“So you haven’t told them yet?” Heather popped her head out from her locker as her mouth fell open. “I can’t believe you. That was a week ago. Don’t you think they should know?”
“Why? They know that Budd and Brett are trying to find out who I am. They said it to their face.”
She slammed her locker shut and handed me her notebook. “Hold this.”
I did. “What do you want me to do?”
Heather stopped looking through her book and glared at me. A strand of her hair slipped down, blocking her face, but I could still feel the heat of her stare. “You’re not a moron, Samantha. Stop trying to make me think of you are. It’s an insult.”
“I’m screwed.”
“Pretty much.” Her eyes lit up as she found her page and folded over the corner. Then she grabbed her notebook from me before shaking her head. “Look, granted, Mason and Logan did their ‘run-in’ with Budd and Brett. They know Budd’s looking for Mason’s girlfriend so that’s not news to him, but you yourself saw them at Manny’s. You work there. They could go there any time. It’s something they’d want to know.”
An outburst of giggles and yells came from down the hall, and I glanced over. Logan had arrived. He was at his locker, along with Ethan and Strauss. Both guys had smirks on their faces as they enjoyed the cheerleaders next to their lockers. Boobs galore and if their skirts lifted an inch, pussy galore. I snorted, falling back against the locker behind me.
Heather paused, mid-reach into her bag. “What?”
“Nothing.”
“What?” And she turned, twisting around to see further down the hallway. I knew when she spotted them. Her back straightened. Her shoulders flattened and she let her bag fall to the floor. “Oh.”
Oh, indeed. “I’m starting to get used to this school.”
“Uh oh.”
“What?”
“No one says they’re getting used to this school. Those are the people that get a smack-down.” She shook her head, trembling in an exaggerated manner. “I can’t let that happen to you.”
I laughed. “No, not like that. I meant that I’m starting to understand this school. Instead of the Elite, like at FCA, you guys have cheerleaders.”
“And the drill team.”
“Drill team?”
“Yeah,” Heather nodded towards a group of girls across from Logan’s locker. They were dressed in sweaters. Not one of them wore jeans. They all had on dress pants that could’ve been matched with a business suit. They looked professional, how I would’ve dressed for a job interview. I glanced over their different hairstyles, all swept down or over the shoulder to look like perfection. I understood what Heather was saying. The Tommy Princesses might’ve been the girls at the top because of how tough they were, but these girls would’ve usurped them if given half a chance. They reminded me of Miranda and Cass from the Elite.
“Do they think they’re in a walking beauty ad?”
Heather chuckled. As we headed towards them, she added, “Those girls try to get the boyfriends. There’s a few that are always trying to land any of the guys in the Kade group, but they’d love to get Mason or Logan the most. Kate and her bitch crew were the main go-to girls for the guys. They weren’t into having a boyfriend like the others and each guy kinda had their own. Mason had Kate. Nate had Parker. Ethan had Jasmine and sometimes Logan would hook-up with Natalie, though we both know he never had a certain go-to girl.”
“And speaking of …”
I stopped as Tate came around the corner. She didn’t give us a glance as she went straight to Logan and draped herself over him. One arm went around his neck and the other hand rested on his chest. He’d been listening to Ethan, but stopped. As she moved closer to him, his head lowered so it looked as if the two were whispering to each other. A small grin was teasing the corner of his mouth when she started talking.
“Okay.” Heather bobbed her head up and down. “I now see what you and Mason are worried about.”
My eyes grew wide when he lifted a hand to the side of her hip. That was how Mason touched me. It was intimate and it was his precursor move before he pulled me even closer. Logan didn’t pull her closer, but his hand lingered there before moving to the small in her back. Oh yes. He was enjoying every bit of her attention, but then he looked up and caught us staring. Correction. He caught me.
My face got hot. I knew I was probably red, but what was he doing? I narrowed my eyes and tried to ask him that question without saying it.
The other side of his lips curved up and the grin was no longer a tease. He was full-on smiling at me. Another correction. He was smirking at me.
“What?” I bristled next to Heather. Both knew who that question was for.
He lifted one shoulder. It dropped lightly. He said back, “What?”
Tate turned around, a Cheshire Cat grin on her lips as Logan’s hand didn’t fall away. Instead of being on her back, as she turned to us, it slid around her hip to her stomach and stayed there. She was now almost in his arms.
Heather was frowning at them, but I couldn’t hold it in. “Did I miss the announcement? Are you a happy couple now?” There was an edge in my voice, but I couldn’t hide it. Tate was bad news. She was slimy. She was sneaky. She hurt Logan. She’d do it again.
“You can’t be jealous, Samantha,” she taunted me. “You’re happy with Mason, aren’t you? You can’t have both Kades.”
I growled, “And you can’t hurt him again.”
“Uh, guys …” Heather started.
Logan shook his head. “Sam, relax.”
“No—” I stopped him.
Tate turned her gaze to Heather and a bitter look came over her. “What’s your problem, Heather? I didn’t know we were enemies. You don’t have to have her back all of the time.”
That had me seething, but I glanced around and saw the crowd that was forming. The drill team snobs were mingling with the cheerleaders. Ethan and Strauss had front row seats, leaning against Logan’s locker, were grinning from ear to ear. I skimmed the edge of the crowd and saw Kate. She was expressionless, but her eyes narrowed when they met mine. A slight chill went through me. Whatever she was thinking, it wasn’t good. I caught Logan’s eye and gestured to her. The amusement on his face faded then, and he stepped towards me.
Tate stopped in mid-sentence. “What are you doing?”
Ignoring her, he took Heather’s arm and mine, pulling us through the crowd.
“Logan!”
“Your girlfriend is calling,” Heather told him.
He grimaced. “Okay, that was a joke. I can’t believe you guys got so riled up.” He led us into the senior hallway and quieted his voice, leaning in closer to me, “I don’t have those feelings for Tate anymore. You don’t need to worry. I’d have to care about her to get hurt by her. Those feelings are long gone.”
Heather put on the brakes. She went pale as a group broke away from the hall. “Oh, crap.”
I recognized two of the girls. “Those are your friends, right?”
“Let’s hope.” An apology flashed in her eyes as she started for them. “I gotta go. I’m sorry, Sam. Come to Manny’s tonight if I don’t see you at lunch?”
I nodded as she hurried to catch up with them. When she did, the girl who was dressed all in black refused to look at her. The tiny one gave her a half-grin. It was more like a half-hearted attempt at a grin. It only came out as being sad. As the other one snapped at Heather before stalking away, the tiny one got up and followed. She didn’t say a word to Heather either. There were a few guys in their group, and the one with dark hair and a tattoo circling over his jaw slung his arm around Heather’s shoulders. He looked to be reassuring her, but she pushed him away and hurried after the two girls. He called after her, “Don’t sweat it, Jax.”
“Who’s that?”
“Uh,” Logan tilted his head to the side. “Max Monroe. I don’t know him that well. I think Mason might. He’s friendly with the Roussou peeps here so don’t get close to him.”
“There are Roussou peeps here?”
“A few.” Logan started to lead me further down the hallway towards Mason’s locker. “I think they’re cousins or have relatives over there. No worries, Little Kade. They’re not going to rise up and mutiny. There’s not enough of them here, and they’re not really liked by everyone else. Your throne is safe.”
“Do you try to be annoying, Logan? Or is this post-coital bliss from whoever you went to see this morning?”
He chuckled, throwing his arm around my shoulder again. “I’m not being annoying. I’m being charming and since when do you want to know who my post-coital bliss is from?”
“I don’t. As long as it’s not Tate, I don’t care.”
He squeezed me tight, laughing as we pushed through another crowd. Mason’s locker was in the back corner. It was broken off from the main wall with four others besides his. Spotting Nate and some of their guy friends, the other locker owners weren’t a big leap. When Mason saw us coming, he straightened up from the wall. Nate glanced over, but he wasn’t as welcoming. Shutting his locker, he took off.
“Unlike you, I’m guessing he’s not interested in my post-coital bliss either.”
“Logan.”
“What?” He flashed me a grin, rubbing where I’d hit him. Then he said to Mason, “Nate’s still not over our family meeting?”
“Would you if we kicked you out of your own basement?” Mason grimaced as he eyed Logan’s arm that was still around my shoulder. “Do you always have to touch my girlfriend?”
“What?” Logan laughed and pulled me tighter against him. He rubbed his hand up and down my arm. “I thought you’d be happy that it’s not Tate I’m touching. Sam just saved me from her clutches, you know.”
“Your ex is causing more trouble?”
Logan’s grin fell flat “I was joking about Tate.” His arm fell away and he moved back a step. “You both can let up on Tate. She’s not going to be a problem.”
“Logan.”
He gave me a little wave as he headed off.
“Let him go.” Mason opened his locker and grabbed one of his books. Then he skimmed me up and down. “You headed to school early this morning.”
“I went running.”
He frowned. “When you run that early in the morning that means something’s up. What’s up?”
I leaned against Nate’s locker. Even standing in the back corner, I could feel everyone’s attention on us. I still wasn’t used to it. “You guys are like gods here.”
He grinned. “That’s a new deflection.”
“No.” I shook my head. “It’s not meant to be. I just …” I gestured to the hallway. There were students everywhere and most of them kept glancing at us. A couple girls in the far corner huddled together. When they noticed my attention, their heads ducked down and they skirted into another hallway. The last one peeked back. Her entire face was flaming red, even to the back of her neck.
“Sam?”
“It’s nothing.”
But it wasn’t nothing.
“Hey.” His tone softened and it did what it always did. It reached inside of me, loosened the knot that had formed in my throat, and pulled me towards him. I had to grin. Mason Kade would always hold this power over me, and as he tugged me against him, all my anxiety and concerns were pushed away. “What’s going on with you?”
“Nothing.” I corrected, “Nothing that’s important. What do you think about Tate and Logan?”
“You mean,” he raised an eyebrow, “besides what he just said? We’re supposed to let up on her?”
“She draped herself all over him and he seemed to like it.”
“Oh.”
Nothing. No reaction. Just an ‘oh.’ Tilting my head to the side, I studied him and narrowed my eyes. “Oh? That’s it?”
He flashed a grin before pressing a kiss to my forehead. “I’m not worried about Tate anymore. Not that much anymore.”
Bombs exploded. The apocalypse had arrived. I could only stare in shock as he leaned back against the wall and pulled me between his legs. Looping his arms around my back, I was firmly enveloped in his arms, but I couldn’t enjoy it. My stomach had started on a loop, rolling over and over again.
He sighed, watching me. “What?”
“Come again?”
“I’m not that worried about her.”
“And when did this happen?”
His eyes narrowed, just a fraction, before he caught his reaction. Then it went back to the normal mask he wore in public. I felt like I’d been kicked in the stomach. It’d been a long time since he used that mask on me and anger started churning inside me. “I think my boyfriend left his body and someone took over. Who are you and what did you do with Mason?”
“You’re being funny now?” he shot back, straightening away from the wall.
His arms fell and I stepped back. There was always a chill when I left his shelter, but not this time. I was growing heated as the conversation continued. “I’m sorry. Was that role taken? Only Logan can have his one-liners? Remind me of my role. I wasn’t aware that I could never question my boyfriend.”
“Sam, come on.”
“No, you come on.” My voice rose.
He glanced around and reached for my arm. “People are listening.”
“I don’t care.” I stepped further back and his arm fell back to his side. “I want to know when you suddenly decided Tate wasn’t something to be worried about.”
“It’s not like that. I just …” He shook his head. “Can we talk about this later?”
“I want to know what’s happened. I know there’s a reason why you’ve decided to let Tate off the hook.”
“She does go to school here—”
My voice lifted again. “Not helping.”
His shoulders dropped.
I added, “Before we were even together, you hated Tate. You went to parties just to humiliate her. You whispered some mojo to her the first day of school, and I don’t think that it was pleasant, and now four days later you don’t care? Logan likes her; I can tell. She’s going to hurt him again. No one worries you and she worried you. That made me worried too.” My chest grew tight and I knew I must’ve started to look enraged. Mason wasn’t even fighting back. “You better tell me what’s going on and do it now.”
My heart was pounding. I delivered one of my best mini-rants and I stood there, waiting for his response.
My answer?
He shrugged. “I don’t know what to say to you. I just don’t think he loves her anymore, so I’m not that worried.” Then he pushed off from the wall and left.
That—what the hell just happened?