Fallen Crest Home (Fallen Crest High #6)(28)

Keifer seemed to be thinking it over, his gaze skirting from me to Mason and back again. Finally, after a longer-than-necessary silence, he pointed to me. “This your boyfriend?”

“Yes.”

“Were those guys after you because of him?”

How did he—

He smiled. “Four on one girl? It’s always payback if that happens, sweetie.”

I flushed, but glared at the same time. “My name’s not sweetie. It’s Samantha.”

Mason came to stand next to me. “You can fire Sam. That’s fine. She doesn’t need this job. But she likes being here. Do what I’m suggesting and at the end of the summer, you can throw a big bash. Tell everyone Mason Kade is celebrating at your carnival before he returns to Cain U for his last year.”

Petey’s head whipped around, and Keifer went eerily still, almost glaring at Mason now. A vein popped out along the side of his jaw. “The football superstar? That kid?”

“Yeah,” Mason said. “That kid.”

Keifer jerked his head forward. “You that kid?”

“I’m that kid.”

“Rumor’s that your daddy’s pretty rich, too.”

“He is, and he’s marrying Sam’s mom. That’s how we met, and that’s why she doesn’t need this job. You’re the one losing out if you fire her.”

“Now.” Keifer barked out that word, leaning down to rest his hands on his desk. His jaw twitched. “I know that now, but the real question isn’t whether I want to miss the chance at those extra sales. It’s whether I want to deal with a bunch of spoiled pricks for the rest of the summer. You don’t think we can draw in our own crowd? You don’t think that’s what we do for a goddamn living, boy?” He waved to the door, dismissing us. “Get the fuck out of here before I change my mind and have those guys carted back in.”

Mason took my hand. “Fine.” He led me out of the office. Adam and Becky trailed behind us. We found Matteo and Cass sitting on opposite ends of the bench outside. They stood when they saw us.

“What happened?” Matteo asked.

“Sam was fired.”

Adam added to Mason’s short explanation. “The guy’s an idiot. He’s losing a ton of money. He should’ve listened—”

Mason interrupted him. “Where were you?”

“What?” Adam took a step back.

“You were there. You could’ve helped her.”

Adam’s eyes widened. He looked at me, then Becky before turning back to Mason. He coughed. “I went to get Mark. I’m the one who told Becky to get security. She’s the reason Petey even knew something was going on. We had no clue. They were behind the tent, and music was blaring. We couldn’t hear.”

That was bullshit. Petey might’ve been distracted because he was doing his job, but Adam would’ve noticed Caldron before he went between the tents.

“It’s true,” Mark said. “Adam came and got me. He’s faster than Becky.”

It felt off, but Adam’s bases were covered. I had another issue to deal with. I dropped Mason’s hand and rounded on him. “Did you do that on purpose?”

Everyone stilled. Again.

Matteo murmured behind us, “Fuck.”

The only one who didn’t seem surprised by my question was Mason. An unreadable mask fell over his face, and I knew he was guarding himself.

“Yes,” he said.

“You knew my boss would be insulted by the way you talked to him. A kid telling him what to do—you knew that’d slam the door on me working here.”

“Yes,” he ground out a second time. “I’d do it again, too.”

“Uh, guys.” Matteo moved away from us, guiding Adam and the girls. “Maybe we should give them some space, huh?”

I was aware of them leaving, but my blood boiled. I couldn’t look away from Mason. “Why? Why did you do that?”

“You know why.”

Oh, no. I shook my head, shaking a finger in his face. “You don’t do that. You don’t soften your tone with me, like you’re giving up this fight. You already sabotaged me in there. Don’t back down now.”

“I can’t protect you here.”

“You just made a whole argument that you could.”

“I can’t be here every single day.”

“So? He could have me work at night, when you can be here.”

“Every night?”

“Yes!”

“Every minute? Every time you have to take the garbage outside? Every time you forget something in your car and have to run to get it? I’m supposed to shadow you all of those times?”

“Yes!” Why was he fighting this? “We’ve had worse threats.”

“Caldron’s gone after you twice now. The first time I was right there. He’s worse than Budd Broudou. He knows who you are. I can’t trick this guy, and as much as I’d like to, I can’t be with you at every moment. He’s the type who will lie in wait, and he’ll grab you the second I’m not around.”

His arms were shaking, and he took a calming breath.

“Sam.” He stepped forward, touching my arms gently. “This guy will hurt you.”