It was nice. Marissa was a headache last year, but she’d been quickly forgotten with the migraine of Park Sebastian.

That reminded me. I said, “He cornered me at the post office on campus.”

“Who?”

“Park Sebastian.”

Heather swore under her breath. “Did Mason rip his head off?”

I started to feel a little numb as I shook my head so slowly from left to right. “I didn’t tell him.”

“You didn’t?” Heather lowered her arm. It had been propped up on her elbow, her cigarette dangling in the air. As she watched me, she took notice. She swore again before asking, “Are you going to tell him?”

More numbness. My head moved again from left to right.

I was lying to Mason by not telling him. I should. We should have a united front, but it wouldn’t have worked. Mason would’ve been upset by that mere conversation. I was scared of what he might do.

I asked Heather, my voice slipping to a whisper, “Was it the wrong thing to do?”

She frowned. Her eyebrows bunched, and she studied me, thinking. “No.”

I held my breath. “Really?”

I didn’t need the validation. It was me, myself, and I. I was the only one making these decisions, and the terror was almost paralyzing. I hadn’t been thinking about it because I couldn’t deal with it. But what if I were wrong? What if I were playing into exactly what Sebastian wanted? There was a wedge between Mason and me. It was small, and it was on my side, but it was there. I lied to him. The other choice was to let Sebastian win. He would hurt Mason.

No. There was no choice.

I said to Heather, “I think Logan’s doing the same as me.”

“What’s that?”

“We’re both keeping things from Mason.”

“To protect him?”

“Yeah.” That was it. It really was all about protecting Mason. That helped reaffirm my decision. “I was right with what I did?”

“Fuck yeah.” She scowled, but it wasn’t meant for me. “That asshole Sebastian needs to get fingered by some big-ass convict. It sounds like he’s playing mind games. Meeting you at the post office or wherever it was. You’re screwed either way. Don’t tell Mason, and it’s a lie between you two, or tell Mason and worry that he’ll go bonkers and do something to ruin his career. This dickhead isn’t normal from what I’ve been hearing. Is that what happened with Logan?” She gestured to her face. “All his bruises? He got in a fight. That Sebastian guy was in the parking lot, too, right? He was bruised up.”

“Yeah, I’m assuming, but I haven’t had time to talk to either Mason or Logan about it.”

Just then, a collective cheer sounded from the house.

Heather looked back over and ground out her second cigarette. “Well, he’s got buddies in there. Whatever happened, I’m guessing it was a win for our team.”

She was right.

Hearing those words helped. My chest felt a little lighter. My shoulders lifted again. They weren’t being pressed down by an invisible weight. Having Heather here and hearing her logic gave me new strength.

This was right. Whatever Logan and I were doing was the right thing to do. We were both protecting Mason in our own way.

“Thank you for coming to visit.”

Heather looked over at me, and she softened. Her eyes opened wider, and some tears pooled there on top of her bottom eyelids. One corner of her mouth lifted as she held out her arm for me. “Aw, Sam. It was the first home game. I had to get up here to support you guys. Now, come here, and hug me again. I’m such a damn sobbing wreck with you. You make me feel all girlie and shit.”

I laughed, but I went over and gave her another hug.

It felt damn good.

“Woohoo, my friends, where are you?” Summer’s voice came from the door. She was peering out into the backyard with her eyebrows scrunched together. “I don’t see anything. Is anyone out there?”

Heather called back, “Yep. Walk straight and go right. We’re thirty yards from you.”

“Oh. Good.” She went down the steps and followed Heather’s directions exactly. She saw us right away and dropped down to the empty seat. “I need to hide out. Ruby is insisting I’m her strip beer-pong partner.” She shuddered. “No, thank you, Mrs. Blaze. And he’s very drunk and hanging all over me.”

“Blaze was?”

She nodded to me. “I’m pretty sure our RA hates us now—or hates me.”

I scratched the side of my face. “But she asked you to be her partner?”

“I’m pretty sure she’s the type who brings her friends close but her enemies closer. Yep, that’s her. And now we know for sure, she’s completely in love with Blaze, who is completely in love with me and Logan. I’m pretty sure he asked Logan for my digits tonight.”

Heather barked out a laugh. “Typical dude. He could ask the RA, who probably has your number, but he didn’t. He went to the other guy, also claiming bro code at the same time.”

Summer leaned back and snapped her fingers in Heather’s direction. “Exactly. Thank you. I’m not the only one who gets the inner workings of guys.”

“Oh, no. Dudes can be catty, but it won’t faze Logan. He won’t even think about it, Blaze asking for your number. Don’t worry.”

Summer grew quiet.

Oh, damn. I felt a Heather moment. She was going to call out the truth, right here and right now.

Heather drawled, “If you’ve got the hots for Kade—and I’m talking about Logan—you can be reassured.” She turned to me as she said her next part, “Yes, I’ll probably be shagging him tonight, but it’s done. After tomorrow, I’m going to fix things with my current guy.”

“Oh.” Summer’s mouth was pressed in a flat line. Her hands sank into the chair’s armrests before she forced her shoulders to drop back down. “You know, I can’t blame you.”

Feeling influenced by the sharing bug, I dropped my own bomb on both of them. “Not that Logan is exclusive unless he’s in a relationship, but he has been spending time with a redhead.”

Boom. I lifted my hands in the air. The bomb exploded. There it was.

Neither girl seemed fazed.

I slumped back down, my hands still in the air. “I felt like sharing that, even though I can see both of you don’t seem to care.”