Summer gasped quietly beside me, but she coughed, trying to cover up her laughter.

Sebastian’s smug smile didn’t move. It began to spread, and he lifted his sunglasses. He started to take them off as I felt a presence beside me. Logan stepped in front of me. He was dressed in a T-shirt and similar cargo pants, but I kept my mouth shut about him. Logan could pull it off, looking like a rich bad boy who didn’t give a shit. Then again, I knew Logan. That probably helped, but standing next to him, Sebastian looked even more like a poser.

Summer glanced nervously at me.

I shook my head. It was during the day. There were lots of witnesses around. We’d be fine. Nothing bad would happen.

Logan started. “Thought we told you to stay away from Sam.”

It wasn’t a question.

Sebastian moved back a step, letting his sunglasses fall back in place. He gestured to the building behind him. “I’m going to class, Kade. You’re going to start a fight because of that?”

“You’re in her way.” Logan’s hand slipped behind him, and his bag slid down his shoulder and his arm until the strap was hanging over his wrist. He held his fingers toward me. His bag slipped even further, and he motioned for me.

I took the bag from him and slid it over my shoulder. Maybe this was going to last longer than the few minutes I’d originally thought. I bit my lip, casting a concerned look to Summer. She didn’t seem like she was going anywhere. A fascinated expression was on her face as she gazed first at Logan, to Sebastian, and back to Logan again.

“Again, I was just going to class.”

Logan didn’t move.

Neither did Sebastian.

Summer kept glancing between the two and to me. When she saw I was holding Logan’s bag, her eyes got wide. I wanted to reassure her, but the truth was that I had no idea what was going to happen.

I kept remembering what Logan said the previous night. Call him, not Mason.

Mason couldn’t get in trouble.

As if Logan knew the train of my thoughts, he shifted on his feet. My gaze jerked up and trailed past him, past Sebastian, and landed on Mason.

He was coming from the building where my class was located with my cell phone in his hand. A scowl was on his face, and his jaw locked in place. I swallowed tightly. Logan moved backward, stepping into me. I adjusted, knowing that he was herding me even more away from Sebastian.

I started to go to the side. I wanted to go to Mason, but Logan’s arm swept me back. He caught me around the waist. He held me in place, right behind him. A memory flashed in my mind of another time when Mason had done the same motion for the same reason.

“Mom.”

“Don’t!” Her head snapped back up, and her eyes were wild. “You always said, we’d be gone. He wouldn’t marry me, and you were right. He won’t. It’s over. Finito. Finished.”

I stepped around Mason, but he moved with me. When I started to get closer to her, he moved another inch. He was blocking me. He didn’t want me close to her, so I stayed put.

I folded my arms. “Mom, you’re drunk. Everything will be better in the morning. I promise.”

Park Sebastian wasn’t my mother. I didn’t have years of terror built inside me because of him. My mind was made up. I wasn’t helpless, so I shoved Logan’s arm down. Mason’s gaze caught mine, and he narrowed his eyes. I caught the warning there, even before anything was said. It didn’t matter. I would not let him get hurt because of me. I would not allow myself to be his Achilles’ heel. Sebastian needed to learn that, so I started forward.

Logan caught me again, but I sidestepped him. He went to the right to block me. I feinted left. Because of the movement, I was now face-to-face with Sebastian. Logan groaned a little bit, but I tuned him out.

“Sam.”

I shrugged off Logan’s hold.

“Sebastian.” Mason’s tone stopped everything. He was quiet but foreboding.

Sebastian, who hadn’t realized Mason was right behind him, straightened abruptly. He kept his glasses on, but his jaw clenched, and he moved to the side so he wasn’t surrounded on both sides anymore. Mason adjusted, coming to stand next to me. Logan circled to stand on his other side. We were now a unified front while Summer crossed her arms. Her head kept going back and forth between us and Sebastian. I didn’t dare look over to see what she was thinking. She was getting a good view as it was.

The entire atmosphere shifted once Mason made his presence known.

Sebastian’s smirk fell flat.

The aura of tension and danger was around us. Students dashed for their classes, but they slowed and then stopped to watch the standoff.

No one said a thing. I wasn’t sure if I was even breathing.

Sebastian laughed—or tried to laugh. It fell short and came out sounding angry. “Mason, nice of you to sneak up behind me.”

I tensed.

Mason pushed something against my hand. “I was waiting for Sam.”

Opening my hand, I took my phone from him and tucked it into my purse.

I could feel the anger rising in Mason. He wasn’t doing or showing anything, but I felt it from him. His arm brushed against me, and it was rock solid, like cement. He was like cement on a normal day, his body toned and perfected from his training during the past summer, but this was more. The strength in him was radiating out, and everyone else was noticing, too.

As I looked at the crowd that formed, I knew the tension between Sebastian and Mason would be known by the end of the day, if everyone on campus didn’t already know. Phones were pointed at us, recording, and I only hoped Mason really wouldn’t do anything now. That would be blatant evidence against him.

Logan must’ve been thinking the same thing. He laughed and folded his arms over his chest. “Look at you, Sebastian. All alone. It’s like a rare sighting in the wild. You usually travel with your pack, don’t you?”

Sebastian shot back, “You would know.” He gestured to Mason. “Always in your brother’s shadow, right? He’s the leader. He’s the football talent while you…what are you?”

Sebastian’s eyes flicked to me, and I knew where he was going.

He added, taunting, “Couldn’t get the gi—”

I surged forward, stopping him. “You’ll stop right there.”

“Or what?” His eyes sharpened.

Yes, he hit a nerve, and I was the one to let him know that.