I narrowed my eyes, studying him before I relented. “Do whatever you want. Mom’ll love being a grandmother.”
My brother shot me a different look now, one filled with dark humor. “Can you imagine that? Helen quilting little booties for the kid? She’d flip out.”
“If we thought she went nuts after the divorce …” I chuckled. “I’ve got a feeling we haven’t seen nothing yet. She’d go ape-shit.”
“I’d feel bad for whoever the chick would be.” Logan shuddered, laughing at the same time. Then he stopped and studied me for a moment. “What are you going to do about Sam?”
The amusement was gone.
A cruel glint appeared and Logan added, “Mom’s moving back to Fallen Crest. What’s Sam going to do when you leave for college?”
I cursed. “That’s for me and Sam to deal with. You don’t need to worry about it.”
“Screw you, Mason. I care about her, too. We both know Mom’s going to want me to live with her. I, sure as shit, ain’t stepping foot in Dad’s place while he’s got Psychopath Barbie with him, and I’m not letting Sam go back there. No way in hell.”
“No way in hell?” An equally cruel look came over my face as my lips curved in a mocking smirk. “Look at you, already stepping in shoes that aren’t yours.”
“And they’re yours?”
“Yes.” My body jerked forward. Logan flinched, instinctually reacting to the sudden threat, but I stopped myself. I was tired of this. “I’ll figure something out for Sam. You don’t have to worry about her.” And I would, even if it meant I’d be commuting to college. Nate would be pissed; he was excited for the whole college experience, but I had football and Sam to worry about.
“Mase.” Logan snapped his fingers in front of my face.
“What?”
“Where’d you go just now?”
“Nowhere.” All that crap could be dealt with another day. “What’s the plan? Why are you still waiting? I thought you’d be long gone by now.”
Logan shrugged, shoving his hands into his front pockets as he leaned back against his car again. One of his legs lifted and rested against it. A sudden yawn came over him as he glanced around the emptied lot. “I was. Everyone decided to go for pizza instead of Manny’s tonight. I figured you’d go there before the party. Sam’s working tonight, right?”
“I was going to see what she wanted to do.” And how pissed she was at me.
“You going to eat there?”
“Maybe. You?”
“Thought about it. I’ll probably get with someone tonight but we haven’t had much family time this week.”
“Yeah …” A slight movement from the far end of the parking lot caught my attention. Narrowing my eyes, I moved forward to get a better view. A person was coming around the corner, and that walk … it was Nate.
“What is it?”
I shook my head at Logan. Nate was heading towards us, his hands shoved deep in his sweatshirt’s front pocket. His hood was pulled up, and he was hunched forward. I caught the little movement he made in the front. Nate moved to pull up his zipper.
I gestured to Logan, lowering my voice, “Can you take off? Don’t let him see.”
Logan frowned, but lowered his voice too. “Sure. Why?”
“Nate got laid over there.”
“Say no more.” And then Logan melted into the darkness, going the other way around his car.
I waited until Nate had almost gotten to our cars before I spoke up, much the same as Logan had done to me earlier. “I thought you’d be gone by now.”
Nate’s head whipped up and he stumbled in his footing. “Shit, Mason! You just gave me a heart attack, you f**ker.”
“Relish it.”
“You’re such an ass.” Nate barked out a laugh as he pulled his keys from his pocket. Shaking his head, he asked, “What are you doing here?”
“Coach wanted to talk about the game.”
“What about? We killed ‘em, like we always do.” Unlocking his car, he leaned inside and reached for his bag. Riffling through it, he pulled his phone out and straightened back up as he went through his messages. Then he cursed and took a deep breath. He turned around and I saw it. All the games were done. He handed his phone over. “I just got a text from Kate.”
I got video of you and Parker screwing. Do what she told you to do, and it won’t go on the internet.
“Is there really a video?” I frowned at the phone as I started looking for more texts from her.
He sighed and leaned back against Logan’s vehicle. “I don’t know. I’ve been trying to find out. Parker thinks there is, and I have no idea what to do anymore.”
I went cold. “Is this why you’ve been a shady motherfucker lately?”
Nate nodded. “I’ve been scared. You and Logan have both been on my ass about not being a good friend. Then I wanted to say something that one night, but you guys closed ranks on me. I was shoved out so I thought, ‘Fuck it. I’ll fix it myself.’” He gestured to where he came from. “I’ve been keeping things up with Parker because I need her to find the tape. I have no idea where Kate might’ve put it, if she even has one.”
“She says do what she told you to do. What are you supposed to do?”
Nate swore under his breath. “You’re going to be pissed.”