Trusting You (Second Chances #2)(55)

Brett put his arm around my shoulders, and rubbed my back. “I agree with your cousin, firecracker. Even though I hate the fact that he’ll be pursuing you the whole damn night I think we need to do this tactfully.”

“Okay,” I agreed, standing up and ready to go. I hooked an arm through Claire’s and gave her hand a squeeze. “Are you sure you’re all right with all of this.”

Nodding, she smiled and took a deep breath. “Yeah, I’ll be perfectly fine. Right now I feel saddened by it, but I know once I see him and he lies to my face I’m going to be very pissed.”

“Trust me, I know how you feel.” Sighing, I grabbed my purse off the counter and turned back to them. “Well, all right you guys. Let’s get this over with.”

The distance to Daniel’s house was only about a ten minute drive from mine. Cars were lined up all down the street so we made sure to park at the very end, this way the chances of being seen were much smaller. Brett held my face in his hands and tilted my head up. “I told you it would all be over tonight. Should we celebrate by making up in front of him when Mason takes him away?”

I smacked him on the arm. “What is it with you guys feeling the need to claim your territory? Do you want to piss on me as well?”

Brett threw his head back and chuckled. “I wouldn’t go that far with the pissing, but I do want him to know that he was never going to have you again. So yeah, I want to claim my territory. You’re mine … not his.”

“About that,” Claire interrupted. “Do you think he honestly wants you back, or do you think he’s just using you to get money out of you?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. What are you thinking?” I inquired curiously.

“I’m not sure, but we already established that he’s using you for embezzling purposes. Maybe he wants you on his good side so you’ll vouch for him if he ever got caught.”

“He would have to be really stupid to think I’d ever back him up on his scandals,” I muttered incredulously. “If he does think that then he’s seriously underestimated me. I’m actually kind of offended if he thinks I’d be that na?ve.”

Claire scoffed. “He’s my brother, Melissa. I wouldn’t put it past him.”

Glancing around the street, there were people filing out of their cars and walking up to the house. “Okay, you guys, we need to split up before someone I know sees us together. The last thing we want is for Daniel to know that we all came together.”

Brett kissed me on the lips before turning around and strolling up the sidewalk to Daniel’s house. To Claire, I said, “What are you going to do right now? Are you going to go inside the house?”

She pursed her lips and looked around. “I’m not sure yet. Do me a favor and text me his location when you find him.”

Giving her a hug, I handed her my car keys just in case, and pulled back, smiling warmly at her. “Will do. If you need to drive around for a while you can take my car. Just don’t speed.” Rolling her eyes, she nodded at me and gazed longingly up at Mason before we turned around and sauntered away from her. Mason glanced back at her once before taking my arm and continuing down the sidewalk.

“You like her, don’t you?” I asked slyly.

Mason sighed, trying to hide a smile. “There’s just something about her that’s wild and free. She’s lost so much here recently, but she still has that fire in her eyes that I saw when I first met her. But …”

He stopped mid-sentence and it didn’t look as if he was going to elaborate so I asked, “But what, Mase? What were you going to say?”

“It’s just it’ll never work,” he blurted out. “She’s in California and I’m here. The distance just isn’t doable. It would never work.”

I patted his arm. “I understand completely. I just think she would be a good one for you.”

He sighed and when I glanced up at him his lips quirked up into a half-smile. “Yeah, she would be a good one.”

If only.

As we entered Daniel’s house, my eyes went wide at the amount of people he had flowing around. There had to be at least a couple hundred with the amount of people outside and in.

Mason tilted his head toward me and said, “Well, this should be fun. I wonder what all of these people are going to say when I arrest their host.”

I rolled my eyes at him and searched the crowd. I saw a few people I knew, but they were mainly Daniel’s douche bag friends that I never particularly cared for. Brett was over in the corner talking to a group of men, and when he saw me he smirked and joined back in the discussion.

“Do you see Daniel yet?” I whispered.

“Mm-hmm … and he’s coming this way,” Mason revealed, nodding his head in the direction Daniel was approaching.

When I turned to look at him his smile was radiant, which meant he was probably close to being drunk, and for a moment he didn’t look like the embezzling thief and liar that he was. “Oh, Mel, you look stunning tonight,” he purred, taking my hand so he could pull me to his side. He glanced over at Mason and nodded his head. “Mason,” he acknowledged.

My cousin smirked and acknowledged him back, “Daniel.”

“I’m sure you won’t mind if I take Melissa away from you now would you? I’m sure there’s lots of young ladies here that would love to keep you company,” Daniel uttered with a fake smile.