by E. K. Blair
“What are you doing right now?”
“Nothing.” I started to move away, but he caught my arm and pulled me back.
“Come on, Sam. Don’t be all jealous and insecure. Marissa is a good friend of mine. I’m protective of her.”
He used to be protective of me too. I swallowed back that pain. “You’re right. I’m sorry about that.”
“Sorry about what?” He studied me intently. “What are we talking about?”
“We had a good time. It’s not anything more than that. Just, please don’t admit anything to Logan. I think he already knows and if he knows for sure, can you imagine all the teasing I’m going to get from him?”
Mason gave me a disgusted look. “Are you serious? I’m protective of Marissa because I’m the reason she had to switch schools a couple years ago.”
I fell silent, but I didn’t pull my arm away.
“She’s a nice person, she’s genuine. Some girls didn’t like that we were friends and they tore her to pieces. Catty stuff always happens to her whenever she’s around me. She doesn’t have any female friends. That’s why I didn’t want to introduce her to you or anyone else. You have friends, Sam. She doesn’t. If she met you, you would’ve introduced her to your friends, and that’s when that crap usually happens. I nipped it from the beginning.”
I remembered Tate’s words. “Was it Tate that tore her to pieces?”
“She was the ring leader, yeah. And she’d do it again. If Marissa isn’t with me, she’s with Nate. It’s that bad. Tate blames her for why I hate her so much.”
I nodded. “Okay.”
“Okay...what?” He seemed to be measuring me. I felt him trying to get inside me. “Are you okay now? I’m not going to apologize for your friend. She freaks me out. I’m not going to lie. I don’t like her, but I’ll tolerate her for you.”
A chuckle escaped me. He felt the tension leave me and pulled me against him. “Yeah, I can see that.”
He pressed a kiss to my forehead. “Are you going to get wasted tonight?”
“Seems like.” I gave him a sloppy grin and he pressed a kiss to it. I sighed as his lips left mine. “It seems like it’s my night with Becky tonight, she’s down in the dumps because of Adam.”
“The quarterback who wants to bang you?”
I shook my head. He knew exactly who Adam was. “Yes, she likes him.”
He grimaced. “She could have better taste in men.”
“You want her to go after you instead?”
His eyes got wide. “You should encourage those two to date.”
I laughed and pressed against him some more. His hands dropped down and started to caress the inside of my thigh. He cupped the side of my face and started to bend down when someone burst through the foliage that had granted us our privacy.
We whirled around and froze.
Logan stared at us with his mouth hanging open. Then he snapped his fingers and threw his arms around in the air. “I knew it! I knew it! Oh hell yeah! I knew it!”
Mason tackled him and hissed, “Shut up about it!”
Logan pushed him off, laughing. “I won’t say anything, but man—I knew it.”
Mason shoved him back. “What are you doing here?”
He gestured to me. “The mom thing. I knew she was going to call her. Did you?”
I nodded.
“She covered us and made it seem like her mom made the whole thing up.”
“Really?” Logan glanced at me with wide eyes.
I shrugged. “If your dad really loves her, he’ll forgive her.”
He choked out a laugh. “And if he doesn’t and you guys are sent packing?”
I knew my eyes had a chill in them when both moved back a step. “I’m pretty sure I can move back in with David until college.”
“And your mom?”
Ice went down my veins. “And I’m sure she’ll find some other guy to mooch from.”
“Man, you really loathe your mom, huh?” Logan whistled under his breath. “I’m just happy that we got dad off our backs.”
Mason gave him a sharp look. “He send you something?”
“Yeah, an apology text.”
He rolled his eyes and took Logan’s phone. “Guess that’s supposed to make up for the other ones, huh?”
“Whatever. We’re covered. And I’ve got my own piece to pound tonight.” Logan gave us a salute. “See you later, siblings. Have fun with your incest relations.”
Mason punched him, but Logan dodged it and ducked from our hidden spot.
I grinned at him when Mason turned back. “Becky’s going to come looking for me.”
He grinned back and touched my shoulder. “Have fun getting drunk again. Don’t screw the quarterback.”
“Ha ha!” I flipped him the middle finger as he left, but couldn’t wipe the grin off my face when I heard his laughter.
***
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
When I woke up, I rolled over and found myself in a large bed with Becky half scrawled on me. As I pushed up, pain flared through me and I touched the side of my face. “Ouch!” I hissed and hurried to a mirror. A large bruise had formed on the side of my jaw. It was swollen and had already started to turn color. I groaned and rested my forehead against the mirror.
How had that happened? It was fresh so I’d have the bruise for a few weeks. Great.
“Hh..whassis?” Becky blinked at me rapidly as she struggled to keep her mouth from hanging open. She wiped at her eyes and sat further up. “What happened? Where am I?”
I chuckled, surprised at the hoarseness of my voice. “My guess is that we’re hungover.” I grimaced as I sat down on a couch. My rear was sore so I moved even slower because of it. “What happened to my face?”
Becky choked out a gasp and covered her face as she fell back against the bed.
I winced against the pain. My whole face was now throbbing. “Tell me I didn’t make a fool out of myself.”
She groaned as she stopped whimpering. “It hurts to laugh.”
“Tell me about it. It hurts to breathe.”
She raised her hand to brush back some of her hair, but it dropped to her lap with a thump. “Everything’s so hard right now. This sucks.”
“Becky.” I cleared my throat. “My face. What happened?”
“Oh, that.”
“Yes, that.”
She tried to hide a yawn, but it won in the end. After she finished, she started to yawn again. “I don’t really know what happened, but you had to go to the bathroom so we snuck off somewhere. You kept saying you knew about a private bathroom. I don’t know.”
I groaned on the inside. I’d probably been trying to find Mason’s room.
She added with a sour look on her face, “Anyway, we finally found a room and we snuck in. We didn’t know whose it was, but then that girl who was attached to Mason’s hip was in there and that girl, Tanya’s cousin, was in there too.”
I sat up straighter, or I would’ve. Pain seemed to slice through me with each movement I made.
“What was her name again?”
“Tate,” I rasped out.
“Oh yeah!” She started to smile, but it died right away. “Tate was in there and she was being really mean to that girl, who for being Mason’s girlfriend, doesn’t have any fight at all. The girl just took it and she was standing there crying. She kept saying something about where Nate was, but I couldn’t make it out. We were both so wasted.”
I closed my eyes. I couldn’t imagine what I had done.
“And then you clobbered Tate.”
“I did what?”
“Yeah.” She nodded with her eyes wide, semi wide for being hung-over. “You just swung your hand out and punched her. Then you started to say something about being a bully and she was the disloyal bitch and that was it. She went back at you. That girl kept crying so I started screaming for help. You got way more wallops in than she did. You’re pretty spry. I had no idea.” She started to laugh, but hissed from
the movement. “She kept trying to hit you and you’d just run around her. Then you’d hit her from behind or something. You’re hilarious when you’re drunk.”
“Oh no.” I groaned into my hands. Had I really gotten into a fight? “Anyway, some guys ran in and separated you too. I didn’t see you for a while because they carried you to where Mason was. He took you into some back room and then Logan rushed in there from somewhere else. He was only wearing jeans, which weren’t buttoned or zipped up so everyone knew what he’d been doing.” She wiggled her eyebrows. “If you know what I’m saying.”
So I’d interrupted one of his many romps with the pep girl. Something in me didn’t care at all.
“And then they kicked Tate out.”
“What?” I looked back up.
“Yeah.” She gave me a lazy grin. “Mason came out and shoved her outside. Someone had her bags packed and they threw them out. She must’ve had her keys in them because I heard that she drove away in the middle of the night. Nobody really cared, but I guess she had a few friends here. They were saying that wasn’t fair to her, but then Mason and Logan’s friend, that one that’s always around said they could go as well. Everybody shut up after that.”
“Mason and Logan didn’t say anything?”
“Nah.” She shook her head as another yawn came over it. “They’d already gone back to you by then. Oh, and we could hear that girl crying through the door. She should’ve shut up by then, I mean, you punched someone out for her. She could’ve been more appreciative.”
I shook my head. I had no recollection of any of it. “So how’d we get here?”
“This is your room. You were in there for about thirty minutes and then somehow you snuck out.”
“I said that?” I grinned slightly.
She nodded her head with a wide smile as well. “You said something about not needing their protection and you snuck out. I guess Mason and Logan got into some tiff. That’s what you told me.”
“I said that too?”
“Uh huh.” She chuckled. “And then you and I went to the indoor pool. I had no idea it was even there, but you did. No one else was in there. We stayed down there the rest of the night until...that’s where my black out starts. I have no idea. I remember drinking and swimming and you lecturing me how we weren’t being smart, but we were being fun.”
I groaned with my head in my hands. “I don’t want to deal with anyone today. What time is it?”
Becky shrugged, still curled up among the bedcovers. “I’m sure it’s time to start packing. Everyone was going to leave after breakfast today.”
I swung my heavy head to the side and saw both my bags in the corner. I grunted. “Looks like I’m packed.”
Becky snorted before she rolled off the bed. “I gotta find my room. See you in a bit.”
“See you.” I waved as she stumbled out the door.
She hadn’t been gone long before someone else knocked. I tried to yell for them to come in, but it sounded like a frog’s croak so I heaved myself up and opened the door wide. I expected Mason or even Logan, but instead I was in for a surprise.
Miranda Stewart, Fallen Academy’s elite queen bee stood at my door.
She gave me a timid smile and brushed a strand of her auburn hair back. I didn’t know why, it looked perfect pulled high in a clip with small braids decorating her head. A few wisps were allowed out and it gave her a softer look. Maybe that’s what she was going for.
Her emerald eyes sparked in warmth and she folded her hands in front of her. “Hi, Samantha.”
The sound of my full name kicked me in gear. It sounded so formal and it should’ve. We weren’t friends.
“Miranda.”
She glanced over my shoulder. “Can I come in or do you have company?”
I chuckled. “Becky just left.”
“Oh.” She glanced down at her hands. Then she laughed softly. “I realized how that sounded. I didn’t mean to imply anything.”
I narrowed my eyes. The Miranda Stewart I knew wasn’t this self-conscious shy girl. She was tough and smart enough to control the rest of the Academy Elite. She was the brains behind so many operations. I didn’t know what I’d done to warrant her attention.
“Well.” She took a deep breath. “I’m sure you’re wondering why I’m here.”
My mouth stayed closed, but I gestured for her to come in. As she perched on the coach, I leaned against my dresser. The bed looked tempting, but I didn’t trust myself to stay out of it the rest of the day.
“I came to apologize for Cassandra. She tends to react before she thinks sometimes.”
“Why are you saying this to me?” I was surprised at my blunt tone. Maybe it was Mason’s boldness or how the truth seemed to always fall off Becky’s tongue, but one of them had rubbed off on me.
From the slight widening of her eyes, Miranda must’ve shared in my sentiments. She sighed. “Because I don’t want an enemy from you.”
“Why?”
“The truth?”
I lifted a shoulder. “What else?”
She took another deep breath and smoothed her hands down her jeans. “Because you’re really powerful right now and I don’t want a war at school.”
I was stunned once again. “Why would there be a war?”
“Because Cassandra is jealous of you.” Her eyes darkened and she looked at her lap.
Ah ha. I nodded in understanding. “So you’re saying that she’s not going to stop with her jabs?”
There seemed to be genuine regret in her eyes. “Yes, but you have to understand where it’s coming from. Adam’s always liked you and he’s always championed for you. He wanted you to come into the group, and not as his girlfriend. When you turned him down, it seemed to hurt him even more and he’d already been hurt by Ashley too. Cassandra is very protective of him.”
“And she wants to date him.”
“I can’t say anything about that, but I know she wasn’t nice to you or Rebecca last night.”
“So what do you want from me?”
She stood and gave me that same sad smile. “Cassandra is one of my best friends and I love her to death, but know that she doesn’t have our support if she’s mean to you. She doesn’t have my support. I like you, Samantha. I always agreed with Adam. I thought you would’ve been a great addition to the group.”
When she glanced at her watch and then the door, I knew her visit had ended. She said what she wanted so I followed her to the door and held it open for her. “I guess I should say thanks for your warning then?”
She laughed again, the sound was so delicate. No wonder she’d been made the Queen. I wanted to give her a crown myself and stand guard before her.
“I guess. Thanks for being... understanding?” She gave me a small wave before she left. “See you at school today.”
After I closed the door, I stood in the middle of my room for a while. The whole thing was odd to me. She thought I would’ve been a great addition to the group; that meant I was out. Then I shrugged. That sounded like too much drama anyway.
As another yawn came over me, I tried to hurry into the bathroom and not think about Miranda’s odd visit. What would’ve taken me twenty minutes took an hour. I wasn’t moving at a fast pace, nor was I thinking at a fast one. When I heaved my two bags to the bottom of the stairs, my arms felt like lead and Logan’s hyena laugh scraped against my ears.
I covered them and groaned when I saw him come around a corner. “Stop, please.”
He laughed even louder and scooped me up in the air. I was bundled against his chest and he twirled me around. “What’s wrong, sister? Too much activity for you last night? You aren’t sore or anything, are you?”
I burrowed into his chest. “Stop. Please. I beg you.”
“Your new nickname is Slugger. One wallop and that’s how you handle business.” He was gleeful in his amusement.
It was sickening.
He started to bounce me in his arms. “My Slugger Sister. I’m going to mak
e you a tee shirt with that slogan. Slugger Sister. Everyone will call you that!”
Tanya came around the corner in a tight white tee shirt, low cut v neck, and slinky jeans. She wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed against his back. “She’s not my sister. I can’t call her that.”
Logan held still as she continued to press against him, then he smirked at me. “Sorry, sis. Someone else is needing my attention.”
After he deposited me back on my feet, I smoothed out my clothes. “Somehow I think I’ll get over it. Thank you, Tanya.”
She gave me a blinding smile as Logan swept her up instead. “No problem, Sam. See you.” She started giggling as he skipped out the door with her.
“Hey.” Mason came around the corner with a duffel bag over his shoulder. He bent and picked up my two. “You’re riding with me. Your quarterback took off this morning.”
“You have room?”
He flashed me a grin as he held open the door with his shoulder. I ducked around him and tried to ignore the flare of warmth that sizzled through me. “Nate’s headed back home today and he’s taking Marissa with him.”
“Really?”
I wasn’t sure if I was disappointed.
“Yeah.” He threw all of the bags in the back of his Escalade and slammed it shut again. I wasn’t surprised to see it was full with other bags. “And your buddy can come too, but I don’t want her talking to me. She can talk to you, that’s fine, but no questions to me.”
I gave him a salute.
“Very funny.”
“I thought so.” I couldn’t hold back a small grin before I went and told Becky the news. And as I expected, when I found her with a plate full of pancakes and muffins, she dropped all of it and started screaming.
“Three hours in the same car as Mason Kade!” She grabbed my arms and started jumping up and down.
“Ugh. Stop.” Pain seared through me. I backed away and tried to hold down whatever last meal I’d had. “I am never ever going to get in another fight again.”
“You better not drink like that then.”
“That too.”
Becky giggled behind her hands. “I’m sorry, Sam. It’s so exciting.”
I shook my head. “You can’t talk to him, you know.”