The crowd was deathly silent. I had a feeling no one insulted Sebastian—at least to his face. The ass needed to really learn who the Kades were.
He kept quiet. Ah, he was thinking. He was doing that thing that Mason liked to do. I’d pushed him, but he was rallying back. He wanted to get his feet on the ground and take control of the confrontation.
I wasn’t going to let him do that, so I said, “You asked about my bitch before, but seriously, where’s yours? I’d like to meet your girlfriend.”
When he didn’t respond, I looked around, craning my neck. “I don’t see any chick who’s worried about you. What does she look like? Wait.” My hands went up, and I moved back a step. “Do you not have a girlfriend?” I moved a second step back.
Sebastian frowned. He noticed my retreat, but he didn’t get it. I wasn’t backing down. I was forcing Blaze and his pals to surround me. I wanted to draw Sebastian farther into this circle, farther away from his A-holes.
He stepped forward.
It was working.
I waited. He’d catch on if I took a third step backward. Blaze was to my right. His other friend, who had the pony keg, was on my left.
I asked Blaze, “Does Sebastian have a girlfriend?”
Blaze’s eyes lit up. He didn’t want to get drawn into this. Too late. I just pulled him in. That was the entire purpose of this venture. Sebastian thought he controlled everyone. He was ill-informed. I just needed to show him that he didn’t and that meant forcing people to stand against him.
Sebastian looked at him. I was willing to bet good money that he had no idea who Blaze or his group of friends were. In fact, I was willing to bet even better money that Sebastian didn’t know half the people at this party.
One match, one person—that was all it took to start a fire, so here I was. I was the fucking first spark.
Blaze couldn’t go against what he’d already proclaimed at his party. There were witnesses, and like he’d said, his friend was Sam’s RA.
Girls didn’t respect cowards.
If Blaze backed down, he’d be a coward.
Granted, this was plan B, and yes, I hadn’t thought of it until Blaze sauntered up to me at this party, but as agendas went, this was an even better one than my original idea. The crumbs were tossed on the ground.
I asked Sebastian, “Are you good friends with Blaze here?”
Blaze did a double take as I’d correctly said his name, but he looked back at Sebastian.
Sebastian was studying him, scratching at his jaw. “I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure.” He glared at Blaze. “Who are you?”
“Uh…” Blaze shifted on his feet.
Yep, the kid didn’t do confrontations well.
He started to hold his hand out.
I tapped it back down. “No, no, no. This isn’t how you do it, Blaze.”
“What?”
Sebastian was staring at me again. His eyes were locked on me, a fierce scowl there. He was starting to feel the insults.
I came to his party.
I insulted him.
I hadn’t ran off.
I was continuing to insult him.
And, yes, I was still not leaving.
As he remembered this night over the next week, the sting of embarrassment would grow more and more.
Stages. Fighting a war took stages, and this was one of them.
“Enough thinking, Logan. Finish it.” Hearing Mason’s voice, I reminded myself about why I was there in the first place.
I hit Blaze on the arm and said to Sebastian, “Okay. All the jabs and jokes aside, you’re right, Sebastian. I am here for a reason.”
“I never asked why you were here.”
I ignored him, gripping Blaze’s arm. “My friend here, Blazer—”
“Blaze.”
I looked at him. “Really? Again?”
He scoffed, shrugging his shoulders.
I turned back to Sebastian, noting that his buddies crowded in more. They were right next to Blaze’s group, but feeling the threat, Blaze’s friends moved forward, too. They were starting to stand off against them.
I continued, “He was telling me at his party a while ago how proud he was of me and of my brother, too.”
“Oh, shit.” Blaze sucked in his breath. He shot looks to his buddies. He’d just been clued in as to where I was going.
I added, smiling widely because this was so damn fun, “And he was even thanking me for going against you. You see, here’s my public service announcement to you, Sebastian.” I cupped my hands around my mouth and whispered loudly so everyone could hear, “No one really likes you.”
Pause.
Wait a beat.
Let that sink in.
Now, keep going.
“Like all these guys.” I gestured to Blaze’s group. “They were all telling me how much they hate you. In fact,” I moved a step toward Sebastian, “I’ve had a lot of people tell me how much they detest you. They were all happy when your house was burned down. They even wanted to thank whoever did that horrible thing.” I winked at him. “So, I’m here,” one more step toward him, and I was within swinging distance, “to help you out, if you think about it. I’d like to know who my enemies are—unless they’re too much of a coward to stand their ground. But still, I’d at least like to know who the cowards are.”