Liability (Suncoast Society #33)(86)

All guilty.

Freddie tried to turn, but the leg irons kept him from moving. “I hope you rot in hell!” he screamed at Mason as the judge once again gaveled for order. The defense polled the jury—which Mason realized meant asking them all what their verdict was.

Unanimously guilty.

Ten minutes later, it was done. There’d be a sentencing hearing, but Freddie would most likely not only do the minimum fifteen years in jail, but probably more than that.

“Now what?” Mason asked the state attorney when he walked over to talk to them.

“I’ll let you know. Do you want to be here for the sentencing?” It was scheduled to be held in two weeks.

Mason looked at Cole and Kim. “I don’t know. Keep me posted. Maybe not. Not unless I need to be here.”

“You can give a victim’s impact statement. Or you can write one to be read in court.”

“He needs to go under the jail,” Tilly muttered. “How’s that for an impact statement?”

“Keep me posted,” Mason replied. “I’ll let you know.”

Two weeks later, Mason was there. He hadn’t told Kim and Cole he was going, confiding in Tilly and asking her to keep it quiet. They’d missed enough work.

And he didn’t want them anywhere near Freddie, even though the man couldn’t do anything else.

And he used the wheelchair that time, Tilly pushing him up to the podium, where she stood behind him, ready to steady him. It’d been a damned cold day, and he’d barely been able to walk due to his pain.

“As you can see, your Honor, my life has changed forever, all because I was a nice guy. I didn’t want to be a jerk and tell him to go screw himself.” Mason hadn’t prepared a statement, preferring to wing it.

He looked at Freddie. “I told him repeatedly we were just friends, and he couldn’t handle reality. So for trying not to be a jerk to the guy and cutting him out of my life totally, he tried to kill me. His family were jerks, and I thought maybe by being a friend to him that I could be a positive influence. Had I known what would happen, I never would have gotten involved with him, even as just a friend.”

He gripped the podium. “Because of this, I nearly died. I lost my job. This stressed out my family, my friends, the people I love. I will live with the effects of what he did to me for the rest of my life. All because I tried to be nice. I’m normally not a vindictive person, but I hope you give him the maximum sentence possible. Because I now have a life sentence of dealing with my injuries. And so does my husband.”

He knew he didn’t have to add that last part, but it would be an extra knife in Freddie’s heart.

Five minutes later, the judge was sentencing Freddie to twenty years in prison, a mandatory fifteen of them to be served with no time off.

Mason glared at Freddie as he was led from the courtroom.

When it was done, he sat there for a moment, deep in thought.

Tilly finally rested a hand on his shoulder. “You okay?”

He nodded. “What’s it say about me that part of me still feels a little bit sorry for the guy? Not excusing what he did, or forgiving him for what he did. But his shit for a family didn’t help matters any.”

She patted his shoulder. “The true liability is you’re too f*cking nice, dude.” She smiled. “Watch out or I’ll recommend they revoke your sadist union card.”

He smiled. “You wouldn’t do that to me. You love me.”

“Damned lucky I love you guys. Now let’s get you home before your spouses figure out we’re not there and kill me for not giving them a heads-up.”

But later that night, after dinner and once they were alone, Mason did tell them how he’d spent his day.

Kim looked a little…sad. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Because I’m done with him. I don’t want him in our lives any longer. And this happened because of me, not because of you two. I wanted it handled by me. And from this point on, the focus of my life is you two.” He kissed Kim, then Cole. “You guys faced fear head on. It was time for me to do the same thing.”

He’d thought he might be in a mood to play when they went to bed, but he wasn’t. Instead, he ordered Kim to suck Cole’s cock and lay there with the man cuddled against him.

Meanwhile, Kim sported a brand new vibrating egg that was twice as powerful as the other one was. And Mason had it turned up to the highest setting, which had her coming, squirming on the bed, moaning around Cole’s cock.

Mason lay there, his lips just above Cole’s. “That’s it. Let our pet suck one out of you, buddy.”

Okay, so maybe he could get it up after all. Looking down into Cole’s blue eyes, the sounds he was making, the sounds she was making, Mason’s cock started getting hard. He slanted his mouth over Cole’s and kissed him, swallowing his moans as Kim swallowed his cum.

Next thing Mason knew, he was on his back, Cole kissing him, and Cole had fisted Kim’s hair, pulled her off his cock, and onto Mason’s.

“Time for you to give me one, buddy,” Cole teased, flicking his tongue over Mason’s lips. Kim moaned as another orgasm ripped through her, courtesy of the vibrating egg. Cole kept a hand in her hair, guiding her movement as he stared down into Mason’s eyes.

Mason reached up, cupped the back of Cole’s neck, and pulled him all the way down for a kiss while his orgasm rushed through him. Kim’s happy moan as she tasted him quickly changed into another moan of pleasure while the egg did its job.