When Mason came back, instead of the sex toys Fay expected to see, there was only an empty-handed male. Well, not quite empty-handed. He had her cell in one hand and a sour expression on his face.
"What is it?"
Fay sat up from the massage table, temporarily forgetting that she was naked and handcuffed, with the lingering taste of his cum in her mouth.
"You had six missed calls. I'm guessing it's important." Judging from Mason's expression, it had taken all his willpower to interrupt the decadent dom-sub sexual torments he'd had planned for her.
Fay wiggled her arms with a pointed look. "Cuffs?"
But Mason was already flashing the key in his other hand and moving to unlock them. She rubbed her wrists, which the cuffs had chafed just a bit, before grabbing her phone. Then she proceeded to listen to Vick's increasingly irate messages.
"Shit." She scooted off the massage table and ran upstairs. Hastily shrugging into her underwear, shirt, jeans, leather jacket, socks, and shoes, she threw Mason an apologetic look.
"There's a break in the case. We have another two vics. Plus, our second vic just woke up in the hospital. Vick's on his way there now to talk to her, and I want to meet him there. Gotta move my ass," she said breathlessly as she tore through the front door and turned in confusion, looking for where Mason's household staff had parked her car.
"This way," Mason said, tugging her elbow. She followed him to a private side driveway screened in by a decorative wall and outdoor statues.
"Sorry to rush out on you."
"You do realize that this means tonight doesn't count as one of your three nights," he said with a pointed look.
She smiled at him, her eyes lit up. "Guess I don't have a choice, do I?"
"No you do not," Mason said with a feral grin. Next, though, things got a little strange. Fay got into her little black Saab and tried to start the car, but nothing happened.
"What the...?" After trying a few more times, she swore, stepped out of the car, and then kicked it for good measure, as if that could magically fix whatever was wrong.
"Dead battery?" Mason said, frowning.
The beautiful blonde detective ran a hand through her disheveled hair. "I don't have time for this. I texted Vick that I'd meet him at the hospital to interview our vic."
"Why don't you let me drive you?" Mason shrugged and then pointed at the sleek silver Audi he had parked in the main drive.
Fay nodded. "I'll take you up on that. Thanks."
The two jumped into his car, and Mason floored it as tires squealed. He had to stop briefly, impatiently, waiting for the gate to open, and then they were zooming once again.
"Damn, how does it feel to live in a fortress?" Fay teased as they left the walls of his extensive compound behind.
"It's not as much of a fortress as you might think. The property has a lot of ground to cover, and half of it's pretty thickly wooded. I have to keep a few household staff - Ferretti and Nunez -- to look after the place during my frequent absences."
Fay almost snorted. "I bet your two 'household staff' double as bodyguards. Do they come recommended by one of your criminal gang or syndicate clients? Southside Rain perhaps?"
Mason rolled his eyes.
"You really can't leave it alone, can you?" He said it teasingly, lightly, but he meant every word of it. Tonight had been shaping up exactly how he'd hoped. The two of them still had that spark...that and more. And here she was trying to ruin it, trying to goad him, trying to open old wounds with a fresh blade.
Fay looked out the window at the now cloud-obscured moon. "What? It was an innocent question."
"Innocent my ass," Mason murmured with a chuckle. He gave her a sidelong glance as he turned the corner and accelerated. "In answer to your question, though, no, they aren't bodyguards. They legitimately assist with projects and keep an eye on things for me. Just because I represent people of all stripes, Fay, that doesn't make me evil and it doesn't mean I live in constant fear for my life."
"Good to know," Fay replied with a smirk, rolling her window down to let in some of the night breeze.
"I'm serious," Mason continued. "Yes, I get to know my clients, and some of them are...unsavory, even brutal. But they don't beget violence for the sake of violence. My law firm only represents clients which live by a code of sorts, even if that code might not fully adhere to some of society's...strictures," he said delicately.
Fay shook her head and reveled in the scent of the trees. There was another smell too, that indefinable smell when rain or a storm is fast approaching.
"Whatever helps you sleep at night, babe," she said, needling him as only she knew how. His clenched jaw told her she'd won this round, at least for now...
Lights flashed behind them now, and Mason checked his rearview mirror to see a squad car tailing them.
"You just had to drive like an asshole," Fay said with a grin.
"You're the one who's in a hurry, I'm just trying to help." He sighed and tossed her a pointed look. Mason pulled over to the curb, and the two of them waited as the cops in the squad car behind them seemed to take their sweet time to finally get out and start walking over.
"I'll flash them my badge and we'll be on our way if these two turtles can ever actually get their butts moving," Fay growled.
Mason grinned, patting her knee. "Patience, girl."
"Not one of my virtues," Fay warned.
The young detective couldn't quite explain it, but she had an uneasy feeling as the two officers came up to the vehicle. One was approaching from either side. Mason rolled his window down.
"Sorry, officer, I know I was going a little too fast there."
"He's an idiot, he's sorry," Fay added, trying to flash her best grin as she showed her detective's badge. "It's actually my fault, though. I'm in a hurry to interview a victim on a case, and he's just helping me get from point A to point B thanks to some car issues I'm having." At this point, any typical officer would have waved them on, but this one -- a tall black man with especially muscular shoulders, didn't so much as move. Meanwhile there was a knock on the passenger's side window.
"Ma'am, can you please roll down your window," the other officer said.
"Look guys, we're kind of in a hurry." Fay was now feeling that sense of unease become something a little more palpable. She began to roll down her window to ask the other officer what the problem was, when suddenly she seemed to recognize that voice from somewhere. It was as if the man wasn't speaking normally, as if the officer was talking at a different pitch on purpose. It was almost as if she'd heard that voice, recently, in fact, from...
The shorter officer, who was standing beside her window, pulled something from his pocket and fired.
"What the fuck?" Fay had time to mumble as she clawed at her neck only to find a dart embedded there. Her vision was already blurring, images swimming to and fro as her head lolled to the side. The shorter black man in the police uniform reached through the window, unlocked the passenger's side door, and opened it. He began to pull her out of the vehicle as she tried to struggle. With consciousness fast receding, all she could manage were feeble jerks of the shoulders. She was dimly aware of the taller black man in the police uniform pulling Mason from the vehicle too.
"You..." Right before blackness took her, Fay realized exactly who these men were, and the horror she felt almost matched the constricted sensation in her throat as she tried to scream.
