Fallen Crest University (Fallen Crest High #5)(34)

We talked about it already. I shouldn’t say anything again. Fuck it. It was still with me, always in the back of my mind. “You could’ve been for Sam.”

“Oh my god.” He tipped his head back, groaning. “Not this shit again.”

“We talked about it once.”

“Yeah.” His head bobbed up and down. “And you punched me later. Thanks for that, by the way.”

“My pleasure.” I flashed him a grin.

A low growl emanated from him. “You’re the sun and moon to her. I would’ve been a f*cking chandelier. That’s it.”

“Chandeliers are pretty.”

“I said that last year to give you a different viewpoint. I’m like a chandelier. You’re the sun and moon.” Logan’s eyes narrowed. “Perspective, *.”

“I have it, *. The sun and moon are taken for granted. Chandeliers are put in magazines. People go ooh and aah over them.” There was no heat behind my words anymore. As soon as I’d said the words, I was fine.

Bringing the whole issue up had been enough. It made Logan squirm, that made me feel better.

He shook his head. “You’re being jealous.”

I smirked at him. “Not to Sam. She doesn’t know. You’ll understand when you meet your other half and I’ll love tormenting you, but until then—” I leaned forward and slapped his arm, spilling his beer. As he jumped up, I ignored his curses and said, “Let’s go and do some scouting. I want to find out where Sebastian actually lives.”

That was the plan until we got out the door and saw Drew and Nick, a lineman from the team, coming over from the team’s house. The looks on their faces stopped us.

I asked, knowing something was wrong, “What is it?”

Drew handed a phone to me. “That was campus security. They found Nate in a parking lot just now.”

I took the phone as a weird sensation started in my gut. It was blind rage, but it was being held at bay. A buzzing sound filled my ears as I grated out, “Found?”

Logan echoed, “What do you mean, found?”

Drew’s mouth flattened, and his shoulders slumped down. “I’m sorry, Mase. They beat him up.”

SAMANTHA

My first day at college consisted of hiding from two of my floormates, being involved in a public showdown that could’ve been a brawl, and now wondering where the hell my boyfriend was. It was almost midnight.

My classes were nerve-racking, but when they’d mostly gone over each syllabus with a light lecture, I started to relax. Only one professor made us break into small groups to read and discuss an article.

Mason said he would call. He never did.

I wasn’t sure about his football schedule, so when Summer and a bunch of the girls from the floor went to dinner, I tagged along. Afterward, Kitty and Nina wanted to hang out in our room. They’d brought movies and popcorn. Summer enlisted Ruby’s help, so she’d moved them to her room with the excuse that she had a large projector for the movie. I’d slipped out within half an hour and changed into my running clothes.

When I started outside, I faltered.

I’d be running alone.

I didn’t know the safe trails.

It was dark already.

But I needed to run. The need was almost an ache in me.

“Are you making a break for it?”

Summer flashed a grin. She’d come down behind me. Her hand scratched the back of her head, and she puffed out a burst of air, looking around the lobby. Her eyebrow lifted. “I’m surprised it’s almost empty.”

Two others were in the main lobby. One was on her phone and cast a glare at Summer, overhearing her. She went right back to texting a second later and slumped farther down in her chair. The other was in a chair by the wall, curled up with a book.

I lifted my foot, bringing it behind me to stretch. “Kitty was making me nervous. She kept looking at me with a weird evil-like Cheshire cat grin. I felt like a mouse being pulled in on an invisible string.”

Summer shuddered. “Shit. That sounds horrible.”

The corner of my mouth lifted. “Hence, why I needed to go for a run.”

I cast another look over my shoulder. People were out there. I could hear low murmurs of conversation through the door that had been left open, but I hadn’t thought this through. My normal routes were in Fallen Crest, three hours away.

“I probably shouldn’t go running alone though.”

“Would you like a running buddy?”

“More like, I just shouldn’t go alone because it’s not safe.”

“Oh.” She perked up. A smooth smile appeared, and she winked. “I was talking to a chap today. I think I have a solution.”

“A chap?”

She laughed but held up a finger. “One minute. Let me go and grab some stuff. I’ll be back.”

I checked my phone while she ran to the room. Still no call or text from Mason. I thumbed through the six texts that I sent his way. Where was he? Was he okay? Why wasn’t he answering? Should I start to freak?

He’d sent one text five hours ago, saying, I’m okay. Talk tonight or tomorrow. Love you.

I suppose it should’ve been enough to placate me, if it weren’t for the hair-raising alarm. I wasn’t going to call 911 and report a missing person, but Mason texted, and because of that, I hadn’t texted Logan or even Nate. Mason was going to get back to me. I knew that. We’d been through enough battles, so I knew he’d follow through, but…I wanted to know now.