Fallen Crest High(47)

"Logan and Nate went to some party."

"Oh." I winced at how timid I sounded.

He yawned and looked away.

I was released from his gaze and my body sagged from the relief of it. "What party?"

He jerked a shoulder up. "Don't care."

"Oh."

Then he smirked. "Your mom wants to take Logan and me to dinner Sunday."

I narrowed my eyes. All the nerves I felt around him hardened at the mention of her. "Why?"

He looked back at me. The same caution was in his gaze as I felt in my body.

"I was going to ask you the same question."

Then it clicked. "That's why you didn't go to the party. You wanted to question me about her."

He didn't blink. "You'd do the same."

He was right and I nodded. "If you want to know my mom's agenda, I'm guessing it's because she wants to get to know you guys."

"She told you on the patio that afternoon she knew us well enough."

So they had heard. I'd been wondering.

I sat up straighter in my chair. "She was lying."

He didn't say anything.

My voice grew bolder. "My mom wants everyone to do what she wants and she said those things so I'd do what she wanted. I think she wants to take you guys out for dinner to try and charm you."

"It won't work."

He said it so bluntly, but I knew it was the truth. A shiver went down my spine as I held his gaze in that darkened room with an empty mansion around us.

Mason Kade was not stupid, far from it, and I wondered if I'd known it the whole time, if perhaps that's why I stayed away. He watched behaviors, he didn't listen to words. I wondered if Logan was the same and something in my gut told me he was.

"It worked on your father."

"My dad has a weakness for weak women."

Again, there was no judgment. It was a fact and he said it as such. The truth of it held more power because of the lack of emotion with him.

My throat had gone dry. "You called my mother weak."

"Isn't she?"

His gaze was searing into mine.

My chest tightened. My throat clamped up. "I—uh—"

He snorted in disgust. "You think so too, but you can't say the words, not to me. That's alright. I understand. She's your blood."

Then he looked away and again, my whole body almost fell from the chair. It was as if he had pinned me in place and I was free from the hold.

My hands curled in on themselves and I couldn't stop my fingers from trembling. I tucked them between my legs and took a breath. I needed to gain control of myself again.

In that moment, I realized that he always had that affect on me. The ice fa?ade I reined over myself was plucked away whenever his attention was on me. He reached over and took it away like I was a baby with candy.

"Does my mom know you don't like her?" It was a weird question, but I wanted to know how he thought. I wanted to understand him.

He grinned at me. The power of that look with his piercing eyes, perfect teeth, and square jaw had me pinned against my chair again. I couldn't breathe for a moment.

Then I heard him laugh. "Your mom doesn't care. She cares if we're going to make a stink or not."

I snorted. That sounded just like her. "And are you?"

He shrugged and went back to the television. "As long as she doesn't screw with me and Logan or with our mom then I don't care who my dad pounds."