Fallen Crest Public(131)

A grin appeared over his face. “What makes you say that?”
“You’re willing to ruin someone for me.”
The grin vanished. “That’s not it, Sam.”
“Can you explain it to me?” I didn’t get it. I really didn’t. “You took away her friends, and you made Budd believe that she’s your girlfriend. She has no power. She has no support, and he’s going to do something horrible to her. It’s like you gutted her and threw her into the ocean for a hungry shark to devour.”
“The choice was you or her. I lined things up so that it wasn’t you. I’ll never let it be you. That’s what I did.”
I drew in a breath until my lungs hurt. A tear slipped from my eye, and I brushed it away. Jeezus. What was I doing? He was right. Budd Broudou was a serious problem. He saved me from him.
“You’re not remembering what she did to you.”
“What?” I looked at him again.
He was so beautiful—tall with broad shoulders, a trim waist, and emerald eyes—but it was his angelic face that held me spellbound right now. Mason wasn’t an angel. That was obvious, had always been obvious, but when he loved, he truly loved. It was beautiful, and it was something that I’d forgotten the past couple days.
He leaned back, but he watched me. I caught the wariness in his eyes.
He was always so cautious and on-guard. He was scared of me right now. This man that could render so much power was fearful of me. The irony was not lost on me. “I’m not remembering her the right way?”
“She wanted Nate to drug you, Sam.”
I sucked in my breath. “I didn’t know that.”
“He was supposed to get you naked and then he was supposed to take pictures of you. He was supposed to do worse things, too.”
Nate. My ribs were in flames now. Everything was screaming from pain inside of me. Nate … I couldn’t believe it.
Mason added, “Heather and Tate.”
My mind was reeling from Nate, what they wanted him to do. I frowned. “What about Heather and Tate?”
“Heather stood against them. Tate did it once, but it was enough.” He paused a moment. “Kate wanted to take your friend away and I think she wanted to make Tate your enemy again.”
He was right. He was so right. I sucked in another breath. Why did it hurt so much to breathe? I shook my head and pulled my shirt away. I needed to breathe, but I couldn’t forget. “She sent Heather text messages threatening her.”
“They were going to go to Manny’s tomorrow night.”
An invisible hand went to my chest. It began pushing down on it, pushing down on me. He was saying …
“They were going to break in and destroy as much as they could before anyone woke up in the house. You said they sleep with loud fans because they’re all light sleepers. Think about how much damage they could have done before someone woke up.”
I turned away. I didn’t want to hear any more, but his voice had a soft beckoning to it. I couldn’t look away. His eyes darkened, but I couldn’t tell if it was from pity or regret. I didn’t want to know. They were going to hurt my friend.
He continued, “She wanted to take your friends away and Tate would’ve turned against you too. I know what kind of person she is. She would’ve blamed you for that. Heather would’ve eventually grown leery. She wouldn’t have turned on you like Tate would’ve, but she would’ve distanced herself. She would’ve done it to keep her family safe unless she knew a way to handle Kate, but there’s no way to handle Kate. It’s why I had to gut her. It’s the only way to take care of Kate. I removed any power or support she might’ve gotten.”