She laughed but let out a different curse.
I drew her close and murmured, right before my lips touched hers, “I’m not the J guy either.”
“Oh my—”
I pressed my lips to hers, shutting her up. My mouth opened even wider, and I took control of the kiss, becoming more demanding, until she sighed into me and pressed against me.
“You gotta stop calling me that guy’s name.” I pulled back but pressed one last kiss before I stepped away. “I’m Logan, and I’d like to call you again.”
A rueful laugh slipped from her closed lips. “I must be out of my mind, but here you go.” She grabbed a pen from the table beside the door and wrote her number on my hand. “Call me before I regret this.”
I had every intention to, but once she was out the door, I hurried to Mason’s room. I paused right before his door. It was closed. I didn’t remember seeing Sam’s bag anywhere.
I wasn’t sure if she was still there or not, so I knocked and opened the door an inch. “You decent?”
Mason yelled from his bathroom, “She’s not here. I just got back from driving her to the dorm.”
“Oh.” I walked in, ignored the smell of sex, and held up my hands as he swung those accusing eyes my way.
Shit. My brother could kill someone just by looking at them. It hadn’t happened yet, but I knew it would. He’d have the best defense ever. No, Judge, he really only looked at the guy.
“Logan.”
“Right, right.” Not a good time to be distracted. “I went there to start a fight.”
He scowled. “Without me. What the fuck were you thinking?”
“To be honest…” I waited.
His scowl never lessened. He was waiting for my explanation.
I said, “The same thing since the beginning.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You can’t do anything, Mason. Your hands are tied. If you make one move against Sebastian, he’ll go to the board about it. You’ll get kicked off the team and expelled from school. I have nothing to lose. If I get expelled, so what? I’ll just go somewhere else. I don’t have a career in football that could be taken away from one punch. He’s got you by the balls.”
“You’re wrong. I do have something planned, but it’s going to take time.” He went back inside the bathroom and turned the shower on. He came back to the doorway. “Stay out of it, Logan.”
“No.”
“Logan.”
I held my ground.
Mason protected me. He planned out the best defeats, and we were firm together. He couldn’t this time, but he was refusing to see that.
I shook my head. “I can’t. Nate went with me. He went with me. If you could handle this fight, he never would’ve done that, and you know it. Nate’s always true to you first.”
“I—” Pain flashed across his face.
I didn’t like seeing that, and I knew it was killing him to admit this, but for once, my brother needed to be the protected one.
I murmured quietly, “You know I’m right. It’s why you haven’t done a thing against him yet.”
“You’re wrong.” But the fight was gone from him. Mason cupped the back of his neck and ran his hand up and over his head before letting it fall back to his side. “Can you just trust me? Something is in the works, but you’re right. I have to go slow, and I have to wait some stuff out. It’ll be worth it in the end. It will.”
“What are you planning?”
“I’m…” He hesitated. “I’m waiting on something. That’s all I can say.”
“This is bullshit. We’re supposed to be together on this. All of us—you, me, Sam, and Nate. The foursome fearsome, remember? What are you planning? And why can’t you tell us? You haven’t said a word to Nate about it, and I’m guessing you haven’t said a word to Sam either.”
“I’m waiting,” was all he said.
“You’re stalling.”
“Logan.” He was so damn resigned.
I gritted my teeth. That shit, that sound from my brother…I was right whether he’d admit it to me or not. He was waiting until football was done. That was what he was doing. It’d be too late.
“He’s going to go after Sam,” I said.
“Not if we don’t engage him more.”
I clipped my head back and forth. He wasn’t getting it. I wanted to rip off his fucking door to throw at him, but I couldn’t. Feeling a twinge of disappointment for the first time, I said, “You’re wrong, Mase. He’s going to go after her whether we wait or not.”
“Yeah. He’ll go after her for sure now.”
“And you have one security guard on her.”
His shoulders lifted, held in the air, and lowered slowly. He couldn’t refute it. One guard for all of Sebastian’s friends.
I asked, “What if he really tries to hurt her?”