Fallen Crest High (38 page)

"Mom," I started as I got inside. "I really can't handle much right now so if you've got any more bombs to lay on me, can you leave them for another day?"

Her smile slipped a bit. "Are you okay, honey?"

I stared at her. Had she not been there when I stormed out of the classroom? "I'm perfect."

She laughed. "Well, I don't know about that, but you're pretty good."

My mouth wanted to fall to the ground. Where had the mom from this morning gone? She professed she wanted to change and now I got the Barbie fake mom again.

At a stoplight, she let out a deep breath. Her voice dropped to a normal tone. "Well, I'm sorry about those bombs, but I do have one to drop on you." She paused for a beat. "Your father's in town."

I closed my eyes.

"And he wants to meet you."

"Oh no."

"Tonight."

I wanted that run. I needed that run right now.

I looked at her. "How long is he in town?" My voice came out breathless.

"It depends on you." She held my gaze until the light turned green. As we started forward again, she gripped the steering wheel with clenched knuckles. "I don't like that he's here, but he is. David's going to flip about this."

My heart was pounding again. It was a horse track. "Mom, I can't…"

Her hand clasped onto mine and she squeezed it. "I'm sorry, honey. I really am, but your father's a jerk. If I tell him you don't want to see him, he won't believe me. He'll show up anyway and I'd like to avoid that, if possible."

"Mom."
My voice was a whisper now. "I can't. I really can't."

She kept driving and we were almost home when she murmured, "Okay, honey. I'll tell him you're not ready."

Everything sagged forward at that. As soon as we got home, I unbuckled and bolted for the door. I was back on the pavement within ten minutes with my running shoes on and my headphones in my ears.

Three hours later when I turned into the driveway, my stomach had stopped rumbling. Everything was numb in me, it was the way I liked it, and I was blind to the three cars I passed as I let myself inside. I trailed through the house and eyed the droplets of sweat that slipped from me. I doubted my mom would care, not that I ever did, but the small grin that formed on my face was wiped away when I went past the dining room.

A man sat at the table with my mother and James. He had striking blue eyes and broad shoulders. He looked in his forties with a strong jaw and a lean physique. Confidence and authority exhumed from him. As he turned towards me, he never blinked. I felt pinned under his gaze and steeled myself. He was trying to read into me, as only Mason tended to do sometimes.

"Sam, honey."
Analise
jumped up. "You're back from your run."

I couldn't answer her. I couldn't look away from this man.

She laughed nervously. "This is your father…Garrett
Brickshire
."

"You're the hotshot lawyer from Boston?"

The corner of his lip twitched. "You're the pain in the ass daughter I never knew about?"

"My mom said you were a jerk." I paused. "That was an understatement."

"She said the same thing to me." He stood and my eyes widened. He kept standing up. And he towered above my mom and James.

"How tall are you?"

"I'm six four. How far did you run?"

I would've shrugged, but my body couldn't respond to me anymore. "I have no idea."

"You're not training for a marathon?"

"I run to run."

We were locked in some form of battle. Neither of us could look away, neither of us could back down.

His mouth twitched now to a mocking grin. "You should keep track of what you do. Your achievements define you."

My lip curled upwards. "Then I'm not worth your time. I don't have any achievements. You can go back to Boston and your hotshot lawyer life."

He blinked.

He broke. I won.

Then he laughed in a smooth baritone voice. "Yeah, you're my kid alright." He turned to
Analise
. "I still want the test done, but I'm 99% sure she's mine."

She huffed out, "Like I'd lie to you after seventeen years, Garrett."

He chuckled. "I think you lie so much you don't know when you're not." His eyes met James. "No offense to your future bride. I'm sure she loves you well enough."

A look twitched in James' eyes. "You've seen her for yourself. Now you can return to your hotel to wait until Samantha is ready. I believe she should determine when and if she's ready to meet with you again."

The cockiness vanished in Garrett's eyes and he drew himself to an impressive height. He reached for James' hand. As they shook, he said, "I've heard of a James
Kade
. Though the circumstances are strained, I'm glad to have met you."

"You as well, Mr.
Brickshire
."

They studied each other for a moment. It reminded me of the exchange between David and James earlier, but this one was different. There was an edge to it that I hadn't felt in the classroom with David.

Then the moment was broken as Garrett passed by me. "I'll see you later, kid!" He thumped me on the shoulder before the door shut behind him.

I needed another run.

CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR

The rest of the week was quiet. I knew Garrett was at some ritzy hotel.
Analise
told me he offered to pay for my own suite so we could get to know one another, but that was the one and only time she mentioned him. I was content to let him sit and wait.

School was also quiet. Lydia never left my side, which was refreshing. Becky was right beside her and the two seemed like long-lost kindred souls. She insisted that Adam wanted to make things right again, but he never approached me. I caught a few looks from him, but that was the extent of it. The Elite had fallen quiet as well. Miranda and Amelia glared every now and then, but as the week progressed their glares faded. Cassandra rolled her eyes whenever she saw me and she would whisper to whatever friend was nearby, but I never let it bother me. It hadn't before, why would I start now?

Of the four Elite girls, Emily was the one who hadn't changed with me. She never talked to me before and she didn't now. There were no glares or eye rolls either. One time she bumped into me, but kept going. From the distracted look on her face, I was inclined she didn't know who she had bumped into. And judging from how she hurried away, I didn't think she cared.

The only Elite member who did talk to me was Mark, and both of us felt awkward about the exchange.

He stopped at my locker one day and looked above my head.

I turned around to see who was behind me, but there was no one. "Can I help you?"

He cleared his throat and looked in pain as he did it.

"Mark? Hello?"

I spotted Lydia and Becky down the hallway. They were giggling about something, but both stopped in their tracks when they saw who was in front of me. Hands flew over their mouths and their heads bumped together. They scurried into a nearby bathroom and I knew they wouldn't save me either.

He continued to stare over my head and his mouth kept twitching. I grew tired of waiting and snapped my fingers in front of him. "Hey, I'm down here. Look at me if you're going to talk to me."

His eyes widened a fraction. "Oh yeah…"

Oh goodness. Here we go again.

"Um…okay, this is really
weird
to say, but…uh… My mom wanted me to invite you to our house tomorrow night."

"Why?"

"For dinner."
He looked down now and almost jumped back a foot. He frowned, twisted at his shirt's collar, and looked away. "This is so uncomfortable."

"And perplexing."
I grabbed his shirt and hauled his face down so he was eye level with me. "Why does your mom want me over for dinner?"

"Because of Coach."

"Explain."

"Oh, uh, they're dating." He reared back. "You didn't know?"

My heart shrunk. "I had hoped to forget it. Thanks for reminding me."

His mouth twitched up now.
"Hey, no problem.
Okay, so she wants you to come over around six. Can you bring a bottle of wine?"

"I'm underage."

He shrugged. "Get one from your mom; tell her it's for the dinner."

"And is it?"

He grinned again.
"Nah, man.
We can drink it later. I figure you can come to dinner and then we can take off for the party afterwards. It'd look cool to show up with a bottle of wine, you know. It's like we're mature and grown up."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"The
Kade
party."
He frowned at me. "You didn't know?"

I glared at him. "Well I do now, don't I?"

"Yeah, it's going to be awesome. They're throwing it in some huge suite at a hotel. My dad's stayed there a few times. It's supposed to be out of this world."

So they had time to spread the word about a party, but not invite me? I folded my arms over my chest and leaned back against my locker when Mark bounced away. He slapped hands with another guy as he did so and they started laughing. I watched his lips and knew he was talking about the
Kade
party, the one I hadn't been informed about. Then again, I shouldn't have been surprised. Mason and Logan disappeared after Tuesday. They were with their mother the whole week. James went to their hotel one night, but
Analise
and I hadn't been asked to go along.

I never heard from them the rest of the week. A part of me tried to be reasonable. They were busy. They had lots of practices and I knew both were intent on demolishing
Roussou
, tonight's game.

It made sense why I had slipped their minds.

I groaned and let my head fall back with a thump against my locker. It made no sense. They should've called me, or texted.

"Hey." A soft voice spoke and I opened my eyes. Adam stood in front of me with a grim look on his face.

"Hey."

He looked around. "Do you think we could talk somewhere?"

I gestured for him to lead. I had no idea where to go.

He gave me a small grin before he started off and looked back every now and then to make sure I was following behind. As we passed the bathroom, Lydia and Becky popped back out. Their
eyes went wide again and there was a repeat performance from before. They scurried back in with hands over their mouths and heads together.

I rolled my eyes and saw a mirrored reaction on Adam's face.

When he pushed open a door, I saw we were in some room with televisions, keyboards, and computer screens loitering around. Cords were everywhere. "What is this?"

"It's where the media geeks hang out."

"Won't they need this room?"

"I don't care. They won't come in until we're done."

And with those words, an awkward silence fell over us. I looked at him, he looked at me. Neither of us spoke. So I slumped down on some couch. When did the media geeks get a couch for their room? Then I stopped caring as Adam cleared his throat and fiddled with his thumbs.

"Just say what you need to say, Adam. We can leave as soon as you're done."

He expelled a deep breath. "That's the thing; it's harder to do this than I thought it would be."

"To do what?"

His eyes found mine and pierced me.
"To apologize.
I've been trying to do it all week, since Tuesday, but I couldn't muster the courage."

"You need courage to be nice to me?"

He laughed. "I need courage to humiliate myself for you again."

I frowned. Humiliate?

He ran a hand through his hair and rubbed at his jaw. "Look, I'm real sorry about everything that's happened. I've been a huge ass and I know that doesn't even cover how I've been towards you."

I looked away. Did I want to hear this? Then I sighed. It didn't matter. Here it went…

He continued, "You know that I liked you, I still do if I'm being honest. When I found out that you were tight with the
Kade
brothers, I went crazy. I was jealous and I was a prick and you have every right to never talk to me again. I was acting like a spoiled
douchebag
who didn't get his prize."

I looked down. "I think that's putting it mildly."

He chuckled.
"Yeah, probably.
Look, Mason had every right to knock me out. I said something horrible about you to him."

My head jerked up. "What'd you say?"

He choked on his next words. "What? He didn't tell you?"

"No, he didn't so you tell me. What'd you say?"

He grimaced. "I'd rather not."