Deceitfully Yours by Bethany Bazile Page A

then get what you need?”
    “ He always locks it up before he leaves. He has a soft spot for you. Make sure he doesn’t lock the door when you leave.”
    “I can’t.”
    He rises up slowly and stares at me like I’m a stranger. “Why are you being so reluctant all of a sudden? If this is about Jude—”
    “It’s not .”
    “Good. I’ll expect you to come by the office this week.” He picks up his motorcycle helmet and stops in front of me. “Don’t think that because it’s Jude he can’t end up like Shane.”
    When I don’t respond to his threat , he reaches out and pats me twice on my face, then walks out of the apartment. A tear I didn’t know I was holding back glides down my face.
    I’m suffocating in a room full of air. I don’t need to go to sleep for the nightmares to play in my mind. Jude is right ; dreams are illusions, and my dreams are nightmares where ghosts of the past always come back. I can never get over the guilt. The last time I pursued happiness, it cost me in ways I never thought were possible. It cost Shane more than anyone else.
    For a woman who cons men on a regular basis, I was totally naïve when it came to dealing with men romantically and sexually. Shane made me believe I could have a different life. That I deserved more than to be a pawn in Mason’s criminal existence. Shane was all I had that felt normal at a time when Mason was pulling me deeper into something I didn’t want. I opened up to him like I’d never opened up to anyone in years. He took my virginity and taught me the power of sexual desire. He let me be myself when I was tired of putting on an act. My year with Shane was the happiest in the past five years.
    I brush Stacia off and shut myself in my room. I stay up for hours, too afraid of what sleep would bring. When exhaustion finally sets in, everything comes to life in vivid color, and I’m back to the night I lost Shane.

Kylie
    Three years earlier

 
     
    As I pull up to the warehouse where Shane has his office, a sick feeling sets in immediately. The last-minute change in our meeting place makes me apprehensive. Shane and I are careful to keep our relationship hidden from Mason, so meeting at the building they both conduct business in is too risky.
    The parking lot is eerily dark , and the dock behind the warehouse is lit from the moonlight reflecting off the water. Shane’s car is the only car I see. I rush across the lot and pull the heavy door open. Freedom is waiting for me behind this door. Today Shane and I are going to run off and start over. We will both cut ties from this life and find our happily ever after.
    The sharp clang of the metal door as it slams shut behind me is extremely loud. Mason steps out of a dark corner, so smooth and composed. My mind twists and turns as I try to figure out how Mason found out Shane and I would be here. But I ’m mostly concerned with how we’re going to get out of this.
    “Not exactly who you were expecting?” Mason pulls a chair out and motions for me to have a seat. I nervously drop into it as he drags another chair across the room and sits facing me.
    He watches me silently before he takes a deep breath, crosses his arms over his big chest , and leans back. “Do you remember when you were on the verge of becoming a homeless prostitute?”
    I wouldn ’t say I was going to become a prostitute. Maybe my situation would have led me there, but who knows? I avoid his eyes and his question with silence.
    He leans forward in his chair and grabs my chin with his hand. He forces me to look him in the eye, then barks, “Do you?”
    A tear rolls down my face as his fingers dig into my jaw.
    “You ’d be nothing without me. Shane would be nothing without me.”
    He ’s so close to me I can feel his angry breath on my cheeks. “Do you know I took Shane off the streets and gave him a life? You and he have nobody in this world. I’m your family. This is the way you two decide to repay me for saving