Fallen Crest Public (Fallen Crest Series) (36 page)

“How?”

“Because I backed you in the hallway.”

“You backed Heather, not me.”

“It doesn’t matter to Kate. Once someone crosses her, she doesn’t let it go. So thanks for this.”

“You blew Logan when you knew a camcorder was there.”

“I thought he covered it up. We don’t make noises when we do things like that.”

“Why in there then?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. He looked stressed. I was giving him a treat.”

A bitter laugh came from me. “I don’t get you two. You guys just hook up now? There’s no feelings anymore?”

She smirked. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

My smile matched my tone. Brittle. “Just don’t screw him over again.”

“Hard to hurt someone who doesn’t give a flying fuck about you anymore.”

I paused.

As she started down the stairs, she added, “And he doesn’t, you know.”

“What? Give a flying fuck about you?”

“Care about me like that. We’re friends, only friends.”

I followed her to the bottom, but no one was around. “You didn’t come back to be friends with him.”

“No.” She jerked her head to the right. “They’re down there. Logan said you’d be coming, so I came to get you. They need to get the tape first.”

“You didn’t come back to be friends with him,” I pressed.

“I didn’t. You’re right. My parents shipped me out here so I thought it was my second chance.” She skimmed me up and down. Her top lip curved up in a sneer. “It didn’t take me long to catch on that I was wasting my time.”

Pausing outside a door, she reached for the door handle, but stopped. “You ready for this? Logan told me a little of what they’ve been planning. It’s going to be brutal.”

“Besides setting her up for Budd Broudou?”

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“Okay. Showtime.” She flashed me a grin and opened the door.

I held back. Mason had more planned? Then I heard Kate’s shrill voice. “What is that whore doing here?”

Kate had dressed for me.

Her jeans were ripped in the crotch area. She’d worn them before, always with a skimpy thong underneath. Kate thought they turned me on, but they didn’t. They never had. Those jeans were her signal that she was down for anything. I knew I could have her anyway I wanted and some of those times, I’d take her up on the offer. That was all Kate had been to me. I had an itch, and I used her to scratch it.

I regretted it now.

She came in with no question, no regret, no doubt and she came straight for me. I didn’t do a thing. Someone normal would’ve reacted. She was coming into a trap for slaughter, but I wasn’t normal. She was going to touch me and I wanted to shove her away. I didn’t do that either. She ran her fingers over my chest. The tips of them trailed down to the front of my pants, and she rubbed there.

I turned it off. This was Sam touching me. This was Sam in front of me, pressing against me. I did what I had done all week. I pretended. “You have a present for me?”

“I do.” Excitement lit up her face and she held up the camcorder.

I took it from her and saw she had the video ready for me to watch.

There was no sound, just an image of Logan on the couch and Tate kneeling before him. His eyes were closed as he leaned back on the couch. His hand was tangled in her hair as her head moved, sucking on him.

I passed the camcorder to Logan.

“Hey—” Kate stopped herself.

There it was—doubt. I caught it and it was the first time it showed all week. Then she stopped and it was shoved aside. Desperation flared for a moment before blind trust came back over her. She gave it so readily to me.

I told her, “He doesn’t care. He just wanted to see the evidence before it goes viral.”

“Oh.” Relief flashed over her face.

“You have other copies?”

“Just what’s on there.”

“And this.” Parker held up a USB drive. “We’ll keep it safe.”

Ethan snatched it from her hands. “I don’t think so.”

“Hey!”

“We’ll keep it safe,” I said.

Parker cast Ethan a sidelong look, but quieted.

Kate’s hand grew bolder as she continued to rub on me. She was more insistent. “So what’s next?”

“Did you email this to anybody?”

“Just Tate. I’m sure she’s freaking out.”

I glanced at Logan, who nodded. His thumb hit a button. The video was gone. With that done, I texted Nate and then nodded to Ethan. Without hesitation, Ethan took off the case, pulled the chip out and tossed the case to Logan. Then he left the room.

“Hey!” Parker cried out again. “What the hell?”

Kate frowned. “What’s going on?”

I waited a minute. They needed a head start. “That was Ethan destroying your USB drive.”

“What—”

“I knew we shouldn’t have trusted these guys. You’re an idiot, Kate,” Parker snapped as she started for the door.

“It’s already gone,” I stopped her. “It’s pointless to go after him.”

“You’re such an asshole.”

She had no idea. “There’s more to come, some of it you’ll want to see.”

Kate grabbed the camcorder from Logan and started searching through it. We waited, and her eyes widened the more she searched.

Logan grinned. “It’s gone.”

“You wiped everything.”

“You’re the dumb bitch who handed it over.”

“Not to you,” she seethed. “To Mason. I trusted him.”

He rolled his eyes and laughed. “I don’t even feel bad for you. You’re so stupid.”

She jerked back. “Mase?”

There it was again. She still didn’t believe it. “I agree with my brother.”

It was at that moment that she started to get it. I watched as each piece of the puzzle began to fit into place and she stumbled back a step. When she ran into the pool table behind her, she choked out, “It’s on my computer. It’s in my email. You’re going to regret this.”

I lifted my phone. “Both of those are gone. Say goodbye to your email.”

My phone beeped.

“What’s that?”

Parker whispered from behind her, “Oh no.”

Logan began laughing. “You guys are so screwed. Getting it, Park? Did you get a text, too?”

Kate whipped around. Parker had gone pale, and she showed her phone to Kate. “It’s Nate.”

“Nate?”

“Yeah, Nate, you fuckheads.” Logan shook his head. “He might be injured, but he’s not out of action. He hasn’t been the whole time. We knew about your plans for Sam. You wanted to drug her, have him make a sex tape with her?”

“Oh my god.” Kate lifted stricken eyes to me. “You knew?”

Logan started to say it, but I shook my head. I needed to do this. Everything was cold inside of me. I’d been hiding it for the past week. They should’ve known better. Smarter people would’ve, but Kate wasn’t sane. She was desperate so I used that to pull her back in. She saw what she wanted, but she couldn’t mistake it this time. I let her see my loathing. I let her see the cold calculation and when she did, she began shaking. The blood drained from her face, and I knew she was going over everything in her head. I waited and when she gasped, I knew she remembered.

“You should’ve listened to me that day.”

“No.” She shook her head. “No. You dumped her for me.”

“Did I?”

“You—”

“She hasn’t been in school since we attacked her,” Parker said.

Kate’s mouth clamped shut and she began to turn away. “No, no, no, no … No. It can’t be.”

Parker growled. “It is. Get with the program. They played us. They all played us. Nate just sent me a text. It’s done between me and him.”

“What did you do?” Kate turned back to me. She cried out, “What did you do?!”

“Nate sent me a text just now, too.” I would spell it all out for her. “He went to your home, Kate. I told him how to get in. Your dad’s at the VFW, and your mom’s working a double shift tonight.”

She paled even more, stumbling back another step.

I continued, “That’s what you told me earlier. Your mom won’t be back to the house until seven tomorrow morning. You had a gift for me, and we’d have your house to ourselves for the entire night. Your dad would go to some whore’s house after closing. Those were your words.”

“So? I mean …” She looked to Parker, who rolled her eyes and moved away. Kate shook her head. “This can’t be happening. Nate can’t do anything. He—all of you guys are here. I mean …”

Logan snorted. “You’re too slow to deal with us. You never should’ve tried.”

“Nate was at your house. That was him texting me. I gave him your password, sexcontrolsthemall. You never changed it. You told me it last summer. You laughed about it. Did you forget that? You should’ve remembered telling me. You should’ve changed it when I brought Sam around.”

“Sam,” Kate spewed out. “Her. This is all about her, isn’t it?”

“Yes.” Logan hit his palm against his forehead. “Are you seriously only now getting that? He worked you, Kate. You went after the woman he loves. He TOLD you he was going to fuck you over. You didn’t listen. Listen now!” He laughed to himself. “You might pick up a few pointers for the next time a guy screws you over, and it’ll happen. You’re dumb enough to think you’re smart, but you’re not. You need to be smarter to realize how stupid you are.”

“Hey,” Parker started, but stopped.

Logan cut his gaze to her. When she couldn’t say anything, he nodded. “Exactly.”

“Stay out of this Logan,” Kate cursed at him. “This has nothing to do with you.”

An exasperated laugh ripped from him. “You took a video of me getting a blow job? AND you beat up my stepsister. Sam’s not loved by only Mason, you know. I care about her too. Any of this filtering in that thick head of yours? I can’t believe how you’re not shitting your pants right now. He hasn’t even gotten to the good part. Parker, grab a bucket. Stick it between her legs. Shit’s going to fall any second now.”

“ENOUGH.” Parker jerked forward a step and pulled Kate back to her. She glared at him. “She’s getting it. The guy she loved just stabbed her in the back. Let her figure it out without all the insults.”

“No.”

Logan opened his mouth, but stopped. All three turned back to me.

I said it again, “No. You don’t get to think like that. I’m not the guy she loved who turned out to be an asshole. I’ve always been an asshole, and I’ve never cared about her. I used her for sex. That was it. You don’t get to spin it how you’re doing it. I’ve been honest about that with her. I told her it was just sex with us. No girlfriend/boyfriend status. No lovers title on us. Sex. That was it.”

Parker glared at him. “We were your friends.”

“The group of you hung out with us, but you were never considered friends on my part. You kept the other girls away. That’s the only use I enjoyed from you. You were deterrents. That was all.”

“You’re such an asshole.” Parker wrapped her arms tighter around Kate. “It’ll be okay.”

“No, it won’t.”

“Would you stop?” Her eyes were heated now. “We got it. Nate broke into her email—”

“And put a virus on her computer,” Logan added. He began chuckling again. “You guys have nothing now.”

“We’re getting that, too.”

I nodded to Logan. It was time the rest joined the party. He sent another round of text messages to the guys, and I said, “Kate.” I knew each guy would share their own recording with her friends.

She lifted her head from Parker’s shoulder. It was tear-streaked, but I saw the resolve there. She was hurt. I knew that, but she would come back. She would garner the strength and support she needed from her friends and she’d launch another attack. I couldn’t have that.

I shook my head “Now’s not the time to act like a victim. Everyone in this room knows what you can do.”

Her chest lifted as she took a deep breath, but the acknowledgement was in her depths. I baited her just now. I called her weak and Kate wasn’t weak.

I was right. Everyone in the room knew it too.

She stepped away from her friend’s shelter.

I smirked at her. Good. It’d be the last time that shelter would be offered. As the door opened, I asked, “You remember what I said to you at my car?”

Tate led the way. She came in first.

Kate saw a new target. “What is that whore doing here?”

“Kate,” I brought her attention back to me, “do you remember?”

I felt Sam’s presence and gestured for her to come to me, and she did. Kate sucked in her breath when my hand reached for Sam’s, and she took it. I pulled her behind me now and Logan moved closer to shield her from the other side.

“Do you remember, Kate? You have three friends. I told you that I’d take them away.” I paused for a beat. “Hey, Parker.”

“What?”

She wanted to murder me, but I was going to change her mind in the next second. “Right before Nate told me what you guys wanted to do with Sam, he told me something else.”

She froze. Her chest stopped moving as she stopped breathing.

Kate started under her breath, “Nonononononon—”

My voice lifted over Kate’s protests as I told her friend, “There’s a reason why Nate wanted to be the one to go to Kate’s house. He told me about the video Kate said she had. That video of you two. That bluff started this whole thing.”

Kate’s voice rose in volume. “Nononononon.”