by Tijan
I nodded, returning to the hallway.
Logan was alone, lounging against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. He looked over as I approached.
“Your number-one fan went to find the administration here. She’s hoping to get us banned. You know, just for standing in the hallway.” He whistled under his breath. “That girl is a special one. She’s all sorts of delusional, a spoiled princess, and off-her-rocker kind of crazy. You need to watch this one.”
“So I’ve been hearing.”
I looked over my shoulder at Raelynn’s room as we started back to the car. An uneasiness took root in me. It had been there since the party night and my confrontation with Faith, but it was shooting up at a record speed now. Should I believe Raelynn, or was what she told me complete bullshit as well? If it was some form of concocted manipulation plan, to what end? I didn’t know.
Either way, everyone needed to know.
“We need to have a family meeting,” I told Logan.
“This girl has just never not gotten her way?”
Nate had been asking the same question for the last hour. Logan had called everyone to the house this evening—Matteo too. And after I relayed what had happened, including Faith’s reaction to us and Raelynn’s warnings, everyone had fallen quiet.
Until Nate started with his questions. He hadn’t gotten ahold of the sister. “She’s spoiled? That’s why she’s doing this?”
I nodded again to him. “Yes. From what Raelynn said, yes.”
He shook his head, raking a hand over his face. “That’s insane.” He looked at Mason. “How do we fight a chick?”
Logan grunted, leaning back on the couch. His arm rested on the back of it, behind where Taylor sat next to him. He put his foot up on the table. “I’m thinking it’s time we take the JV spot.” He clapped Taylor’s shoulder and turned to look at me. “Girls, you’re up. You’re on the front lines with this one.”
I’d been standing as I explained everything, but I sat now. Mason shifted his legs so I could perch on a footstool cushion with him behind me.
“You never got ahold of the sister you dated?” Mason asked Nate.
“No.” Nate raised a finger and pointed it at me. “I think I must’ve pissed her off more than I thought. Pretty sure that’s a dead end for us.”
“Well, that sucks.” Logan glanced to Matteo and pursed his lips together. “Feeling up for infiltrating the enemy’s bed again?”
Nate grunted. “This time on purpose?”
Matteo grew wary, lifting his hands up in a helpless gesture. “Come on, guys. I felt horrible. And no, I’m not doing that. Not even on purpose this time. Feels too dirty to me.”
Logan shrugged. “All this brainstorming got me thirsty. I think we should plan this girl’s demise over drinks.”
Nate turned to Mason. “Maybe we could do more best friend bonding?”
Mason nodded. His hand slipped under my shirt to rub my back. “Yeah. That sounds fun.”
Matteo held his hand up again. “Best friend bonding? I want in.”
“Pub crawl. We haven’t done that in a long time.” Mason kept rubbing his hand up and down my back.
“I think it’s high time we get it done.” Nate pretended to crack his knuckles. “If we’re really nice, we could invite some hangers-on.” His grin deepened as he nodded his head to the side, indicating Logan.
“Wait.” Logan jerked upright on the couch. “Am I the hanger-on? I had the idea, asshole! If it’s anyone, you’re the hanger-on.”
“Oh. Okay. That’s how it is.” Nate stood slowly. “I’m the one hanging around you? I remember when you were the scrawny little kid who’d steal Mason’s bag just to get attention from him.”
“Things changed.” Logan stood too. They grinned at each other, but there was a cockiness in the air. It started to feel heavy. Logan tilted his head, challenging Nate. “I grew up and became awesome.” He flicked his eyes up and down. “What happened to you?”
Mason’s hand paused on my back. “This is the stupidest mock-fight I’ve heard from you guys. You’re funnier when you pretend to be gay husbands.”
The tension that had started to fill the air eased. Nate and Logan went back to laughing, and then Logan put Nate in a headlock.
He tightened his arm. “Who’s the awesome one, huh? Who’s got the hashtags?”
“Shut up.” Nate got one of his arms between Logan’s arm and his neck, and he reversed the hold. But instead of pulling Logan in for a headlock, he shoved him back a few inches. He was laughing, breathing deep. “No one would ever assume you and Mason have one of those hated-sibling relationships.”
“My sister has one of those hated-sibling relationships,” Matteo suddenly said.
Everyone stopped and looked at him, sitting on one of the far couches. He wasn’t really looking at anyone. He seemed lost in his own thoughts.
When he noticed the looks, he blinked a few times. “Oh. I mean, her cats. One’s called Chloe, and the brother is Dingbat. Chloe hates Dingbat. Every time he runs through the house, she takes off after him. The girl cat kept beating him up, so my sister has to keep them separated, but Dingbat always gets loose. Every time he runs past her, she just says, ‘There goes Dingbat.’ It’s pretty funny. But yeah, those cats hate each other.”
The silence from everyone held for another beat before Logan snorted. “Speaking of dingbats . . .” He placed a hand on Nate’s shoulder. “I think I found your new nickname.”
Nate shoved his hand off. “You’re such a dick.” But he was laughing.
So was Logan, and he lunged for Nate again. As the two started to wrestle, I leaned back to rest against Mason’s chest. His arms curved around me, and he kissed the top of my shoulder.
“Did you want us to keep pushing the sister?” he murmured.
“No.” It was a dead-end. Nate said so. I watched Taylor as she moved out of Logan and Nate’s way. “Maybe instead of you guys asking my mom for that favor, I ask her.”
He tensed.
Logan and Nate stopped wrestling, and Logan looked over. “What’d you just say?”
“I said, maybe I should go ask my mom to ask James for that information.” Or . . . “I could also just ask James. He won’t try to hold anything against me. He wouldn’t dare.”
Logan snorted. “That’s why we didn’t go last weekend.” He gestured to me as he turned to Mason. “You told her our plan.”
“Yeah, and she didn’t like it.”
“That was the fight you had?”
“You didn’t tell him?” I asked Taylor.
She lifted a shoulder. “He doesn’t have to know everything.”
Logan twisted around to her. “Thanks for that.”
I felt Mason’s silent laughter behind me, a teasing caress. I felt his breath on my shoulder, and I was torn between paying attention to the conversation and pulling him into the bedroom and feeling his breath all over me instead.
His arms tightened, and he rested his chin on my shoulder. “Leave your girlfriend alone. That was between Sam and me, and she was respecting Sam’s privacy.”
Logan shot him a glare. “Sam’s my stepsister. There’s no privacy there.”
I grimaced. “Did you really just say that?”
He stopped, thought about it, and shook his head. “You all know what I mean.”
“I don’t.” Nate frowned at everyone. “I have no fucking clue what you guys are talking about, and I don’t like it.”
“Right there with you, man,” Matteo echoed.
“Yeah.” Nate looked at him, then back at us. “What happened? You guys had a fight or something? Where was I?”
“Sleeping, and it’s none of your business,” Mason said. “It’s none of yours either, Logan, but no, we’re not going to ask my dad for any information about Faith’s family.”
“Wait.” Nate held a hand up. “We weren’t actually going to Vegas, were we?”
“I thought you had to be smart to get your MBA.”
Logan paused for a beat. “Oh wait. That’s after you get a bachelor’s. That’s right, you have to get the one degree first.”
“You’re such a dick.”
Everyone tensed. This had become something between Logan and Nate. I looked at Taylor and saw her frowning right along with me. I wondered if she knew the cause for this friction.
Then Nate just said it. “Don’t get pissed at me because I’m the one here, and you’re not. I’m not the one who chose to get a girlfr—”
“Shut up, Nate.” Logan growled.
He didn’t. “A girlfriend who continues to choose to sleep at her place, and not here. If you’re missing being around Mason and Sam, that’s on you. Not me. I’m getting real sick of you putting your shit on me. I’ve never done anything to you, Logan.”
“Shut up!”
Nate added, unperturbed, “Unlike you.”
Logan stood completely still, the unnatural and dangerous way. A shiver went down my spine, and I swallowed over a lump. Nate had just gone dirty in a way that wasn’t dirty at all.
“Are you serious?” Logan’s eyes were narrowed to slits, everything about him tensed. This was Logan right before a full attack. Whether it was words or fists, it was coming. And he was going to do some damage.
Mason suddenly lifted me to the side and stood up. “Stop. Both of you guys.”
“No.” Nate shook his head, still glaring at Logan. “I’m sick of it. Any time Logan starts feeling pissy about something, he takes it out on me.”
Mason moved to stand between them.
Nate leaned forward, looking at Logan around Mason. “Guess what? I’ve done nothing to you. I left when I was a kid because my parents moved away. They didn’t want me to be around Mason. When I came back, you’d replaced me. It wasn’t the other way around. You pushed me out, Logan. And I did nothing. I let it happen.” A cutting laugh came from him. “And that wasn’t even the biggest change. Sam was in our lives. I went from being number two to being number four, if that spot was even included in shit. How do you think that made me feel? And I put up with it,” he spat, his eyes blazing. “I thought we were good too.”
“STOP!” Mason shoved him, then turned to make sure Logan was still holding back. Satisfied that he was, Mason sighed. “This is all bullshit. We’re all family by this point.” He looked at Matteo. “You too, even though we don’t show it all the time.”
Matteo perked up. “Thanks. I appreciate that.” His tone was cheerful.
I laughed softly to myself. No one except Nate and Logan seemed too upset about their fight. Matteo must’ve gotten used to us by now. Fights flared up, but they always blew over. We all loved each other. That’s how we were. That, in itself, was comforting.
Then I looked over. “Where’s Taylor?” Her spot on the couch was empty.
Logan cursed.
She was gone.
CHAPTER 16
Logan took off to find her, then backtracked for Mason’s Escalade. Taylor had taken his.
Fighting back a smirk, Mason dug for his keys.
Logan’s head hung low. “Don’t start.” He held out his hand.
Mason didn’t drop the keys, prompting Logan to look up at him.
“Just tell her the truth. She’ll understand,” he said.
“Yeah.” Logan nodded and took the keys. “I’m hoping I get the chance.”
“You’ll be fine. She loves you. You love her.” Mason patted him on the shoulder, but he was looking at me. “Check the ego, be vulnerable, and anything’s possible.”
Warmth spread inside of me. I knew he was talking about us—about my fear of marriage and his need to protect me without me even knowing. He was right, though. Everything would be fine. I believed that.
“Thanks.” Logan glanced back at me. “Don’t know what’s going on with you two, but take it easy on him. Whatever it is, Mase is trying. He’s a lot less bossy than normal.”
Mason laughed. “Okay. Leave now. Go fix your own relationship.”
Logan nodded and was out the door in the next instant. Nate and Matteo declared that they didn’t have girlfriends, and that was reason enough to go drinking, so the two took off. Since Matteo and Mason had practice the next day, I was surprised they weren’t back when we went to bed around eleven that night. They’d left in one vehicle.
“Nah. Matteo will take a cab home if he’s had too much,” Mason said when I shared my concern. He’d been changing in the walk-in closet and came back out in lounge pants. They were deliciously low on his hips, showing off all those lovely stomach muscles and the V that cut down into his pants. I pulled the covers back as my mouth began watering.
Four years and I still had this reaction to him. I felt the flutters in my stomach, and as I climbed onto the bed, I hugged my knees to my chest and hoped this feeling would never leave me.
“What?” He noticed my reaction.
I just grinned at him. “I am completely head over heels for you. That’s all.”
A soft grin lingered on his face, then slid away as his eyes sharpened. “Are you worried about this Faith girl?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know.” I hugged my knees tighter to me. “We’ve dealt with worse. I don’t know why Faith Shaw would top that list. I think we’ll be fine.”
“Then why aren’t you looking at me?”
The lump I’d felt when Logan and Nate were fighting came back. “It’s nothing.” I didn’t know why I couldn’t meet his eyes.
“Sam.”
The bed dipped under his weight as he sat next to me, resting a hand on my knee. “What’s going on?”
I shook my head. I felt so stupid. It was the night I’d left the house all over again. “Really, Mason.” My voice grew hoarse. The lump pressed on the bottom of my throat. “I’m fine.”
“Hey.”
That word was so soft, so tender. It was my undoing, and I felt the tears start. Making a frustrated sound, I used my palms to clear my face. “This is so annoying.”
He leaned closer, and his hand replaced both of mine. He began wiping the tears away. “Do you know why you’re crying?”
“No!” I cried, looking at him through a haze of tears. I pointed at them. “I hate this. I have no idea what’s going on with me. Taylor says I’m going through something, but this is what crazy girls do. They cry at the drop of a hat. I don’t do that. I have issues, and sometimes they come up and make me cry, but I don’t even feel sad. I’m just crying, and I have no fucking idea why.”
He laughed softly, sitting closer on the bed. Tugging on my arm, he pulled me over to sit on his lap. His arms came around me, like they always did, and I curled into him.
I sighed.
This feeling, being like this with him as he sheltered me was one of the most wonderful things about Mason Kade. No other girl could understand this feeling, no matter how many wished they could. It was me, all me. I tipped my head back, my eyes closed as his hand brushed down my hair and back.
“You really are wonderful,” I murmured, feeling my tears start to subside.
“Hey.” He tapped gently under my eye. “Can you look at me?”
I did. The tears were there, but I could see him.
He looked down at me, so adoringly. “I don’t care what’s going on with you. Whether you think it’s ridiculous or not, I’ll always want to know. It’ll always matter to me. You’ll always matter to me.”
I cupped the side of his face. “Why did you choose to love me? Because I was there? I was the girl who moved into your house? That could’ve been anyone.”
The corner of his lip tugged up. “Are you serious?
I nodded.
I hadn’t been wracked with doubt, but as I asked now, I realized it’d always been with me. It had been in the back of my mind.