Fallen Crest Public(63)

“That’s the problem,” he bit out. His eyes growing cold. “I should’ve. She was my friend. She was a good person, and I didn’t fight for her like I should’ve. What they did to her is on me. I didn’t stop them when I could’ve. No one else could’ve, so it was my place to do it. I didn’t. A part of me checked out, Sam. You’re right. All the crap from the divorce. It went on long after Logan dumped Tate, too. She made it worse. Thinking back, it was how Tate hurt me back, through Marissa, but she stopped talking to me at the end. She had the teacher assign her to someone else and she stopped even saying hi to me. It was like we were strangers.”
“Did it stop then?”
“No.”
That one word came out like an ache. He was haunted by it.
I waited for him to continue, and he did, “I was grateful when she left. It stopped. She was safe.”
“You started talking again after she left?”
He nodded. “She emailed me, told me that she didn’t blame me for what happened. I was such an ass. I didn’t even comment on it. I still have never said a word about it to her.”
I didn’t know what to say so I moved until I was straddling him. He fell back against the couch. His hands went to my legs, where mine rested on top of them, and he watched me from underneath heavy eyelids. His jaw clenched and some of his old wall came back in place. He was always so guarded.
He shook his head and cursed under his breath. His hands turned to lock with mine. “When she came to Nate’s cabin, it’s why I wanted him with her at all times. Plus, you were there, and I couldn’t stop thinking about you.”
“Has she emailed you since then?”
“A few times. I haven’t responded. That wasn’t intentional, I’ve just been wrapped up with you and everything going on with your mom.”
I saw the struggle in him. He was the unbeatable one, the ruthless one, and that broke me. I would protect him how he protected me. Lifting a hand to his face, I cupped his cheek and leaned forward to press my lips to his. It was a soft graze, but my heart fluttered. The ache started between my legs, and I moved closer, grinding on him. Then I moved back, just enough to whisper, “We’ll make it different this time.” My lips brushed against his. “We’ll change things this time. We’ll make it count.”
His reaction was instant. His hands caught my face and his lips opened over mine. His hunger had been unleashed, and it was demanding more. He stood with my legs wrapped around his waist and took us to bed. A primal need started in me as I met his ghosts that night, and as he thrust into me, that need took over. The need to protect him was more than before. I had worried before, knowing I could lose him, but now it went beyond that. He hadn’t stopped Kate from hurting his friend and it still hurt him, but now I was angry that they had even put him in that spot. It should’ve never happened in the first place, but that was on Kate. She was going to pay for what she had done.




14



Everyone knew what happened the next day at school. I had no idea how, but the news was out: Mason and Logan torched the mannequins. The truth got stretched to the whole clothing store, and by the end of the day everyone was whispering that they were going to get arrested. Apparently, Natalie’s aunt died in the blaze. Poor Natalie. Or that was what I heard a freshman telling her friend as they passed us, heading towards the bus lot.
Heather heard them too and laughed, shaking her head. “They’re idiots.”
Putting my last book into my locker, I took a few others out and stuffed them inside my bag. “I was an idiot, too. By the time I was a freshman, my boyfriend had already been cheating on me for a year.”