Fallen Fourth Down (Fallen Crest #4)(5)

“I’m not going to find anything gross and maybe personal in there, am I?”

“No. He mostly stayed with me.”

“Gotcha.” Putting the beer on his desk, she took a can with her and hollered from inside, “Help yourself. Something’s telling me you need to get lit tonight.”

I had already had one, but she was right. I took another.

Mason had a couch and love seat on one side of his room. His desk had been custom built into the wall, between two closet doors. His king-sized bed was set in the corner, on a slight pedestal.

I sunk down on one of the couches when Heather came out. She gazed around and whistled. “Shit. It boggles my mind that this is just one of his rooms. He’s got like eight hundred, right? His mom’s house. His dad’s. At college. Yours. Where else?” She pointed to me with her beer can. “That’s right, that one penthouse thing you told me he took you to. The lifestyle of the rich and dicks.”

“Mason’s not a dick.”

“Yes, he is.” She laughed as she sunk down on his desk chair, straddling it, facing me. “But he’s not to you or to anyone he loves, and that’s what makes him so damn hot.”

I fiddled with the tab on my beer can. I missed him. A wave of longing rolled over me, suffocating me. My throat swelled, and I forgot about Tate’s words for a moment. I could feel Mason’s arms around me. I could feel his hard chest as I rested my head on it. I could even feel the soft graze of his fingers as he tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, dropping a soft, delicate kiss to my forehead.

Feeling the threat of tears, I shook my head and cleared the yearning. Fuck the three hours driving there, I was ready to throw my purse in the car and head there right now.

“Are you going to tell me, or are you going to make me force it out of you?”

Heather’s clear, sober voice was like a bucket of ice water.

“Sam.”

I jerked my head up. My fingers were still playing with beer can’s tab, and I cleared my throat. “Yeah?”

“Girl,” she leaned forward, intense scrutiny on her face, and stated, “you better start talking, or I’m going to drag Logan in here and make him start talking. Either way, I’m getting the truth.”

“Why?”

I cursed under my breath as her eyebrows shot up, and she leaned back. “So there is something? Holy shit. What is it?”

I hung my head. Crap. My secret was out. She might as well know all of it before it ate me alive. I looked up, feeling all the fear, all the burden, all the potential destruction these words caused. I said, “Logan’s in love with me.”





CHAPTER THREE



MASON



I glanced at my phone. It was almost ten and Sam would be calling at eleven. If we left for this party now, I knew I might miss her call. That couldn’t happen. Something had been wrong with Sam all summer. I knew she was worried about being apart for a year, but everything would be fine. It was one year. It sucked. Okay, it didn’t suck. It was torture at times, but even thinking about her and knowing she was probably with Logan right now, when I was supposed to head to one of Nate’s parties, felt like a branding iron to my heart.

Fuck. Whatever. This was what we had to do, but I hated it.

My roommate came back from the shower and glared at me. A towel hung around his neck, and his hands went to his hips. He let the other towel fall. His stomach rolls jiggled as he held back his laughter. “You, man. Matteo doesn’t like this. This party, nothing good will come from it.”

I showed him my phone. “I’m Skyping with my girlfriend.”

Curses came from him as he dove for his towel and disappeared back into the bathroom.

I laughed, threw the phone on the bed, and finished dressing. When he didn’t hear any voices, he poked his head back out. His eyes fell to the phone and he scowled. “You a liar, Kade. That wasn’t cool.”

“Got your fat dick out of my face, didn’t it?”

“That’s right. Be jealous.” He pounded a hand to his chest and swept off his towel again. “It’s like the helicopter.” His hips started moving, as did his dick, and his white teeth gleamed back at me. He smacked a hand to his bald head as he kept moving his dick in circles. “It goes round and round. All the girls like it. You should try this move. I bet your girl will like it.”

Pulling a shirt over my chest, I shook my head. “Sam hasn’t complained yet, but I’ll keep it in mind.”

He grunted and slapped his stomach, making those rolls jiggle again. “It’s the only thing that matters, keeping your woman happy. You got a good one?” He didn’t wait for my answer and went into his closet. A second later, Matteo came out with a pair of pants, a shirt, a pair of boxers, and socks. As he sat on his bed and began to pull his boxers on, he glanced at me. “Those are some nice threads. You must come from money, Kade.”

I scowled. I did, but I didn’t want that to define me. “My rich parents didn’t pay for these clothes if that’s where you’re going.”

“Oh. Whoa, my dude. I was gonna say that you don’t seem like one of those rich pricks.” He held his hands in the air, making a show of backing up a step, smirking at me. “I’m messing with you. I can be wack sometimes.” He hit himself in the chest.