if her finger so much as moves to the trigger I’ll splatter her brains on the walls.”
Lee stepped forward too. “Nobody’s shooting anybody.”
“What’s The Club?”
Andrea had a painful expression on her face as Kelley came into her view again. He had moved away from Mason and her gun followed him. “Andrea, I’m not related to Charles Alexander. If this is what I think it is then we’re essentially on the same team.”
“What?” Andrea looked at Mason who nodded.
“He’s telling the truth, Andy. We’ve been fighting a seven-year war with those people.”
Andrea lowered her gun and Connor ripped it from her hands, stuffing it into the back of his pants. “Well, shit.”
Andrea sank to the sofa and covered her face with her hands. Mason sat down next to her and pulled her closer to him. “Why do you have a gun?”
“For protection. Those people are everywhere.”
Kelley sat down on the edge of the table in front of her. “You need to tell us everything you know about them.”
Lee looked at Kelley and then he slapped him on the back. “You just stood there, not even blinking and she had a gun in your face.”
“It’s not the first time and I doubt it’ll be the last time.”
Kelley looked undisturbed by the events and Connor nodded his approval at being able to keep a level head. Connor had almost shat himself when she’d pulled that gun out. He was ready to kill her and that told him a lot about his relationship with Kelley.
It took Andrea the better part of two hours to tell her story, the same one she’d told Mason on Saturday. The three men had looked at her, not interrupting her once as she spoke and gave the details of what had happened to her.
“You said you were sold, to whom and how did you end up going into hiding?”
“His name was Philip Browning. I was lucky in some aspects. I’d been in his house for a week when he was in a car accident and was left paralyzed afterward. I stole money from him and then I ran, changed my name, colored my hair and ran as far from Meadow Lake as I could.”
“Connor.”
“I’m already deploying an extra guard for her. I’ve put one on the school too, Jack will stay with Grace and Roger will shadow Andrea.”
“Notify Black too. I wouldn’t put it past Charles to try something, especially after the whole hotel thing.”
“We need to pull Jesse in.”
Connor cleared his throat. “Already done. I’ve sent him the voice log of the room.”
Andrea looked around bewildered as the men spoke. Guards and guns, it was the focal point of what they were saying. Mason’s hand squeezed hers and she turned her head to him. “You’re safe here.”
