Fallen Crest High

chapter TWELVE





That night I met Adam for burgers and he surprised me by bringing Becky. Everyone was happy until Jeff and Jill Flatten came in for their date night. They chose a booth across the restaurant so it was semi-easy to ignore them. When they left, Jeff gave me a once over and Jill gave me a glare.

Sigh.

I could've been a part of that.

Or not.

I shuddered at the thought of being with Jeff again, not to mention the deceit from Lydia and Jessica.

And since Becky must've been psychic, she shot forward and slammed a hand down on the table. "I heard Lydia telling Melissa Baker that Jeff asked about you."

Adam sat back.

"What are you talking about?"

She jerked her head up and down. "Uh huh. And Nancy Morrow overheard it too. He asked Lydia and Jessica about you, at Jessica's locker." She spoke like it was a hush-hush controversy.

"Come on, Becky. Jeff's not stupid."

"Yeah, he is."

"He knows that he's made his bed."

"My cousin is a jerk-one douchebag. I bet you fifty bucks that he's going to start talking to you again by the end of the month. And Jill knows it too." She pointed at the door with a French fry. "That's why she's upped her game against you."

"Since they got together, she's been like that."

"Yeah, but it's worse. I think she hates you." She glanced at Adam from underneath her eyelids. "And I think Ashley DeCortts is scared of you."

"Does she hate me too?" I hadn't done anything to anyone. Why did anyone care about me?

"No." Becky gave me a small smile. "It's not in Ashley to hate someone." She looked at Adam. "Right?"

He placed two hands against the table and pushed his chair back. When he stood, he plucked the bill from the table and went to the register.

"I think that's his answer for 'I don't care and let's get out of here.'"

Becky groaned. "I think he's mad at me."

"Why?"

"Because he brought me on your date, because he thought you wouldn't go without me, and now I'm bringing up Ashley." She leaned across the table and whispered behind her hands, "He still loves her, Sam."

When he started back to us, I stood. "Becky, you're just being you. Don't worry about it. You've got nothing to feel bad about."

She jumped to her feet and smoothed her hands down the front of her pants while she gave me an unsteady smile.

Adam stood behind me and asked in a low voice, "Sam, do you need a ride to school tomorrow?"

Becky's eyes got wide. She squeaked, but slapped both her hands over her mouth and jerked away.

As she hurried out the door, I couldn't stop a laugh. "Why are you like that to her?"

The corner of his mouth lifted. "Because she's so interested in everyone else's business. I don't think that's good for her."

"Let her be. That's just her being her."

"Yeah." His voice was wry. "I heard what you said to her."

I shrugged a shoulder. "That's how I feel."

As we both turned for the door, his hand cupped the back of my elbow. "You never answered about that ride."

I shook my head and pushed open the glass door. The evening had cooled and I knew I'd need a sweater soon.

Becky was already in his car, but I knew she could see us.

"Samantha?"

"My whole name?" I teased him before I gently twisted my elbow out of his hold. "I can give myself a ride. Thanks for the offer. That was sweet."

He tugged on the back of my pants when I was about to step down for the car and held me back. His voice was close to my ear. "I could give Becky and you a ride tomorrow."

I could imagine their reactions when they pulled up to the Kade mansion. And I chuckled dryly when I removed his hold from my pants. "That's okay, Don Juan, but I think Becky would appreciate a ride."

He laughed, huskily, and brushed against the back of my neck. "Maybe I'll do that then."

I gave him a curious look as I opened the front door and he rounded the car for his, but as he slid behind the steering wheel, his face was clouded. A wall had been put in place and from the little I knew Adam, I knew I wouldn't get that wall back down for awhile.

When he drove us back to Becky's house where my car was parked, the ride was quiet. Even Becky was silent and I knew this was the right thing to do. He kept trying, but it wouldn't happen. It shouldn't happen. And he should give Becky rides. They were neighbors. A part of me felt he might start to like her, if only he'd get over whatever fascination he had for me.

I was broken. I didn't need to break anyone else with me.

When Adam pulled into his family's driveway, he didn't say goodbye. He got out of his side, shut the door, and strolled inside his family's house.

Becky gave me a sad smile as we were slower to get out. "He's mad. What'd you do?"

"Nothing." That was the truth. "He'll get over it."

"Yeah."

I sighed. How had I gotten into more drama? "I'll see you tomorrow."

"See ya." She waved as I went to my car and drove off.

When I got home and after I had gone for a run, it was late. The place was empty, not a shocker. It always seemed empty except for the random sandwich wrapped in saran wrap that Mousteff would leave in the refrigerator for me . After I showered, I headed downstairs to the media room with a glass of water. I found Mason on the couch with the sports channel on the television and I hesitated in the doorway.

"Sit."

I jumped at his command, but I did.

He lounged back on the couch with a beer on the table beside it. The television lights played across his face. It gave him a dark look, a somber one that added to the alarm I always felt around him. His eyes were on the screen and then they were on me. I tensed at the sudden change, at the intensity in them, but steeled myself. I was starting to think this was what he'd always be like, primed and alert.

"Logan and Nate went to some party."

"Oh." I winced at how timid I sounded.

He yawned and looked away.

I was released from his gaze and my body sagged from the relief of it. "What party?"

He jerked a shoulder up. "Don't care."

"Oh."

Then he smirked. "Your mom wants to take Logan and me to dinner Sunday."

I narrowed my eyes. All the nerves I felt around him hardened at the mention of her. "Why?"

He looked back at me. The same caution was in his gaze as I felt in my body. "I was going to ask you the same question."

Then it clicked. "That's why you didn't go to the party. You wanted to question me about her."

He didn't blink. "You'd do the same."

He was right and I nodded. "If you want to know my mom's agenda, I'm guessing it's because she wants to get to know you guys."

"She told you on the patio that afternoon she knew us well enough."

So they had heard. I'd been wondering.

I sat up straighter in my chair. "She was lying."

He didn't say anything.

My voice grew bolder. "My mom wants everyone to do what she wants and she said those things so I'd do what she wanted. I think she wants to take you guys out for dinner to try and charm you."

"It won't work."

He said it so bluntly, but I knew it was the truth. A shiver went down my spine as I held his gaze in that darkened room with an empty mansion around us. Mason Kade was not stupid, far from it, and I wondered if I'd known it the whole time, if perhaps that's why I stayed away. He watched behaviors, he didn't listen to words. I wondered if Logan was the same and something in my gut told me he was.

"It worked on your father."

"My dad has a weakness for weak women."

Again, there was no judgment. It was a fact and he said it as such. The truth of it held more power because of the lack of emotion with him.

My throat had gone dry. "You called my mother weak."

"Isn't she?"

His gaze was searing into mine.

My chest tightened. My throat clamped up. "I—uh—"

He snorted in disgust. "You think so too, but you can't say the words, not to me. That's alright. I understand. She's your blood."

Then he looked away and again, my whole body almost fell from the chair. It was as if he had pinned me in place and I was free from the hold.

My hands curled in on themselves and I couldn't stop my fingers from trembling. I tucked them between my legs and took a breath. I needed to gain control of myself again.

In that moment, I realized that he always had that affect on me. The ice façade I reined over myself was plucked away whenever his attention was on me. He reached over and took it away like I was a baby with candy.

"Does my mom know you don't like her?" It was a weird question, but I wanted to know how he thought. I wanted to understand him.

He grinned at me. The power of that look with his piercing eyes, perfect teeth, and square jaw had me pinned against my chair again. I couldn't breathe for a moment.

Then I heard him laugh. "Your mom doesn't care. She cares if we're going to make a stink or not."

I snorted. That sounded just like her. "And are you?"

He shrugged and went back to the television. "As long as she doesn't screw with me and Logan or with our mom then I don't care who my dad pounds."

"And if they get married? My mom's not stupid."

"Your mom's a shark."

"Your father is wealthy."

Then he laughed again and the genuineness of it struck me. "My dad has money, but my mom is wealthy."

My eyes widened a fraction. I would put money down my mom had no idea about that tidbit. It made things a lot clearer, why the boys didn't seem to care too much about the marriage.

"Do you care?"

I was struck by how he seemed to really want to know. I shook my head. "Why would I?"

"Because your mom's going to look a fool when she learns how rich my mom is."

I hadn't considered it, but he was right. Analise was ambitious and she'd grown more ambitious since leaving my—David. It would burn her ego, in some way, and then I realized why he was telling me this. I was the one who'd pay for it. Analise would take her anger out on me and I sucked in my breath. I was grateful for his slight warning, because it was one that I'd need to keep tucked in the back of my mind.

We heard a door open upstairs and Logan's near-hysterical laughter followed a second later.

Mason grinned to himself before he stood up and left with his beer in hand.

"Mason! Dude, there was a girl with boobs out to here. I couldn't believe it." Logan's voice carried down the stairs. His laughter wouldn't stop. "Nate bagged her."

Mason's and Nate's voice joined in at a low murmur.

I tuned them out and turned the television to a different channel. When a bunch of rich women came on the screen, I settled back. My mom would've loved that show; she would've loved to have been on that show. When they started fighting with each other, I closed my eyes and fell asleep.