Fallen Crest Public (Fallen Crest Series) (34 page)

I felt the extra kick behind his words. He knew. “Brett.”

“Yeah,” he bit out.

Hopelessness hit me hard then. There was so much distance between us now. Brett had been … what lie? I couldn’t remember now. “I meant to tell you about him.”

“It would’ve been nice to know my girlfriend was on a first-name basis with one of them, or when you first ran into them?”

I flinched from the accusation in his tone. “You lied to me, too.”

“When?”

“Don’t play that game with me.”

“When? I told you what I was doing with Kate—”

“With Logan,” I cried out. My heart started pounding again. It was racing. “You lied to me about Tate, and why you stopped giving a crap if they hooked up or not. Why, Mason?! Why?”

“Because he wants to screw with her,” he threw back. His green eyes were heated, but he was holding back.

That wasn’t why. I jerked my head in a nod, but began looking for that bottle again. “You just lied to me. Again.”

“What are you talking about?”

It wasn’t in the chair. I rounded to the couch and felt under the cushions.

“What are you looking for?”

“Alcohol.”

“You don’t drink that much.”

A harsh laugh ripped from me. “I do tonight. I’m going to keep drinking a whole shitload tonight.” My insides were churning, and the hysteria was starting to rise again.

“Sam.”

I stopped. His voice broke and I heard his defeat in my name. I turned from the couch, my heart paused and my breath held. He had fallen against the wall and was leaning against it now. His green eyes were stricken as he hunched forward.

Whatever tension that was between us was gone.

I didn’t speak. I didn’t dare. I felt something coming. It was the old Mason, before the lies got between us. I felt him coming back, and I wanted it so badly. I wanted
him
so badly.
Please …

He slid down the wall to the floor and sat there. His eyes never left me. They were usually so intense and powerful. They could pierce through all my walls. He had since the beginning, but it was me this time. I pierced through his and he surrendered to me. I took a step towards him. My heart began beating rapidly. I missed him so damn much. “You touched another girl.”

“It was the only way, Sam. I know it hurt you, and I’m sorry for that. It was the only way. She hurt you. I can’t let that go. No one hurts you and Budd wanted to. I’ve stopped that too now.”

What could I say to that? I had no idea, but I took another step. I saw it then. He was sorry. As I closed the distance and stood above him, his head tipped back. There was agony inside of him, but determination too. He would do it again. That knowledge slammed against me, and I stumbled back a step.

“Sam.” He reached for me and caught the back of my leg. His hand cupped me there, and he pulled me back to him. “Please.”

“You lied to me.”

“Because I see that it’s already getting to you. He’s going to hurt her. I didn’t want you to know. I didn’t want that on your conscience.”

“But it is now.”

“Yeah. It is now.”

I drew in a sudden breath. He was right. He was right about everything. He touched her, but it was for me. He lied to me. I lied to him. I was so tired of it all, and I just wanted him again. Mason had been my shelter for so long. The world hurt when I wasn’t with him. Folding my knees, I bent, and he caught me. He pulled me onto his lap like I had never left. I was home again. Cradling my head in his hand, he took a deep breath. I felt his relief because it was mine, too. Our old connection was coming back, but I couldn’t forget what Brett had warned.

“Go back home … The regret won’t eat at you then”

Mason’s arm slid around me, and I was moved so my back rested against his chest. “What’s Budd going to do to her?” I asked.

She had kissed Mason. She ran her hands over him and pushed her breasts against him. Anger clawed at me. She wanted to take what was mine.

“I don’t know.” His arms tightened around me. His tone was soothing once again. “But it’s not you. That’s all I care about. Better her than you.”

He knew my lies, but he still held that one truth from me. It took root inside of me, and it was going to grow until it would take over us. I was too weak to fight for it now. He evaded, but he was here. He was mine. That would be enough … for now.

“Hey.” Logan came back from the back porch, the bottle in one hand, his phone in the other, wearing a dark frown. “Not to interrupt, but I just checked my phone.”

Mason stiffened underneath me. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” That didn’t sound good. “We have a problem.”

Of course we did.

“Just say it, Logan. Stop beating around the bush.”

“Tate called me. Actually,” he lifted the phone as if we could see her calls, “she called me ten times and texted another seven times.”

Mason stiffened underneath me. He leaned his head back against the wall. “What about?”

“Uh …”

“Logan.”

“Okay.” His shoulders lifted when he sucked in a deep breath. “So when you shooed me out of Sam’s room when she was in the hospital, I wasn’t thinking clear, and I needed to get my mind off things …”

“Spill it.”

“Yeah.” The hand with his phone went to his hair and he grabbed onto some of his locks, pulling at them so they stuck up. His other hand tightened around the bottle. His shirt rode up, exposing the waistband of his boxers. His jeans slipped down an inch, but Logan wasn’t aware. He shook his head. “I forgot all about it.”

He stopped again. Seriously.

“Yeah, so I went to Tate’s that night, and we were in the living room. No one else was there. There was a time when she went to the bathroom, and I was looking through her magazines.”

“Logan, tell us what happened.”

His hand dropped from his hair. “They have video tape of Tate giving me a blow job.”

“What?”

I began to giggle again. This night couldn’t get any worse.

“Like I said,” Logan’s head went down. His shoulders drooped. “I can’t believe this. I wasn’t thinking that night. Now Tate’s freaking out. She thought I covered the camcorder. She never knew where it was, and I stopped caring. I thought it would’ve ran out of batteries, but I guess they fixed that somehow.”

“How’d they get the camcorder back?”

Logan groaned.

Mason cursed. “Just tell us.”

“It’s because of you.” His hand jerked up and gestured to Mason. “Tate was freaking out because she thought you and Kate were tight again. She said they came over this afternoon to get ready for the street dance together. She let them in. She figured if they were tight with us again, she didn’t want to be on Kate’s shit-list anymore.”

More curses spewed from Mason. He was like cement underneath me. Lifting a hand to his chest, I felt his heartbeat going off like a stampede. His eyes caught and held mine, but I couldn’t share in his misery.

They got Tate giving Logan a blow job. That was karma.

He explained the misery. “I have to kiss Kate’s ass again and get all those copies from her.”

“Yeah.” Logan came into the room and collapsed down on the couch. His elbows went to his knees, and he leaned forward. The bottle and phone were left on the cushion beside him, and he covered his face with his hands. They slid into his hair again and he tugged once more on his strands. “This blows.”

Literally.

I snorted at the joke, but stopped. Neither of them were amused.

Another curse sounded from Mason, and then he asked, “What do they want from Tate?”

“Huh?” Logan glanced back up. His eyes were glazed over, and I wondered how full that bottle had been in the beginning. There were only a few droplets left inside.

“Tate.”

“Oh. Yeah. Uh, she needs to find out where Sam’s living now. Guess you weren’t too sharing with Kate over the week, huh?”

“Are you kidding me? She’s still looking to fuck Sam over?”

“I’m sure Kate thinks she has free reign since you two are hooking back up again. Probably hopes you won’t find out until after she finishes whatever she has planned. That’s what I’d do.” He caught the glare from Mason and corrected, “At least that’s what she thinks, that you two are good. Not that you are, not from your side, but whatever. She’s a hateful bitch. Let’s go blast her. I’ve had enough dealing with them all week.”

Mason groaned as his hand curved on the inside of my thigh. His finger rubbed between my legs in a smooth motion as he started to lift me back to my feet. I gave him a lopsided grin when he stood next to me, and his hands found my waist once again.

I was still drunk. A bit.

He shook his head, but the corners of his mouth curved up. Pressing his lips to my forehead and then to my lips, he whispered at the same time, “I love you. You need to know that.”

I did. As they headed off and I stayed back, I continued to know that. Then I grabbed my phone and dialed Mark’s number. When he answered, out of breath, I told him, “You need to come pick me up again.”

“What? Come on—”

“You said you’d help.”

He grew quiet, then groaned. “Fine. Be there in a little bit. I’m in the,” he hesitated, “middle of something.”

“Again?!” someone screeched in the background.

It was a screech that I recognized, and I couldn’t hold back a smirk. “Cass? Really?”

“Yeah,” he grumbled. “Hold on. I’m getting clothes on. You’re at your dad’s?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright. See you in a few.”

Yes, I knew Mason loved me. Yes, I knew he was doing all of this to protect me, but I wasn’t a sucker. I was going to be at that confrontation. Nothing was going to stop me from being there with front row tickets. When Mark pulled into the driveway twenty minutes later, I was glad that I hadn’t changed out of my clothes or washed my make-up off. He gave me a quick perusal and nodded in approval. “Can’t see the bruises anymore, but you smell like booze.”

My day was complete. “Thanks. Just what every girl wants to hear.”

He grinned. “Where to, boss?”

Where would Kate and her friends be? Or the better question is, where would they go after sending Tate a blackmail message? I shrugged. “Where’s the party tonight?”

“Ethan Fischer’s having a big one.”

“Isn’t there supposed to be a bonfire tonight?”

“That’s a no-go. The only way back there is next to Quickie’s, and they shut it down. I guess the clerk keeps getting beat up by the Broudou brothers, so they’ve been banned. I heard police were even going to be there, and if the Broudou’s can’t go, no one from Roussou’s going. Hence,” he flashed his dimples at me, “there’s a Public party at Fischer’s. I was there earlier.”

It was perfect. “That’s where we’re going.”

He didn’t move. In fact, he turned the engine off.

“Mark?”

“You sure about this?”

“What do you mean?” There was something in his gaze that made me uncomfortable. As he continued to stare at me, the more I wanted to run. Then it clicked. Pity. He felt sorry for me. “I know.”

“You do?”

“About Kate and Mason?”

His eyes widened.

“I know. That’s why I’m going.”

“They weren’t there before.”

“Let’s go, Mark.” They were going to be there.
She
was going to be there, and so was I. I wasn’t going to miss this for the world.

“They’re late.”

I glanced at Logan as he checked his phone for the fourth time. We were waiting in my car, parked outside of Ethan’s house, and I was tempted to punch my little brother. “We’ve been here five minutes. Relax.”

“You relax,” Logan shot back. “We need to get in there and get that video back from Kate. If it were Sam in it, you’d go steal the video from Kate’s house.”

“I wouldn’t.”

“You would too and we both know it.”

“You’re not pissed about the damn video and we both know it.”

Logan didn’t comment on that, not that I expected him to, but I rolled my eyes and sighed as I leaned back in my seat. Twenty people were running around Ethan’s front yard in rhythm to the bass from inside. Drunken idiots. The entire night had been fucked up. The hurt in Sam’s eyes wasn’t something I’d forget any time soon, but I shoved that memory aside, for now.