Page 85 of Mason

Conner’s nostril’s flared, and that haunted look crept into his eyes. “Maybe one day,brat.”

“Keeping all that pain inside, it isn’t good for you, and Viktor’s right. We want our brother back.”

Conner gave him a half-smile and stood. Mason hoped his brother heard him, but it was something he’d worry about later as the elevator dinged and Conner wheeled him out and straight to Jo’s room, more than a half dozen nurses trying to stop him.

It was ICU, after all.

He saw her curled up in the bed, under a silver-looking blanket that reminded him of tin foil. The left side of her face was covered in an ugly shade of purple with several stitches along her nose and the crease of her eye.

The bastard hit her?

His blood boiled.

“Calm down, or I will take you out of this room right now. You having a blood pressure issue or another brain bleed isn’t going to help her.”

“Exactly.” The nurse from admitting glared at them from the doorway.

“I’m not moving from her room,” Mason said. “Hook me up to whatever you want here, but I’m not leaving.”

“Really?” The nurse put her fists on her hips and glared at them both like they were little boys. “Do I need to have security come escort you to your own room?”

“Ma’am.” Conner’s entire face morphed so fast, Mason was taken aback. Gone was the cold killer he’d seen since Conner showed up from Chicago, and in his place stood the old Conner, the one who flirted and teased. Laughed all the time. It was shocking.

“I’m not a ma’am.”

Conner’s grin widened. “I can see that. I have to apologize for my baby brother.” Conner’s Russian accent thickened. “His girl has been missing for eleven days now, and he’s just about lost his mind. I’m hoping you might let him stay here with her? At least for a little while? You and I can go get some coffee downstairs, or I can treat you to an early breakfast?”

Mason watched her eyes glaze over under the full charm of Conner Kincaid. Shit. The only one of them who ever came close to that was Nikoli, and Nik was a lightweight compared to Conner.

The man oozed sex, and this woman was not immune.

“Lisa, can you get him settled into the bed beside hers, please? I’ll move him to a regular room later tonight.”

Conner winked at him, and Mason shook his head. He would never have managed that. Conner was…well, he was Conner.

Lisa, a rather tall brunette, came and hooked him up to all the same monitors he’d been on before.

“How is she?” he asked as Lisa worked.

“I can’t tell you. You’re not family.”

“He is family.” Keith strode into the room with his parents right behind him. “He’s her fiancé.”

When her parents nodded, Lisa answered him. “She’s better than she was,” she assured him. “She’s a little malnourished, not to mention exhausted. We were concerned about her body temperature, but it’s almost back to normal, and we have her on a broad-spectrum antibiotic to combat infection and pneumonia.”

“Thank you.” He tried to move his hand and only managed to raise it a few inches, and it fell back down, quivering. He closed his eyes in frustration.

“Mason.” Jo’s mother, Evelyn, took his hand. “It’s okay. She’s safe now, and that’s thanks to you and your brothers. We can’t thank you enough. You all saved our baby.”

Her father nodded, standing stoic. His eyes were red. He looked like he’d been crying but was trying to not draw attention to it.

“Why don’t we go down to the cafeteria and get something to eat?” Keith suggested. “Mason, do you want us to bring you anything?”

“Coffee.”

“You’re an addict.” Keith laughed and escorted his parents out, speaking softly to them. Mason knew he’d taken them out to give him a few minutes alone with Jo, even if she was passed out.

Which she wasn’t, as he saw when he turned his attention back to her.

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