FALLEN CREST FAMILY (Fallen Crest #2)

Chapter Three

Mason wasn’t in our room when I went back, so I went in search for him. As I was going past some stairs that led to the basement, or one of the basement areas, a whistle stopped me.

“Sam, what’s going on?”

Logan came up with no shirt and his jeans unbuttoned. His hair was messily rumpled, as if he’d just woken up or just had s*x. With him, I never knew. And then I got my answer.

My eyes went wide. Jessica was behind him. Her shirt was twisted to the side and she was zipping up her own jeans when she saw me. A thick bunch of her hair slipped over her face and covered her eyes, but she brushed it back before she stopped behind Logan.

A smug smirk came over her as she leaned against the wall. “Hiya, Sam. How’s it going?”

I rounded on Logan. “Are you kidding me?”

Regret flashed over his face, but then he reached for my hand. “You okay? You seem upset.”

“You screwed her?”

“You seemed upset before you saw us. What’s going on?”

“Oh.” I bit my lip. He didn’t want to talk about Jessica, I got the message. I hated it. I hated the idea of him and her together. It was one of my worst nightmares. “If you date her, I’m gone.”

His eyes widened a fraction, but that was the only reaction I got from him. A cocky glimmer came over him and he rolled his shoulders back. “Oh, come on, Sam. It’s not like that. I promise.”

“Jerk,” Jessica hissed.

“But something else is going on. What is it?”

“Logan.” I pressed my hands against my forehead. A headache was coming on. I already knew that I couldn’t stop it. It’d be full blown within an hour and I’d be on the bathroom floor very soon. “I can’t deal with this right now. Do you know where Mason is?”

A snort came from the sideline.

I whirled on her. “Do not make one more sound. This morning hasn’t been the greatest, and I’d love to take it out on you. I really would.”

Her haughty eyes met mine, but there was no retort. I was shocked. Jessica wasn’t one to not have a hateful comment ready on the tip of her tongue. That was who she was, spiteful and mean. But then I realized she was keeping quiet because of Logan. I wanted to throw my hands in the air and pull my hair out. She was back to him. I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t know what she had said to him or done to him to do whatever they did together, but I knew it was sneaky. Then I remembered something else.

“Aren’t you dating Jeff?”

She shrugged. “Yeah, but it’s not like we’re based on good relationship morals. You should know that more than anyone.” A smug look came over her.

I wanted that look gone, and I reacted before I thought about it. I raised my hand and slapped her.

She gasped. When her face snapped back to mine, the old Jessica was back in place. The hatred I always saw from her was there. She sucked in her breath. Her chest rose up and down in dramatic breaths, and I knew she was trying to keep herself under control.

I said, heated, “You were my best friend for years. I dated Jeff for three years. If you think I was more hurt because you screwed my boyfriend for two years, then you really are a shallow person. I lost a friend, you i***t. I lost both of my best friends at the same time.”

A different look came to her then. Her hand fell from her cheek slowly.

“Hey. Okay.” Logan stepped between us. His hand touched my elbow, and he urged me up the stairs. “What’s going on? What happened this morning?”

I let him lead me down a hallway and away from her. When I glanced back, Jessica slipped further down the hallway. I hoped she was leaving. I couldn’t handle her being there, not in my world. I wouldn’t let her destroy my life again.

“Hey.”

I snapped back to him. I was still shaking from the anger inside of me. “Did you sleep with her?”

He grimaced again and ran a hand through his hair. As he rubbed at his jaw, he let loose a deep breath. “Man, I wasn’t thinking that through last night.”

“So you did.”

It stung, it stung a lot.

“Yeah,” he whispered. “I am sorry, Sam. I didn’t think about you. That seemed so long ago, and I was drunk. I was alone. I was on the couch downstairs, and she was there. She was whispering all these great promises to me. Her hands were all over me. I liked her touch last night. I liked it a lot. That girl is good in bed, but damn, I should’ve thought more clearly. I really am sorry.”

“She took my friends away.” It hurt to admit that, but it was the truth. Jeff hadn’t been a stand-up guy, but I was certain that she had seduced him. And she had gotten Lydia to cover for them. She took them both away. When it had come out, she tried to turn more against me. Whatever I had done to her, it must’ve been horrible, but I had no idea. That was the worst part of it. I had no idea why someone who I had loved since we were kids hated me so much. Had we ever really been friends?

A strong arm wrapped around my shoulders, and I was pulled against Logan’s hard chest. He dipped his head and pressed a kiss to my forehead. “I’m really sorry, Sam. But I promise last night was the one and only time. I won’t have anything to do with her again. I’m sorry.”

I nodded. It took some of the pain away, but until Jessica had sprung up in my life again, I had no idea how much I’d been hurt by her. The door was open now, and more pain came through. Then I blocked it. I repressed it all back down again, and tuned into what Logan was saying, “…pool house maybe.”

“Huh?”

“If you’re looking for Mason, he’s probably in the pool house. It’s where he and Nate hang out. They think no one knows about it, but we all do. It’s their alone time together.” He winked at me as he squeezed me close for one more hug. “You okay?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. She brings bad memories. That’s all.”

“Okay.” Then he yawned and ran a hand over his face again. “I’ve got to wake up. Man. You eat yet?”

“I was in there, yeah.”

“Okay, go check the pool house. I’m sure he’s in there. I’m going to get some grub.” He pressed one more kiss to my forehead before he let me go. As he left, I watched him saunter away. I rolled my eyes. I didn’t think Logan knew how to walk without a cocky strut.

When I slipped out through one of the patio doors, there were more people in the pool. A group had congregated at some of the tables near it. I didn’t recognize any of them so I continued to the pool house. When I stepped inside, Mason was at the bar. He sat on a stool with a cup of coffee in front of him. It looked like it hadn’t been touched, but the steam still rose in the air. He was hunched over with his phone stuck to his ear.

“Hey.”

I jumped and whirled around. Nate sat on a couch with a grin from ear to ear. His shoulders shook in amusement, but he gestured towards Mason. “He’s been on the phone the whole time.”

“He was talking to his dad.” I glanced over, but he hadn’t looked up or acknowledged me. Then I heard his next words, “f**k off, dad. I mean it!” The hostility in them blasted me. I jumped in reaction but was dumbfounded when I heard Nate’s soft laughter. I whirled back around. “You think that’s funny?”

“Yeah.” The laughter died away, but a small grin was still in place. He lounged back on the couch and threw one arm to rest on the top. “When Mason gets pissed, it’s never good for the other person. And since it’s his dad, I’m excited for what we’re going to be doing.”

“If that’s what you want, fine.” Mason’s loud exclamation was followed with a curse as he dropped his phone on the bar. He shoved back from the stool but stopped when he saw me. All the rage drained from him, and he sighed before his head slowly hung down. “I’m sorry, Sam. I am.”

“What are you talking about?” My throat was suddenly so dry. It was painful for me to speak. “What did your dad say?”

“Your mom’s being a b***h. We’re supposed to head home right now.”

“What else did he say?” I knew there was more. I could see it on his face, but he shook his head. “Mason.”

“We should go home.”

This wasn’t good. Mason didn’t stand down to anyone and that was what he was doing. Dread turned to a sick feeling. I didn’t want to go into that house. I didn’t want to deal with my mother, not when she had affected him like this.

Nate stood with us. He had a small grin on his face, like he was anticipating some fireworks. But Mason held a hand out. “No, man. Just me and Sam.”

The grin vanished. Nate straightened to his fullest height of six feet and one inch. His shoulders squared back. “You sure?”

“Yeah.”

“Logan?”

“Don’t tell him what’s going on.” Mason touched the small of my back and urged me ahead of him. He paused at the door. “Keep him here. Keep him happy. He can’t rush into this, he’d make it worse.”

Nate nodded. Mission received and accepted.

As I watched the exchange, a different perverse feeling came over me. This was the dynamic between the two that I didn’t like, where they cut everyone else out. If they did it with Logan, I knew they could do it with me. That didn’t sit well with me. I didn’t like the idea of Mason having someone ‘handle’ me as he had Nate handle Logan at times.

But I didn’t say anything. I was too scared to, not because of how Mason would react, but because I couldn’t handle any more deep stuff. The hurt that I was blasted with when I saw Jessica still felt raw. It made me realize how much I had suppressed at the beginning of the year, and that was just the tip of the iceberg. There was so much more pain where that came from, and right now, as Mason and I slipped around the side of the house and went to his car, I knew we weren’t headed to an afternoon of kissing and cuddling. We were headed to meet with my mom and his dad. Not good.

Once we had left the driveway and headed back towards town, I reached over and turned the radio off. Then I leaned back and took a breath. I readied myself. “Okay, so what did your dad say?”

Mason kept driving. He didn’t visibly react, but I knew he tensed. I felt it from him. Then he clipped out, “Your mom wants one of us out of the house.”

“What?”

He jerked his head in a nod. “And I don’t want to go. I don’t want you sleeping somewhere else or me somewhere else. I don’t want to have to sneak in to see my girlfriend or even having your mom breathing down our backs when one of us is in the house. I’ve dealt with so much more than her. It’s pissing me off. And you, where was she when she dumped you in our house with no friends and no father? She took off with my dad. Now she suddenly wants to come and act like your mother?” He cursed again and shook his head. The anger in his eyes made them glimmer. “I can’t believe her and I can’t believe my dad. He’s always known the deal. We raised ourselves. I raised Logan. He was never around. He was either cheating on our mom or away on business trips. I raised Logan. He didn’t. I swear to god, he wants to start laying the law down as my father? I’m eighteen. I’m gone the end of the summer and he’s doing this now?”

I’m gone the end of the summer. Those words hit me hard. I fell back against my seat. I knew Mason would be leaving, but I hadn’t really thought about it. He was going. He was really going.

He would be gone.

I didn’t want to go back to the mansion. “Stop the car.”

“What?”

“Stop the car.” Something fierce came over me. “Stop the car now.”

“Why?” But he slowed it down and turned into a parking lot. “What’s going on?”

I shook my head and rasped out, “I’m not doing this with them. You’re right. I know my mom wants us to stop sleeping together, but we can’t.” I wouldn’t stop. I couldn’t.

“Hey, hey.” His voice was low and smooth. He cupped the end of my elbow and turned me towards him. “We won’t. I promise. I just don’t know what to do with your mom. My dad said that she’s going nuts. She’s making all these threats—” He stopped abruptly.

Oh god.

I asked, with my heart pounding, “What is she saying?”

“She’s threatening to leave him if I won’t stop seeing you.”

“Are you kidding me?”

He shook his head. There was a deep pain in his eyes. It stabbed me in the chest. “What else?” I knew there was more. I needed to know all of it now.

“She said that if he can’t control his kid, then she’ll control hers. She’s saying that she’ll leave him and take you away.”

I waited a beat.

I let his words sink in. And then I went with my gut. “She’s lying.”

She had to be lying. That was all there was to it.

Mason didn’t say a word.

I knew my mother, and I knew she wouldn’t leave James Kade. There was no way. He was her bread and butter. He was her soulmate, or so she thought, and he loved her. I knew David loved her, but he didn’t love her as much as James Kade did.

I squeezed Mason’s hand. I squeezed until I feared it might come off, but I couldn’t stop. “She’s lying. Analise knows that James won’t want to lose her. He loves her that much, so she’s bluffing. She won’t leave him. She knows he’ll step in and stop her before she does.”

He fell back against his seat and said quietly, “I know, but it’s going to work. He’s going to kick me out to keep her.”

My eyes closed. My mom really was a bastard. So much other emotions came up within me, but I pushed them back down. I rasped out, “What do we do?”

“We can’t call her bluff. Then he’ll really do it.”

And that was the crux of it. My mother was sending an ultimatum. Her or his son. James had to choose and we knew who that would be.