Aria
As soon as we pull away from the curb I rip my wig off and loosen my hair, sighing as I rub at my tender scalp. Wyatt isn't much for talking so I use the time to gather my thoughts on the fly. Pulling down the visor and reaching into my purse I wipe at my face and pull the eyelashes from my eyes and place them back in their little container.
By the time my face is clear and I'm shutting the visor the tension is so thick and I know Wyatt is done waiting for answers. Especially when his phone starts ringing through his speakers showing Tara's name on the display. I feel my phone vibrate in my purse at the same time, I don't have to look to know it's Mason.
Wyatt's accusing gaze holds my guilty one while he clicks the green accept button and Tara's worried voice fills the car.
"Did you find her? What's happening?" Tara is my unexpected best friend. Actually, everyone I've met since moving here has been an unexpected friend, but Tara was never forced on me like Wyatt and the rest of the guys, and she's a lot more reasonable, or understanding, and supportive of me than all the guys combined. That's why I slowly slink down in the seat as if it'll at all help keep her wrath from being directed at me.
"Driving her home now." Wyatt's monster hands grip the steering wheel as he weaves the car through the quiet streets. He doesn't pay me any more attention knowing as well as I do that Tara will handle it all on her own. And when I get home Mason will take over for wherever she leaves off.
"Thank god. Can she hear me? Do you have me on speaker?" Her voice is rising already, the worry fading replaced with a wave of simmering anger reminding me of my grandma when I pushed her patients to her limits, and she was about to turn my whole world upside down with proper punishment.
"She sure can." His mouth doesn't even twitch in amusement, but I can hear it laced in his voice.
"What the fuck Aria? Literally WHAT THE FUCK?" It's as if she's standing in front of me, I can picture her thick Red hair framing her face and highlighting the red in her usually pale cheeks. Her light green eyes would be slanted in with accusation and anger. She's feisty and upfront and she wouldn't and won't be leaving anything back.
Ever since the incident with Brian, everyone has been more suffocating than usual and that's saying something. I've tried to be patient with them and reassure them I'm okay but really, they see through my bullshit. I'm not even going to pretend I've been acting like myself. That I don't have some real long-standing issues that I don't even know how to snap myself out of. But everyone is talking to me, handling me, treating me like a child. Or like a sensitive, fragile, unstable woman that needs kid gloves and soft-spoken words.
I get it I do. The press has been camped out in front of the mansion 24/7 like vultures waiting and scheming to get any more info on the major story that made National and International news. They'll follow Mason to work, meetings, the store, anywhere and everywhere. So, I've continued my hermit lifestyle I adopted before my trip back to Buffalo. If I never leave I'll never give them the opportunity to catch me in any type of situation where they can get shitty photos or videos or corner me and ask me questions I don't have to answer to the public about.
The case has been settled and no charges were pressed against me. It was clear it was self-defense in the government's eyes and broadcast across the world as such. I gave my statement to the police, my version of the chain of events and my own injuries spoke for themselves. But I wasn't prepared for the press to get their hands on all of it. I should have been but I'm still new to this world and the massive story it created only helped keep me secure in the mansion, only escaping through back doors and thick privacy glass to sneak me to Shirley's.
The construction is done but I've kept the paper up in the windows so I'm safe from any prying eyes while I'm there. This is under the disguise of going to work on Shirley's itself but really, it's me sitting in my office and planning tonight's excursion. So much time wasted, and I got little to no information.
Not only has Shirley gone nowhere in weeks, the planned opening date passing with no new date planned. But I've managed to keep Tara in limbo wanting to come work for me but giving her no real timeline to do so. Then there's Mason's invested money just growing with dust as I try to dip my toes in another new world, I know nothing of and am highly underqualified for. I'm sneaking around and hiding secrets, sneaking away, and already got myself caught doing so by failing in everything I've planned, and now I have to on-the-fly figure out how to minimize the damage that's spreading like out-of-control cancer.
Sliding lower in the seat I look out the window but keep my voice high enough for the car system to pick it up. "I was fine, Tara. I promise I wouldn't do anything dangerous. I wanted to go to the bar with no one standing behind me looking over my shoulder. No cameras at my back waiting for me to trip into a table and be all over Facebook for the next month." The words come out easy, the emotions behind them are there as I leave out the important parts and weave a new truth.
"I needed an hour or two to be alone out of the house anonymously. I was safe the whole time I promise." I finish with a sigh and a hope that it's enough to fool them. I need to figure out how they found out I left and how I can repeat tonight with a better outcome. I can feel the tension coming from Wyatt, there's something the usually quiet man wants to say but he's holding back. Looking over to him I raise my eyebrow in question, but he's concentrated on the road.
"Girl, I get that. Actually, I don't. I have no idea what any of that is like, but I do know you didn't have to sneak off. You could have come to me, to Wyatt. We would have gotten you out of the house without having anyone follow you.
"I bet if you talked to Mason he would have understood. He wants you happy as I do. And we all want you fucking safe. Sneaking out was dangerous!" She lets out a long drawn-out breath before she continues, sounding less irritated but a lot more tired. My guilt grows until it's almost crippling. "Let's talk tomorrow okay? I'll meet you at Shirley's so we can talk about that too."
All of it sounds terrible but I don't dare push my luck. Instead, I nod my head keeping my eyes low but then remember she can't see me. "Okay, text me in the morning."
There are only a few seconds of silence before Wyatt weighs in. "Where did you get the wig?"
"Hmm?" I mumble thrown. Wyatt is intimidating in silence when he's throwing questions directed at you. Damn, my insides quiver in fear. It's like he weaves a spell that demands my truthful answers.
"The wig, make-up, clothes. Sneaking out without being noticed. The specific bar. All of it takes a certain level of planning." Everything he says is a statement, no direct questions because he already knows some of the truth but he's still demanding the rest of it. Everything I'm leaving out.
"Your with me tomorrow right?" I ask with resignation. Tara is right I can't do this alone. Clearly, that failed. But I can't let Mason know, it'll be over as soon as the words leave my mouth. But maybe I can get Tara and Wyatt on my side and together we can take these bastards down.
"Yup." He nods, keeping his eyes ahead.
"I'll explain tomorrow. But you have to promise this stays between the three of us." I plead. If he doesn't say yes, he can go straight to Mason and Dibb and blow this all out of the water. Or he can agree to my insane plan and put him and Tara in the line of fire. In danger.
No, I reason with myself. I'll keep Tara and Wyatt out of the line of fire. I can use Tara as an excuse to sneak away. Wyatt's the guy around me the most which will ultimately work to my advantage if I don't have to sneak. And he's smart and has access to technology and resources I'll need. I can keep them hidden and disassociated from my new persona.
I can still infiltrate the Russian Mob, get all the info I need to take down the Mob boss and Edward Maverick. Save Dixie in the process and take a heavyweight of Mason's shoulders. Only then will some of the guilt ease. Only then will I have a chance to prove my worth to Mason. And I can do it all without putting anyone else in harm.
"I'll listen and then decide." That's really the best I could hope for coming from Wyatt. And really that's good enough, the man is lost in Tara if I can convince her I've convinced him too.