Into the Dark Read online

  ‘Tell Makenzie I'm sorry. I had to go. Pls make sure she gets home safe.’

  What the hell? I'm going to kill Rocco when I see him. I reply to him asking what is happening. I look up at Makenzie and see that she is looking at me. My phone buzzes again with a reply.

  ‘I just had to leave. I couldn't do it. Pls Mason...just get her home safe. I will explain later.’

  Yes, he will fucking explain later. I put my phone back into my pocket and make my way over to the table, over to Makenzie. I have no idea what I'm going to say to her, and I swear if she cries I have no idea what to do. I can normally deal with crying women, but then I have usually slept with them and I'm leaving their beds, this is new to me. Rocco is going to owe me at least forty favours, and if I miss my night with Claire he is going to owe me a hundred!

  “Rocco’s gone home.” I lean down to say into her ear.

  “What?” I can see the confusion on her face, I'm not sure where he had gone, but I'm pretty sure from the look on her face she was expecting him to come back.

  “I just got a text from him. He says something came up and he needed to leave. He asked me to get you home safe.” I don't know what else to say, I don't know why he left so I can't even let her know.

  “Are you being serious? He just left without saying goodbye?” Oh god, please don't cry. Instead of crying though Makenzie grabs her jacket and bag and storms away from me. Shit. I turn back to Claire, who has been watching us the whole time, I mouth at her ‘five minutes’ before turning and running out after Makenzie. I can’t let her leave on her own, she is new here and she’s drunk. I run out of the front door of the nightclub and look around, I start to worry when I can't see her. Where the fuck can she be, I was only two minutes behind her? I entertain the idea of just letting her go and going back into the club. She really isn’t my problem, but I know I can't do that, no matter how big a dick I am. I walk past all the taxicabs parked on the side of the road, hoping to see her getting into one, but she isn't there. Movement to the right catches my eye, and I turn towards it, watching a very pissed off Makenzie rushing off down the pavement. I take off after her, wondering how such a little thing can walk so fast in those killer heels.

  “God damn it Makenzie. Would you slow down!” She turns to look at me, but it seems to take a few minutes for her to realise what’s happening. You can tell the minute that her focus returns, she looks around with shock in her eyes when she realises how far away from the crowd she is.

  “Where the hell do you think you’re going?” I hate to think where she would have ended up if I hadn't come after her. Damn the woman for taking off when she doesn't know the area. She had told us on the way here that she didn't know where we were, and now she is running off on her own.

  “I’m going home. I just need to go home and sleep.” I take a real look her, and I can see the pain in her eyes, she is barely holding herself together. I swear I'm going to kick Rocco’s arse. How could he leave her like this? It's obvious that she likes him. I gently take her by the arm trying to lead her back towards the taxis.

  “Come back this way. I will get you a taxi and make sure you get home.” Walking to the front of the queue, I open the door to the first taxi, holding the door open so Makenzie can get in. Leaning over slightly, I talk to the taxi driver.

  “Hi. How much to get her to Rush Park?”

  “It will be about twenty pound… no more than that.” I take a twenty and a ten out of my pocket and hand it to him.

  “Please make sure she gets into her house safe.” He takes the money from me and nods his head.

  “Yeah, no problem mate. I’ll make sure she's safe.” I stand back up and turn towards Makenzie.

  “Mason, I can pay my own way home.” Her voice is soft. She looks tired and so sad.

  “Rocco invited you out with us and he would be upset to know that I hadn't seen you home safely. Just tell the driver where you need to go and then get to bed.” It’s the least I can do for her after everything. Once she’s in the cab I can get back to my night, get the real party on the go, but I need to sort out Rocco’s mess first. With tears in her eyes, she turns to get into the taxi, but I place my hand on her arm, stopping her in her tracks.

  “Don't judge him too hard Makenzie. He has been through a lot in the last few years, and he is only now becoming the Rocco he used to be. Give him time, he really is the most amazing guy once you get to know him. It’s just…” Fuck I'm saying too much! Rocco hates people to know his business, and he has already told me she has no clue about what has happened to him. He doesn't want her to know, doesn't want her sympathy, but I can't let her walk away tonight thinking he's a dick. She needs to know the great guy he is.

  “As I say, he has been through a lot. I can't really say anymore as it’s not my story to tell. Just please, give him the time he needs. I know he likes you and maybe that’s the problem. Ever since … shit! Look have a safe journey home and I hope we will see each other again.” Running my hands through my hair I try to find away to leave this conversation that I really don't want to be having. I'm a bit shocked when Makenzie leans over and kisses me gently on the cheek.

  “Thanks, Mason. Go and enjoy the rest of your night, and don't do anything I wouldn't do.” I laugh at her while wiggling my eyebrows. She really doesn't know me very well.

  “Oh, I plan on doing a lot more than that.” I close the door after she slips into the back seat, and watch as the taxi drives away. I hope Rocco knows what he might have just lost. A girl who likes him and one he finally took an interest in, and he may never get another chance with her. I get my phone out and send him another text.

  You’re a dick, I hope you know that! She is on her way home. I expect an explanation tomorrow, and it better be a good one.’

  I put the phone back in my pocket not even waiting for a response, I don't need to hear his excuses tonight. I head back into the club, there is a really hot woman in here with a desk in her office that I’m not waiting any longer for. My night is going to end with a great big bang!

  Chapter Three

  Waking in the morning I stretch my body, cringing from the shooting pain that I get through my arse and back. Last night had started so well. After getting Makenzie into the taxi I had gone back into the club, but Claire had moved from where she had been, so a fun game of cat and mouse had started. I eventually found her in her office talking on the phone, she was sitting on the edge of her desk, her perfect arse leaning against it with her long legs stretched out in front of her. She was just too tempting sitting there looking all professional, and it made me wonder to myself, what it would take to make her lose that professionalism? Turns out, it’s my head under her skirt becoming acquainted with her clit. She had to hang up her call when I sucked that little bundle into my mouth and had her screaming my name. Things had heated up quickly after that and it turns out it wasn't the only time that she would end up screaming my name in her office. We moved back to her apartment and that had been where it all started to go wrong. I had the fantastic idea to shower with her, hey showers can be lots of fun, and it had been amazing fun until I had tried to lift her and pin her against the tiles of the shower. Lifting Claire in the shower hadn’t been a good idea, ok it was a great idea, but trying to do it after drinking so much tequila that’s where the idea had gone bad. My foot had slipped and I ended in an ungraceful heap on the bottom of her shower, making me shout out in pain when my tailbone hit the floor. If the pain in my arse wasn't bad enough when I slipped, we were mid fuck. I had been fully in her, balls deep, so when we fell she was still on me... well that is until just before we hit the ground. My dick left her body just enough that when she landed on top of me her hip caught...no! I refuse to think about it again. My dick is still suffering from the way it had bent. I spent about twenty minutes huddled on the shower floor just holding myself and trying not to cry in front of her.

  Rubbing it again just a little, I get out of bed and make my way through the house. My head is a
bit fuzzy from the drink, but it’s actually not as bad as I thought it would be. I’m glad it’s only Sunday, it means I can chill out for a bit with a coffee in the back garden, then I will go for a drive. I need to hit the open road for a bit, no thinking just driving. I pour myself a coffee and walk towards my lounge to go sit in the sun. I open the French doors leading out to the decking and take a deep breath, it really is a fantastic day. I stand there looking out over my back garden, it’s not the biggest garden in the world and it’s simple with grass and bushes around the edges, but it’s mine and it’s private. I love sitting out here, especially in the mornings before the drama of the day happens. I hear the faint tone of my mobile receiving a message, I place my cup down onto my patio table and make my way towards my bedroom. I haven't actually seen my phone this morning but I'm pretty sure I left it in my jeans, but at least I know it’s here since I can hear it. It’s not the first time I have left it at a woman’s house and had to go back the next day, that is a really awkward situation, especially if I had sneaked out the night before.

  I search around my bedroom lifting pieces of discarded clothes in search of my jeans, finally finding them under my jacket at the bottom of my bed. Grabbing my phone from the back pocket, I notice I have a missed call notification and voice mail. I don't recognise the number, but I know it’s not a British number, so I go straight to voicemail to listen to the message.

  ‘Bro! Make sure you're gonna be free to partyyyyy the second weekend of July. You are invited to the weekend of a lifetime. MEN. ONLY! Get your ass over here dude.’

  I feel the grin on my face grow as I listen to his voice. Nico. I haven’t spoken to him for a while now, he's like my brother from another mother. We had met a few years ago when he was touring the UK with his friends who were part of his band. We got on from the start and we have such similar personalities, so I think it was obvious to us that we would be friends for the long haul. I don't get to see him as often as I like, but he lives in the United States, and neither of us gets to travel as often as we want. It’s maybe safer for the women of the world that we don't get together much, Nico is my partner in crime, the only other guy I have met that has a natural skill with women like I do, but obviously I’m better. From his message, it sounds like we will be having some fun together really soon.

  After a very careful shower and change of clothes, I lock up my house and make my way over to my second favourite place in the world. My car. My haven on wheels. The place where very few people get invited, the only people I am comfortable with having in this space is Rocco and Ben. I don't think I have ever had a woman in my car, and I have no plans to change that. I love the escape that it allows, I can just get in and drive without too much thought. Starting the engine is always my favourite part, I can almost feel the stress from my body being massaged away by the vibrations of the engine. I know that people don't see my life as stressful, I’m the happy go lucky kind of guy who is always there for a good time but they couldn't be further from the truth. I feel more than anyone sees. When Rocco had been hurt, I didn't think I would ever recover, but seeing what came after the accident, the pain he endured at the hands of Elle nearly had me committing murder. I think what she put him through was worse than the recovery he had to endure. I had held my anger back to save my friendship with Rocco, he needed to see himself that she was a prize bitch and he should kick her to the kerb. That’s when I discovered the therapeutic qualities of driving, but not just driving, it had to be fast. There’s nothing like hitting the open road and opening the car up. It feels like you’re flying, leaving all your worries behind.

  I need to clear my head today. It’s been too long since the last time I was out and I can feel everything building up inside me. It had all started with the stress at work, I love my job and couldn’t imagine doing anything else but having the responsibility of running the business is hard. People don't realise how stressful it is, knowing that other people rely on you to keep them in a job, to feed their families, and you know that allows you no room to fuck it up. Rocco is great, he deals with the biggest proportion of the actual running of everything, the bill paying and dealing with contractors and suppliers, but the running of the workload and the new technology is mine to shoulder.

  I never thought I would ever be where I am today, I was never good at school, always getting into trouble and barely managing to pass any exams before leaving at seventeen, but cars and bikes are where my passion lies. I could always be found fixing one machine or another and I was really good at it. I had a few jobs in garages in the past, but I don't always mix well with bosses, especially one’s who think they know best. I don't deal with people trying to talk down to me, the ones who try to put you in your place even though they know you’re right, and I found very early on that most of the time I was right. You know when you see these genius kids that can just look at a math’s problem and they know the answer? Well, that’s me with mechanics, I can listen to an engine and tell you what is wrong with it. That’s where my love of custom building came from, it was a natural progression, once the bike or car ran well you want it to look good. When I opened the garage with Rocco, the custom side of it was more just like a side interest but we soon found that there was more call for custom design and parts than there was for the repairs. Anyone can repair a vehicle, but not everyone can make the parts to make it one of a kind.

  That’s where we now make our fortune. Ok, it’s not enough that we will be able to retire by the age of thirty but it’s enough to have a comfortable life, and it’s enough that we are thinking of the possibility of opening a second location. We have built a reputation within the business community for our quality and for being able to do what very few can do. We invested a lot of money into custom made machinery a few years ago and they have paid for themselves four times over with all the customers they have brought us. The machinery that we have, other garages haven't even heard of yet and now we have more work than we can cope with sometimes, especially when I make stupid mistakes. Just the memory of my mistake the other day makes my hands grip the steering wheel tighter. I can be such an idiot sometimes.

  I’ve had enough of thinking about work, I need to chill while I drive. I try hard to clear my head of everything, think of nothing but my mind drifts to where it always seems to go. A certain blonde bombshell who brought me to my knees. Carina. She is the reason that I have cut myself off from having a relationship with anyone, she had broken me so badly when we were together, leaving me an empty shell. The woman that I thought would be my savior, my ray of light in a storm, the one who made everything I had been in my past a distant memory. That is until I had discovered that she had also been that girl for at least another three men, including one of my friends. I don’t even know why I still think about her, she does nothing but make me feel like a loser, even to this day. The day I found out about her deception was also the day I found myself inside another woman, and I haven't stopped since. Eventually, I stopped thinking about her every time I was with someone else, stopped picturing her face as I pounded into another woman, laughing to myself when I would walk out on them after the deed. I loved the feeling of showing her who had the power, but it wasn't fair on the women I was with and I learned there was a lot of fun that came with variety. I discovered I like that variety, as they say, variety is the spice of life. I can feel the smile on my lips as I remember back to some of the variety I have had, yeah, variety is definitely a winner.

  I don't know how it happens, but I find myself parked outside the garage, so much for leaving the stress behind. I get out of my car and make my way to the main door, maybe I could just check how the new fairing is coming together. It would make me sleep better tonight, and a good nights sleep is something I badly need. I reach the door and put my key in the lock, but it won’t turn. What the hell? It’s unlocked! I know I locked in when I left yesterday...didn't I? Shit, if I haven't locked it and someone has been in and cleared the place out, our insurance won't cover it. I rush throug
h the door looking around trying to assess the damage that I’m sure I will find, but there isn't any. I’m looking around in confusion when I hear a noise coming from Rocco’s office. Oh crap, someone is still here. I look around trying to find something I can use as a weapon, there is no way I am going to investigate without something that can do some serious harm. Grabbing a tyre iron from under the closest workbench I make my way towards the office door, I push the door open and prepare to rush anyone who might appear. I find the room empty, but I hear the water in Rocco’s bathroom turn off, now the last time I checked thieves don’t normally wash their hands before robbing somewhere. I don't care about that at the moment and I rush into the office and move towards the bathroom. The door opens and I prepare to swing my weapon. I yell as I swing towards the person moving out of the bathroom and he jumps before moving back quickly.

  “What the fuck, Mason?” I don't know how but I manage to hold back the swing that I had started, the tyre iron stopping just before cracking Rocco across the head.

  “Shit. Rocco. You about gave me a fucking heart attack. What are you doing here?” Dropping the tyre iron down to my side, I feel my heart trying to jump out my chest. I stand in front of Rocco, trying to control the urge to punch him. He scared the shit out of me and I want to make him pay for it.