By the end of the night, I felt ready to do an entire shift on my own. Heather had cut me down to handling a few tables on my own by the end of the night. My feet killed, but I hoped it had more to do with my four hour run and the two of walking. And with that thought, I should've called Coach Grath back that day, but when I saw Heather earlier, I put it off. I would call him the next day and my training would start in the mornings since Heather told me that she needed me every night during break. I would get every other Thursday off, along with the opposite Tuesdays when school would start again. When I asked about the weekends, she assured me that I would want them.
After cleaning up, when everyone left, I was faced with a dilemma.
I had no way home.
I had my phone, but no number to call Mason even if I wanted to. I never got Nate's number and Logan's line had been disconnected as well. They would have no clue to come get me so I was left with one choice.
I called Adam.
He pulled into the parking lot within ten minutes, dressed in a green polo and khaki cargo pants. As I got a whiff of his pine cologne, I asked if he'd been on a date. Even his hair looked styled to perfection. He gave me an odd look, but shook his head. He had been at a party.
No surprise there.
When he asked if I wanted to go, I declined. Then he said the magic words. "It's at Nate Monson's house."
Oh god.
My stomach flipped over and my eyes closed. A girl could only have so much self-discipline. I already knew my decision when I braced myself. "Would you do me a favor?"
"Sure."
Then I asked for the impossible. "Come to my house with me and tell my mom that I'm hanging out with you and your friends only."
He flashed me a grin. "Your mom's not handling your relationship very well?"
"Try not at all." I held my tongue on the threats, the ultimatums, and what was actually at stake. I shouldn't be going, but I couldn't stop myself. One day. Only one day and I was already folding under the need to see him.
But, as it turned out, my mother was ecstatic to see Adam. She gushed about his father, and then asked how his mother was. The two had lunch plans the next day at the country club. When I expressed my concern that his mom might tell Analise where he'd actually been the night before, Adam assured me not to worry.
He rolled his eyes at me. "My mom has no idea what I do. We're not close, remember?"
I relaxed. I did remember, and I noticed how his hands tightened around the steering wheel. His knuckles were white by the time he pulled into Nate's massive driveway. But then I stopped paying attention to Adam when I saw how many cars were lined up and down the driveway. I couldn't count them, they covered his entire yard and they had still parked down the street. This party was massive. Hell, forget massive—this party was gigantic. My eyes were just as huge as I gazed over the crowd. They were everywhere, by the cars, roaming the driveway, on the road even. Adam had to slow down as he waited for a group to get out of the way. When they didn't, he touched his horn lightly and they moved to the side.
"I thought the last party was huge, but this one…" Oh my god.
"Yeah, Peter texted me that he saw people from seven different schools here." Adam shrugged. "Its winter break and it's the Kades, with Monson." He glanced over. "But you'd know all about that."
Yeah, I would. A small tingle sparked from the anticipation. Then I frowned. Peter—I cringed. That mean the Elite would be there, but of course they'd be there. Everyone was there. "Peter's here?"
He nodded.
That meant that Miranda was too. She had been dating Peter before she fell hook, line, and sinker for Logan. I tensed as I remembered the past few months. The Elite crowd at my school tried to use me to pull Mason and Logan into their group. More than a few times Logan had laughed in their faces. Miranda had referred to him as a manwhore and any girl who fell for him was a slut. So she looked like the fool when he turned his charms on her. It took one party, only one party, and she was walking around with his shirt on the next morning.
Logan dated her for a month. He had been persuaded to date her to protect me since she was the Queen Bee at my school and she made a few threats of making my life hell. If she was connected to Logan, she'd be happy and she wouldn't continue to go after me. But that hadn't been the real reason. That had only been the spin put on it so he would follow through with Mason's plan.
The real reason that Mason wanted Logan to date Miranda was to humiliate her. He knew if she started dating Logan, she would look like a hypocritical bitch. And she had. The rest of the Elite group revoked her role as their leader. She had condemned all the other girls for sleeping with Logan, only to dump her boyfriend of three years for him in one night?
The whole situation left me feeling uneasy. Logan had been used and he still didn't know it.
Mason wanted to hurt Miranda, but only Nate and I knew the real motivation behind it. Miranda pushed a button that Mason knew could've threatened his relationship with his brother. Me. There'd been another girl Logan had loved, really loved, who used him to get closer to Mason. Then I came into their lives. I fell in love with Mason, but he worried that Logan had feelings for me as well. When Miranda taunted him that he got the girl Logan really wanted, Mason nipped that threat in the bud. That was the real reason he had Nate convince Logan to screw her for a month.
Everything went off without a hitch.
Miranda's friends lost respect for her. Logan thought he was protecting me and Mason knew he wouldn't have to worry about Miranda anymore.