Fallen Crest High (Fallen Crest High #1)(24)

It was an hour drive down the beach. Logan grumbled and sent me a glare every now and then. The fourth friend ignored him and after awhile, started to give me a few grins. He offered me a soda too. Mason and Nate talked with each other and Logan would lean forward to join in.

Something told me that Logan was trying to persuade them to drop me on the side of the road. When they didn't, I relaxed a little. I figured we were too far for them to do that and then we were in the town of Roussou. It was small, but it was rich. A lot of wealthy men owned stock in internet companies, which helped their football program be competitive against Fallen Crest High and it was the reason why an extra sense of rivalry sparked between the two schools. I remembered hearing a rumor that the Roussou team had heavily recruited Mason and Logan for their team.

They'd given them a resounding middle finger.

"Where's the coach's place?" Logan glared at me.

I jerked forward to recite the directions. It wasn't long before we were outside the three-story house I knew where David played poker on Saturday nights. And then I saw his car. My hands curled into small balls and everything inside of me went cold.

My chest started to heave up and down at a rapid pace. But I only saw my father's car, not my father's car. David's car.

"What the hell?" Logan cursed and shot me a look. "There're people here."

"Does it matter?" I asked idly as I spied some fireworks in the back with me. Then I heard a door open and loud voices came across the yard. I snagged a couple of them and a lighter before I started to get out of the car.

"Are you crazy? He's going to tell."

He wasn't. I got out, but left the door open. David had started down the sidewalk to where his car was parked, but he stopped when he saw me.

"Samantha?"

I lit the fireworks and strolled to his car.

"Samantha! Don't!"

I keyed in his code, opened his door, and threw them in.

"Oh my god!" He rushed past me, but I locked the door. It'd take him a moment before he could get it open.

The fireworks started to sizzle and they exploded in the next second.

David threw himself away from the car, shaking and cursing.

My face was blank. I didn't feel a thing. My hands didn't shake. My back was straight. My shoulders were square and then I turned back for the Escalade.

"Samantha, what did you just do?" David reached for my elbow.

I whipped away and seethed, "Get away from me."

"Get in!" Mason cursed and pounded the side of his door.

I whirled and threw myself in the back as he started to pull away from the curb. I heaved the door shut. It was silent in the car for a moment and then Logan and his friend threw their heads back and howled in laughter. I curled into a ball and stayed there. I didn't care about the smirk on Nate's face or how Mason seemed to look through me in the rear view mirror. He could try, he'd only see emptiness. The guys stopped a few times, left, and returned to do the same thing. I didn't know what they were doing. I didn't care. I'd done what I wanted.

CHAPTER TEN

They dropped off the fourth friend and the rest of us traipsed into the house. Logan picked up a phone and ordered a pizza. Nate snagged a cooler of beer and brought it downstairs to the media room. I followed behind. I didn't know why, I just did. When Mason turned on the news, I curled into a ball in one of the leather recliners and after awhile I tugged a blanket on top.

When the news came on and there was no word of my vandalism or whatever the guys had done, I uncurled my legs and headed to bed.

Mason followed me.

"What?" I went to brush my teeth in my bathroom.

He perched on my bed, studying me with an impenetrable gaze. He barely blinked. "That car thing should've been on the news. Cops would've been called."

"It wasn't." I moved back to the room after rinsing my mouth.

"You seemed sure of it."

"I was." I pulled off my top, then my bra.

He still didn't blink and he sounded bored. "How'd you know that guy?"

"He's the coach at my school." I pulled on a tight tank and then shimmied out of my pants. The light hadn't been turned on so the room was dark except for a small amount of light that shone through my windows from behind a clump of clouds.

"That was your dad."

I hesitated and held my breath. He looked like a statue, a god made of stone with the light's shadow on him. His eyes were intense as he seemed to stare through me, into me.

"Yeah," I spoke in a small voice.

He nodded. "I got it."

As he moved past, his hand brushed my leg and lingered on the curve of my thigh.

I closed my eyes as a stab of desire flared in me. This wasn't supposed to be. I hadn't expected this.

Then he moved past and out the door. My hands and legs were a bit shaky when I crawled under the sheets.

It was past midnight, but I lay in bed. My mind was reeling from the look on David's face. There was a haunted feel to him, then when he saw the firecrackers in my hand a look of disappointment came next. For a second, I'd been ashamed but then I remembered the lie he had been a part of and everything hardened, it all became clear again.

He deserved it. He deserved more.

'That was your dad…I got it.'