by Tijan
“And Becky,” he started, his head hanging back down.
We were on a loop. I didn’t know why he came here, but he was going to repeat everything he just said.
Then someone appeared behind him.
He wasn’t looking at me, and I opened my mouth to tell them to leave, but the words died in my throat.
Sam looked at me. She saw me, then Adam, and I watched the blood drain from her face. Horror filled her eyes.
No.
No.
Icy dread formed in my gut, but I could only shake my head and motion for her to go.
She started to come forward.
I mouthed, “NO!” I put my hand up in a stopping motion.
She skidded to a stop again, her eyes on Adam. I could see a question in there, but she closed them for a moment.
I breathed a little easier. She was going to stay silent.
I motioned for her to leave.
She shook her head.
I did it again, an abrupt and almost savage motion.
She shook her head again, crossing her arms over her chest.
This woman—
Adam lifted haunted eyes back to me. “Why’d you have to take Becky from me?”
Sam’s frown deepened. Her forehead wrinkled.
“Kade!” he barked at me.
Fuck. He’d been expecting a response. “What?” I rubbed a hand over my face.
This could go from bad to worse. Sam had to get out of there. How the hell could I make her leave without letting him know she was there?
“Monson called her. What did he say?”
My alarms were blasting. This was why he’d come. Not Sam. Becky, because Nate called her. I stilled. Nate never actually talked to Becky. It was a bluff, one that he bought.
“How do you know he wasn’t honest with her?”
His nostrils flared again. “You told your best friend to take her from me. Logan slept with Ashley. You took Sam from me. Now it’s Nate’s turn, right? He’s going to make Becky fall in love with him, isn’t he?”
What?
I was distracted.
Sam was here.
He was talking.
Nate.
Becky.
“Kade!” he yelled, a vein pulsing in his neck.
“What do you want? You tried to set me up, you fucker.” Take the offense. Make him go defensive. I started for him. “That video could’ve put me away for years. My future would’ve been ripped from me.”
He stepped back.
It worked.
“It wouldn’t have,” he said. “You always get off. You and Logan. You get the girl. You get the life I wanted. You get the future.”
“I don’t want to be a lawyer.”
“Logan does.”
“Because of you. Because you and your dad kept fucking with us. He sent Caldron after Sam. He sent him to hurt her, and you were there.” That flame was a full fire in me now. Fuck what I did to his life. He tried to take mine. “You were there, you fucker. You did nothing. You stood there and did nothing!”
“I didn’t know. I didn’t. I didn’t see them, and when Becky told me, I couldn’t stop him. He was there with his friends. All of them against me. It wouldn’t have worked.” Some of his rage left. He sounded sorry. “I never wanted to hurt Sam. That was one concession I made with my dad. I insisted she’d never get hurt. Caldron went rogue that day.”
“Or the first time he attacked me and her? Are you not remembering that time either?”
“That was at your friend’s fight?”
I nodded.
“He wasn’t supposed to touch her. Just you.”
“Him and ten of his friends.”
Adam shrugged. “Whatever it took.”
To hurt me. That was what he meant. Whatever it took to hurt me.
I wanted to hurt him. All over again. I could feel it rise up in me, and I had to remind myself that I had hurt him. That was why he was there, but he wouldn’t go away. This asshole was never going to go away.
“But why Becky? Why her?”
“Because you loved her, and you lost her. You. Not me. And she doesn’t even know about the video.” I grinned, knowing it was a hard smile. “Imagine what she’d say if she knew what you’d done there.”
He paled, but he didn’t respond. He couldn’t. Those were all his fuck-ups, and he knew it. He couldn’t spin it around to blame someone else, and my patience was growing thin. If he was here to do something, he needed to get on with it—and before he realized Sam was here. I didn’t trust him. He claimed he didn’t want to hurt Sam, but I felt no guarantee.
“You lost her,” I ground out. My hands moved into fists. “You did that. Maybe I was pissed after you tried to set me up. Maybe I was even madder after you broke into our house. Who the fuck cares? Or maybe Nate knew she was single. She told Sam she broke it off with you. Maybe he wanted to see how she was doing, and he called once to do that, and that morphed into something else.”
“You’re lying.” His voice was shaking. “Stop lying!”
I moved toward him again. One more step. Come on, fucker. Do what you came to do.
I kept my voice level, steady. “Have you asked yourself why she answered the call? If it was something about you, Sam would’ve called. Or maybe she didn’t answer? Maybe he called, and she waited for him to leave a message?” I waited one second. I wanted his mind following along. I wanted him to imagine her perspective, to understand what I was saying. I was lying through my teeth here, but I didn’t care. I wanted him to act now, not later, not when he knew Sam was here. “That means she would’ve called him back. She would’ve dialed him up.”
His shaking was worse. I didn’t think he could get any paler than he was, but he did. He was almost as white as a piece of paper, with fury in his eyes. They were near black. “Stop it.”
No. Fucking. Way.
“Whatever the reason she’s going with him, she decided to do it. Her. Not me. Not him. Her.” I looked him over. “She already left you, but that’s insult to injury. She’s going to hook up with your enemy’s best friend.”
The coat remained in the back of my mind.
Why the coat?
I risked a look over his shoulder. Sam covered her mouth with her hand, and she was visibly trembling.
I wanted her to go. My eyes caught and held hers. I tried pleading with her.
She shook her head, lowering her hand and crossing her arms over her chest.
“Go,” I mouthed once more.
Another head shake.
Quinn was watching me. I had to look back at him or he’d notice. I couldn’t let him do that. If he did, if he turned—I’d take him down.
The coat. I started eyeing it again, forcing myself to look away from Sam.
She didn’t like when I toyed with Adam. That was what she thought I was doing. I was the better guy, tormenting the lesser guy. She didn’t see him for who he was. He was toxic. He kept coming back. He kept trying to take mine away.
I didn’t know what else to do.
But Sam was good. I was not.
I wouldn’t let him hurt her. Ever.
“Why are you doing this?” he asked.
I jerked my gaze back to him. He’d reached into his coat pockets again.
“I came to you,” he said. “I should be attacking you, but you’re attacking me. Maybe that’s my fault. That’s what you do, isn’t it? When you’re backed in a corner, you go on the offensive.”
Like an animal—the way I thought of him.
My lips parted at the irony. “Maybe I’m just impatient?”
“No.” He shook his head, his eyes falling again. “That’s not it. You’re patient. That’s a quality you use for your success. I know. I know you. Logan’s the impatient one. Not you. You . . . if you attack, you’re doing it for a reason.” He looked back to me, and I was chilled.
He was dead inside. I saw into him.
I wanted to edge back, but I stopped myself. No matter w
hat was coming, I was here. I’d take him down before anything could happen.
His hands were still in his pockets, and a sick thought came to me. I saw his hands moving in his pockets. No. Only his right hand. Like something was in there.
Like he was grabbing at it, getting ready to pull it out.
I didn’t want to give it a name, but I looked over his shoulder to Sam. She had to go. She had to run.
Tears streamed down her face. I didn’t think she was even aware of them. She had both her hands pressed over her mouth, and seeing what I wanted, she shook her head. She wasn’t going to go.
She had to.
I pushed back the ice that lined my organs. I shoved away the rage that was just underneath it. I only wanted her to see love and warmth right now from me. I saw the dawning recognition in her eyes. It was slow and still horror-filled, and she began shaking her head even harder.
She was going to say something, or choke back a sob. She was going to make a noise, and he’d know she was there.
He couldn’t—I tore my eyes from her and tossed out, “What the fuck do you want, Quinn? You want me to call Nate off Becky?”
I picked those words on purpose, and he grimaced like I’d hit him.
I advanced, softening my tone. “Because that’s what’s going to happen. And you know it. Whether she goes out just to talk, it doesn’t matter. You know how charming Nate can be. Girls like him. They unzip their jeans for him, raise their skirts for him. They pull their panties off and give them to him, if he asks. They finger themselves, if he asks. I know they do because he’s told me. How does Becky like it? Does she like your fingers in her first? Is she going to pull his fingers into her? Buck her hips on them, like she’s riding a horse? Is that what she does?”
He couldn’t talk. His hate for me was right on the surface, and my gut was right. He was here to kill me.
A chill went through me. I ignored it.
“You want to know the worst thing about this? Even if he was honest and told her he called her because I asked him to do it, she still decided to go with it. She did. She’s choosing him. How’s that feel? To know you’re going to lose a second woman you love because of me?”
It was enough.
A primal roar erupted from him, and he started to pull his hand out. I rushed him.
Sam screamed.
I grabbed his arm and pushed him back, hitting it hard against my vehicle.
He screamed too, but I kept hitting his arm against my Escalade. He had to let go of the gun. He still wouldn’t. His hand was still in there. Adam grunted. I held him against my truck, and he grinned at me. Sweat poured off him.
“I could never hurt you, Mason. I’ve tried, but it doesn’t work. That’s why I came. I wanted to give you this—” He started to pull his hand out.
I released him, stepped back, and rounded with my fist.
One punch across his face, and he slumped to the ground.
Sam was still screaming in the background, but I had to get the gun. He was unconscious, and his hand fell out . . .
There was a letter crumpled in his hand, and it fell onto the parking lot’s cement.
A letter.
I couldn’t—a goddamn letter.
My heart raced. I reached for it, turned it over.
It was addressed to Becky.
SAMANTHA
“Sam?” Gentle hands touched my shoulder. Mason. I didn’t know why he was being gentle with me, but I launched myself at him. I held him tight, burrowing into him. I wanted him to take me away. I didn’t want to be here. I didn’t want to be a part of this. Any of this.
He crushed me to him, his hand running down my hair and back.
I drew in a ragged breath. I tried to speak. I couldn’t.
He just held me.
Then someone pulled up by us. Car doors opened and shut.
A muffled, “Oh, no.”
Mason spoke over my shoulder, “Check him. I thought he was going for a gun.”
“Sam?”
A soft female voice. I looked. Taylor stood next to me, tears cascading down her face. She touched my arm. I didn’t release Mason, but unwound one arm and pulled her in. I couldn’t think about what was happening behind us.
“Shit.”
That wasn’t Mason.
I looked. Logan had fallen back so he was sitting on the cement. His eyes were wide and his mouth hung open. He looked at Adam like he’d just realized he was an alien. The letter was still on the ground, but . . .
. . . Next to it was a gun.
Red and blue lights flashed in the night.
Someone had called campus police.
We sat on the back end of an ambulance. Two of them were here, one for Adam and a second for us. We were fine. Adam was the only one who got carted off. Mason had broken one of his ribs from when he shoved him against the Escalade.
The campus cops told us Adam would be charged for bringing a weapon on campus.
They asked Mason what happened, and he told them. He thought Adam had a gun.
They talked to me. I just wanted to talk to Mason; that’s why I’d come to find him.
I wanted to thank him for always protecting me.
They talked to Logan and Taylor. Logan explained that we weren’t at the dinner, so he wanted to come see if something was up. Mason wasn’t answering his calls, and that wasn’t like him.
What happened when they got there?
There was a pause at that question.
I didn’t look up, but I felt Mason tense next to me. He shifted, looking over. I assumed he and Logan shared a look, and then Logan’s tired voice spoke.
“Quinn was on the ground. Mason was consoling Sam, and he told me to look for a gun.”
“Who?”
I jerked. The cop was so impassive, so brisk. Like he dealt with this all the time.
A sad laugh bubbled up in my throat. He was campus police, but maybe this was a normal day at the office for him. Which was so sad, in so many ways.
“Uh . . .”
I looked now. Logan had a hand in his hair, his other arm around Taylor, who leaned back against him.
“Mason did,” Logan finished.
“This one?” The cop pointed at Mason with his pen. He looked almost bored.
“Yeah. My brother.”
The cop stopped, his eyes narrowing. “You guys are brothers?”
Who was this guy?
Mason was still so stiff. “I’m Mason Kade. That’s my brother, Logan.”
The cop cocked his head to the side, his eyes locked on Mason. “You’re that football star, aren’t you?”
Mason swallowed. “So?”
The cop pointed the pen back to where Adam had been laying. “Was he an avid fan or something? Why would you think he had a gun on him?”
“Because things have been shit between him and me lately.” Mason’s jaw clenched. I could feel his anger stirring.
My hand covered his leg, and I spoke, explaining what all happened over the summer, except the last visit to Adam’s cabin on the ocean.
The cop didn’t say a word once I finished. He kept staring between all of us, but lingering the longest on Mason. A minute passed. I felt Mason growing more and more tense next to me.
Then the cop said, “You have enough history to get a protection order. I don’t think you’d have any problem, and it sounds like you need it.”
The questioning took on a different feel after that. The cop’s supervisor came, along with Mason’s head coach. Coach Broozer pulled up in a car after that, and Taylor went running into his arms. The cop noticed that too, frowning.
“My girlfriend,” Logan said. “His daughter.”
The cop snorted. “Nice to be so connected.” He turned back to Mason. “You got some folks waiting for you at the hospital. You all need to go get checked out.”
Logan stood from the ambulance. “Shouldn’t that have happened before the questioning?”
The cop shrugged, smiling slightly
. “You’d think, right?” He held up his notepad. “I got enough. Thank you all and stay safe.” He stepped past his supervisor, who came over to shake Mason’s hand. The first cop went over to talk to the two coaches, who then called Mason over to join them.
Taylor came to see me, her arms wrapped tightly around herself. She kept glancing over her shoulder to her dad. “We’re going to go to the house. Do you mind, Logan?”
He shook his head, pulling her in for a hug. “Not at all. I’m sure this brought up flashbacks.”
She shuddered in his arms, closing her eyes as he kissed her forehead.
He promised to go to her house later. Taylor nodded, almost like she was relieved. She gave him one last kiss, hugged me, and started for her dad’s car.
Seeing her, Broozer clapped Mason on the shoulder and departed as well. The two drove off together.
I turned to Logan. “You okay?”
That’s when I saw the truth.
He blew out a breath, running a tired hand over his face. I saw the worry lines around his eyes and mouth. I saw the fear in his eyes. I saw how he’d been keeping himself together until Taylor left.
“Oh, Logan.” I pulled him in for a hug.
He clasped on to me, pressing his forehead down on my shoulder. “Holy fuck, Sam. I couldn’t lose you guys.” He was shaking, just a slight tremor. “Holy fuck.” He tightened his hold.
I looked over his shoulder to Mason. A frown marred his face, but he didn’t come over.
This was . . .
I was comforting my stepbrother because he thought his family could’ve been shot.
That wasn’t supposed to be my life. This wasn’t supposed to be happening.
If a gun was involved, it was supposed to be a random act of violence. We were supposed to be the victims. We weren’t supposed to be part of the reason.
We weren’t supposed to be the bad guys.
I heard Adam. I knew why he was here.
When Logan saw Adam’s gun, he retreated as if it had burned him. The sight of it shook him. It shook all of us, because the truth was Adam had brought a gun.
But it wasn’t to shoot us.
At least that’s what Adam said when he became conscious. The cops questioned him as he was placed on the paramedic’s gurney. They kept questioning him until the ambulance doors shut, and then they were told to continue their questions at the hospital.
