Fallen Crest Public (Fallen Crest Series) (32 page)

Brett jerked his hand to the door. “Move the game somewhere else.”

I expected protests, but there were none. The room was silent as everyone got up and collected their cards. The dealer took the money and the rest of the chips. They filed past us, taking their chairs with them.

“They literally moved their game somewhere else,” I noted. Holy hell. Was I supposed to be scared? Was he going to hurt me?

“Yeah.”

“Yeah …?”

There were green couches. There was a blue one. The bar had mosaic tiles on the bottom. The stools were encased in metal—

“You’re scared of me, aren’t you?”

Oh, dear god. I tore my gaze from the stools to him and gulped. I wasn’t expecting that from him. It sounded like raw honesty. “Um …” I stopped beating around the bush. “Can you blame me?”

“I’m not going to hurt you.” He went behind the bar and reached for two glasses. “I asked you out, remember?”

As he began filling the two shot glasses with rum, I moved closer. “Do you know who I am?”

He finished pouring and put the bottle to the side, then lifted his hooded eyes back to me. “I know you were dating Mason Kade. That was a nice surprise when I put it together.” He paused, frowning at me. “Are you still dating him?”

“I—” had no idea what to say.

He added, “Because he’s been having another girl all over him. Did you know about that?”

The air left me, and I sagged forward. My heart dropped to the bottom of my feet and new pain sliced through me. Hearing Mason’s plan and knowing Kate would think she was his girlfriend was different from hearing it was happening, and hearing it from Mason’s enemy. I couldn’t answer him. I felt rubbed raw from the inside out.

His tone didn’t soften. It hardened. “I asked around. It’s that same bitch that beat you up.”

“Yeah.”

“And he’s letting her crawl all over him? He tossed you aside? For her?” The threat of violence was swimming in his depths. He tossed the shot down his throat and refilled it again. Nudging mine towards me, he waited for me this time.

I took it. I didn’t feel a thing.

“More?” He lifted the rum again.

I nodded. I needed all I could get.

We took two more shots before I moved my glass to the side. No more for me, but he still downed two more. Then he leaned against the far wall behind the bar, and I slid onto a stool. The alcohol was beginning to work. I was beginning to feel warm again.

“You never answered my question. Are you still with the guy?”

“I don’t know.”

Disappointment flared over him, followed by pity. “That’s too bad.”

“You’re not going to tell your brother?”

Pushing away from the wall, he reached for the rum again. He spoke with a savage tone, “Are you kidding me? You know what my brother does? He hurts people.”

I frowned. Didn’t he?

“I know what you’re thinking.” He held his glass towards me, the shot ready to go. “I hurt people, too, but I don’t hurt girls, and I don’t hurt people weaker than me. I don’t stop my brother either. I can’t. I tried but people only get hurt worse.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because my brother
really
wants to hurt you.” He downed his shot and filled it again. “No, he wants to hurt whoever Mason Kade cares about. Good thing that bitch has been all over him this weekend. Budd thinks it’s her that he cares about, but it’s not. Is it? It’s you. He almost drove over my brother when he found out you were hurt. I was too stunned. I almost let it happen. Shit.”

Mason almost drove over Budd? I couldn’t think about that. Grabbing my shot glass, I pushed it to him. “One more.”

He grinned, but his eyes were hungry. They were angry.

I didn’t care. I was starting to relax. He wasn’t going to hurt me. He said it and I was beginning to trust him. “You’re not going to tell your brother?”

“No.” He set the bottle down. It landed with a thud and he held onto it for a second. His head hung down.

I waited.

The moment grew tense suddenly.

Then he lifted his head again; his eyes were so haunted. “I’m going to let my brother do what he wants to. I know what Kade’s doing with that whore that hurt you. It’s fucking genius. It’s cold, too.”

He pinned me down with his gaze. I glanced away. For some reason, I didn’t want to see what he was thinking.

“You don’t know, do you?” He tone softened. “Or you don’t want to know.”

I swallowed over a knot. It felt like glue, and it wouldn’t go away.

“That’s it. You don’t want to know.”

“Why do you care?” I snapped at him. I was stretched too thin. My need to keep control was beginning to unravel. “Why do you even give a damn?”

“Because of you.”

I stopped. There was that raw honesty again, and I felt ashamed. “Why?”

“Because you don’t deserve what Budd’s going to do to that girl. That’s why.”

“You’re lying to your brother. You’re lying about Mason. I’m supposed to believe you’re doing it for me? You asked me out once. You don’t know me.”

He let out a deep breath. His hand gripped the bottle tighter, and he shrugged, but he wouldn’t look me in the eyes anymore. His went back down. “I know two things. I can’t stop my brother. He’s obsessed with hurting Kade’s girlfriend, and he won’t stop until he does. The other thing I know is that it can’t be you. You’re a good person. There aren’t many around anymore.”

Then I damned us both. “Thanks.”

He looked up now and our gazes locked.

“But you’re wrong,” I said. “I’m starting to figure it out.”

“Don’t,” he rushed out. “Stop thinking and go back home. You’ll be safer, and the regret won’t eat at you then.”

I shook my head. “You’re too late.” It was rising in me, and it was going to eat at my soul. I felt the darkness closing in.

“Brett!” someone called from the hallway. “They’re here.”

“Yeah.”

The door opened. I expected more of his friends, and I waited. They’d come in, or he would tell them to leave. I wasn’t expecting to hear my name in a gasp. “Sam!”

I whipped around. Heather was frozen in place. Her mouth hung open, and her eyes were wide, but they darted past my shoulder and grew in size. Channing came around her. He was less surprised and waved at me. Then he nodded to Brett. “Thanks, man.”

“Sam,” Heather choked out again. She jerked out of her frozen state. “You’re okay?”

Brett was behind me so I couldn’t see him, but I heard a small growl come from him.

Channing laughed and urged Heather back out the door. “Thanks for letting us know. We’ll take it from here.”

“Don’t let her back here.”

“No problem. We won’t.” Channing pushed Heather the rest of the way into the hallway and came back inside. He held a hand to me. “Sam?”

Glancing at Brett again, I didn’t know what to say. I wanted to see Mason. It was why I came.

“Sam?”

Brett jerked his head towards the door. “Go.”

I took a deep breath. I was going. There it was. I surrendered to a battle inside of me that I didn’t know was going on. There were things at play that I didn’t understand. He insinuated the same thing.

Go back home … The regret won’t eat at you then.
His statement haunted me, even as I took two steps backwards, and Channing grabbed my arm. I was pulled into the hallway and hurried out of there. Heather wrapped an arm around my shoulders. Her hand went to the top of my head and she applied enough pressure to force my head down. I was swept out of there, down a back alley, and away.

“SALUTE!”

I jumped as Budd’s voice ripped through the air.

Heather cursed under her breath, and our pace quickened.

He yelled out another cheer, and as we kept going, his voice got quieter. It wasn’t until we had covered three more blocks that we slowed down. I knew the second we passed into friendly territory. Heather dropped her hand from my head, and she let out a deep, “Thank God.”

My head went up and I saw a lot of Fallen Crest people, but it was the same reaction as before. All eyes rested on me. As Channing led us further down the street, the word had spread. They knew we were coming. One by one, they turned to watch us. I felt their gazes before we went past them, and I continued to feel their gaze on our backs.

“Where are we going?”

Heather’s hand tightened on the top of my arm. She pressed into me, and I knew I was supposed to shut up. When we got to a back parking lot, her arm dropped from me and she moved away.

Channing cut across the lot. A group of trucks were in the back. The tailgates had been lowered so people sat on top of them. Lounge chairs were set up in a circle and coolers were spread all over. A guy reached down into one and pulled out a beer.

“What are you doing here?” Heather asked me now in a quiet voice. She moved closer, but her arm didn’t reach around me again.

I shrugged. My mind was racing. I didn’t have that answer anymore.

She sighed. “We’re mostly around Fallen Crest people now, but there’s still a few Roussou people here. All of Channing’s friends are close by, but you shouldn’t have come here.”

“Why?” That was the answer. That was why I came. I wanted to know why Mason hadn’t called. Why Logan remained silent. Why Heather was with Channing for the weekend. Why I felt like my insides were being ripped out. I wasn’t leaving until I found out.

“Holy shit.”

Finally.

Logan stood behind me, a beer in hand. I turned all the way around, and when he saw my face, the beer slipped from his hand. It splattered on the ground, spraying everywhere. He didn’t move. His eyes never left mine. Then his eyes bulged out before he lunged for me.

His hand grabbed my arm, and he hissed at Heather, “What the hell were you thinking?!”

“We didn’t. I didn’t. She came by herself.”

“What?!” His eyes were fierce. “What are you thinking, Sam? It’s dangerous here.”

I waited for Heather to tell him the rest. She didn’t. As my gaze darted to hers, her head shook from side to side. It was the slightest of movements. She didn’t want Logan to know about Brett. I nodded to her, the same slightest of movements. The corners of her mouth lifted up in a faint grin. It vanished as quick as it appeared and then she started to move away.

“Wait.” I held her phone out. “Your brother gave it to me. Wanted me to give it to you if I saw you.”

“Oh.” She ran her thumb across the screen and typed in the password. As she saw the missed calls and text alerts from me, she looked up. An apology was there.

I lifted a shoulder. I was here. It didn’t matter anymore.

“Let’s go,” Logan growled in my ear.

“Be nice to her.”

He swung back around to Heather. “Are you kidding me?”

“Be nice to her,” she repeated. A different message was sent between them, and she added, “You’re not seeing it from her eyes.”

He stopped. Whatever she meant, it hit him. More curses slipped out before his hand gentled on my arm. “Come on, Sam. I’ll take you home.”

“Can you drive?”

“Yes.” He looked as if he’d seen his own ghost. “I’m suddenly very sober.” Then he turned and I started to go with him. It was then that I saw them.

Everything stopped.

My heart froze.

My lungs shrunk.

Everything shattered.

Knowing about it hadn’t prepared me. Hearing about it hadn’t prepared me, but seeing it was the worst way for it to become real.

Mason was sitting on the back of a truck. It had been pulled so it was hidden behind the others, but it wasn’t the sight of him that had a dagger slicing through my insides. Kate was straddling him. Her breasts were pushed against his chest, and she had both arms around him. She grabbed a fistful of his hair as she gyrated on top of him, rubbing against him. A smirk came over him as he took hold of the back of her neck and tilted her head to the side. Then his mouth opened over hers, demanding entrance, and she shuddered in his arms.

She shuddered for him and so did I, but for different reasons.

Logan pulled me backwards. “Come on, Sam.” His tone softened, and he led me away. He was trying to be gentle with me, all the way to his car and as he took me home, but it didn’t matter.

I was numb again.

My house was cold when I went inside. Logan flipped the lights on, but I shook my head. I didn’t want them on. He didn’t see me and went to the counter. A note was there and he lifted it to read, “Samantha, I am at Malinda’s. Please call me when you get in and I will come home. Love, David.” He lowered it, a slight sneer on his face. “Gee. That’s sweet of him.”

“Shut up.”

He put the note back. “Sorry.”

Images of them flashed in my mind. Mason on the truck. Kate on him. His mouth on hers. Her hand twisting in his hair. They kept coming and I couldn’t stop them. If I closed my eyes, they were worse. I was there again. When he tilted her head to the side and opened his mouth, I flinched. My eyelids flew up, but it didn’t matter. They were still there.

They were all I could see.

“Here.”

Feeling something cold being pushed into my hand, I looked down. Logan was holding a glass to me. He held the bottle up in his other hand. “I found your dad’s secret stash. He’s got good taste.”