Fallen Crest Alternative Version (36 page)

“I’ll tell her, Mason,” David said. “I’m sure she knows.”

“Fuck that.”

“Give her time.”

There was silence. I closed my eyes. I could see him in my head. He was at the door. David stood, holding it open for him, and I was just beyond his eyesight.

He called out again, “I’m done giving you space. Sam,” he sighed. “Please just talk to me.”

I went to him. My legs turned, but I held onto the counter. Jerking back in place, my mind screamed at myself. NO. I couldn’t go.

“I’ll tell her your message, Mason. Thank you.”

The door closed a moment later, and David came around the corner. He took in the sight of me. I had crumbled to the floor. My face was wet. I’d been crying without realizing it and I turned away. I couldn’t handle the sympathy from him.

He knelt beside me and wiped some of my tears away. Then he sat beside me. “That boy is going to hunt you down.”

I nodded. I knew that.

“If you won’t talk to him here, he’ll come to the school.”

I knew that too. My heart twisted.

“It’s only a matter of time.”

CHAPTER THIRTY

“I don’t get it,” Emily was saying. She leaned against my neighbor’s locker the next week. “You broke up with him because of Logan?”

I sighed and grabbed my book from the bottom of my locker. Standing up, I glared at her. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“You brought it up.”

“I know. I’m regretting it now.”

We started down the hallway, and Emily tilted her head to the side. She mused, “So Mason still loves you?”

I growled.

“And you love him?”

“Emily.”

“And the reason you’re not with him is because of his brother?”

“Shut up.”

“And that makes no sense because you don’t even know if Logan really has feelings for you? Right?”

I frowned.

She kept going, “Did he tell you did?”

Oh my god.

“You left when he was still figuring out what you said, that all three of you had manipulated him and you left a note breaking up with Mason?”

“I broke up with both of them.”

“Yeah, but you were dating Mason, not Logan.”

“I had a relationship with both of them--”

“--which sounds weird, even though I know it’s true.” She flashed me a grin. “I mean, hello, I’ve been witnessing the whole thing.”

“You promised not to say a word to anyone about this.”

“I know. I won’t. Trust me. I’ve got a lot of shit on people, but do you hear me spilling anything?” She laughed. “Stop trying to change the conversation. Back to you having a relationship with both of them.”

I sighed. Mason had stopped after that last day. I’d been waiting for him to show up at school, but he stayed away. It was a week later, and I was beginning to think he had given up. I wasn’t sure if that’s what I wanted, but I couldn’t think about that either. I thought about what I could understand. “I can’t be with Mason. This whole thing happened because of my relationship with Mason and Logan’s feelings. I refuse to be the reason they fall apart.”

“Still not making sense to me.”

“If I’m there, then it’ll be a problem. I know it. I have to not be there, and then it won’t happen.”

“So you’re assuming two very hot and very alpha guys won’t be able to figure their own shit out because of your mere presence?”

I stopped. An anchor dropped in me. When she put it like that--no. I couldn’t start doubting myself. More damage would happen then. “Stop it, Emily.”

She quieted, watching me. “I’m sorry, Sam.”

It stung. It hurt every day. I swallowed it. It’s what I had been doing every day. It’s what I would have to keep doing.

“I’ll stop asking questions about them.”

I nodded, unable to talk. The emotion was right there. It was still fresh and it was still overpowering. Feeling the tears again, I left and escaped into the bathroom. Crying in the back booth was normal for me now. I’m sure people knew who was in the stall crying, but I didn’t care. No one said a word. Whenever I left the bathroom, I kept my head down. I went from class to class and the only person who ventured to talk to me was Emily. Becky wrote me a note. She explained that Adam was hurt by my choice and she needed to be his friend and support him. I didn’t have the strength to explain what really happened, nor did I care anymore. Surviving was my first priority. Emily didn’t put any demands on me. This last conversation was the closest she had come to questioning my decision.

After an hour in the bathroom, I waited for the bell to ring and then I left. It was the last class of the day. I could go home. I could escape and wallow all by myself. Hoping to avoid Emily, even though she kept her distance from me if she knew I had been in the bathroom, I didn’t see him until I was already at my locker.

I saw his feet first.

I stopped, paralyzed, and then I snapped out of it. My head jerked up and there he was. Logan.

He was waiting for me, and his gaze pierced through me.

He was furious.

“Hey.”

“Shut up,” he growled at me. “Don’t talk. You don’t get that right anymore.”

My eyes widened. He had never used that tone with me. He was shaking, and he said without waiting for a response, “I don’t know where you get off making decisions for my brother and me. If you’re going to dump him, then dump him, but don’t do it because of me, or because of my relationship with my brother.”

“Logan,”

“Shut up.” His eyes were fierce. “Like I said, you don’t get a voice here. Not after the shit you pulled.”

Everything went flat in me. All of it. He reached in, took hold of every last reserve I had, every decision I had made, and he yanked it out of me. It happened in one instant. I was left shattered. Again.

Logan continued, “Whatever feelings I MIGHT have for you are only an issue if I make them. Whatever I feel for you and trust me, right now they aren’t nice, are mine and mine alone. They are not your problem. You have no right to decide for me. You hear me?”

I flinched as if he had slapped me. Every word from him was a knife into me. He kept stabbing.

He said, “Furthermore, your fucking dad slapped Mason with a restraining order. He can’t come here or near your house. Good for him for finally deciding to grow a pair, but fuck, it’s the wrong fucking timing right now. Mason’s hurting, Sam. That’s your fault. Fix it. Fix all of this mess.”

I was trying. “Logan,” I whispered.

“No. I don’t want to hear some weak ass excuse. Your reasons are wrong. I’m an adult, for the most part. I can make my own decisions, especially when it comes to my brother. So is Mason. You’re family. You can’t undo that shit with us.”

Family. That word soared through me. He still considered me family.

Logan stepped closer. I glanced around, realizing the audience we were attracting. He lowered his voice. “I don’t know what you wrote in that note, but it killed him. I couldn’t even be fucking mad at him for what he did to me, but trust me, what you did to him trumps whatever he did to me. You broke him.”

I was broken too.

“I love you, Sam. You’re my brother’s girlfriend. You’re going to be my stepsister and maybe one day, my sister-in-law. I have no clue, but I know my brother loves you. Whatever I may or may not feel for you can’t compare, but that’s my decision. Not yours. It’s not in your court unless I decide it goes there. You understand?”

Relief, hope, terror all slammed into me. What did this mean?

“I love you because you’re family, okay? That’s all there is between us.”

I was huddled against my locker now and he leaned over me. He was close, studying my face. Then he cupped the side of my face and pressed a kiss to my forehead. His lips brushed against my skin as he murmured, “Go to my brother. He’s the one that needs you.” Wrapping his arms around me, he pulled me in tight for a hug. Then he pressed another kiss to my forehead. “I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but I almost miss hearing the two of you screw.”

A weak laugh left me. “Shut up.” We were not loud. We never had been.

Logan’s chest shook as he laughed, still hugging me close. “Yeah, but I like giving you crap about it. Get your ass going.”

“Where is he?”
“He’s running.”

“He’s running?”

“Your old trail.” He lifted his head and spoke over my shoulder, “I hear you’ve been good to Sam?”
Emily replied to him, laughing at something, but I tuned out. The need to get to Mason was the only thing I could think about. I wasn’t going to analyze what Logan said. I left before I changed my mind. Logan said I was family. No matter what happened, he was right. I couldn’t fuck up my family like my mother had. I just hadn’t realized that’s what I had done.

*

My heart was pounding in rhythm with my feet. Each step I took, a loud thud sounded in my ears. I lifted my arms higher and higher with each stride. Logan said Mason was running my trail. As soon as I had parked where I normally got on the trail, I hit the ground running. My keys were still in my hand, but I took off. Logan was right. I was an idiot. I had fucked up our family and I hadn’t realized it.

At the reminder, I gritted my teeth and pushed forward with a new burst of speed. I had to get to Mason. Rounding a clearing, I kept going. When I ran, I ran. I never jogged, but this had been a full sprint since the car. My lungs were straining. The slap of the air was hitting my skin. I kept going. I didn’t feel any of it.

Then I saw him.

The trail turned, he was there, and then he was gone. There was another curve up ahead.

“Mason!” I yelled and pumped my knees harder.

The trail came to a clearing and straightened out in front of me. Nothing.

I braked, pitching forward from the sudden stop, but I gasped, frowning. Where had he gone?

“Sam?”

Whipping around, he was behind me. He was drenched in sweat. Shirtless, his shorts rode low on his hips, and he was staring at me. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m sorry,” I gasped out. My heart slammed against my chest. It wanted to go to him, but I reeled myself in. “I am so sorry. Logan told me about the restraining order. I had no idea. I can’t believe my dad would do that.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The restraining order.” I looked at him. “The one my dad put against you.”

His eyebrows bunched forward. “Your dad put a restraining order against me?”

“He…” I flushed. Logan. “He didn’t. Logan lied. I’m so sorry...again.”

He gave me a half-grin. “So Logan lied and that’s why you ran me down? To apologize for the fake restraining order.”
“No, to…” I stopped. I hadn’t thought this out. “No, I came to fix things.”

“What do you mean fix things?” His chest was gleaming from sweat and he rested his hands on his hips, breathing in and out.

“Fix you and me.” That wasn’t right either. “Fix our family. I messed it up.”

His eyes narrowed and just like that, the old Mason was back. He’d been staring at me like I was a stranger, but at my news, his eyes flashed. They were fierce and I sucked in my breath. Shit. He was inside of me, just like that. I could feel him reading my thoughts. He had a grip on my heart. He was in me. There was no other way to describe it. The ache began in me. I had missed him so goddamn much.

“Your note said there was no more us.”

I closed my eyes. He was hurting. I heard it in his voice, and it hurt to talk. “I know.”

“Your note said I was supposed to leave you alone.”

“I know.”

It was hurting all over again.

He added, his voice was too soft, “You wrote that you had come between Logan and me and you were taking yourself out of the equation.”

I flinched. Hearing it spoken to me, it was cold. I had been so cold.

He bit out, “We were a damn math equation. That’s what you likened us to. We were math to you, and we didn’t add up.”

“I was wrong.”

“You were more than wrong.”

There was anger in his voice now, and I prepared myself. He had a right to be angry. “I’m so sorry, Mason. I really am. I couldn’t bear the idea that I would come between you and Logan.”

Fury flashed in his eyes. “That’s for me and Logan to decide. Not you.”

“I know.”

“You broke up with me through a note.” He took a step closer. “A fucking note, Sam.”

“I know.” I had no excuse.

“We took you in. We protected you. We treated you like family and you left us with a note.”

Treated me like a family. Those words sent a stabbing pain through me. I thought I had been family? I cleared my throat and spoke, “I was wrong. I thought that’s what I had to do.”
“By a note?”

“I had to leave. I would always be a problem.” I was pleading with him. “You manipulated Logan because of me.”

“I manipulated Logan because I was scared that I would lose my brother. I thought Miranda would realize what button she pushed and she would throw that in his face.”