Fallen Fourth Down (Fallen Crest #4)(15)

“I know.” She sighed and opened the classroom door. “I just really dislike Hayes. We were friends, but when my mom left, his mom decided we weren’t good enough for their family anymore. He agreed and has had a superior attitude ever since. I’m surprised he’s never tangled with Mason or Logan. Wait,” she stopped and a rueful expression filtered across her face. “I can. He’s in cross-country. They’re in football. I think he’d piss himself if Logan went after him.”

“Who’d piss themselves if I went after them?” Logan had come up behind us. We both jumped, startled, and he chuckled. “Always be aware of your surroundings, Jax. You never know what creeper is stalking up behind you.”

“Not long ago you threw your arms around our shoulders and told us we needed shorter skirts.”

“And cupcakes,” I added.

She nodded and pointed back at me. “What she said. Where’d the love go, Kade? I feel like we need to explore that happy place once again.”

He barked out a laugh. As we stopped in the hallway, he moved between us. Hooking an arm around my shoulder, he bent me forward so my head was firmly within his hold and he tugged me into the class. He said over me, “The happy place went away when you got a stick up your ass about my girlfriend.” He stopped, patted my head, and added, “And when you started protecting Sam from me.” The last was spoken with dead seriousness.

I winced. Shit just got real. Closing my eyes, I could feel the sudden tension come over the room. They’d been talking and laughing, but when he said those words, it acted like a blanket had dropped over everyone.

Logan was tense.

Heather cut out a short laugh. “For real? I’m being a friend.”

I felt him take a silent breath. As he let it back out, his body loosened with it. He was forcing himself to relax. “Yeah, well, I call dibs for today. Sam sits with me.”

“What?” She started to argue, but I pushed up enough so I could meet her gaze. When she saw me, I shook my head and she got the message. “Fine.”

He turned around and led me to the table in the far back. Kicking a chair out, he let go of me and pointed to it. “Sit. You can’t avoid me, and you can’t say no to your future stepbrother.”

He sounded like he was joking, but I caught the heated spark in his gaze. When he dropped next to me and didn’t start talking right away, the rest of the classroom began their own conversations again. More than a few kept glancing back, just in case a heated exchange broke out again. Rubbing my neck, I tried to apologize to Heather as she took a seat beside the board. We were next to the window and surrounded by Logan’s friends. It wasn’t long after that when a group of girls came in. Kris was with them, dressed in a floral skirt, a white tank top, and a jean jacket pulled over it. With pink ballet shoes on, she was ready for a picnic date. Her friends headed to the front two tables in Heather’s row and Kris scanned the room for Logan. When she saw me with him, her mouth fell open an inch.

He wasn’t paying attention so I hit him with my knee. “What?” I jerked my head to her, and he cursed. “I forgot she was transferring to this class.”

“Whatever. Do something quick or you’re going to be kissing her ass all week.”

He groaned, but got up from the table. “Hey…”

“I’m sorry.” She closed her mouth, and her hand jerked out, pointing to me. “I assumed I would sit with you.”

“Yeah.” His hand lifted to the back of his neck, and he gripped it.

His back was to me, but when he grabbed the back of his neck, it meant he knew he was in trouble and had no idea how to get out of it. I had to laugh. Logan was never at a loss for words, so I stood up and said, “Don’t get mad. I made him promise before school started that we’d sit together in a couple classes. I pulled out the sister card.”

“Oh.”

He twisted around so she couldn’t see and mouthed, “Thank you.”

I rolled my eyes, then sat back down.

“Okay.” Her hands came in front of her and twisted around each other, cradling her book and notebook in her arms. “Well,” she scanned the room, “I guess I could sit…”

One of her friends raised her hand. “We have a seat. Come on, Kris. We’re more fun than boyfriends. We can gossip.”

She laughed. “There is that.” Casting another shadowed look at Logan, then me, she started for the front of the classroom. When she passed Heather, my gaze caught hers and her mouth was hanging open. She jerked her hands up and down and mouthed, “W.T.F.?”

I flinched. What the fuck was right. I had an opportunity to avoid Logan. Why hadn’t I taken it?

Sitting next to me, he let out a deep sigh of relief. “Thanks, Sam. I had no idea how to back out of that.”

I knew. He was family. Secret be damned, he was still family, and I couldn’t hide from him. I didn’t want to. I pretended to punch him in the arm and said, “What do they say? Bros before hoes? In our case, fam before…females?” I shook my head. “Sorry. I’m not funny.”

He laughed, leaned back, and rested his hand on the back of my chair. “Yes, you are, and you’re right. Family before all others, right?”

“That sounds better.”

“Good.” The relieved and jovial look disappeared and his gaze trailed over my shoulder to fix on someone else. It grew dangerous as he said, “You gonna tell me what was said to you at your practice last night?”