Fallen Crest Public

6






Running was my escape. I escaped all reality and pushed forward. I kept going. It was like a drug to me. It came with its own challenges and obstacles, and as long as I kept going, I broke through every single one of them. Tearing down a wooded trail, the bass was pounding through my earbuds and my adrenalin matched it. My heart pumped as I lifted my knees and pushed off from the ground. Power rippled up through my legs. I ducked my head and raised my hands to keep projecting forward.
I’d never tire of this.
And with that thought, I rounded a turn in the new trail. My eyes widened in surprise as Quickie’s came into the clearing. I never knew this path came through here, but it wasn’t far from Nate’s home. It made sense. There were no cars in the lot so I raced through, but saw the clerk watching me. When our eyes caught for a second, he lifted his hand and I nodded back, but then I was gone again. The path led up a hill behind the gas station and I heaved a deep breath, pushing myself upward now.
There were no thoughts in my head. No concern. No fear. There wasn’t even love. When I ran, I was just being. My nostrils flared and I kept going, flying up one hill and then another. I tore past another clearing. The trees parted below me and I braked. My chest heaved up and down, but I couldn’t move away.
I was looking down on Fallen Crest.
I hadn’t realized how high I must’ve run, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away. It was breathtaking. My old school’s campus was on another hill, straight from where I stood. Fallen Crest Public was in the valley below. The massive football field was a patch of green among the rest of the town. Then I looked for the south side, wondering if I could see Manny’s. It was surrounded by trees so I wasn’t surprised that I couldn’t. Then, without thinking about it, I glanced to the neighborhood where David’s house was, my old home.
Instead of the old pain, there was nothing. I frowned, but started forward. A chill drifted over me and my blood was pumping. I needed to keep going before the cold settled in. With that last thought, I tucked my head down and pushed forward with a new burst of speed.
After my run, I showered, ate, and then fell asleep watching television in the basement. It was later in the night before the guys got home. A stampede of feet sounded above me, and the door slammed shut as I heard Logan yell, “SAM! WHERE ARE YOU?”
“Logan!”
“What?”
“You don’t have to scream your head off.”
“Whatever, Nate. You’re pissed because you need to work for some p-ssy now. Can’t have Parker running over anymore.”
“Shut up.”
The door leading to the basement was thrown open and Logan’s voice grew clearer as he laughed. “Don’t blame me that girls are scared of you. You’re a shady, motherf*cker.” He hurried down the stairs, but stopped before laughing. “Sam? You’re down here?”
I scowled at him before rolling back over and pulling my blanket over my head. “You’re so loud. Shut up.”
He chuckled before yelling upstairs, “SHE’S DOWN HERE, MASON.”
I held my breath. I already knew what was coming next, but as he dropped next to me, the couch jerked from his sudden weight, and I went airborne for a second. Oomph. Oh yes. I was fully awake now. I pulled the blanket back to glare at him. “Thank you for being quiet.”
He flashed me a grin, pulling the handle to the footrest next to him. “No problem.” It came up and he lounged back, getting comfortable. “What are you doing down here? You’re never down here.”
“Resting. What are you doing down here?”
Grabbing the remote from next to my feet, he switched the channel and pointed at the screen. “Game’s on.”
Of course. How stupid of me.
I groaned to myself, but sat up and curled my knees to my chest. The sounds of a basketball game came next. It was only the first day of school so I didn’t have any homework yet. No shift at Manny’s. I already ran. I knew Mason would be heading down soon. I wasn’t going anywhere. When Logan reached down and lifted a fast food bag to his lap, I asked, “You guys got food?”
He had pulled his burger out. It was half unwrapped and lifted to his mouth before he stopped and turned to me. “Did you want some?”
My stomach growled. The smell of greasy food hit me like a cement truck. Crap. The little sandwich I had after my run hadn’t tied me over.
Logan heard it and one corner of his mouth lifted. He held his burger to me. “You want a bite?”
I shook my head. “No. That’s yours. I’ll go and find something else.” Still. My stomach growled louder.
“Sam.” Logan was fighting back a smile. “You can have the entire thing. This was my second one.”
“No, then you’ll be hungry.”
“Nah.” The smile won out and he grinned from ear to ear. “I can steal Nate’s. He got three of them, and I know he hasn’t touched them. He said we should wait till we got home.” He snorted. “No f*cking idea why.”
“Because I was going to ask Sam if she wanted one,” Nate spoke up, coming down the stairs. He frowned at Logan, before he sat down on the other couch. He had two bags with him and held one in the air. “There’s a chicken sandwich in here. Sam?”
My stomach spoke up with a resounding ‘yes.’ It groaned, growled, and shuddered all at the same time.
Logan chuckled, but turned to Nate. “Kiss ass.”
“Screw you. Mason got the sandwich for her.”
“Oh.” Logan frowned. “I thought you were going to take the credit.”
“What’s your problem?” Nate tossed the bag so it landed on the couch next to me. “You’ve been on my ass all day.”
“Because you’ve been an ass lately,” he shot back before giving me a wink. He said to Nate, “It’s not every day you get knocked down a peg and take it. I have to enjoy this while I can.”
Nate’s frown deepened to a glower as he rolled his eyes. “Well, it’s getting old.”
Logan shrugged. “Not my problem. You were the shady motherf*cker in the first place.”
“Guys,” I murmured as I unwrapped the sandwich. My stomach wouldn’t stop groaning. I hadn’t realized how hungry I was.
Nate glanced back at the stairs. “Your brother’s being an a*shole.”
There was no response, but I knew who it was. I knew who was coming and enjoyed waiting for him. I sunk my teeth into the sandwich. Good gracious, I was in heaven. A chicken sandwich had never tasted so delicious to me. My stomach was doing cartwheels, but then I was being lifted in the air again. I didn’t even react. I already knew where he was going. When he moved so he was underneath me, I kept eating as I got comfortable on his lap and rested my head on his chest. One of his hands remained on my leg, his fingers on my inner thigh as I took another bite.
“Did you not eat?”
I nodded, mumbling around the sandwich, “Not enough.”
He grinned and leaned back into the couch.
Logan chuckled, turning the volume louder.
“Nice, dickwad.”
He only got a shrug in response.
Mason held me on his lap and moved his fingers in a circling motion. It was soothing and sensual at the same time. Part of me was getting excited while the other part wanted to fall asleep. With the chicken sandwich in my stomach, and the warmth from Mason, the sleepy part won out. Then Mason’s phone went off. It buzzed from his pocket underneath me, and he shifted me to the side, his arm sliding under me to grab it. Pulling it out, he opened the screen. It was a text from his father: We would like to invite you over for dinner. When are you moving back?
“Uh, okay.” Logan was reading his phone at the same time. He put it down, his eyebrows bunching together as he said, “I know you talked us into moving back, but no way. I can’t do it, Sam.”
“What?” I sat forward. “You guys said you would.”
Logan shared a look with Mason. I twisted around. “You agree?”
Mason didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to. I shook my head. “What? Did you guys come to this decision without me?”
“No.” Logan shook his head and then nodded. “Yes.”
A lead stone dropped to the pit of my stomach. This was my fault. I promised James and now they were changing their minds. “You guys should live with your dad for the last semester. Mason, you only have a few months before you leave.”
“Sam.”
That big lead stone wasn’t moving. I sat up and went to the empty chair.
Nate took the remote from Logan and silenced the game.
Logan snorted. “Why’s it so damn important for us to live with our dad? It’s not fair to put your daddy issues on us.”
Narrowing my eyes, I crossed my arms over my chest. “You can’t say that to me. You have no idea—”
“No idea?” Logan scoffed. “Yes, we do. Our dad’s an a*shole.”
“Logan.”
He overrode me, “It’s not going to happen.” Then he stopped, and glanced at Nate.
“What?”
Logan turned to the stairs.
Nate bit out a curse. “Are you serious? You want me to leave?”
“Not to be an ass, but this is family shit.”
“What am I then?”
“You’re extended family shit. You’re one of those long-distance cousins.”
Nate looked over. “Mason.”
“Just go, Nate.” Logan leveled him with a harsh look. “This is family and you’ve been a douchebag lately.”
Nate gritted his teeth at him, but turned to his best friend. “Mason, come on.”
Mason sighed. “It doesn’t matter what I say. You need to be trusted by all of us and you’re not. That’s what matters.”
He pushed up from the couch and stalked out. No words were shared, and the tension in the room was thick enough to cut with a knife. I didn’t dare breathe until he had left. As soon as he was upstairs and the door shut, Mason leaned back and sighed. “I hope you guys know what you just did.”
Logan sent him a dark look. “Screw you.”
“I already ripped him a new one this morning—”
“Not good enough,” Logan interrupted him. He shot forward, his eyes stormy and lips pressed tight in a snarl. “Nate’s been so far up your ass, I’m surprised you remember about the rest of us.” As Mason glanced at me, Logan added, “Except for Sam. You do need to get your daily screws in, don’t you?”
Everything happened so fast after that.
I gasped, but then Mason was off the couch. He had Logan pressed against the wall in the next instant, one hand fisted in his shirt and the other had pinned Logan’s arm up. He snarled at him, “Are you f*cking with me?”
Logan twisted, jutting his hip out to move Mason aside and then slipped his arm free.
My heart was pounding. It sounded so loud in my eardrums that I struggled to hear the rest. Everything had jumped up in me, and it felt like my pulse was lodged in my throat. It was going nuts.
Mason didn’t move against him, but Logan didn’t move away. They were almost touching, glaring at each other.
“I’m not screwing with you.”
“You sure about that?” Mason lashed back. Every muscle in him was primed. He was ready to fight; his hands had formed into fists and were pressed against his legs. He was holding himself back.
Logan eyed him warily before sending me a furtive look. His shoulders were rigid, but they dropped a fraction of a centimeter. His jaw was still like cement as he clipped out, “I’m not, but I am getting sick of this shit. Nate’s up your ass twenty-four-seven. “
“We are staying in his house.”
“So let’s move.”
“And go where?” A hollow laugh came from Mason’s throat. He turned to me. “Back to Dad’s? Sam, there’s no way I’m living with your mom again. I meant to tell you earlier, but I forgot.”
Rising from the couch, I hugged myself, but spoke up, “It’s not right that you guys are here. Nothing against Nate, but you should be with family during this time.” My heart kept pounding, thumping against my ribcage. “And yes,” I caught the look he sent to Logan, “that means Logan and me, too. I don’t have a family anymore.”
Mason and Logan had been eyeing each other, but they turned as one now. I was front and center once again.
I gulped. Sometimes their attention was a little much, too much at times. This was one of those times. I felt stripped and raw as I added, “My life went to crap five months ago. My mom left my dad. I found out my dad wasn’t my real dad. Then my real dad came into my life, but he’s gone. They’re both gone and then my mom went psycho. I’ve got you two, and on the outside, I am so jealous of you. You have a dad. He’s still here. He loves you guys—”
Mason started forward. His voice soft, “He’s with your mom, Sam.”
I flinched at that. It felt as if he’d slapped me.
“I love you and she hurt you. That’s the math to me. If we go back there, she’s going to keep hurting you.” Mason was in front of me now. His hand lifted to touch the side of my face. “There’s no way I can watch that and not do anything.”
Logan spoke up, “We can’t scare your mom anymore. She’s too crazy for that, so being there and seeing that happen to you,” he gestured to his brother, “I’m with Mason. There’s no way I could watch that and not do anything, except this time, we’d really hurt your mom.”
“It’s best if we just stay away. Our dad knows the deal. As long as he has her in his life, we’re out. That’s the way it is.” Mason’s chest lifted as he took a deep breath. His touch was so tender. “He’s making that decision. Not us.”
A piece of me broke away. It fell to the bottom of my stomach. The sadness that washed over me was overwhelming. “I can’t be responsible for you guys losing your dad.”
“You’re not.” Logan frowned, stepping next to his brother. He didn’t reach out, but I felt his concern. “It’s our dad. He turned into a douchebag, too.”
“Logan.”
“What?” Logan shrugged, giving his brother a crooked grin. The sudden tension from before was gone. “You know it’s true. Well, I guess our dad’s always been a douchebag. How many mistresses did he have? Had to be twenty, at least.” He whistled in appreciation. “Gotta give it to your mom. She’s the one that landed him. Our dad must be really nuts if that’s who he chooses to settle down with. He’s stuck with her even after all the crap she did to Sam.” The other half of his mouth curved up. “Maybe we should have him committed? He can go through one of those brainwashing programs, brainwash him back to being normal.” He pondered that for a second. “No, he’d just pick another winner again.”
“This isn’t funny.”
Logan shrugged. His crooked grin didn’t lessen. “Has to be. Dad left Mom, cheated on her for years, and Analise is who he ends up with? She’s the one that he decides to stick it out with? That’s the funniest damn thing I’ve heard.” He clapped his brother on the shoulder. “Come on. You think it’s funny too.”
When the corner of Mason’s mouth curved up, teasing at his own grin, I couldn’t believe this. “Stop,” I cried out. Shaking my head, I moved away. “I can’t believe you guys. You’re laughing about this? You can’t—”
“We can,” Mason stopped me. A tender expression came over him. “Logan’s right. It has to be funny. We’ve lived through all the other stuff. The divorce. Dad’s cheating. The only good thing we got from him was you.”
“I second that.”
I rolled my eyes. They were missing the entire point.
“Sam.” Mason reached out and took my hand, pulling me back to him. “We’re not laughing to be dicks, but this is our dad. You can’t judge us because we’re not accepting the crumbs he’s giving to us. He’s not a great dad.”
Logan snorted, “Try he’s never been a great dad?”
“We understand what you’re saying. Trust me. We do.” He tugged me closer to him, but I didn’t look up. I couldn’t. His finger went underneath my chin, and he tipped my head up. Then I couldn’t look away. His green eyes caught mine and the wall he normally had up slid away. He let me see everything—the bitterness, hurt, pain, anger—all of that was there, but it was mixed with love. I saw it. I felt it when he murmured, “I’m grateful to him for you, but because I love you, I can’t accept your mother. There’s no way. Would you? If you saw someone hurting me, over and over again?”
When he put it like that, I drew in a shuddering breath. “I would kill that person.”
Logan started laughing. “We go from scaring to hurting. She jumps right to killing. Hardcore, Sam.” He patted me on the shoulder. “It’s why you’re our Little Kade. On that note, I love you. I’m sorry for my comment before, but I can tell where this is going. Believe it or not, I don’t get off on watching the two of you.” He pressed a quick kiss to my temple and headed to the stairs. As he got to the top, he called out, “Coast is clear. Fornicate away.”
Mason ignored him. “You okay?”
I nodded. My throat was too thick with emotion to speak.
“We can’t move back in. We can’t watch her hurt you, and he’s not going to leave her, so this is how it has to be.” He drew me against him and I rested my head on his chest. If the situation had been reversed, there was no way I could do it either. I hadn’t been joking. If I saw someone hurting Mason and Logan, over and over again, I would do anything to stop them.
Mason bent down and dropped a soft kiss to the top of my head.