“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?

CHAPTER EIGHT

Walking away from Sam cost me. I was lying to her. She asked me a question, point-blank, and I dodged it, point-blank. She wasn’t an idiot, but I couldn’t tell her the real reason. Logan said he wanted to play with Tate, fool around with her, use her. So whatever. I wouldn’t run interference anymore. It wasn’t the best idea. I knew that much, but this was what Logan wanted and a part of me couldn’t fault my little brother. She dated him for two years. She’d been the only girl he had fallen in love with, and she hit his older brother up. The need for revenge was too sweet for Logan to walk away from, but Sam wouldn’t agree. She wouldn’t understand. Sam protected. She loved. She wasn’t a vengeance girl.

She was good. Logan and I were not.

Dodging around a group of girls, I headed down the hallway and ignored the two that stuck their hands out. One got a good grope of my stomach and the other tried to hold me back. Her fingers curled into my arm, but I twisted it free, knocking her back into her friends at the same time. As I kept going, one cried out from annoyance and I turned around.

They thought they could grab me, there were things called boundaries. “Try it again and I’ll make your life hell.”

Their eyes got wide and their heads shot straight up, but the one who tried to hold me back only rolled her eyes. I could tell she was the leader. Skimming over them, I figured they were freshmen—they would be the next Kate and crew—they were tough, popular, and already oozing sex.