Fallen Crest Public (Fallen Crest Series) (14 page)

She had no idea just how rare she was.

She had no fucking clue, and I didn’t have the words to tell her. Even if I did, she’d be uncomfortable at the idea. She’d fidget, look anywhere other than at me, and then convince herself that I was being dramatic. Samantha didn’t know how to be loved—her mother made sure of that—so she’d never understand how special she truly was.

With that last thought, my hand fell from her cheek to her thigh. I took a firm grip, my fingers sinking into her leg, and I lifted her into my arms.

She gasped, but she wrapped her arms around my neck. Grinning, she murmured, “What’s this about?”

“I’m not going to be gentle.” My blood was pumping too much for that to happen. “I’m not going to be quick.” God no. I was going to enjoy the feel of her body underneath mine. All of her soft curves, the little gasps she made when I was inside of her, and the feel of her hands skimming over me. I was going to make it last. “And you are going to be thoroughly fucked when I’m through with you.”

I lowered her onto the bed. As she kneeled on the mattress before me, her shoulders and chest lifted when she took a deep breath. Her hands were on my chest, and she tipped her head back. Her dark hair fell backwards, and then she grinned. The look of her made my heart skip before pounding back with a renewed vigor.

In a soft husky tone, she murmured, “What’s taking you so long?”

That was all the okay I needed.

I took her lips with mine. I claimed her, forcing her to open for me, and swept inside to taste every inch. That was just the beginning. I heard another soft sigh from her. She always did that, right before she surrendered to me. With that sound, she pressed against me so every inch of her was touching me and her hands wrapped around my neck. Then she pulled me down to her, and I knew I could do whatever I wanted.

So I did.

The rest of the weekend passed quickly. Nate had a concussion, three fractured ribs, and a strained back injury. He was kept in the hospital until his parents arrived. When they did, it was with gusto. Their first point of business was banning Mason and Logan from their son’s hospital room. They were good enough to be allowed information, but Mason explained later that night that Nate’s parents had never approved of their friendship. It was why they moved Nate from Fallen Crest in the beginning. He was only allowed to come back for his last semester because he was eighteen. When I asked how they could even ban them from his room since he was an adult, Mason only shrugged. His reply was, “Guess the hospital has different policies for rich movie producers. I’m sure they’re hoping to get a donation out of them.”

In the end, he still snuck in to see Nate the next night, but it was after we packed our things and checked into a hotel. He wanted to avoid Nate’s parents. Logan overheard him and when the door closed behind him, he commented, “He wants to avoid our mom, too.”

That sent panic through me. He wasn’t the only one. An hour later, I followed in Mason’s trail, except I went to Manny’s. When Heather’s dad told me it was her night off, I tried their house then. While Mason was seeing his best friend, so was I. I spent most of the night on her couch. We watched movies, and she filled me in on the latest rumors about Nate’s car accident. There were two competing theories: The first was that the Broudou brothers cut the wrong brakes; they meant to cut Mason’s. The second was that Kate had cut the brakes to hurt Nate, so it would hurt Mason.

There were a few others, but they were ridiculous. Nate’s parents owed money to the mob. Nate just wanted attention. Nate was the one that actually caused the accident, and the cops were covering for him.

The first two sent chills down my spine. I stopped asking about any more theories, and we went back to the movie. I thought about asking if she received any more texts from Kate or her friends, but I didn’t. A part of me didn’t want to know. I didn’t want to worry about losing my one female friend.

It was late when I returned to the hotel. Slipping inside the suite, I wasn’t surprised to find it empty. Logan texted that Ethan was throwing a party to celebrate that Nate was alive. Mason texted an hour after Logan saying that he was leaving the hospital and was going to the party. He asked if I wanted to go, but I declined. There’d been too much drama for me, so I enjoyed the solitude of the room that night.

My drama free night carried on to the next morning.

Helen had checked into her own room, but she was on a different floor.

When I learned that, my relief was powerful. My knees almost buckled, but I caught the table and plopped down on a chair. I landed harder than normal, but I didn’t care. I ignored the smirk Logan gave me and then he gave me even better news. They were going to spend the day with their mother. Neither of them asked if I wanted to go along. They both knew I’d rather hang out with Kate and her princess bullies.

It wasn’t long after that when I went for my run, but instead of running from the hotel, I drove to my old neighborhood. There was a trail from a nearby park that connected to the trail that went behind Quickie’s. The scenery was too beautiful to miss. Even before I parked, I was already itching to fly up the hills behind the gas station. Maybe it was the anticipation of pushing myself up those hills, but my run went faster than normal. It was invigorating and when I ran back, two hours later, I considered going for another hour, but I didn’t. I needed my energy to start on my homework. However, when I drove past my old house, I stopped the car. I don’t know why. I wasn’t nostalgic about the home. There were a lot of bad memories in it, but I sat in the car and stared at it. Maybe I was more tired from the run than I realized. Maybe I wanted to avoid doing homework. Or maybe I missed the slight semblance of normalcy that the house used to give me, but whatever it was, I stayed for an hour. I didn’t move from the car. I just stared at the house. No one was home, but when I saw a car that I thought was my dad’s, I started my engine and drove away.

I didn’t tell Mason about my run. I didn’t know why. There wasn’t anything significant about it, but I realized that I didn’t want to tell him about my old house. When they came home and he got in bed with me, I asked about their day with their mother. As he filled me in, I kept wondering if that car had been David’s. Maybe he’d been home. Maybe he saw me there.

“Sam?”

“Mmm?”

Mason grinned, tipping my head up to meet his eyes. “What’s wrong? You spaced there for a second.”

“Oh.” I shrugged, dipping my head back down. “Nothing.”

I could feel his gaze on me and knew his wheels were spinning. “I talked to my mom. She won’t come up here. She knows you’re staying here and agreed it would be for the best if she stayed away. Is that what’s bothering you?”

“Oh.” Had that been my dad in that car? Why was I even thinking about him? “That’s fine. I’m tired. That’s all.”

Mason knew I lied to him, but he didn’t push. I was thankful.

I was thankful for my social outcast status the next day at school as well. It was peaceful, but when I went to gym class, I should’ve been prepared. I wasn’t. Kate had warned me on the first day, but she spent the rest of the week focusing all her threats on Heather. It was only a matter of time before she turned her attention back to me.

It happened when I was done showering. All of my clothes were gone. It didn’t take a genius to figure out where they were.

“Um …”

The locker room emptied as soon as I stepped from the shower. It made sense now, but there was a girl behind me. She wore a baggy sweatshirt and a baggy pair of jeans. Her sneakers might’ve been white at one point, but they were frayed on the soles and almost black now. She brushed a strand of red hair behind her ear, but it popped back out instantly. It was frizzy, and I knew it would’ve been beautiful if she would put some hair gel into it. Her eyes held my interest. There was no sympathy or warmth. She jerked her hand over her shoulder and said in a flat tone, “If you need clothes, I might have some for you.”

“You wouldn’t get in trouble for helping me out?”

She lifted one shoulder, but the blank face remained. “I don’t really care. It’s not like they’d know who helped you. They aren’t my clothes.”

“You keep the lost and found in your locker?”

“No.” I caught a glimmer of a grin as she went to her locker. When she handed me a boy’s jersey, the name on the back made me pause—Kade. “Uh …?”

“Told you.” She pulled out a pair of jeans that looked like they’d been on the bottom of her locker for years. They were wrinkly and smelled musky. Then she handed me a swimsuit, which looked new. That was comforting. “The shirt and jeans belonged to a friend of mine. No one’s seen them in years since she transferred two years ago, but the suit’s mine. It’s clean; I was going to go swimming after school, but I can borrow one of my friend’s.”

They’d do in a pinch. “Did they at least leave my shoes?”

“Yeah.” She pointed to my locker. My shoes had been stored underneath a bench. “I don’t think they knew which ones were yours.” Twenty other pairs of shoes were beside them, lined up and down the row of lockers.

“Small favors, huh?” I gave her a grin, but her facial expression still didn’t change. It was still blank and flat. Then she started to go around me. “Wait. Who was your friend?”

“No one you’d know.” She didn’t stop and continued to the door.

I lifted Mason’s jersey. “I’m betting that I might. This was Mason’s, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah, but like I said, you wouldn’t know her. She wasn’t his girlfriend or anything.” She paused. “And she wasn’t a stalker either. They were friends.”

Then it clicked. “Marissa.”

That finally got a reaction from her. Her eyelid twitched and she frowned. “He’s talked about her?”

“A little. I know they were friends.”

“Oh.”

“And you were friends with her, too?”

“She left those clothes in my locker all the time. Kate and friends did the same thing to her. She liked wearing his jersey because it shut ‘em up.” She took a small breath. “Anyways, there you go. You don’t have to give them back or anything. It’s not like Marissa still wants them.”

She started to push open the door, but I asked, “Would you tell me about her?”

She let the door close again. “Why?”

I shrugged, clutching the clothes to my chest. I was standing there, dripping wet from my shower and the towel was starting to slip, but I was insistent. “I’d like to know more about her. He doesn’t say too much.”

She snorted. “I’m not surprised by that.” The small opening that had appeared was gone. The wall was back in place. “Good luck with the Princess Bitches. See you.”

I didn’t move for a while after she left. Mason never talked about his friend except that she’d been bullied by Tate and Kate’s group. I never pushed him for information. He’d tell me if I did, but I wanted to hear it from someone else. This girl was Marissa’s friend, and in the two minutes that I had talked to her, I could tell she still missed her.

She had been kind to me and I didn’t even get her name.

With that depressing thought, I heard voices outside the door and knew the next gym class would be heading inside, so I darted into the bathroom stall and changed. The jersey hung on me and the jeans were a little baggy, but they would do. The swimsuit helped underneath since my bra and underwear had gone missing as well.

When I went into the hallway, the reaction wasn’t what they wanted. Mouths dropped and girls bent close to whisper to each other. At the end of the hallway, Kate was at Natalie’s locker. She was furious and looked ready to march over, but Mason came up from behind me. He wrapped an arm around my waist and nudged me against my locker. His hand lifted to hold the back of my head so I didn’t hit the locker, but he pressed into me.

Dropping his head, he kissed my neck. As his lips caressed me, he asked, “Where did you get this? This was my freshman jersey.”

I spotted a few girls beside us, within hearing distance, and shrugged. “Just something I found in the locker room.”

One girl made a sound of disgust before shoving from her locker. She stormed down the hallway, past Kate, sneering at her as well before she turned into the senior hallway.

“Who was that?”

“Hmmm?” Mason lifted his head from my neck and glanced around. “Who?”

“No one.”

“Hey, nauseating lovebirds.” Heather appeared at my locker. She gave Mason a bright smile and placed her hands on her hips like she was going to do a cheer for him. I caught the twinge of tension in her gaze before it slipped away. “I need to steal your gal, Kade. I need her to walk me to my next class.”

His hands fell away and he stepped back, but he frowned. “You keep interrupting. When’s your boyfriend transferring? I’d like to return all these favors.”

“Ha, ha. We both know you’re proud of your girl for landing a friend like me.” She pointed to her own chest, walking backwards and looping her other elbow through mine. “I’m a hot commodity. There’s only one Heather Jax in this town.”

“That doesn’t make you a hot commodity. That makes you expendable. No one would miss you.”