Rachel decided that this next part of the conversation really needed to be done with some distance between them. Moving around Mason, she made her way over to a vase that held some colorful tulips, her mother’s favorite.
“So, I decided to check out a place called Whipped,” she finally made herself say, turning to gauge his reaction.
“Yes, I’ve recently been informed all about that club.” Shaking his head, Mason frowned. “I just don’t see it—you all decked out in leather. I mean, yeah, I see the loud, fun hair and the leather pants. But, Rachel, you’re too sweet, too soft for that kind of place.”
Rachel laughed, thinking about Cole’s accusation that everything she had done in that club was fake, that it was all part of a uniform. It was ironic that the two men in her life that had yet to see eye-to-eye with each other both knew her so well.
“You’re right, but I wanted to be in control of who I decided to let in. In there, I knew that I could.”
“Is that what Charlie’s attraction was? That he was so easygoing you could do whatever you wanted?”
“It was definitely part of it. You never seemed to have an issue with him,” Rachel mused out loud.
“Because he was harmless.”
“And Cole’s not?”
“No, he’s not. He has the ability to really hurt you. I can see it in the way you look to him, the way he seems to calm you just by sitting next to you. He reminds me of your first boyfriend, Ben.”
“He’s nothing like Ben,” Rachel replied in a frosty tone.
She could tell Mason was instantly aware of his misstep. He just wasn’t sure why.
“Okay,” he drawled out slowly. “I’m sorry for the comparison. I know things ended badly with him.”
“No. Things were terrible with him. He was…was…Cole is nothing like him,” she reinforced.
“Hey, hey, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring him up. You never did tell us why you broke up with him.”
Taking a deep breath, Rachel walked back to stop in front of her brother.
“Only Dad knew why.”
“Well, you always were closest to him. Daddy’s little girl,” Mason tried for a lighter tone.
“Not about this, Mase. I never wanted him to know this, but I couldn’t keep it a secret.”
By the way Mason’s jaw clenched and the hands that had been resting on the counter fisted, Rachel could tell that he sensed something bad was about to come out of her mouth.
“Rach, you’re starting to really worry me. Talk to me, please?”
Rachel closed her eyes, blocking out Mason’s curious but compassionate look. Compassion was not what she wanted right now, not when retelling this story.
“The reason that Ben and I broke up…” Stop, swallow, breathe. “Was because he used to do things to me.”
“What kind of things?” Mason managed to say through gritted teeth.
Once again, Rachel had no words, so she sat in silence.
“What kind of things, Rachel?” Mason pressed, determined now to know everything.
With what little voice she could find, she whispered, “He used to hurt me.”
The silence that filled the room after her confession was deafening.
Then, Mason was up. He stood tall, which was impressive even when he wasn’t pissed, and that wasn’t now.
“How? How did he hurt you?” he asked.
Rachel looked up into her brother’s eyes that were narrowed and full of frustration. She knew this was what Cole had been referring to when he had said sometimes anger came from feeling useless.
“He would get jealous and possessive about stupid things, things that didn’t even matter. He’d yell at me, push me around, hit me. The night we broke up, I was asking him to leave, and Dad came over. He saw Ben slap me.”
“Jesus Christ, Rachel,” Mason hissed, his fists clenching by his side.
The look on his face was murderous, so unlike any she had seen there before, and she felt ill for putting it there now.
“That wasn’t the first time he had done it, but Dad made sure it was the last,” she ended softly. She crossed her arms over her stomach as though it would help hold in all the emotions she was feeling.
“Where is he now?”
The question was filled with such menace, and it was so unexpected that Rachel found herself asking, “Why?”
“Because I want to kill the fucker.”
She felt her eyes widen as she dropped her arms and stepped forward to her tense brother. Reaching out, she placed a palm over his chest. “You sounded just like Dad then. He was worried about what you would do if you knew. But, Mase, it’s okay. Well, it is now.”
Mason raised his hands and gently gripped her shoulders. “What does that mean—that it’s okay now?”
She didn’t expect to say it, but she found she couldn’t stop herself. It was like the truth was all lining up and dying to come out. “It’s okay now because of Cole. He makes it okay.”
“I don’t understand,” Mason said, struggling with all this new information. “How does he make it okay? Did he kill him first? Because if he did, I need to shake that guy’s hand, possibly even hug him.”
For the first time in the last hour, Rachel found herself smiling.
“No, that’s not it. Cole has never met Ben, which is lucky for Ben, I think. But for so long, I had nightmares about what he did to me. I was terrified to let anyone touch me. So, I made sure I dated easygoing guys, guys like Charlie, that let me control everything.”
“I don’t want to hear the rest of this, do I?” Mason asked with a hint of humor and an arched brow. “Because I sure as shit know that Cole is nothing like Charlie.”
“No, he’s not. He’s the exact opposite. I couldn’t control him any more than I could you. I know Cole comes off as serious and stuffy, but he’s so much more than that. He’s kind and honest. He’s the one that wanted to tell all of you about us from the very beginning. Why do you think he came to the restaurant last week? And last night? That was all him.”
Mason’s lips twitched, and the usual easygoing smile that was so familiar started to come back. “Well, I believe that. He’s a cocky bastard.”
“Mase, he makes me feel safe. He chases all the nightmares away.”
“And you really love him, don’t you?”
“Yes, I really do.”
Mason sighed and shook his head with a small chuckle. “Only you would fall in love and marry a man in less than two weeks.”
“I think I might have started to love him the first night I met him. He told me that he was exactly what I needed, and I was convinced he was a lunatic, so I told him to get lost.” Rachel laughed, remembering the intense and sexy stranger with the tequila in the club.