CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
Mason dropped me at home and took off for his practice right away. As I lugged my bags through the mansion and up to my room, I found a note on the kitchen table.
' Hi, honey! James and I are in the cities, gone to the Bangor for dinner. We'll be back tonight! Love you! XOXO'
I dropped it back on the table and fought the urge to tear it up.
Since I knew I'd do my homework later, I pulled out my running shoes and laced them up. Then I hit the pavement hard. I ran for two hours, three would've winded me too much, my body was wheezing too much when I rounded the last curve to the mansion. Panting, with sweat streaking down my body, I went back to my room and as I got into my shower, I was tempted to lock my door.
No one was home yet, but I didn't want to deal with Analise when they did return.
An hour later my phone vibrated and I answered, "Hey, Becky."
She groaned on the other side. "I can't go out for dinner."
"Really?" I tried to hold back the disappointment.
"Yeah, my mom is all furious at me. She said I could go as long as I didn't miss school, but she found out that I missed half the day today. I didn't do it on purpose and she found out that it'd been a Kade party we went to. I had no idea how she found that out. I told her I was going with you and your family to a cabin. She likes you, but now she knows all about your parents' divorce and everything. I could murder whoever told her that stuff."
I crawled onto my bed and rolled on my back. "Gossip's pretty rampant. I'm sure it got out somehow about the party."
"Not to mention that your mom's hooked up with James Kade. My mom seemed pretty bent about that one for some reason."
I frowned into the phone. "Does your mom know mine?"
"Your mom used to be in some committee at the country club with her, but I think my mom's more mad because of your dad. You know everyone loves Coach Strattan."
"Yeah, there is that…"
"Anyways, so I was just calling because she won't let me go out to Gino's with you."
From the way her voice quieted, I felt a kick in my gut. I knew something else was going on and I sat up. "She won't let you go to Gino's or she doesn't want you to go with me?"
"Both."
I could imagine the glower on her face.
Becky added, "Oh gawd, I'm so sorry. My mom doesn't want me to be friends with you anymore. I guess she called a bunch of other moms and they were told by their kids that you're tight with the Kade brothers. My mom's scared of them, everyone's moms are. My dad was ecstatic. He wants to meet them; he wants to talk football with Mason. Yeah right, like that's going to happen."
I drew my knees against my chest and hugged them tight. "So we can't talk at school?"
She snorted. "Forget that. I'm still going to be friends with you. My mom can't tell me what to do with that, but she won't let me go to Gino's tonight. I'm sorry, Sam. I know you wanted to go so you didn't have to go to that Elite dinner thing."
"You knew about that?" I grinned into the phone. Of course, she knew
"Of course I knew. Who do you think I am? It's not my first day on the gossip pages. Everyone knows that Miranda invited you to the Elite dinner tonight.
Only I knew that you weren't going to go." She paused for a beat. "Are you going to go now?"
"Uh…"
I was about to say that I wasn't sure, but Mason threw open my door. "Logan's going crazy on your mom." And he was gone in a flash.
I said in a rush, "I have to go."
"What? What's going on—"
I pressed the disconnect button and threw it on the bed as I hurried down to the kitchen.
"Are you kidding me?!" Logan cursed as he stood in the foyer. His chest was rising up and down at a rapid pace and his hands were balled into fists, pressed tight against his legs. His eyes were wild in anger and his jaw kept clenching and unclenching.
Analise looked annoyed dressed in a white lace dress. She still held onto her white clutch. A string of white pearls were nestled between in her cleavage.
James stood between them, dressed in a black formal suit. Whatever Bangor was, it must've been for the formal and expensive.
I snorted to myself. Of course it would've been.
Mason stopped in the doorframe and held onto the post above his head. He was quiet and my mother glanced back at him every now and then.
Logan spat out, "Are you seriously trying to tell me what I can't do?" His eyes were narrowed at an alarming level.
My mom patted her chest in a dainty fashion. "I am voicing my opinion. It's eight at night. I don't think it's appropriate for you to go out this late. You should be studying, staying in."
Logan snorted out a laugh as he shook his head. His hands were still in fists.
He opened them and closed them back up. He kept doing it. "I can't believe you. Who the hell are you, woman?"
Analise glanced back at Mason and then she saw me behind him. Her shoulders lifted a bit and she stood a tiny bit straighter on her feet. "Since everyone is here, I'd like to make an announcement."
"Not another one," Logan muttered under his breath, still glaring at my mother.
She cleared her throat and took James' hand in hers. "I have gone room to room and emptied out all of the liquor that was in this household."
Mason didn't react, but a nerve in his shoulder jumped. Other than that, not a muscle moved. Logan shook his head and cursed some more. Both of his hands rose in the air like he wanted to put them around her neck. "Dad, control your whore."
James was in his face in the next second. "You will watch your mouth, son."
Logan's mouth clamped shut, but he heaved a deep breath and continued to shake his head. "I can't believe you. You're going to let her tell us what we can drink or not drink?"
His father's voice was quiet. "All three children in this home are underage. And since all three of you claimed Analise was in a drunken fit the other night, both of us deemed it a responsible choice to be rid of all alcohol."
Logan's smile was dangerous. "You think we're the problem?"
His father stepped back once. "No, I don't. I saw her that evening as well. She had been drinking too much." He glanced at me. "She was under a lot of emotional anxiety that night, but this is an answer that can help multiple levels for a problem I'm sure that's yet to be unearthed."
Mason bit out a laugh. His hands clenched around the post above and his muscles grew tighter at the movement.
Everyone looked at him and quieted.
"She doesn't want you to go out?" he spoke to Logan.
He gave a short nod. "She thinks I'm being irresponsible."
Mason turned his gaze towards his father, but spoke to Analise, "You might be her mother." He gestured towards me, over his shoulder. "But you're not ours.
We have a mother." Then his eyes met his father's again for a brief second. It was a meaningful one.
James turned on his heel and left the room.
My mother's mouth dropped open and her hand jerked after him. "Wha—uh?
What are you doing? James!"
Logan grinned in victory and shared a meaningful look with his brother.
Mason dropped his arms abruptly. "Our mom's got custody of us. We can go back to her anytime we want. You might want to remember that."
Tight fists flung against her legs and she stomped her feet. "I cannot believe you two! You are the two most horrible children I have ever met—"
"We're not children." Logan got in her face. "And we're not yours. If you dare try to tell us what to do, you'll regret it. I promise that."
She looked around and I saw how frantic she was. When she found me in the corner, she spewed out, "I don't know what you have done to her, but I will make it my mission to destroy you two."
I jerked forward in surprise.
Logan's hyena laugh sounded out, but Mason tilted his head to the side, just a slight movement.
Analise sputtered to a halt. Her hands were forcibly pressed against her as her knees trembled.
"You really need to stop threatening us. It makes it worse." Mason turned with a hard smirk on his face. He touched my shoulder and glanced back at her.
"You should think about that."
She gasped and choked on it. Her cheeks filled up and her hands fluttered around her in a helpless pace. Tears filled her face and she brushed furiously at them. "You don't—you don't—you don't threaten me, boy!"
His chuckle was a soft one, but it hit her hard. My mother started waving her fists around in the air.
Logan rolled his eyes and pulled out his keys. When he turned for the door, she screeched at him, "Where are you going?!"
He ignored her and the door shut on his heels.
Mason had already disappeared back upstairs when my mother turned back around. She bent over and took deep breaths, all while she was patting her chest at the same time. Then she looked up with fresh tears in her eyes. She tried to wipe them away.
"How do you do it?"
I frowned. "What do you mean?"
"They like you. How did you do it?"
I shrugged. "They're never going to respect you."
She looked away. I watched as she wiped more tears away. Then she turned back. "What do I do?"
I gave her a sad smile. It was almost heartbreaking to see her like this, almost. "You'll never win against them. All you can do is exist beside them.
That's it."
"That's it?"
"Like he said, you're not their mother." When she opened her mouth, I cut her off. "And you're not mine anymore, not really."
She was jolted back.
I narrowed my eyes. "I don't like you. I don't know if I ever did. I love you, but I don't respect you either. And I doubt I ever will again. You're lucky to still have me here. You haven't done anything to help me, nothing at all. You only hurt me, mom."
She pressed the back of her hand to her mouth. More tears streaked down her face. "I'm sorry, Samantha. I really am."
My eyes held hers. I didn't know what I was looking for, maybe a weakening within her or something I could grasp onto. I had no idea. I saw emptiness instead. And I felt it within me. It rose up as I watched my mother break before my eyes.
I took a deep breath and spoke in a quiet voice, "Look at you. This is what they've done to you already and they haven't even tried. They could destroy you, mom. It's not the other way around. You could never touch them. You're an annoying gnat to them. They've put up with your presence because James loves you. I can see that too. He does." It hurt to say what I was going to say next. "Focus on him. Focus on your relationship with him. Ours is gone, but maybe it could come back someday. Not today. Or next year, but sometime in the future. Just…focus on your future husband, mom. That's all you can do right now."
I turned away and started for my room, but I paused when I heard her whisper. "I'm sorry, honey. I'm so sorry."
Then I gripped the rail and went back to my room.
It was 8:30 when I checked my phone again and I had three text messages from Miranda, along with a voicemessage from her. Dinner had come and gone.
They wanted to know where I was, if I was going. I had finished listening to her message when Mason knocked on my door.
I frowned and motioned for him to come in.
He studied my face. "What's wrong?"
I shook my head. "Nothing I can't handle."
My phone vibrated again. It was another text from Miranda—they'd all gone to some bar. I glanced up at Mason and asked, "You don't want to go somewhere with me, do you?"
He grinned back at me. "What? This late? What would your mother say?"
I couldn't stop my laugh. "I don't think she'll be saying much after what I said to her."
He stopped grinning. "What did you say?"
"Nothing, that she was lucky I was still here and we didn't really have a relationship anymore."
His eyes studied me. I felt his intensity and wanted to curl up against it. He asked me, "Did you mean that?"
I jerked my head in a nod. "I did." My eyes found his. "I'm close to asking David if I can live with him. He raised me all my life. If my mom knows who my real dad is or not doesn't matter to me. David raised me. He's my dad and she knows I'll push that if we'd ever go to court. The fact that I'm here, it's by a hairs' width."
He came inside and perched on the arm of one of my couches. "So where did you want to go?"
"Some bar. Some people at school invited me to their dinner. I didn't go and now they're out. I feel a little bad that I ditched on them."
Mason shook his head. "Let me guess, these aren't the people that are used to being ditched?"
I shook my head too.
"Do you know what you're doing?"
I wrapped my arms around my knees. "No."
His eyes held mine.
And I grinned. "But I don't really care either."
He mirrored my grin. "What bar are they at?"
I texted Miranda the question and she gave me an answer a second later. I held the phone up. "The Ryder."
Mason bit back a laugh and pulled out his phone. "I'm sure Logan's had his piece by now. Maybe he'd meet us there."
I stood and ran sweaty hands down my pants. I frowned at them. Why were they so sweaty? Then Mason looked back up when he was done. He grabbed my hand and pulled me between his legs. I held my breath as he leaned in close and pressed a kiss to the crook of my neck. He inhaled and held me close. I felt him fit between my legs and almost closed my eyes. I wanted to tell him to forget it and pull him to my bed.
When his phone vibrated, he lifted it for me to see.
'We're there!'
He chuckled against my neck and kissed it lightly. His hand curved around my waist and held me tighter. "Looks like its game on. Your quarterback's going to be there?"
I wrapped my arms around him and tilted my neck at an angle. His mouth started to explore it. Then I sighed against him. I didn't know if I'd ever get enough of him.
Mason moved back and whispered as his lips teased my skin, "You're going to ride me long and hard tonight."
I grinned against his neck. It was what every girl wanted to hear.