"…and you will tell Samantha to return her mother's phone call. Analise is beside herself. We had to go to the hospital for her to calm down. She couldn't sleep last night."
Mason rolled his eyes after he finished drying himself off with a towel. He stepped close, pressed a kiss to my forehead, and shooed me into the shower. With a quick wink and a slap on my ass, he strolled back to the room with his phone in hand.
When I was done showering, the bedroom was empty so I dressed and headed for the kitchen. Our room was in a small hallway, but I stepped out onto the second level that was in a circle. There were more bedrooms on the side as I passed them towards the stairs at the end of the circle. The entire house was set up in a large circle, with the fountain centered below. As I went down the stairs, the water was flowing freely, but I heard noises from a back corner so I veered to the left. I went through a living room and cut across the top corner to the kitchen.
A large group had congregated around the counters and the island in the middle. Nate was at the stove. One of their female friends was plastered against his side. She wore a skimpy piece of white cloth that barely covered her br**sts, sans bra, and ripped jean shorts that hardly covered her cheeks. As she gazed up at Nate, seduction written all over her face, I couldn't stop the gag from my mouth.
The sound echoed over the room, and all conversation stopped.
I didn't see Mason or Logan. It was the group of friends who barely held back their loathing. One of the guys straightened from the counter, beer in hand, and glared at me. "You got a problem?"
Nate was in front of him within seconds. "Ethan, man, don't start this."
"Start what? Did you hear her?"
"Yeah." Nate's seductress positioned her hand to her hip. She struck a defiant pose. "Did you hear her? It was rude, Nate. It was directed at me. She thinks I'm a joke."
"And you haven't been rude to her?"
A shiver went down my back as I remembered the look in Nate's eyes when I first approached. He'd been easygoing, laidback. Then he went to a neutral stance, but now his eyes glittered with rage. An aura of authority emanated from him. The girl stepped back and everyone fell silent. It was my first glimpse of this side of Mason's best friend. If I had ever doubted their bond before, I didn't anymore. Change the body, the looks, and he could've been Mason. They held the same authority. Nate was just showing his in front of me for the first time.
His lip curved up in an ugly sneer as he stepped closer to Ethan, who had straightened from the counter. The beer spilled as his hand jerked around it, squashing the can in a crinkled ball of metal.
Nate's voice was cold, eerily cold. "You've all been rude to her, and they don't know a thing." He waited a beat as his gaze swept the group. "Why don't you ponder on that, huh? You think they'd stand for your attitude towards her?" Then he whipped his gaze back to Ethan, whose jaw clenched from the scrutiny. "You want your ass kicked? Keep being a bitch to her." He stopped abruptly. His chest heaved up and down before he bit out, "She hasn't said a word. Ponder that too, you asswipes."
"Baby," the girl whimpered. She held a hand out.
Nate ignored her and brushed past me. His jaw was still clenching and before he disappeared around a corner, his hand turned into a fist. But then he was gone, and I was left alone with a group that hated me.
All of them turned their hostile gazes to me.
I gulped. Oh my.
I held my breath, waiting. Did I attack? Hell no. But should I wait to be attacked? I knew they would and then heard a whispered snarl, "You bitch!"
There it was.
It was Nate's seductress. She stood in front of me, brazen with nearly nothing on, and tossed her long brown hair over her shoulder. Something shifted in me. I had come to remember a few of their names. Kate was the ring leader. I was pretty certain she had a 'benefits' relationship with Mason before he went steady with me, and this girl was her best friend forever…Parker, if I remembered correctly?
I opened my mouth, ready for some retort. I wasn't sure what I was about to say, but it was coming. I only hoped it made sense, or that it didn't get me in more trouble. I'd grown tired of the female catty showdowns, and this was certainly one of them.
But then Ethan flung his beer can into the sink and grunted. "Leave her alone, Parks."
Her mouth fell open on a gasp and she rounded to him. Her boobs flopped side to side from the motion. "Are you kidding me?!"
He sighed as he ran a hand over his tired face. "Come on. Nate's right, man. Leave her alone. Kade likes her, leave her be. She ain't going anywhere, and I'm getting tired of this. I don't want to get my ass handed to me by them, and you know it's gonna happen. You're going to say something in front of them and everything will go to hell for us."
"But—"