Mason stood over him, shoulders bunched, fists held wide at his side, and scowling with a rage Sean had never seen. “I want you out of this house.”
And there went his heart. Sean could almost hear the crack.
“I trusted you with her. How could you…just get out!”
Sean swallowed. He deserved nothing more. He gingerly moved his jaw and it cracked. He slowly pulled himself to his feet and grabbed his pants. “I’ll be gone within the hour.” He looked at Liberty, wanting to touch her one last time, but knowing he had lost the right. He suddenly felt sick. Was this him turning into his father? The marks on her body suddenly seemed so ugly and painful he cringed. He needed to get out of there.
* * * *
Mason lifted Liberty into his arms, careful not to touch her tender skin. He was so angry he couldn’t even allow himself to fully face what he just walked in on. At first he had heard the sound of bedsprings and grew excited. The scent of sex permeated the air, drawing him nearer. But then he had walked in and found Liberty’s hands tied, not tied as if they were playing around with light bondage, but tied in a way her fingers couldn’t escape.
Sean had been fucking her. Hard. Memories of that morning and how fiercely Sean had taken him came flooding back to his mind. The force, the intensity and greed Sean had used solely to satisfy a selfish desire. Mason was different. He was bigger than her and he had consented to such roughness, wanting a bite of pain. Liberty was fragile.
A soundless cry of worry had left his mouth when he saw her collapse as if from sheer exhaustion as Sean filled her up with his release. And then he noticed her skin and wanted to kill him. Splotches of angry shades marring her perfect flesh had him seeing red. How dare he lay a hand on her in such a manner?
She moaned and he brushed her hair away. Tracks of tears marred her sleeping face. Rage, toxic, volcanic rage warred with his need to handle her gently.
He gritted his teeth as he carefully unknotted the sash wrapped around her hands and cradled her sleeping form in his lap. Mason wanted to find Sean and punch him again. Harder this time. He wanted to mark him the way he had marked Liberty, but he couldn’t leave her like this.
She sighed in his arms, the sound relieving a bit of his tension. He kissed her temple and she stilled. “Mason?” She opened her eyes. “Where’s Sean?”
Mason pressed his lips together not trusting himself to answer. He didn’t want to further upset her. Liberty didn’t handle sudden change well.
“What’s going on?” She sat up a little more.
“Careful,” he said, worrying over her abused body.
“Where is Sean, Mason?”
“I told him to leave.”
“What…why? Like leave the room?” He didn’t answer. “Mason, tell me you didn’t throw him out.”
She made to scramble off the bed. He tried to hold her with him, apparently needing to comfort her more than she wanted his succor. She pushed him away. Her refusal of his touch shocked him. There was a kind of panic in her eyes he didn’t recognize.
Her rejection of his reassurance and comfort discomfited him and in frustration he shouted, “He hit you, Liberty. I want him out of here.”
She shook her head and made an alarmed sound in the back of her throat. She looked at him with an expression he’d never seen on her before. Not fear. Not anger. Not distress. Disappointment.
“How could you?” Before he had a chance to answer she turned and ran out of the room. “Sean!”
Baffled and suddenly frightened, he frowned. Had he given them too much time to themselves? A very real sense that he wasn’t as secure in his position as he assumed took over. He didn’t like feeling unsure of himself. This was ridiculous. If she had to make a choice would she seriously choose Sean over him, her husband? Not wanting to wait around and find out he quickly went after her.
Mason found her kneeling in front of the guestroom door speaking softly. “Please let me in, Sean. Don’t do this. Please. He doesn’t understand.”
Her last words hit him like a punch to the stomach. Fuck this. “Liberty.” She only turned to scowl at him. “I want him gone.”
“Shut up, Mason!”
He froze. She’d never spoken to him that way. What was happening here?
“Sean, please open the door.” There was nothing but silence as the minutes ticked by. Liberty sat naked on her knees by the door and Mason watched, speechless.
He observed silently as a tear slipped past her lashes. She pressed her palm into the door and he noticed her skin was red and scratched. He frowned, but before he could say something she began to whisper. The pleading in her voice, the vulnerability…it disarmed him.