Fallen Fourth Down (Fallen Crest #4) (26 page)

SAMANTHA

The bus ride home was the longest thing I had ever endured. My heart was breaking a little more with each mile we passed. I couldn’t stop envisioning Logan’s face. He was hurt, by me. I had done that, and I knew, even before we talked, that it was because I had kept Tate’s words from him. I should’ve confronted him right away, even if it was true, I should’ve. Mason would’ve wanted me to.

When we got to the school, any other time I would’ve received well wishes and congratulations. This time, everyone was silent. They were all watching me and Kris. As soon as we got off the bus, I was going to my car and heading home. I already knew what I was going to do when I got there, even if people were there or not. As it was, I was lucky. No one was home. A note was left on the kitchen counter for me. Malinda and David were out on a date. I shouldn’t expect them home, and Mark was out with Cass. I scribbled my own note beside it.

I’m going to Mason’s. Be home Sunday night. Late. Love, Sam
.

I went downstairs and started packing a bag. Everything in me hurt. I had to get to Mason. I had to tell him the truth, and I had to know that everything was going to be okay.

Knock, knock

I stopped, my heart pounding. It was Logan. He had come to talk about this, deal with it, and get it out of the way, but when I whipped open the door, he wasn’t standing there.

It was my dad.

“Garrett?”

“Hey, Samantha.” He had a timid smile, holding a bag in front of him with his coat tucked over one of his arms. “I, uh, I know you wanted time. I’m supposed to wait for you, but I’ve never been good with being patient.”

My lips pressed together and I crossed my arms over my chest. I had wanted it to be Logan. Badly. “What do you want?”

“Uh.” He lifted a hand and raked it through his hair. It was then that I noticed he was dressed in a suit and tie. Even his shoes looked rich. The last time I saw him had been at Logan’s football game. He always emanated wealth, even when he was dressed in jeans and a sweater.

He was not like me. He was so far from me.

“I have to fly back to Boston. I had hoped to come tomorrow. I wanted to give you a present. David told me about your race, that you won, and that you will probably get a scholarship. I wanted to say congratulations.”

“I’ve wanted you to stay away. That didn’t happen either.”

His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. “Uh, yeah. Listen, Samantha, I know I messed up. I know that I was coming in at a bad time in your life. You probably wanted an escape. David’s told me more about that time, that he had stepped away from you and you felt abandoned by him, then it was like I had abandoned you too. I get it. I do, but I’d really like to talk to you about that time. I’d like to explain what I did and why.”

“I don’t care.” I didn’t. I had. I’d been hurt. I hadn’t wanted to trust him again, but after tonight, after the possibility of losing Mason and Logan, I didn’t give two shits about anything else. “You’re my dad. Whatever. Fine. We can have a relationship, just don’t think you can pressure me to do what you want.”

“I haven’t been—”

I didn’t have time for this. “You have. You call every fucking night.”

“I don’t.” He glanced to the side.

“You’re right. You don’t. You just call the nights we have the ringer turned on. Thank you for correcting that for me.”

He grimaced, then a grin crept over his face. “You’re just like me.”

Rage slammed into me at those words. I shot back, “I’m not. I’m not anything like you. I’m the product of a crazy abusive mother who’s finally locked away and not able to hurt me. I am who I am because I lost my family. I got another one, and voila, you’re back and you want another shot. Well, guess what, I’m more concerned about not losing
another
family. I don’t care about you. That’s the truth. Maybe I will. I have no idea. I don’t really care to find out right now. All I care about is you leaving so that I can leave. I have places to be.”

He’d been watching me. His eyes narrowed with each statement I said and as I finished, he noted, so softly, “You are like me, but it’s my job to show you that. Give me a chance. Please, Sam.”

I cursed.

He laughed. “Give me a shot.”

I let out a sigh.

“I went back to Boston to make things right with my wife. Having a daughter changed everything for me. I didn’t want to be a part of your life with Helen at my side. I needed the woman I loved, even if she cheated on me. I went back because of you. I wanted that family. Things are better. She moved here with me because of you, because I want to be a part of your life, but, Sam, the year’s almost over. Let me have some time with you. I will never hurt you. I promise.”

I watched him warily.

“Give me another shot.”

Oh hell. I gave him a rueful look. “You’re lucky that I’m all about second chances tonight. Fine. We can do dinner next week.”

A smile lit up his face and for a second, I saw myself. He was right. I was like him. For some reason, the thought sobered me. It grounded everything for me. He was begging me. I’d be begging Mason. We had both messed up.

My throat went dry. I hated thinking I was like Garrett, but at the same time, this was blood standing before me. My other blood was gone. I didn’t even want her around me. With everyone else, I was lucky they allowed me in with them. But Garrett…maybe there was a connection with him that I had never experienced?

He said, “Listen, I’ll call when I’m coming back. Dinner. That sounds amazing, but I want to ask you early.”

I grew wary again. “What?”

He laughed. “Nothing bad. I know you have your holiday break coming up and I’m going to be in Boston during it. I wanted to invite you to join me.”

“In Boston?”

“Yes.” He nodded. His eyes were bouncing with happiness. He looked elated. “I’ll be there to close up some loose ends with the firm. It’ll take a while. You can come. You and me. We can spend some good father/daughter time together. I can show you where I came from. You have cousins there too.”

Cousins?

“And my mom has been calling me every day. She’d love to meet you.”

His mom?
“I have a grandma?” I had never realized. “My mom’s estranged from her family so I just assumed…”

“I know. You don’t have to say yes. Think about it. Please think about it, but I’d love for you to come. And hey, the championship game is already scheduled for Boston. If Mason’s team keeps winning, they could be playing there the same time you’re with me. My old firm has box seats. We could go and watch Mason play.”

Mason
. I had to go. “Yeah, uh, maybe. Look, I really have to go.”

“I know. I’m going, but give me a call if you want to come. I’ll get a plane ticket for you. I’ll take care of everything.” He left and on the way to his car, he turned to wave. I shut the door. I needed to finish packing.

I had just gone down the stairs to the basement, when I heard knocking again. Assuming it was Garrett, I laughed as I opened the door, “Forget about another trip you wanted to invite me on…” The words died in my throat.

Logan was standing there instead.

He grimaced, raked a hand through his hair, and grabbed a fistful before letting his hand drop back to his side. He jerked his head behind him. “Come on. Mason called. He wants us up there tonight.”

Mason called him?
Shock punched me in the chest. “But…I thought you were going to let me talk to him first?”

“I am. This is something different. Come on.” His grimace deepened into a scowl.

“Logan, tell me what’s going on.”

He looked past me, saw the notes on the counter, and gestured to them. “That’s you leaving a note, right? You’re going to see Mason?”

“Yes.”

“Let’s go. Whatever Mason wants comes first.”

“You want me to ride with you?”

A litany of curses left him and he held his arms out. “What do you want, Sam? I am pissed at you. No, I am goddamn furious at you. We’re family and you being told that I love you, that’s a huge thing to hold back from me. You should’ve talked to me. Trust me, I am brimming up to here,” he lifted his hand to his head, “with anger. I want to talk this out and tell you a few things, but I can’t. Mason has to know first. He should’ve been told long before I found out. You two are dating. You guys have to talk first and bring me in. To be fair to my brother, to have his back, I can’t say a fucking word. I want to.” His eyes were almost bulging out. “Trust me, I have a lot that I want to say. So do me a favor, grab your bag, get in the Escalade, and keep fucking quiet the whole way there.”

He didn’t wait for me, just turned and went back to the vehicle.

I didn’t think. I didn’t let myself. I did as he told me. It was the longest three hour drive that I would ever endure.

*

MASON

I’d been at the hospital for three hours when Nate came through the front door. He saw me right away and held his hands up in surrender. Across the lobby, he said, “I’m here for Marissa. That’s all.”

I snorted and rolled my eyes. As he came to sit beside me, I said, “Think again, buddy.”

“Okay.”

He sat across from me. There were people around us, but when he took his seat, the ones closest to us moved away. I didn’t blame them. I’d been pacing for three hours, and this was the first time I sat, then he walked in. They’d already been leery of me, watching me like I was a caged animal. I’m sure they were wondering if he would be the spark to set the bomb off. To be honest, as I watched him warily, I was wondering the same thing. I wasn’t sure what was going to set me off.

We were both silent for a moment, just waiting for the other. Nate ran his hands down his pants, folded his hands together, and rested his elbows on his knees. He asked, “Have you heard anything?”

“No. She was unconscious and I think she’s in surgery.” I didn’t know anything. They wanted to speak to her family. I had no clue who they were. They wanted friends. I couldn’t give them names. They finally asked what I could give them. Nate. He was the only one I knew who would have information on her. I asked, “You gave them information on her?”

He nodded, running his hands together. “I had her cell number, but one of my frat brothers hooked up with her roommate. She lives in a house two blocks off campus. I think the hospital got ahold of her roommate and were going to have her parents called.”

“One of your frat brothers, huh?”

“Yeah.” He paused. “Why?”

“Don’t fucking play dumb with me.”

“What?”

“Nate. I mean it.”

He’d been my best friend most my life. He’d been a sanctuary during my parent’s divorce, putting up with me when I was a dumb shit, causing fights, wanting to destroy everything. Nate had my back. He was always at my side. He did whatever I wanted him to do, but looking at him, the last few years came back to me.

He continued to sleep with Parker even during the freeze-out.

They wanted him to drug Sam.

Logan stopped trusting him. I knew Sam never really had. And this year, with trying to shove Park Sebastian down my throat, then the final straw, bringing Marissa to that lunch.

He was watching me back, holding my gaze, but something flashed in his eyes. Something heated. He shot back, “What?”

“Playing dumb’s been your forte the last few years.”

“Fuck you, Mase.”

“Fuck you, Mason.”

“What?”

“Fuck you, Mason. I’m not Mase. We’re not friends. You don’t get to call me that.”

The nerve in his jaw twitched and his eyes cooled, but other than that there was no reaction. A second later, he leaned back in his seat, shaking his head. “Man, you’re messed up.”

“Am I?” He had no clue, or he was faking it. “I thought you cared about Marissa.”

“I do.”

“You don’t look it.”

“Yes, I’m concerned. You said she was hit—”

“—by one of your guys.”

Nate stopped. He heard me and judged me for a moment. I could feel him dissecting everything, those words, my tone of voice, how steady my gaze was, everything, even how I was sitting. Then he shook his head. His hand went to his jaw, and he started to rub his face. “No way, man. No way.”

I’d already figured some of it out. “I punched you. You were out. The bro code says I have to be hurt too, but worse. Am I right? Isn’t that what your fraternity is about?”

“No fucking way, Mase...Mason. Stop spitting this shit. There’s no way.” His voice rose on his last statement, but I heard an inflection of doubt in there too. He was remembering things. He was going over past conversations he might have heard or maybe even moments when he walked into a room and they stopped talking? There was something that triggered the doubt in his voice, because I saw the disbelief start to creep up on him. Then he shoved to his feet. He started pacing, his head caught in his hands, and his shoulders hunched over. “No way. No way.”

I leaned back. I had him hooked. It was time to reel him in. “They were there for me. I was at my Escalade and Park called me over. I had to walk across to him. He said it was about you, and I was heading over there.”