“I love you too.”

After drying off, I looked up at Mason. I didn’t want to talk. Love and so many other emotions were still with me, choking me, and he seemed to understand. He came to me, then bent and lifted me in the air. He carried me to his bed. As he reached to shut off the bathroom light, Matteo flipped over in his bed and mumbled from under the covers, “A shower, huh, brotha?”

Mason stiffened, but flipped the switch. The room went back to darkness and he replied, “Yeah.”

“That’s good…good for you.” His voice trailed off and a loud snore came next.

Ducking his head to my neck, I felt him laughing and bit down on my lip so my own didn’t slip out. Mason shook his head, but crossed the room to his bed. The covers were pulled back, and he set me down. I moved to one side and felt the bed dip under his weight as he sidled up behind me. A second later, he wrapped his arms around me and I closed my eyes. A deep satisfaction resounded throughout me, replacing all the anxiety and worries from before. For that moment, for that night, I knew I wouldn’t have to be concerned about anything.

He brushed his lips to my neck. “I love you. Thank you for coming.”

Feeling tears threatening to spill, I squeezed his arm. “I love you too.”

Then we went to sleep.

When I woke up, Mason was gone and a note was left on his nightstand. Practice, then home. Coffee downstairs. Some of the other players’ girlfriends are around. They can help if you need anything. Love you. Mason

After getting dressed, I snuck downstairs for coffee and a bottle of water, then went back up to his room. Before I went inside, I glanced over my shoulder to where she had been. The memory of Marissa came back to me and I wrinkled my nose. Mason hadn’t explained what she was doing here, but I wasn’t stupid. He thought that I was her when I first came in. The fact that he’d been prepared for that possibility, of her sneaking into his bed, didn’t sit well with me, but today was going to be a day of other confessions. I needed to tell him about Jackson.

I wanted to groan and bang my head against his desk. I called Logan instead.

It rang three times before he picked up, “Sam?”

“Hi.”

I grimaced. I had said it so stiffly, he would know something was wrong.

“What’s wrong?”

And he did. I let out a sigh, closed my eyes, and rubbed at the top of my nose. “She was here last night.”

“Who was?”

I didn’t get a second to tell him before he exploded, “Are you fucking kidding me? Marissa? He didn’t tell me that.”

“Yeah.” I was miserable, then the rest clicked in. “Wait? You talked to Mason already?”

“He called to ask if something had happened. We didn’t talk long, but he never said anything about Marissa.”

“What did he say?”

“That was it really. He called and asked, ‘Did something happen? Sam’s here.’ My response was, ‘No.’ I didn’t say anything about Jackson because you told me not to; although, he won’t care. Then someone yelled his name and he hung up. That was the conversation.”

“Oh.”

“Why was she there?”

“He didn’t tell me yet. We,” my cheeks grew warm, “didn’t get too much talking done last night.”

“Oh.” He laughed. “Gotta love that my sister called me because she was too busy banging my brother to get an explanation about his stalker. That’s my new Twitter handle.”

“Logan,” I rolled my eyes, “you’re not helping.”

He had been laughing, but grew serious. “Oh come on, Sam. If she was there, she did something to get there. Since you’re not calling all butt-hurt, and you already told me you and Mason were getting it on—if you’re literally butt-hurt, I don’t want to know—I’m assuming she wasn’t in his bed?”

“No. Across the hall.” He thought that I’d been her. “Should I be worried about her?”

“Worried that Mason will cheat on you? Do you really need my response? I’m warning you. It’ll be sarcastic, witty, and somehow referring to your ass hurting again.”

I gripped my phone tighter. “You could’ve just said no.”

“No.”

“Okay.”

“You might need to worry about her doing something crazy. The girl’s got something loose in her head. Mason never saw it. I think because she was so in love with him, but never tried to get anything from him. That’s my theory. He didn’t have a high opinion of any female at that time.”

Hearing a beep, I glanced at the screen and saw a call from him. I said to Logan, “I have to go.”

“Hey.”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks for calling me.”

“What?”

“You called me, right? That means you called me before Heather. Once you talk about something, you usually let it go. You’re not like other girls and talk about it over and over again.” His voice quieted. “Thank you.”

He sounded so grateful that I felt another tear at my eye. I brushed it away and murmured, “I’ll talk to you later.”

“Eh, about that…”

I glanced at the screen and saw that Mason had ended the call. Hearing the change from Logan, I sat up slowly. Growing concerned, I asked, “What did you do?”

“Yeah. Mason and I talked about one other thing before. I didn’t tell you because I wanted to know why you called.”

Why did a feeling of doom settle back on my chest? “What?”

“Kris and I are coming up for dinner.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

MASON

Marissa was gone by the time I was dressed and heading out. There was no note. When I went downstairs, no one remembered seeing her leave. I didn’t question it. Marissa wasn’t my problem, but I knew Sam would worry, so when I got back from practice, we went to my room. Matteo said he would stay at his girlfriend’s again, so I knew we wouldn’t be interrupted. I needed this time with Sam. I needed to make things right.

I glanced at my watch. We had an hour before meeting Logan and Kris at the restaurant.

My throat was thick as I started, “I’m sorry, Sam.” I’d been so happy to see her last night that Marissa had been an afterthought, but looking at it through her point of view, I was ashamed. I should’ve taken Marissa to a hotel, not the house. “I need to explain why she was here in the first place. I will apologize profusely for it because I screwed up. She shouldn’t have been here, and I should’ve been thinking about you first the entire time.” I started with the facts. “She was wasted at the club. She had no phone, no purse. She wasn’t answering questions. We couldn’t find any of her friends, and I forgot my phone at home. I couldn’t call Nate, who would’ve known where she lived. Drew offered his room for her and that was it. A guy was all over her. If we had left her, I’m sure she would’ve been raped by him. But having said all that, she should’ve never been brought into this house. I wasn’t thinking. Drew was drunk. Matteo was twerking against everything. The car door. A street light. Our mail box. Marissa started to cry that we weren’t friends. I wasn’t thinking. I’m so sorry.”