Mason (2 page)

When she left him there to tend to supper, he
thought about the land. He was happy here. Not as happy as he’d be with all
that extra land, but he could live without it. When Jace walked into the yard
from his house, he wondered what the hell the man had been doing. He was
covered from head to toe in mud.

“Can you help me out?” Mason stood and nodded.
“There’s a leak in the greenhouse and I need to get it fixed before Holly finds
out I made it worse by not calling a plumber. I had no idea what the hell I was
doing and should have….”

Mason walked back to Jace’s house while he
listened to him. This was what he needed. His family. And they were all nearby
him too. When he got to the other ranch, he let his brother fiddle with the
problem before he called in help. The plumber said he’d be there within the
hour.

~~~

“Dirk, I don’t have time for you right now.” Not
that she ever did, but right now Emma was too busy to even remember to eat the
dinner she’d ordered. “Just get to the point so I can go home and put my feet
up.”

“He’s kicking me out.” Emma pulled the
notepad to her and started making notes. Not on what her brother was saying,
but on the case she’d had this afternoon. “Dad said he was selling out and that
I’d have to find other digs.”

“Dad’s been saying he’s selling out for years
now.” She nearly missed some of the wording on the computer when her brother
started whining again. “Dirk, can this wait? I’m really swamped here, and I
need to—”

“I think he’s going to give it to the man
next door. He’s been sniffing around him for months now, and I think Dad is
just going to give it to him.” That got her attention. “His name is Douglas. They
own the land that is close to ours. That guy has been up Dad’s ass for a long
time just waiting for him to turn the keys over to him. He’ll take your land
too, the part where you wanted to settle when you were ready. Like that’s ever
going to happen. You’re a career woman.”

Dirk had made career sound like it was some
kind of disease or something. She loved working in the law firm, and hoped
someday to hang out a sign that had her on name on it. But for now, she had some
proving to do. Apparently even to her own brother.

“He can’t sell my land. Dad gave me that.” Dirk
snorted. “He would have given you some too, Dirk, if he wasn’t forever bailing
your ass out of one thing or another. And me too. I’m not going to do this for
you anymore. I’ve told you that.”

“You’ll help me. I’m Dirk McBride. And I don’t
know why he doesn’t just give me what I want now. It’s not like he needs all
that money he has in the bank. Why do I have to wait until he’s dead to get my
half? He’s being selfish.” Emma could have told him he wasn’t getting half, not
even a third of the ranch or the money because of his antics, but she kept her
mouth shut as he continued talking. Finally she cut him off.

“I’m coming home in a few weeks. Sooner if I
can get this case finished. I’ll look into it. I swear.” He said something
about taking care of it himself, but she told him to stay out of it. “Dad isn’t
going to sell the ranch today or tomorrow. Just give me some time to look into
this, and for Christ’s sake, stay out of it. Dad said if you did one more thing
to piss him off, he’d cut you out without a dime. And you’d be living on the
streets. I’d believe him if I was you, Dirk. He’s pretty pissed off at you.”

“So? Like I care what he thinks about doing
to me. I’m his only son. He’ll have to take me back into our house. Even if he
doesn’t, you will.” Emma didn’t tell him she could and would leave him to his
own devices in a heartbeat if he fucked with her. “Mom and Dad are not young
anymore and if they die, I’ll be all right and as rich as I’d ever want to be.
I just want him to acknowledge that I’m a grown man and should have my money
now. I’ve got things I want to do with it now, not later. Being a McBride comes
with a certain price, and Dad is cramping it all up for me.”

Dad was cramping it up? Just last week she’d
had to go to court with Dirk to get him out of much more trouble than a man his
age should be in. At thirty-five, Dirk acted more like a ten-year-old than his
age, and his run-ins with the law were starting to get harder and harder to get
him out of. But no more. She’d told him that when they’d left the courthouse
then.

“I’m not doing this again. You will have to
find someone else to represent you. I’m not doing it.” He’d only told her to be
serious. “I am being serious, Dirk. I’m finished bailing you out as much as Dad
and Mom are. You fuck up again and I want you to forget my number.”

Even when he left her to go and celebrate,
she knew that in short order he was going to be in more trouble. But she’d
already talked to her parents and they had agreed with her. It was time to cut
the ties and make him suffer for what he’d been doing.

By the time she was caught up for the day, it
was nearly ten o’clock. Christ, if this didn’t help her make partner, she had
no idea what would. Emma was going to her car when she heard someone coming
down the lane she was in. Instead of getting in, being trapped in her car, she
pulled out her gun and turned to look at the person as she put her hand down
beside her coat.

“Hello.” She didn’t say anything to the man
but nodded. “I’m new here. And I think I forgot where I parked my car.”

“I can’t help you.” He nodded and took a step
toward her. Emma brought the gun up. “I’m registered to use and carry this. You
come one step closer and I will put a bullet between your eyes.”

Lifting her camera up, she started pushing
the button on it to take pictures. She knew that there was a camera right
behind her, but she didn’t want to take any chances that it missed his face. The
man backed up but didn’t leave.

“You’re not at all friendly, are you?” Emma
listened hard to his voice, the way he spoke and any movements that might give
the police some information later. Emma only hoped she’d be around to tell
them. “I’m here to talk to you, nothing more. Put the camera down and we’ll go
somewhere and talk.”

“Yeah, that’s so not going to happen.” He
looked to his left and she didn’t. It was something that she had read in a
transcript once as how they’d gotten the victim by misdirection. When he looked
back at her, she had an eerie feeling that she was in more trouble than she’d
first thought. The footsteps coming toward them had her shifting on her feet.

“Miss, are you all right?” She didn’t know
this man either. “Want me to call the police? Is this man bothering you?”

Emma didn’t take her eyes off either man but
did glance at her phone once. She was pressing the button to call the police
herself when the first man leapt at her. She fired her gun just as the phone
call was answered.

“Parker Building garage. Shots fired. Man
down.” She felt her head explode in pain when she hit something hard behind
her. “Emma McBride, two men are attacking me on the fifth level b-side.”

Emma fired her gun twice more. She knew that
she’d hit one of the men but was not sure which. Someone started to drag her
across the floor and she kicked out, hitting something hard enough to have the
person let her go. Backing up again, she tried to see where they were, but her
vision was blurred and her head was making her sick. Holding out her gun, she
fired again and thought that someone had hit the ground from the sound of it. Then
the sound of sirens started and she heard more running feet. Emma crawled
backwards to the wall and cradled her gun and phone in her hands.

It was perhaps ten minutes before she heard a
car come to a screeching halt close by. Emma was beginning to feel sick now,
her body hurt, and she thought for sure her arm was broken, if not badly
sprained. When someone said her name, she didn’t move, didn’t speak, but
waited.

“Miss McBride, it’s Officer James O’Donnell. I’m
with the police department. Tell me where you are and I’ll come to you.” She
didn’t move yet. This could be another ploy. But he was suddenly standing in
front of her, his shadows moving in a way that made her sick. Emma lifted her
gun. “I’m not going to hurt you. I’m going to hand you my badge. You can’t see,
can you?”

“I hurt.” He said he could tell that. “I don’t
know if I should trust you. Those men, they were going to…I don’t know what,
but I shot at them.”

“You did at that.” His radio started talking,
and she heard him talking to it. “Found Miss McBride; two down, one dead and it
doesn’t look good for the other guy either. We’ll need an ambulance and a
coroner.”

“I’m not dead.” He laughed and told her that
it wasn’t for her. “I don’t know what they wanted with me. I don’t…I was
working late.”

“I’m going to ask you to put down your gun,
miss. The medics won’t help you unless you do. And I can’t let them.” Emma
curled the gun closer to her chest. “I’m sorry, Miss McBride, but you’re going
to have to let it go.”

“Don’t hurt me, please?” He assured her that
he wouldn’t. Giving him her weapon was the hardest thing she’d ever done, and
as soon as it was out of her hand, everything faded out.
Christ, I really am
hurt
, she thought.

Chapter 2

Dirk came out of his room and looked around
the house. There wasn’t anyone around and he was sort of pissed about that.
Usually his mom or dad was right there when he came out of his room, ready to
blast him about the lateness of the hour or something that they had to pay for.
This time he had a line all ready for them. Going to the kitchen, he found not
only the cook but the woman who cleaned his room.
What the fuck is going on
,
he thought, but didn’t ask. Not the help. They were too beneath him to be even
considered human. They looked like they had been to a funeral, however, and he
wondered if his dad had finally died and left him all the money. Dirk moved out
of the kitchen and to the dining room. He was hungry and wanted to be served
right now.

He was brought his coffee first. When the
maid or whatever the hell she was left him, he sipped it and tried to think of
something to bitch about when he was brought his food. That was when he saw the
note addressed to him propped up against the salt shaker. Dirk ignored it until
he had his cereal, and even then he simply moved it out of his way and put milk
in his bowl before he decided it was time. Opening it, he pulled out the short
note in his dad’s handwriting and decided that whatever it said couldn’t be as
important as his dad had thought it should be to him.

Emma is in the hospital. Someone tried to
hurt her last night, and your mother and I have gone to see her.

Figures
, thought Dirk.
Anything to get out
of helping me
out
. His sister was a real bitch. He read the rest of
his dad’s note to him.

We should be back in a few days to a week. I’ll
let you know if it’s longer. Mason Douglas will be coming by to look in on
things.
Do not
give him a hard time. He’s doing us a favor.

His dad had underlined
do not
like he
was serious. Dirk was too. When they started taking him seriously, he would
them. Looking up when someone entered the room, he nearly ignored the butler,
but he cleared his throat.

“Sir, your father is on the phone. He would
like to speak to you.” Dirk looked down at his cereal bowl, empty except for
some left over milk. If he talked to his dad, it would no doubt be removed when
he returned, as if he’d never been in this room. Dirk wanted to be thought of
as important all the time. It was his right as a McBride. He started to tell
the man to tell Dad he’d call him back, but the man spoke first. “He said it’s
important.”

“Damn it all to hell.” He got up and made
sure that he knocked his bowl over. It would be a mess when he returned, so why
not have someone clean it up for him? Going to the phone in the hall, he picked
it up just in time to hear his dad talking to someone about transfers. “Dad. I
don’t have time to run to the phone when you want something. Just have one of
the servants do whatever it is you want. That’s what you pay them for, isn’t
it? Besides, I just got up and was eating.”

“Did you get my note? And it’s nearly two in
the afternoon, Dirk. You should have been up hours ago. Damn it, son, what the
hell am I going to do with you?” Dirk started to tell him to leave him the fuck
alone, but Dad spoke first. “Emma has been hurt, like I told you. But they’re
going to let us bring her home tomorrow. Has Mason…? Never mind. He gets up at
the crack of dawn like most ranchers, and would have been there and gone by
now.”

“Dad, I’m working on things too.” When asked,
Dirk had nothing to tell his dad, but he changed the subject. “You said that
Emma was hurt. What did she do now? Fall again? She’s the stupidest woman I
know.”

The line was suddenly humming, and he
realized that they’d been disconnected. Putting the phone back in the cradle,
he went back to the dining room, pleased that not only had the mess been
cleaned up, but the table cloth was changed as well…actually, not so much
changed as gone.

When his coffee and donuts were brought to
him this time, he ate them quickly. If his dad was right and it was after noon,
then he had to get to town. Dirk had a meeting with a couple of people and he
didn’t want to be late.

Going out to the garage made him go back into
the house and look for that damned butler.

“Where’s my car?” No one said a word. “You do
know what a car is, right? Four tires and metal around it. Bright red
with…where is my fucking car?”

“I’m sorry, sir, but a taxi conveyed you home
last night…this morning. I had to pay him for you when you didn’t yourself.”
There was a tone there, but Dirk was going to ignore it for now. “He must have
brought you a great distance, as it cost well over two hundred dollars.”

Dirk couldn’t remember coming home, much less
taking a taxi. And where the hell had he left his car? He had no way of going
into town now, as his dad had also removed all the keys to the other cars in
the garage. He knew where to find them, but the lock was one that he’d not been
able to break into. So he was stuck.

If he called a cab to come and get him, he’d
have to pay. Borrowing money from the help wasn’t going to happen. None of them
would help him out since his dad had told them not to. And since his dumbass
sister was hurt, neither Dad nor Mom would give him any either. Fucking
bullshit was what this was. His dad was just going to have to give him more
money to carry around. This was just stupid to have him ask every time he
needed more, and lately that was getting to be hard too. His father had to know
that being a McBride like him, he had to have money all the time.

He was nearly to his room again when someone
knocked on the front door. The butler went to answer it, and Dirk stayed on the
stairs. Since his family was gone, that made him in charge. Even when they were
home, Dirk knew that he was the one that would inherit all this, so he was, in
his mind, in charge. Going down the stairs when a man was let in, Dirk nearly
went back up when he saw who it was.

“Mason? What the hell are you doing here?” Mason
didn’t answer him but did cock that fucking brow at him. He’d done that in
school too when he felt that Dirk was beneath him, which wasn’t possible since Dirk
had all the money and the last name of McBride. “Dad said you were going to
work around here while he was gone. There’s no reason for you to be coming in
the house or in the front door. The help uses the back door.”

The butler inhaled sharply, but Mason only
stood there and smiled at him. Dirk had hated that entire Douglas family his
whole life. They had nothing, came from nothing, and he felt like they were
nothing. But they were never without girls, always had what he wanted, and the
fuckers seemed to always be looking down their noses at him. Him, Dirk Dwight
McBride.

“I’ve come to see Mr. Fox.” Dirk asked him
who the hell that was before he could think about it. “It’s this man right
here. Don’t you even know the name of the people who work for you?”

“Like I care.” Dirk came down the stairs, but
not all the way. Had he stood on the same level as Mason the man would have
towered over him, and Dirk hated that. “What the hell do you need to see the
help about? You looking for pointers on how to be a good servant, Mason?”

“I’m here to see him, not you.” Mason started
for the kitchen, no doubt going to have a free meal on them, and Dirk followed.
He kept his distance, but he did go in. By the time he got there, Mason had
removed his hat and was under the sink. He was talking to Fox, no doubt, about
what he was seeing. “Yeah, it’ll need to be replaced. You can call out a
plumber, but I can have one of my brothers come over in a bit and fix this. Won’t
take much. A washer or two and it’ll be good as new.”

When Mason stood up, Dirk backed up. He hated
to be intimated like this, and Mason did it every time he saw him. The fact
that he had a good five or so inches on him notwithstanding, the man outweighed
him by at least sixty pounds of muscle. The fucker was just a lowlife, and that
was another thing to add to his list of things to hate them for. The Douglases were
beneath him, especially Mason, and it was time they figured that out.

“You’re to come into the house from the rear from
now on, Mason. I don’t want your kind coming in the front of the house and
scaring away decent people.” Mason just laughed at him. “You think that I’m not
being serious? Try me. I’m the head of his house when my father is gone, and it’s
about time you started to realize your place. And as soon as he gives me the
money I have coming to me, I’m going to make you sorry.”

“My place?” Dirk nodded and nearly whimpered
when the entire staff left the two of them standing there. “My place is where I
want it to be, you little piece of shit. And the next time you address me this
way, you’d better be ready to back up your words. I’m not some little piss ant
that you can order around because you have a little bit of money. I’m not one
you want to fuck with. You hear me?”

“I’ll tell my dad.”

As soon as he said it, Dirk realized what a
mistake he’d made. It was childish and stupid. He was an adult and he was
fucking sick of people treating him like he was nothing. When he doubled up his
fist to hit Mason, Dirk would have sworn that Mason tilted his chin in a way
that sort of offered it up. But when his hand connected with the bigger man’s
face, Dirk knew the real meaning of pain. There was no time to wallow in his
hurt…the next thing he knew he was on the floor with Mason on him. His knee in
his back was making it so that not only couldn’t Dirk move, but it was
difficult to breathe as well. The sound of a door opening somewhere nearby had
him crying out for them to fucking help him. But Mason spoke.

“He hit me.” Someone asked if he was all
right, and Dirk thought it was Fox. “Yeah, just a little bump on the chin. I
think he might be hurting more than me. I don’t know what the fuck he was thinking
hitting someone with my size on him is beyond me.” Fox just laughed when Mason
did.

“Let me up and I’ll show you how hurt I am.” That
laugh again, and Dirk decided that he was going to fucking kill them all. “Fox,
you’re fired. And Mason, I’ll see you in jail for this. You motherfucker, get
the hell off me. I’m Dirk McBride, and you will not treat me this way.”

He was let go, but Dirk couldn’t move. He
hurt. Everywhere. And when he rolled over, he found himself in the room alone. Rolling
to his belly again, he had to use the chair, then the table, to get to his feet,
and even then he staggered just a little.

Making his way to his room, he was glad that
he didn’t encounter anyone on the way. Pissed beyond anything he’d ever been
before, he headed to the shower to try and work some of the soreness out of his
body. His hand was broken, he just knew it. When he was cleaned up and dressed,
he made his way to the kitchen again. Someone was going to take him to the
hospital or he’d call an ambulance. Either way, Mason was going to get the
bill. There was no way his money was going for this.

Fox took him to the hospital, but he never
spoke to him. Not a single word passed his lips even when Dirk asked him direct
questions. This shit was going to stop too, and as soon as his dad got back, he
was going to demand again that he be given money so he could hire his own staff.
As he was being dropped off in front of the emergency room, he turned back to
the man and sneered at him.

“I’m going to find my own way back home. Don’t
wait up. And if I have to take a cab back because you did something with my
car, I’m going to expect you to pay for that as well.” Fox never looked at him
or acknowledged him at all. When Dirk asked if he’d heard him, the man actually
flipped him off and took off driving with him still holding on to the door. Dirk
might have fallen had he not been quick on his feet.

Dirk was at the desk waiting for one of the
bitches behind the counter to help him when he realized two things; he had no
phone and he had no wallet. He was fucked no matter how he looked at it. There
was no way he could call for his sister…no, that wasn’t going to work either. She’d
been hurt, or so he’d been told. These people were going to have to learn that
as Dirk McBride, he knew things they’d never understand.

“May I help you?” The woman that stood in front
of him looked like she could have beaten a bear with a switch and come out the
winner. “You got a tongue in that head of yours, boy? Or you just looking at
the view?”

“I think my hand is broken, and you have no
right to talk to me that way. I’m Dirk McBride of the McBride billions.” She
only huffed at him and told him to fill out the paperwork on the clipboard. “I
just told you that I think my fucking hand is—”

“You want me to come over this counter at you
and show you what a broken face feels like, boy?” Dirk shook his head as he
took a step back. “Get that butt of yours over there in a chair and fill this
out. Then when your number is called, we’ll have a look at it. But you give me
any more trouble and I will hurt you worse than you are right now.”

Dirk went to one of the little plastic chairs
and sat down. He tried twice to pick up the fucking pen and couldn’t do it. He
supposed he really wasn’t trying all that hard, but his temper was getting the
better of him. This was no way to treat a McBride, damn it. People were going
to start paying attention to him, or else. Dirk left the clipboard there with
the pen and left. He’d find someone to help him and then show them all.