Fallen Crest Family (23 page)

"But—" Her mouth hung open.

Adam frowned. "Why would she be mad at you?"

I shrugged, though my eyes never left hers. Then I saw it. Guilt. When her head went back down, I knew I'd been right. "She was mad at me because I had what she wanted. You were jealous, weren't you?"

Her head nodded up and down, but she didn't say a word.

"I had what you wanted, didn't I?"

As she looked back up, the anguish was all over her. More tears flooded her, her mouth was turned down in a frown, and she shook her head. "I'm so stupid, right? You went to the top, Sam. You got the guys that no one could get. I mean, you got both of them. Logan Kade worships the ground you walk on. You got what everyone wanted, not just me. Can you blame me for being jealous? Isn't that a human thing for me to do? To be jealous?" A sickened laugh bubbled out of her. "Yeah, I was mad at you. Yeah, I was jealous of you, but I was your friend. I'm sorry that I let myself believe Adam's lie. It was horrible of me. I know that and I really regret it. I really do, Sam. I really really do."

My heart sank with each word she said, but I couldn't argue with them. I knew there were more girls, a lot more, that felt the same as she did. Who was I to be taken in by the Kades? What was so special about me? I knew Becky wouldn't voice those questions to me. I knew she might never want to admit to those thoughts, but they were there. I had them too.

"This is bullshit," Adam cursed behind me. He moved next to me with disgust. "This is about the Kades? Again? Are you serious?"

Becky covered her mouth with her hand. More whimpers escaped her, and then she turned to her boyfriend. His arms came around her, and he patted the back of her head as he shot Adam a dark look. "Man. Respect it."

Adam rolled his eyes. "I'm so sick of this. Can we not have one night without talking about them?"

I hissed at him, "You're not helping."

He threw up his hands. "I'm not trying anymore. I didn't know all this boiled down to those guys again. What's so damn
special about them? Their looks? I'm good looking. That they're athletic? I'm the freaking quarterback for FCA. I
was
the quarterback. Whatever! What's so damn special about them?"

Raz spoke up, "Dude, they're legends. Legit and smack dab. Legends, dude. That's all. Legends."

Adam snorted. "This is ridiculous." He turned to me, frustrated. "Are you okay?"

I nodded. Strangely, I was. When Becky sniffled and wiped her nose, all the hurt and anger was gone. She had admitted it, and that was what I needed. I guess…

"I'm going. I'm not sticking around to hear about how godly these douches are. See you, Sam. Becky, you two want a ride home?"

She looked at me, a deep question in her, but I slunk back against the counter. She could stay if she wanted. She could go if she wanted. This was her time to choose if she was going to be there for me or not. I wasn't going to tell her what to do.

"I…" She opened her mouth, then closed it.

Raz spoke up again, "She's staying. I'm coming. Let's go to the Hop-It. All this crying made me hungry."

He pressed a kiss to Becky's forehead and whispered something in her ear, which had her grinning. She relaxed in his arms, but then he skipped around her, swatted Adam on the butt, and led the way out of the room.

Adam followed behind him, "It's the IHOP, Raz. It's not the Hop-It."

Raz called to him, "It's always the Hop-It. That's what you do. You hop it, you get it?"

A long frustrated sigh came from Adam before the door closed behind them.

Both of us looked at each other, now alone in Nate's fortress. It never seemed larger than in that moment. A clock should've been ticking behind us. The awkwardness of the moment would've fit well with that idea. As I grinned to myself, she took the leap first. "Why are you living here, Sam?"

There was the old Becky, she was my friend again.

"So…"

She gave me a timid smile. There was a twinge of hope in there, but I didn't know what to do about it. I wasn't mad anymore, but I didn't trust her either. I gave her a small grin back and said the same, "So…"

Her smile fell flat. "Oh."

I sighed. "What do you want, Becky? Thank you for being honest and thank you for apologizing, but we can't bounce back to what we were before. I don't trust you anymore."

"You don't?"

I shook my head. "Nope."

"Oh." Her shoulders lifted up in a small shrug. "Well, I guess I understand. I wouldn't either, if I was in your place. I mean, well, I might've. I don't know. I've never had anyone be jealous of me before. I don't know what I would do."

"It's not about you being jealous. You believed a lie about me, even though you knew it wasn't true, to get back at me. You knew it'd hurt me if you stopped talking to me. Congratulations. You hurt me."

"I really am sorry," she whispered.

Then we heard the door open and someone yelled out, "Hey! Yo! I took off early, figured you'd want your phone asap. It keeps flashing that you've got texts, didn't know if they were important or not."

Becky froze, but I relaxed. It wasn't long before Heather strolled around the corner. She saw Becky and stopped in her tracks. "Oh. Hi?"

I sighed. Heather's eyes narrowed as she raked her up and down with a sneer while the other looked ready to piss her pants. "Uh…" I swept a hand between the two. "Becky, this is Heather. Heather, Becky."

Becky took a small breath. "You're the new friend."

Heather's eyebrows shot up. "That means you're the old one?"

I laughed.

Becky threw me a dark look.

"Sorry. I—sorry." I waved for them to forget me.

Heather snorted as she fished something from her pocket and tossed it to me. I caught it, my phone. When I glanced at it, my eyes went wide. She'd been right. There were a few from Mason.

'Our mom called. She's pissed. Found out we got kicked out.'

'Family meeting called. Have to head with Logan. I won't be at Manny's tonight. You'll be alright?'
That one was followed with,
'love u.'

I checked the rest.
'Things got interesting, can't text for awhile.'

The last text was sent an hour ago.
'Hoping you're ok and work is just busy. Not good here.'

"Things okay?" Heather was frowning as she lounged against the wall. Becky was against the opposite wall with her arms folded across her chest.'

A raging headache was coming. I felt it at my temples and pressed my hands there for a moment.

"Sam?" It sounded like a whimper from Becky.

"What?" I tried to hold back my own glare. This wasn't about her and she was making it like that.

The pout twisted into a confused scowl, then a grimace. "Are you okay?"

"No."

"Where's he at?" Heather gestured to my phone.

I shook my head. "Family meeting. It doesn't matter."

"Aren't you in the family?"

"Not that one. It's with his mom."

Heather grinned. "I heard about the Wicked Witch of L.A. She's a pretentious socialite, isn't she?"

I shrugged. Helen was more than that in my opinion. "She's…confident."

"Confident?" The amusement on Heather's face didn't deplete. It doubled. She threw her head back as a smooth chuckle slid out. "I've never heard that one used to describe her, but then again," she eyed me up and down, "you are in that family so I hear ya. I gotcha."

Becky had been scowling as she looked back and forth between us. "What is going on? Your mom is confident? Your mom is mean, Sam."

"No," I sighed, but stopped. Maybe it was for the best if she thought we were talking about my mother.

Just then we heard the garage door slam shut. I held my breath; my heart racing when Nate turned the corner. Then a small hand appeared around his chest from behind, and a pair of tan legs slid between his as the hand groped farther south. A low moan sounded next. It ended in a feminine sigh as a pair of lips started to press against his arm and move upwards.

He stopped as he saw the three of us, but his eyes zeroed in on me. "What are you doing here?"

I jumped at the intensity from him. "What?"

All amusement fled from Heather as she turned to him, a scowl locked in place. "What's with the attitude, Monson? I thought she lived here."

His gaze went to hers, but the intensity was gone. He locked it behind a wall, and now he regarded her with a blank expression. I sighed. It was the same look Mason used on people when he wanted them to feel unwelcomed. It was a master tactic to make the other feel like scum beneath their shoes.

I gritted my teeth. He would not use that on her. "Stop, Nate. And what are you talking about, what am I doing here? I got off work early and Mason said he's at a family meeting."

The mask slipped a bit, and there was wariness instead. "Yeah,
your
family. Helen's out for Analise's blood."

The blood drained from my body. "What?"

He gave me a smirk now. It sent a shiver down my back, and not a good one like I felt with Mason. I was rattled to the bone when he said further, "They're at your house, Sam, with your mom. You're the odd-man out."

Shock started to form in my gut, but I heard myself mutter from a distance, "Why are you being a dick to me?"

His eyes went wide and his eyebrows shot up. "I'm not."

"You are," Heather retorted.

He frowned at her, but the girl behind him moaned in his ear, "Baby, can they go away?"

I narrowed my eyes. I recognized that voice. Everything slammed back into focus with me. Parker pressed against the front of him now. Her shirt had been tied around her neck, but it was undone. It fell around her waist, still on her as the knot hadn't been untied around her waist, but her breasts were against him. She wore no bra, and the jean shorts on her were loose in the back so they must've been unzipped from the front.

That's why he'd been a dick. He was with her, one of the four that still hated me. When I shared a look with Heather, I remembered her warning about the Tommy P's. It was her nickname for those four, Parker, her best friend Kate, and the other two whose names I couldn't remember. Jasmine and Natalie? Maybe. I preferred Heather's reference to them, the Tomboy Princesses. The name fit them perfectly, and the one trying to lure Nate away from the kitchen had been the worst so far.

"Parker." Annoyance dripped from his voice as he gripped her arm and held her away. Her breasts sagged, but she didn't cover them. She seemed shocked as she looked up. Disdain now filtered in as he finished, "Go to my room."

"But—"

"Go!"

She snapped to attention, but not before she sent me a loathing glare.

I lifted my chin in a challenge. The time would come when I'd need to deal with her and her friends, but it wasn't now. I thought about my new school and my gut dropped. It was her school; it was their territory. I was grateful for my job at Manny's. Heather would support me when I went there, as much as she could, as much as anyone could.

"Your girlfriend's a bitch," she informed Nate as soon as we heard an upstairs door slam shut.

"She's not my girlfriend." He shot her a dark look but then shrugged a second later and looked at me. "I'm sorry, Sam, if I was being a dick. I didn't mean to be."

It was who he'd been with. Her derision must've rubbed off on him, but I held my tongue. Heather bit her lip as she frowned at me, but then my phone beeped again. I read the text from Mason.
'Can you come as soon as you're done with work? At the house. Your mom threw a bowl at my mom.'

"I have to go."

But I had no car—I looked at Heather. She grinned. "I'll give you a ride." She winked at Becky. "You too, oldie but goodie?"

"Huh?"

"Yeah." I latched a hand onto Becky's arm and dragged her behind me. "Her too."

Nate gave me a nod with a small grin as we swept out of the house. I knew it was his way of sending me another apology, but as I got into Heather's car, I wondered if that was the side of him that most people
saw. He seemed nice and respectful, reserved even, whenever he was with Mason and Logan, but this Nate was different. Again, I remembered the comments about the trouble he and Mason would get into, the reason why his parents had him move away in the first place. But he was back…and I knew Logan already regretted it.

"Sam."

Becky was trying to hold back a smile.

My eyebrows shot up. "What?"

Then she handed me her phone.

"What is this?"

"Just look."

And I did, gasping when I saw the picture she had taken. It was a full frontal of Parker, when Nate had pushed her back. Her breasts were on display. "You snuck this picture?"

She nodded, biting her lip from excitement.

"Let me see." Heather held her hand out and took a quick peak. She busted out laughing and handed it back. "Your oldie but goodie is a sneaky one, Sam. Good one, back there."