Pausing outside a door, she reached for the door handle, but stopped. “You ready for this? Logan told me a little of what they’ve been planning. It’s going to be brutal.”

“Besides setting her up for Budd Broudou?”

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“Okay. Showtime.” She flashed me a grin and opened the door.

I held back. Mason had more planned? Then I heard Kate’s shrill voice. “What is that whore doing here?”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Kate had dressed for me.

Her jeans were ripped in the crotch area. She’d worn them before, always with a skimpy thong underneath. Kate thought they turned me on, but they didn’t. They never had. Those jeans were her signal that she was down for anything. I knew I could have her anyway I wanted and some of those times, I’d take her up on the offer. That was all Kate had been to me. I had an itch, and I used her to scratch it.

I regretted it now.

She came in with no question, no regret, no doubt and she came straight for me. I didn’t do a thing. Someone normal would’ve reacted. She was coming into a trap for slaughter, but I wasn’t normal. She was going to touch me and I wanted to shove her away. I didn’t do that either. She ran her fingers over my chest. The tips of them trailed down to the front of my pants, and she rubbed there.

I turned it off. This was Sam touching me. This was Sam in front of me, pressing against me. I did what I had done all week. I pretended. “You have a present for me?”

“I do.” Excitement lit up her face and she held up the camcorder.

I took it from her and saw she had the video ready for me to watch.

There was no sound, just an image of Logan on the couch and Tate kneeling before him. His eyes were closed as he leaned back on the couch. His hand was tangled in her hair as her head moved, sucking on him.

I passed the camcorder to Logan.

“Hey—” Kate stopped herself.

There it was—doubt. I caught it and it was the first time it showed all week. Then she stopped and it was shoved aside. Desperation flared for a moment before blind trust came back over her. She gave it so readily to me.

I told her, “He doesn’t care. He just wanted to see the evidence before it goes viral.”

“Oh.” Relief flashed over her face.

“You have other copies?”

“Just what’s on there.”

“And this.” Parker held up a USB drive. “We’ll keep it safe.”

Ethan snatched it from her hands. “I don’t think so.”

“Hey!”

“We’ll keep it safe,” I said.

Parker cast Ethan a sidelong look, but quieted.

Kate’s hand grew bolder as she continued to rub on me. She was more insistent. “So what’s next?”

“Did you email this to anybody?”

“Just Tate. I’m sure she’s freaking out.”

I glanced at Logan, who nodded. His thumb hit a button. The video was gone. With that done, I texted Nate and then nodded to Ethan. Without hesitation, Ethan took off the case, pulled the chip out and tossed the case to Logan. Then he left the room.

“Hey!” Parker cried out again. “What the hell?”

Kate frowned. “What’s going on?”

I waited a minute. They needed a head start. “That was Ethan destroying your USB drive.”

“What—”

“I knew we shouldn’t have trusted these guys. You’re an idiot, Kate,” Parker snapped as she started for the door.

“It’s already gone,” I stopped her. “It’s pointless to go after him.”

“You’re such an ass**le.”

She had no idea. “There’s more to come, some of it you’ll want to see.”

Kate grabbed the camcorder from Logan and started searching through it. We waited, and her eyes widened the more she searched.

Logan grinned. “It’s gone.”

“You wiped everything.”

“You’re the dumb bitch who handed it over.”

“Not to you,” she seethed. “To Mason. I trusted him.”

He rolled his eyes and laughed. “I don’t even feel bad for you. You’re so stupid.”

She jerked back. “Mase?”

There it was again. She still didn’t believe it. “I agree with my brother.”

It was at that moment that she started to get it. I watched as each piece of the puzzle began to fit into place and she stumbled back a step. When she ran into the pool table behind her, she choked out, “It’s on my computer. It’s in my email. You’re going to regret this.”

I lifted my phone. “Both of those are gone. Say goodbye to your email.”

My phone beeped.

“What’s that?”

Parker whispered from behind her, “Oh no.”

Logan began laughing. “You guys are so screwed. Getting it, Park? Did you get a text, too?”

Kate whipped around. Parker had gone pale, and she showed her phone to Kate. “It’s Nate.”

“Nate?”

“Yeah, Nate, you f**kheads.” Logan shook his head. “He might be injured, but he’s not out of action. He hasn’t been the whole time. We knew about your plans for Sam. You wanted to drug her, have him make a sex tape with her?”

“Oh my god.” Kate lifted stricken eyes to me. “You knew?”

Logan started to say it, but I shook my head. I needed to do this. Everything was cold inside of me. I’d been hiding it for the past week. They should’ve known better. Smarter people would’ve, but Kate wasn’t sane. She was desperate so I used that to pull her back in. She saw what she wanted, but she couldn’t mistake it this time. I let her see my loathing. I let her see the cold calculation and when she did, she began shaking. The blood drained from her face, and I knew she was going over everything in her head. I waited and when she gasped, I knew she remembered.

“You should’ve listened to me that day.”

“No.” She shook her head. “No. You dumped her for me.”

“Did I?”

“You—”

“She hasn’t been in school since we attacked her,” Parker said.

Kate’s mouth clamped shut and she began to turn away. “No, no, no, no … No. It can’t be.”