Logan Kade (Fallen Crest #5.5)(29)

After dropping Taylor off, the two chicks took us home. There was a lot of flirting, but for once, I wasn’t into it. I went inside, and Nate left with both of them.

“I got it this morning. I was well-rested.” I grinned at him. “Did you have a twofer last night?”

He laughed. “Uh…” He put his glass down, concentrating on it more than he needed to. “Let’s say the one girl was a little hurt you rejected her.” His smile grew more prominent. “I tried to make her feel better.”

Sam’s nose wrinkled. “I’m eating here.”

Mason laughed. “I think the big news is that Logan turned a chick down.”

All three gazed at me. I frowned. “What?”

Sam asked, “You turned a girl down?”

“I can be selective.”

“Not normally,” my brother responded. “With who you date, yes. Not with who you screw. You screw a lot of girls.”

“Shut up.” I scowled. “I went through all this to get your fruit and your juicer, and I became Chef Logan this morning.” I waved at the table. “Most of your plates are already empty.”

“No one’s saying anything negative, and you know I appreciate you doing all this. I really do.”

I could hear the but coming from my brother. He shared a look with Nate before continuing. “We’ve all noticed a decline in your female activities over the last week.”

Sam shot her hand up in the air. “I’m okay with it. I love that I’m not coming home and finding a new random in the kitchen or wandering around the house.” She pointed her fork at Mason. “I didn’t enjoy that one girl in our bed last week.”

He stiffened and pointed to me. “That was him. I had nothing to do with her.”

“I know.” Her fork rotated to me. “We have a lock on our door, but I’d never used it till that day.”

“That was the redhead, right?” I grinned, remembering her. “She was a spitfire. I liked her.”

Nate grunted, tucking a napkin under his plate. “Not enough to date her.”

I shrugged. That was normal.

“I was just wondering if it had anything to do with Coach Bruce’s daughter.” Nate’s eyes were narrowed, but he showed no other reaction as he spoke.

I leveled him with a look. He held firm.

Nate was Mason’s best friend. He’d been our neighbor growing up until his family deemed Mason a bad influence and moved away, taking their son with him. He came back at the end of his senior year of high school because he’d finished all his classes and turned eighteen. His parents had no say anymore.

He’d been with us since then, but dynamics changed. I was Mason’s best friend. Nate was the second-best friend. Well, that wasn’t counting Sam who was more than Mason’s best friend, so I still claimed the spot. Nate didn’t handle the shift in friendships well. He was a weasel for a little bit, doing some shady shit and had a full-blown rebellion when he and Mason came to Cain University for their freshman year.

He was the reason Park Sebastian had even come into our lives.

A brooding feeling came over me. My thoughts were too intense. I could play an *. I could be the *, but no matter what brought it on, I didn’t enjoy feeling like the *.

I studied Nate for a moment. “What’s your problem?”

“You like her.”

The table grew silent again. That wasn’t a question from him. It was a statement. And for some reason, it didn’t sit right with me. I scowled. “Back off of this, Monson.”

Sam looked up at me. It meant something when we used last names. But she didn’t say anything. Neither did Mason.

Nate’s hands lifted in the air. “I’m not trying to be a dick here.”

“But you are. You’re inferring shit that’s not there. I didn’t want to screw a sidechick. So what?”

“You’re getting upset over one question.”

“I’m not.” I leaned over the table. “Coach Bruce’s daughter is a friend. That’s it.”

“I’m not saying anything otherwise.”

“Yes, you were.” I gestured around the table. “No one here is an idiot. I’m not going to sit here and let you lay the groundwork to what? Tease me? Cause trouble? If I like a girl, I’ll date her. If I want to screw a girl, I’ll bang the hell out of her. If I want to piss on someone, I’ll do that too, but what I’m not going to do is let you steer things around so I’m on the defense and you’re on the offense. Never going to f*cking happen with me.”

“Logan.” Nate moved to the edge of his seat. His eyes were wide and clear, not narrowed or cagey. He placed his palms flat on the table. “I know how that shit happens, and that’s not what I was doing. I swear. The girl was hot last night, and you seemed into her until the ride home. Then you were all about Bruce’s daughter. I was just trying to bring it up in a nice way to see if there was something more there. I’m not trying to f*ck with you.”

My pulse pounded in my veins. I felt it through my jawline as I stared him down. Fuuuuck. He wasn’t holding anything back. I thought he was coming for me, but he wasn’t. “Sorry. I misread you.” I felt like a dipshit.

“I wasn’t trying to stir anything up,” Nate murmured. “But a week ago, you would’ve taken that girl up on what she was offering last night. Plus, you wanted to hang out with Bruce’s daughter. That’s not normal. You don’t hang out with chicks unless you’re banging ’em.”