Fallen Fourth Down (Fallen Crest #4) (13 page)

His lips touched mine, such a soft graze, sending a tingle through me. I fell in love with him all over again. The smallest of touches from him went the farthest distance with me. A rush of love swept through me, and as I pulled away and headed across the street to Logan’s car, a tear slipped free. I let it go. Getting into the backseat, I didn’t look away from Mason, even after Logan and Kris both waved and Logan turned out of the lot.

I moved in my seat so I could keep watching him. He had recharged me, until the next time I saw him, but damn, I knew being with him wouldn't come soon enough. After Logan turned at a stoplight and I couldn’t see Mason anymore, I moved back around and slumped down in my seat.

I was quiet the entire ride home.

Logan dropped Kris off first, but I overheard their plans. She was going to go to his house later to do homework. When we left and parked the car outside my house, he invited me over as well. I declined. I wanted to be alone and that meant a good long run for me. I didn’t want to think about things, not then.

When I went inside, I heard Mark studying with Cass, so after tossing everything in my room, I changed and headed out for a run. I needed to clear my head.

After running to Manny’s, Brandon told me that Heather was spending time with Channing; the two were on a date. Turning around, I headed back home, but I didn’t want to go inside so I stretched outside and circled the house to the porch swing on the front patio. I had taken blankets out there one night. It had become my new sitting place.

“Samantha?”

David was coming up the driveway carrying two take-out bags. He paused before coming up the two steps to the patio. He held the takeout up. “I forgot to get a movie, but I remembered dinner.” Putting the food on the small table next to the swing, he eased himself down to sit beside me. “Why are you out here?”

At that moment, the light switched on inside behind us and I glanced over my shoulder. Mark and Cass had come up from the basement to the kitchen. He opened the fridge as she, holding back a grin, slid across the floor to hip check him. Mark flashed a smile and rounded on her, letting the fridge door shut. As his hands found her waist, he lifted her on the counter. A husky laugh came from her, and she rested her arms over his shoulders as her legs slid up and down the backs of his legs. Murmuring something, he bent forward and nuzzled her neck. Her eyes widened in response, and he tugged her closer, putting his mouth to hers.

David had twisted so he could see what I was looking at. A slight frown marred his face, his eyebrows burrowed forward, and his lips pressed tight together. He turned back around. Scratching at his ear, he caught my perusal of him and lifted a helpless shoulder. “He’s not my son. I have no idea what to say in these moments. Is that okay? Should I allow him to do that?” He twisted around again and bit down on his lip. He began chewing on it as he murmured, “I mean, they’re not doing anything. They’re making out.” He pretended to shudder, giving me a small grin. “You never did that growing up. I was never concerned about Jeff. You could barely stand to let him in the house, much less your bedroom.” He shook his head. “Then all that went down with your mother, and I lost the right to say anything. You were with Mason Kade. Granted,” he gave me a sideways look, “Mason Kade is a normal parent’s worst nightmare, but that year, I was thankful for him in some ways. After seeing the two of you together and having him check me, your father, I knew he’d protect you against Analise. I was thankful for that.” He looked back once more.

Mark had moved to the table and laid Cass down on it. She tipped her head back and arched her neck for him, as he began trailing kisses down her throat. Her hands cradled him, and she moaned when he moved further down, tugging up her shirt so her bra was exposed.

Feeling a laugh coming up, I stuffed it down. This was entertainment. I didn’t want to interrupt it.

“Oh, dear.” David tugged at his collar. “What should I do?”

I couldn’t hold it in. Laughter pealed out of me, but when they paused and glanced towards the living room window, I ducked down. David let out a small chuckle and ducked down beside me. We were both hiding, and he whispered to me, “I should interrupt them. They should stop doing that there.”

David lifted his eyebrows at me in a silent question. I shook my head. I wasn’t the parent. Realizing what I had just thought, the amusement faded. David was the parent. His phone call earlier had reminded me of that.

He must’ve caught the change in me because he asked, “What?”

“Nothing.”

David covered my hand with his. “Tell me what’s going on with you? I know you’ve been coming out here a lot lately.”

One corner of my mouth lifted in a halfhearted grin. I let it drop, though. I didn’t want to talk about Mason, so I said, “It’s hard being in there sometimes.”

“Why?”

“Come on, Dad.” Giving him a wry grin, I rolled my eyes. “Our house was tense. Everyone walked around on egg shells. Mom could blow up at any second. And that was when it was peaceful.” Then the explosion would happen. It always happened. “The screaming. Things flying. The yelling. The crying. The threats of leaving and divorcing you. There were the times she actually did leave.” My throat was dry as I swallowed. “Going from that house, to the Kades where I knew nothing would last. Everything was fake with Analise. She was a ticking time bomb. I always knew she would go off, and I would wait for it. Being here,” I shrugged again, “it’s so silent, but no one’s walking around on thin ice. I haven’t heard anyone fight yet. There’s been yelling, but it’s usually Malinda yelling at Mark not to be late or to come eat, or she’s yelling at Logan for some reason. It’s so…”

David supplied, “Healthy?”

“…eerie.” I flashed him a grin. “But yeah, healthy. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop, when everything good stops again.”

“Oh, Samantha.” He patted my arm. “It’s not going to. Your mother was sick—”

I gave him a dark look. “And evil.”

“That too, but Malinda is a completely different person. She’s loving. She’s warm. She’s—”

I patted his arm this time. “I know. I love Malinda. I really do. I’m not saying anything bad. I’m just not used to this,” gesturing inside the house and around us, “world. When’s the shit going to hit the fan?”

“Well, I don’t think it’s going to happen how you think.” He was watching me intensely. “I’m sorry about Garrett.”

And the other shoe just dropped. “Yeah.”

“He called. He’d like to have dinner with you, if that’s okay with you? I know I said earlier that I wanted to discuss this.” He sighed loudly.

I laughed shortly. “Why do I feel like running again?”

“I think you should do it.”

“Run?”

“No, you know what I’m talking about. I think you should have dinner with Garrett.”

“Why?” My voice grew louder. I looked at him as if he’d grown a second head. “You want me to have a relationship with him? He came here, made a lot of promises, and took off. For a year.” I shook my head. My voice got even louder. “I mean, hello. Look at you. What if I love him more than you? Aren’t you thinking things like that? What if I want a relationship with him, and I don’t need you anymore?”

David was shaking his head as he stood. His hand was held out, as if to calm me. I realized with a jerk that I was standing.
When had that happened?
Then he said, “Of course I’m thinking those things, but that’s selfish of me. Yes, I just got you back, and yes, I’m trying to mend things with you too, but he’s your father. He left to make things right with his wife and he’s back. He’s trying with his daughter. Analise kept you from him. You can’t fault him for that.”

I turned. I wanted to run, but I gritted my teeth. Balling my hands into fists, I looked back to him.

When he saw I wasn’t going, he lowered his hand. “Samantha, you have more family on his side. Have you thought about that?”

What?

“Yeah. I didn’t think you had.” His voice was so soft, like his heart was breaking. “He has an entire family that wants to meet you. Cousins. Grandparents. Analise had no one. Her parents, who knows who her parents were. They abandoned her at an early age, and she never grew healthy attachments with anyone else. You may never know what relatives you have on her side, but you can with Garrett.”

“I don’t care.” But I did.

“You’ve met my family, but, because of your mother, that relationship is strained too. Garrett’s family is your blood.” His voice dipped to a firm level, “I’m not saying welcome him back with open arms, but you can set the boundaries for what you’re comfortable with.”

“Like what?”

“Like,” he glanced around and gestured to the house, “have him and his wife come here. We’ll have a big dinner, all of us.” He gritted his teeth. “Logan too. That’ll be interesting, but yeah. Have him come here. Get to know him on your territory, and you ask him questions instead of him getting to ask you questions. We’ll be there to enforce the rules if you want.” An abrupt laugh ripped from him. “I have no doubt Logan will enjoy enforcing any rule, just by himself.”

“Yeah.”
Was I really going to do this?
I heard myself saying, “Okay. Yeah. That’s a good idea.”

“Do you want me to make the plans?”

I nodded. “You call him.” When he stood and grabbed the take-out bags, I stopped him. “But I pick the night.”

“That’s fair enough.” He gave me a reassuring look. “I don’t think anything bad is going to happen anymore. I really don’t, Samantha.”

As he went inside, I felt my phone buzzing and pulled it out. Mason was calling. Realizing the irony from my father’s parting words, I answered and headed down the street. I didn’t want to walk past Cass and Mark, and I didn’t want David overhearing our conversation.

“Hey,” I answered.

“Hey yourself.”

At the sound of his voice, the world righted again, and the knot that was always there started to loosen.

Closing my locker, I was heading to cross country practice Thursday when Logan came up behind me and threw his arm around my shoulder. He hooked it around my neck and pulled me so I was walking sideways as he kept going straight. He flashed me a smile. “Hey there, sister dear.”

I rolled my eyes, but grinned back. Hitting him in the chest, I asked, “What are you doing?”

“Did you hear the news?”

“That you’re awesome? That’s old. Duh.”

He stopped and people streamed around us. No one complained about our abrupt stop, but this was Logan. No one complained about anything that had to do with him. If they did, they made sure he couldn’t hear it. Since we had come back from seeing Mason, the old joking side of him had returned. Everyone took notice. He’d been serious before the trip, more serious than people expected from him, but when someone yelled out from behind us, “Coming up, Kade!” he raised his hand, palm upwards, by his head and one of his friends slapped it with his own, moving past us without breaking stride. Logan never broke eye contact with me. His only reaction was when his smile turned into a cocky smirk. He raised an eyebrow. “You’re being funny, Strattan? I’m pretty sure you need to take a class before coming into my arena of awesomeness.”

He winked and held his hand out to me.

I glanced at it. “What’s that?” As soon as the words left me, I knew I didn’t want to know.

He looked at it, back at me, and raised his hand higher. “It’s for you to pay the fee. No one enters Logan’s Arena of Awesomeness without paying my interest rate. Don’t worry. It’s only sex percent.” He paused and waited.

I got it, grunted, and began moving down the hallway for the lockers. “Seriously, Logan.”

He hurried back to my side and threw his arm around my shoulder again. “Get it? Sex percent?”

I didn’t look at him, but I could imagine the wide smile on his face, waiting for some reaction from me. My reaction was an elbow to his gut. He grunted, but laughed at the same time. “You think Mason would kick my ass if I enforced that? Huh, huh?” Wiggling his eyebrows, he grabbed my elbow and pulled me to a halt before I disappeared into the women’s locker room. “Our coach is going to be late. I’ve got time.”

Placing a hand to his chest, I moved him back a step. “Sure.”

His eyes got wide. “Are you serious?”

I grinned at the person coming up behind him. “Your boyfriend just threatened to make me have sex with him.”

He barked out a laugh and he smiled at Kris. Holding onto her bag, she narrowed her eyes, as she studied both of us with her lips pursed together.

“Hey there, girlfriend. You have time to step into Logan’s Arena of Awesomeness for five minutes?”

“What?”

Another laugh ripped out of him. “Nothing.” He started for the men’s locker room, but turned around and pretended to shoot both of us with his fingers. “Catch you two later.”

A stream of guys were moving behind him into the locker room. One of them threw his arm around Logan’s neck, bent him over, and pretended to tighten his arm in a chokehold. Logan was dragged inside, but it wasn’t long before a roar of laughter filtered from the room into the hallway.

Kris sighed. “My boyfriend can be really weird.”

“Yep.”

Turning as one, we both went into our locker room.

Once we got inside, we parted ways. She went to her locker, surrounded with her friends, and I went to mine in the back row. Coach had kept me running with the guys who were sent off first so I hurried into my running clothes, grabbed my iPod, and was heading out the door when one of the team captains came in. She was standing in the doorway and said, “Hold up, Strattan. Girls are going first today.”

“Really?”

She nodded. “Yeah, he wanted me to spread the word.” Cupping her hands around her mouth, she yelled, “GIRLS, GET YOUR ASSES MOVING! WE’RE RUNNING FIRST!”

There was silence for a split second and then the room filled with shrieks. A couple girls came around to the door. “What?”

She motioned for them to hurry up. “Come on. The guys are running with the football team so we have to take off first. We’re all doing the same trail.”

“Shit,” one girl said. “They’re going to lap us.”

“Exactly. Let’s go. I don’t want to hear the crap they’ll give us if they lap us.” She glanced at me. “Sorry, Sam. You’re supposed to wait fifteen minutes before going, but you could stretch with us if you want?” She didn’t wait for a response and headed back out.

The other girl had darted back to her locker and told the rest what was going on. It wasn’t long before everyone was in a frenzy. Lockers were slammed shut as the girls got dressed in record time, and I stepped back, pressed against the wall, as the girls ran past me. Kris was one of the last. She paused before pushing through the door. “You’re running with the guy’s team
and
the football team?”

“I guess.”

“I don’t know if I should be jealous or sympathetic.” She started through the door, but tossed over her shoulder, “I’ll settle with, ‘don’t trip my boyfriend.’”

The door shut behind her, and I muttered to myself, “Why the hell would I do that?” I shook my head and cleared my thoughts. It didn’t matter who I was running with. The guys had calmed down eventually and I had been incorporated as one of their own. I wasn’t nervous about running with them and the whole football team. That would be an adventure, one I planned on having them eat my dust. I was going to run faster than normal. I was itching to go on a long run, all by myself, and had been holding back. Coach wanted the majority of my running with the guys, so I didn’t go on the long ones by myself, as much.

After using the bathroom and grabbing a second bottle of water, I started out. The girls should’ve taken off by now. When I went outside, the lawn was covered with guys. There must’ve been thirty of them. The entire football team was spread out, all stretching, and I saw the cross country team in one corner, looking at the players with something akin to disgust. Hayes caught my eye and waved me over, but Logan intercepted me a few feet from them.

“Sam.” He patted the ground next to him. His knee was pulled up and his leg was over his other leg. He leaned forward, stretching his back. “Sit. We get to run together.”

Hayes stood from the ground. “She’s running with us.”

Logan looked up. His slight grin had faded as a dark, ominous expression replaced it. “We’re running with you too.”

Hayes hesitated, but lifted his chin an inch. “No, you guys are running behind us. If you start off in front of us, you’re only going to impede our times. Be considerate. There’s no way you guys can keep up with us.”

Eric Hayes was tall and thin. He had a perfect body for running, which he knew. A handful of football players filled in behind Logan, and it looked like a smaller version of Goliath being challenged by David. Logan was lean, but he was muscular. His friends and teammates behind him were bigger. They were not only built to run, but to chase down their prey. As they heard the condescending tone in Hayes’s voice, their nostrils flared, and I imagined the entire cross country guy’s team just became their prey.

There were dark promises in Logan’s gaze, but he only smiled. “Sure.” He waved his hand in front of him. “Show us the way. We’ll let you guys go first.”

Hayes started forward, but caught himself. His eyes narrowed and he glanced at me. Nope. I wasn’t giving him any reaction. He had dug his own grave. People knew not to cross Logan.

Logan moved forward. “Sam’s running with us.”

Hayes snorted. “She runs with us.”

Good god. This was on repeat. “What route does Coach want us to go?”

“The scenic route.”

My shock was immediate. That was the trail that went the whole way around Fallen Crest. It even went on a ridge that looked over the back of Fallen Crest Academy and their football field. I grunted. If this was just the beginning, I didn’t want to know what drama might happen when they saw my dad’s football team practicing. I did the calculations in my head and knew we’d be hitting that hill during the middle of their practice.

I started forward.

“Where are you going?” Hayes asked me, his voice strained.

I cast him a grimace. “I’m leaving. I’m starting before all of you guys.” I gave Logan a quick grin, but saw that he didn’t care. His eyes were still fixed on Hayes.

I shook my head and started off, hitting my timer to begin my run. I wanted to get a little ahead of the guys because I had a feeling the football team would be bearing down hard on the cross country team. Logan didn’t take to being insulted. Even if the distance was longer than they ran, I knew their football team did runs like ours for conditioning. I just didn’t think Hayes knew that, and as I started off on the path, I chuckled to myself. He was going to learn.

I took it easy at first, warming up. My first intention had been to press hard today, but after seeing the show of testosterone between the guys, I was going to do the opposite. I was going to take my time. They would lap me, which they did. The cross country team was pushing harder than they ever had, but the football team wasn’t far behind. The difference between the teams was that Logan’s group could only run like this one day. Hayes and the rest would be winded from going so fast, but they’d be able to do the same route tomorrow.

After the third mile, the football team had slowed and began to separate. Even as I began to pass them up, I knew I wouldn’t find Logan until later. He’d keep up with Hayes, just to piss him off, or he would try. It was mile five when I passed the girl’s team. I imagined they were annoyed at first, but by the time I got to them they were all smiles. I didn’t blame them. I remembered running with Mason. It was exhilarating. He was a primal specimen of hotness. Mason. Running. I fought against pushing him down on the trail at least twenty times.

I noticed Kris ahead. She wasn’t running with her friends. Instead, she had paired off with two football players. I didn’t know their names, but I recognized them and remembered they were juniors. They weren’t friends with Logan, I assumed, as one guy kept falling back to check out Kris’ ass.

When I passed them, I glanced over, caught Kris’ gaze, and didn’t look away. She swallowed and looked down to the ground. I moved on, but before I went over a hill and fell out of eyesight, I looked back once more. She had separated from the two guys, but they didn’t seem to mind. Their gazes were trained on her ass with smirks lingering over their faces.

Well, shit. What was I supposed to do about that?
Nothing
, my inner voice piped up. Shaking my head, shoving everything out, I kicked forward with more speed than I had anticipated. The need to push harder was back. Gritting my teeth, I let it loose. My legs lengthened their stride. I held my hands loose so those muscles wouldn’t be exerted, and my head ducked down a little bit.

It wasn’t long before I lapped all of the football team. Skimming over the last two guys, I recognized one of Logan’s friends, Derek, and he gestured ahead. Nothing was said, but I got the drift. Logan was still ahead. I sprinted over four more hills before the trees began to change.

Fallen Crest Academy had planted spruce, pine, and redwoods around the campus. The redwoods were still young, but they towered over the running path. I kept going ahead. I was approaching the ridge that overlooked my old school, and the closer I got, I popped my earbuds out and listened. I was right. I could hear shouts and grunts ahead. The sound of shoulder pads smashing into each other came next, along with a thudding sound. I didn’t expect to see anyone on the trail, but as I came around the last bend, some of the cross country guys were there. They had stopped and were watching the team below. Logan and another guy stood at the end.

I had to laugh. The paradigm from Logan and his teammate versus the cross country guys was almost comical. Their shoulders were broad. Their shirts had been abandoned and tucked into their waistbands. With arms resting on their hips, their backs were covered in sweat, but their muscles looked finely sculpted. If Mason had been there, he would’ve perfected the image of male hotness.

“Stop checking me out, Strattan.” A grin teased the corner of Logan’s mouth. “You’re practically family.” He waited a beat. “You’ll turn me on.”

I rolled my eyes and slowed to stand beside him. Eric lifted his head. I felt the weight of his gaze for a moment, but ignored it. Nodding to the football field below us, I asked, “Are you guys ogling my old team? Or just need an excuse for a breather?”

We weren’t too high up and, as if hearing me, they glanced up from below. Two of the players paused, then said something to another two. Those looked up and they spoke to another group. That group looked up. A ripple effect spread over the whole field until the coaches realized their players weren’t paying attention. One of the coaches left their huddle and moved to get a better view of us.

It was my dad.

Logan chuckled. “He must love me so much by now.”

I sighed. “Not quite.” Lifting a hand in a wave, I called down, “Hi, Dad.”

One hand went to his hip, holding his clipboard, and the other went to his forehead, shielding his eyes from the sun. “Sam? What are you doing?”

The guys to my left looked over to us. Hayes kept shifting back and forth on his heels. His hand kept fidgeting with his shirt and I knew he was darting looks at us too. Logan rolled his shoulders back, propped one on my shoulder, and leaned against me. He waved down. “We’re scouting the competition. What do you think, Mr. Strattan?”