Page 7 of Mason

Muttering, he walked next to her as they made their way to the front door. He had a key, so they didn’t have to wait for anyone to open the door. All the brothers had keys to each other’s homes. Well, no one had a key to the frat but him. House rules and all that.

Delia came bounding into the room the second she heard the key in the lock. “Uncle Mason!”

“Princess Peach,” he boomed, knowing she loved it when he did that. Bracing, it only took seconds before she barreled into him. The kid was getting some strength behind her these days. She even asked if she could play football. Mason was all for it, but there were rules. Girls didn’t play. She was pissed off but soon turned her focus to baseball. Her little league didn’t care if you were a girl or a boy, as long as you could play.

“You coming over this weekend?” She looked up hopefully.

“Sorry, Princess, Uncle Mason has things he has to do. Maybe next weekend.”

Her face fell, and he felt like a piece of shit, but he wasn’t going to walk right into a perm. Nope, not happening. He loved her, but there were certain things a man just couldn’t do. Perms were one of them.

“Hey, Delia.” Jo ruffled the kid’s hair. “You ready for school?”

“No.” Her lips curled up in disgust. “I don’t want to go, but Mommy and Papa say I have to.”

“Why don’t you want to go to school?”

“Because Charlie is being mean to me.”

“Charlie?” Mason hauled her up until she was eye level. “Some little shit picking on you?”

“Mason Kincaid!” Sara shouted from the living room. “Language!”

He ignored his sister-in-law. “Well?”

Delia nodded, and some of that old misery that used to be in her eyes came back. It took a long time for her to come out of her shell the tiniest bit, and he’d be damned if some little snot-nosed idiot undid all that.

“What did your papa tell you to do?”

“I’m not supposed to say,” she whispered.

Which means Viktor told her to hit the little shit the next time he did something. “You do what your papa tells you. We’ll handle your mama.”

Jo rolled her eyes, and he pretended not to see it. Instead, he and Delia went into the living room where Sara was dealing with two very grumpy babies.

Mason picked up Ronin, named after his own father. “What’s wrong with you this morning?”

“Teething, I think,” Sara said as she fed Riley. “They were both up half the night. Viktor got up more than I did, so I let him sleep in, but he’s just as grumpy as these two.”

“It’s his high-profile client.” Mason plopped down on the couch. “It’ll get better once that job’s done.”

“You met him?”

Mason nodded. “I went in and did an overview of his home security. For an actor, you’d think he’d have invested in better equipment.”

“What actor?” Jo’s ears perked up when she heard the wordactor. Mason didn’t talk that much about the security firm his brothers ran, and Jo didn’t usually care, but she was a bit of a celebrity fangirl when it came to certain people.

“Some soap opera star or something. No one important.”

Well, that wasn’t necessarily true. Some of the hottest actors got their start in daytime soaps. Take Shamar Moore, for example. He was onThe Young and the Restlessfor years before breaking out intoCriminal Minds. He was a fantastic actor and nice to look at too.

“You should have told me, and I would have gone with you.” Jo was not above drooling when the situation warranted it.

“Nah, I’m the only hunk you’re drooling over.” Mason wagged his eyebrows at her, and she giggled. He was such a dork, but he knew her well.

“Did you finish your breakfast, Delia?” Sara asked.

“Uh…maybe?”

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