“Yeah…” He pulled the collar of his shirt away from his neck and glanced around. Then he cursed under his breath and his shoulders dropped an inch. “Look, Sam, I know your mom wants to have this family meeting, but I have to go back to Boston.”

Something fluttered in my stomach and I glanced up. I asked in a quiet voice, “To see your wife?”

His face twisted. “Uh, yeah. So…”

“I won’t say anything.”

“Really?” He studied me with an intensity that had me frozen in place.

“I won’t. I don’t even want to deal with that.”

“But if you say anything to Mason…” He looked outside, and I felt the regret from him.

“I won’t.” I reached out and touched his arm. It was tense, enough that it sent my hand away as if I’d been scalded.

“Yeah, okay.” He sounded regretful. “I don’t know, Sam. You shouldn’t have to deal with this, with…”

“I won’t say anything.” My voice grew firm.

“Okay.” His shoulders loosened some more before he jerked me against him. He wrapped both his arms around me and lifted me in the air.

“Oomph.”

He squeezed me harder, tucking his head into my shoulder. “You’re a good kid. I’m damned lucky that I knocked up your mom when I was reckless and stupid.” His voice was gruff, but his lip trembled a tiny bit. “I’m damned lucky, that’s all I gotta say. I’ll see you in a few days. You’re staying, right? I don’t want your mom to swoop in and demand you move back to their home.” He patted my shoulders again as he withdrew. “And I’m taking back that bucket of condoms. Your ass was right. I wasn’t being a father when I did that. It was all a joke, but he was right.”

My lip twitched at that. My ass…

“Okay.” He hugged me again and pressed a kiss to my forehead. “I’ll be back in a few days. Promise. Don’t give your mom too much of a heart attack at that family meeting. I know Mason will, but he’s not my kid. I don’t have much say over what he’s going to do.” He whistled under his breath. Then he was out the door with a final wave.

He muttered all the way as he crossed the street, but I couldn’t hear him anymore.

And then I turned around.

Malinda had come back around the corner. Her eyes were grave and her mouth was flat. She held out another cup of coffee to me. “It ain’t my business, but—”

Mark yelled out, “Mom, stay out of it!”

Her eyes mirrored her mouth. “—I think you’ve got too many adults who aren’t acting like it in your life.”

My heart dropped.

CHAPTER TEN

The rest of my Saturday was spent at Garrett’s house. Mark and Adam knocked on the door later in the afternoon and walked inside. Mark ordered pizza and I showed them the theater. It was later, around seven, when Adam got a text message. He gave me a sheepish look and said that Becky was on her way over. An hour later the doorbell rang again. This time it was Emily, Mark had told her to come over. Slowly, one by one, the entire Elite group was in my theater room. More pizza was ordered. Someone found the beer and wine coolers. They were passed out, and the number of bottles had tripled by midnight.

Cassandra and Amelia were quiet for the first hour. Their eyes were wide as they saw the rest of the house and their mouths stayed shut. I expected snarky digs, but I got none so I let it go. For now. Once they realized the punishment, I knew they’d be blamed for the ban from the Public parties at school. No one would be happy about that.

After the second hour, they were both giggling on the laps of Peter and Mark.

Emily caught my gaze at one point and snorted. She rolled her eyes but settled back into her recliner with a blanket and a bowl of popcorn.

Miranda was the last to arrive and she was the quietest of them all. She gave me a polite smile at the door but remained in the background for the rest of the evening.

Becky started to ooh and ahh every five minutes after the first movie. When the giggles started and she tried to hide them behind her hands, I knew she’d had too much to drink.

It was after midnight before I realized there’d been no word from Mason or Logan. I wasn’t worried since Mason told me the team was going for dinner.

I sent both of them text messages. An hour later there was no response. An hour after that, still no response.

“What’s wrong?” Adam had been watching me pace for the last twenty minutes. He lounged back on the couch with an arm thrown over the back. A pile of beer cans were on the floor beneath him, along with crumpled napkins and the crusts of his pizza slices on his plate.

“Nothing.” I kept pacing.

He frowned and swung his legs over to sit upright. “Sam.”

His voice quieted the group. The conversations and giggling stopped as they watched me now.

Adam sighed. “What’s wrong?”

I shook my head.

Becky’s eyes were wide, but they enlarged twice the size as she watched me. She sat on the opposite end of where Adam sat and huddled back into the corner. She pulled her knees to her chest.

Then Miranda spoke from the back. She was sober. “She’s worried because she hasn’t heard from Mason.” She rose and met my gaze. “Did I get that right?”

I jerked my head in a nod.

A frown flashed over Adam, but it was gone the next instant. He scooted forward to rest his elbows on his knees. “What were they doing tonight?”

My mouth stayed shut, but my pulse raced.

Mark cleared his throat. “They were doing some prank on Roussou tonight, remember?”

Disdain filled Adam’s eyes. “Oh, yeah.”

“What were they doing?” Miranda stood in front of me and crossed her arms over her chest. “Or don’t you know?”

There was a challenge there, but I didn’t care. My arms trembled and my phone went off in that instant.

‘In your driveway. M’s hurt bad’

I bolted for the door.

“Sam, what is it?” Adam yelled after me.

My heart pounded now. I felt it thump in my chest as I raced up the stairs and flew for the front door. Then I froze on the doorstep. Nate and Logan held Mason up between them. Both of his arms were over their shoulders as blood dripped down from his face to the ground.

Then all three looked up, and I shrunk against the door.