Fallen Crest Extras

by Tijan

  inside. That conversation wouldn’t end well.

  “So you said you had a theatre here?”

  “I did!” I perked up as I led her downstairs to the room with a screen that took up an entire wall. A few rows of lounging chairs made up the rest of it. Each chair could be reclined and they had a resting place for drinks and anything else someone might’ve brought.

  “Oh my god!” Becky gasped as she walked inside. “This is amazing, Sam. Your bio dad thought about this, all on his own?”

  I shrugged again. “He’s one of a kind, trust me.” When she lifted up a barrier between two of the seats, I started laughing. “Yeah, I liked the ideas of couches more, but then Mason showed me that. I like this room a lot more now.”

  Her smile faded quickly and I paused in confusion, but then I realized. We’d never talked about him before, but this was time and I took a deep breath. “You can ask anything you want, you know.”

  She let the barrier fall and turned back. The gravity in her eyes set me back, but I clenched my jaw and waited. She had a right to know, didn’t she? She’d been my friend when I hadn’t any so I owed her. Right? Pain seared me when I remembered two other friends that I would’ve thought the same, until both of them stabbed me in the back.

  “How?”

  She threw me with that one. “What do you mean?”

  “How did it happen? Do you love him?”

  I smiled weakly. “Maybe we could have some wine before we have this talk?”

  She blocked me when I started for the door. “I mean it, Sam. I want to know. Are you really with him?” Then she blushed and looked down. “Of course, you are. I was there. I saw how he touched you. But…” She looked back up. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I…” had no idea what to say to her. How could I explain things I didn’t know myself? When I started to feel for him, when his touch excited me, when I knew I shouldn’t have experienced the rush of adrenalin that I did? So I settled with, “It just happened, I guess. I don’t really know—there wasn’t an exact time when it happened.”

  “When we were at the cabin party, you were gone that first whole day. Was it then?”

  Oxygen left me in a rush. “Okay, maybe that’s when it started.” A flash of lust spread through me as I remembered that day. His arms had held me in place as he nuzzled under my neck, to my cheeks, to my ear. Adam had been there and he’d been a witness to the power Mason held over me. Heat flared through me as I recalled that time. It wasn’t one that I was proud of, but it pushed Adam back. I knew now that Mason had purposely paraded our relationship in front of the others for a reason.

  “You were with him that day?”

  I nodded.

  Her cheeks flushed up and she squeezed her hands together, but she asked in a dreadful tone, “You had sex with him that day?”

  Okay, enough with the sharing. I narrowed my eyes and asked in a flat voice, “Why do you care about that?”

  She squeaked again and looked away. There was a frantic feeling to her when she hurried out, “I don’t. I just—did you? I mean, Adam said you did and I didn’t believe him.”

  It took one step before I latched onto her arm.

  Her eyes were round as she gaped up at me.

  I gritted my teeth and tried to contain my anger. It was like whiplash. “Are you kidding me? You would never care before. You would’ve been excited. Now you care? Now you’re telling me Adam had something to say about it?”

  She gulped and moved away from me. My hold tightened on her and her eyes got bigger when she tried to pull her arm from me. “Let go of me.”

  My eyes bore into her. I needed to know. “When it came out that Mason and I are dating and that Adam had been using you to get to me, you stopped talking to me. I thought it was because you felt hurt or betrayed, but now I’m starting to wonder. Why’d you stop talking to me, Becky?”

  Her mouth had fallen open and she closed it now. Her eyes slid to the side.

  “Tell me the truth too.”

  “I…” She took a deep breath. “IstoppedbecauseAdamwasmakingmeconfused.” Another deep breath. “Hesaidyouliedtomeonpurposeanddidn’tconsiderme,” another breath. “afriendotherwise

  youwould’vetoldmeyouweredatingMasonKade,butnothatIblameyouwithJessicaandLydiaandallthatcrap.”

  My fingers let loose and I was ashamed to see there were white finger prints on her arm. “You’re an idiot, right? You know that, don’t you?”

  She gulped and hung her head. “I’m starting to think that.”

  “I didn’t tell you about Mason because I don’t trust anyone. You can’t blame me for that. I caught Jeff cheating on me; then found out that Jessica had been screwing him for two years. Then, to make it worse, Lydia knew about it. My other best friend covered for them. And then you show up and we’re friends for two months before this shit’s hit the fan again. Can you blame me for not telling you?”

  She gave me a sad look.

  I narrowed my eyes and clipped out, “And Adam’s talking to you? You’re listening to the guy that used you because you were the only one I was talking to? Really? Come on, Becky. I know you think Adam Quinn is this great guy, but he can be really low and dirty if he doesn’t get what he wants.”

  “I know.” It came out like a whimper.

  “Do you?”

  Then the doorbell rang again and I let loose with a string of curses. “It’s the pizza. Hold on.”