"Don't torture yourself. You were honest just now. You were honest with me, maybe the first time." He took a breath and touched the back of my elbow. His voice was soft. "You were saying that Tate's already had something to do with you? What did you mean by that? I'd like to know. I care about you."
And then movement appeared from a back corner. I swung my gaze up, stricken. I hadn't even known a back corner existed.
Mason gave me an unreadable look, but he spoke to Adam, "What do you want here?"
Adam's head jerked up and I knew he was surprised.
I turned away. I wasn't. I'd witnessed when Mason went in for the kill. I knew it was happening now.
"What are you talking about?"
Mason laughed to himself and gestured to me. "What do you think, dickhead? What do you want? Her?"
Adam's eyes went wide.
Mason's eyes went to disdain. "Be honest. Right now, right here. You and me. Her. You want her, right? I know you do. Just say it. Put it out there, it might work."
I glanced at him. What was he doing? Mason refused to meet my gaze. His jaw was hard. Everything about him was hard in that moment. And no matter what Adam said, I knew he'd already dealt his hand.
No one won against Mason.
Then Adam broke and threw his arms out wide. "What do you want? Yes, I want her." His chest heaved up and down. "I want her, okay? I've known her all my life."
Mason grinned. "How long have you wanted her?"
"For half of that," Adam spat back at him. "Are you happy? I've wanted her since seventh grade, since the first time Sallaway noticed her."
"That's a long time."
"Stop," I snarled at Mason. He was encouraging him.
He ignored me and narrowed his eyes. Slowly, his hand reached out and grasped my elbow. He pulled me behind him and moved himself forward. It was done so slowly and so smoothly that Adam didn't notice.
I held my breath and waited for his reaction. It never came.
"You've wanted her a long time?"
"Yes," Adam cried out. "Can you blame me? You want her too. I can tell."
Mason shrugged. It was another moment like my mother's. He went in for the kill and I was pressed against his back. I pressed against him, not to hide myself, but to keep myself from saying something I'd regret. And what would I even say? I pressed the back of my hand against my mouth. I had no idea. My heart was beating so fast. It was like I was running still.
"You're right." Mason's voice was so soft, almost delicate. "I do. I'm not denying that."
"Oh god."
I flinched when I heard the disgust in Adam's voice.
Mason pressed on, almost tender still, "But I'm not going to screw another girl wishing she were Sam in my head. I'm not going to do that because you know why?"
There he was. He was going in for the kill. Adam cowered now.
It was enough. I swung away and shoved him back.
Mason glanced over.
I pushed him some more. "Go away."
"Sam."
"Now!" I pointed downstairs. "You don't have the right."
His jaw clenched. "Are you kidding me?"
"I'm not your whore. I'm not your stepsister. I'm not your anything. I thought I was your friend, but maybe not even that. You don't have a right, Mason. You'd never do this for Lo—"
He shoved his face in mine and I gasped as I fell back against the wall. "This is exactly what I did for him. You want to know what that whore did?"
I couldn't look away. My eyes were wide. My back was against the wall.
Adam ceased to exist.
"I…" I couldn't breathe. He was so close.
He pressed into me and placed both hands against the wall beside me. He trapped me, but I didn't want to go anywhere. When his knee nudged between my legs and moved up, I closed my eyes and fought back a sigh. The need throbbed inside of me again.
I was starting to think that need for him would never leave. It was so powerful, so consuming.
He nuzzled against my cheek and asked quietly, his breath a caress to me, "You want to know what she did to hurt Logan and me?"
I fell against him. I couldn't hold my head up.
I felt him smile against me, but he held me upright. He took my weight. "She screwed him. She got him to love her. For two years, Sam, she had him thinking he loved her and then she decided she wanted me."
I felt the coldness in him, even as he rested against me, and I reached out to it. I slid my hands up his arms, over his shoulders, around them, and kneaded the back of his neck. I wanted the tension gone. I was blind in it. And I was blind how he now held me in place. His hands moved to cup my bottom and my legs wrapped him. I wanted him. The need throbbed in me and I pressed against him.
I felt his reaction and grinned against his cheek.
"She came to me at home one day. I was in my room. She'd been in his and Logan was asleep. They'd screwed and she came to my room." Mason lifted me away from the wall.
I held onto him as I had the previous night. He had protected me then. He was protecting me again? Lust had confused all rational thought within me. I didn't know where we were anymore, but it didn't matter.
I slid a hand to his cheek and cupped it. I wanted him. I moved my lips so they brushed against his as he spoke.
"She wanted me. She had him and she thought I'd want her. I don't know why. I'd never given her any reason to think that, but she thought she could have two brothers instead of one. I called him. I let her try and seduce me and I let him hear the whole thing. It didn't take as long as it seemed. I saw when the call ended. Three minutes, that was all it took. Logan came around the corner with his phone to his ear. She saw it and looked at me. I held mine up and told her he'd heard the whole thing."