Fallen Crest Home (Fallen Crest High #6)(63)

Logan spoke as if that made perfect sense. I shook my head and picked up my pizza. He was right. I needed something in my stomach. I’d done too much physical activity over the last twenty-four hours.

As if both had been waiting for me to start eating, as soon as I took my first bite, Mason said, “We need to figure out what to do about Caldron.”

“What do you mean?” Logan was all business now.

“I wanted something on Quinn first before asking Dad to help deal with Caldron.” Mason grimaced. “That didn’t happen.”

“Yet,” Logan corrected. “It didn’t happen yet. We can still trade it in when we find something. What were you going to ask Dad to do?”

“Promote him.”

“Say what?” Logan pretended to clean his ear out. “I heard that wrong, right?”

“We have to deal with things differently. Your girlfriend’s right. We can’t keep doing the shit we’re doing. My football career is another reason besides Sam’s safety—well, our safety, too. I get caught doing anything, I could not have a football career. One video, and I’m fucked.”

“Yeah.” Logan sighed. “Those were the good old days, when we didn’t give a shit. Growing up sucks. Okay. So you want to promote him?”

“He’ll have more incentive not to do anything then. If he goes after any of us, but Sam most of all, he loses the extra money he will have been making.”

“It’s a good idea, but do you really want Caldron to have more responsibility? What factory does he work at?”

“I think he’s at one of dad’s landscaping companies. Manual labor.”

“Got you.” Logan nodded, his forehead wrinkling. “He could go up a notch and still not have access to anything real that could hurt Dad. So the question is, how are you going to proposition Dad to do this for us?” His eyes slid to mine. “Last time he countered by making us be his groomsmen.”

“I know.” Mason sighed.

“What?” I looked between the two.

Mason frowned, and it only deepened as he pushed his empty plate away. “You might have to agree to do something for him again.”

Logan jumped in, “But that’ll go away once we use whatever we find on Quinn. We’ll leverage that against what James will want you to do. The favors will all be wiped clean.”

Yeah. That sounded great. It sounded logical even, but James Kade was a millionaire businessman, if not a billionaire. If he wanted something, I had a hard time imagining him taking it off the table once Mason and Logan found whatever they could on Steven Quinn.

But I nodded. I ate the rest of my pizza. I said and did what they wanted me to, but I had my doubts.

“When’s this going down?” Logan asked as we all stood, done for the night.

Mason looked to me. “You’re working a shift tomorrow night—well, later today?”

I nodded. “I have Tuesday and Wednesday off. I’m working next weekend, though.”

“Dad asked me to give him an update on Wednesday, so if you two show up with me, he won’t be prepared. That’ll be the best time.”

Logan clapped his hands together. “Wednesday it is. Mission ‘to deal with Caldron and bamboozle James Kade’ is in progress.” He pretended to rub his hands in an evil manner, snickering.

Mason shook his head. “Don’t do that, and don’t say bamboozle again.”

“Why not?” Logan followed us down the hallway. “I like it. It reminds me of boobies. Who doesn’t like boobies?”

“Don’t.” Mason shot him a look as we reached our room.

Logan had stopped at his door and shrugged, grinning. “You’re the boss. But wait. Do you know what you’re the boss of?”

“Don’t—” Mason started.

“Of boobies!” Logan laughed, heading inside his room.

We laughed, too. For once, I was thankful for the long run I’d taken, for seeing my mom, and for knowing the plan against James Kade. Because once I hit that pillow, I fell asleep immediately, my worries about marriage forgotten—at least for now.





A few days later, James Kade sat behind his desk, squared off against Mason, Logan, and myself. Logan and I sat in the chairs, and Mason stood to the side. At the moment, however, James Kade only had eyes for his eldest son.

He leaned back in his chair, his fingers tented. “Let’s hear it. What’s the reason you brought an audience to this meeting, Mason?”

Mason dropped a file on the desk.

“And what’s this?” James leaned forward, bringing it in front of him.

“That’s a file on one of your employees.”

“Jared Caldron?” James skimmed through the papers. “He’s a laborer for my landscaping company.” His eyes lifted back to Mason. “Why am I reading about him?”

“Because he was best friends with Budd Broudou in high school, and what you don’t know is that we had a hand in getting Broudou sent to prison.”

James didn’t seem to react. His face remained passive for a full fifteen seconds before he shot to his feet, sending his chair flying into the bookshelves behind him. “What did you do?”

I stood up. “They didn’t do anything. I mean, not really.”