Free Mikala's Passion (Pulse Series Book 2) by Jennifer Rose Page A

sugar.”
    “It’s great!”
    “The whole place will be like new, I’m happy for you.” He realized he was avoiding the subject of her vanishing act during the night, as much as she was.
    She narrowed her brow and her jaw pushed forward. “As long as you’re happy,” she stood and snatched their mugs from the table. “See you around.”
    “Sugar…”
    “Don’t fucking call me that,” she called out, as she stormed off to the kitchen.
    “Pissed again,” he said, quietly. Always managing to fuck up when it came to Mikala, he thumped his fist on the table and bent to pick up the pencil that tumbled to the floor. When he sat back up he was met by Eden’s angry scowl. What had started as a horrible day was only getting worse by the minute; he wondered why he even bothered to get out of bed.
    “And what have I done to you, sweetheart?” he asked sarcastically, before thinking and watched her chin tuck in and her one brow raise dramatically.
    “Don’t take an attitude with me mister,” she warned, pointing her finger and poking his shoulder. Eden wasn’t the least bit intimidated but Mason’s size or Alpha-male demeanor, she had Chase and him equally wrapped around her pinky.
    “I fucked up again, sorry. Chase is upstairs with Scott, I think they’re going over details for the apartment,” he said.
    “I know where Chase is, I also know where Mik is and that she’s not happy with you, what now?”
    He shook his head and rubbed the eraser end of his pencil over the page he was trying to busy himself with, “I opened my mouth and spoke? No wait…I took a breath,” he attempted sarcasm again and only managed to get a swift slap across his bicep.
    “Stop being an asshole, Mason.”
    “I’ve tried, sweetheart, but it all comes out wrong. My best bet is to shut the fuck up. Maybe I should have stayed gone, Mik sure as hell would have been better off. At least then she wouldn’t feel the need to run and hide from me.”
    He stood and rolled up the blueprints, leaned forward and gave Eden a peck on the cheek before leaving the room without so much as a goodbye.
    The kitchen gleamed, the stainless steel sparkling in all its glory. To look at this room you would not have a clue that there had ever been a fire in the place. Being at the rear of the club the kitchen and office were spared any and all damage, all it needed was a good cleaning to rid it of the smell of smoke. The kitchen team had worked for hours to get it perfect, now busy wrapping the entire room and its contents in plastic so the dust from the Reno had nowhere to settle.
    “Mik, we need to talk,” Eden announced, pulling Mikala from her supervisory position in the kitchen and out to the dance area, where they would have privacy.
    “This thing with you and Mason has to stop. Forgive him or don’t, but let him know either way because this isn’t fair to him or you.”
    Mikala walked behind the bar and unscrewed the lid from a bottle of Polar Ice vodka and took a long draw before settling her eyes on a waiting Eden. Her friend was angry, her friend was right it was time to forgive, but she would never forget.
    “Did you know Mason had Charlie’s footprints tattooed on his chest?” Mikala asked, waiting for Eden to react with shock or surprise.
    “Yes…Yes I did,” Eden confessed.
    Mikala’s head tilted to the side and she waited for clarification.
    “I went with him. Actually I gave him the birth certificate so he could have it done,” Eden said, taking the bottle from Mikala and screwing on the cap before setting it back under the bar. “When he told me what he wanted to do I had to help him, Mik. Look, what happened was devastating it changed all of our lives forever, but it should have never torn you two apart. I get that you’re hurting but Mason’s hurting too and yeah he was wrong to leave but he realizes just how wrong he was. Talk to him Mik, tell him how you feel, how you felt, what it did to you and then listen to him,