Fallen Fourth Down (Fallen Crest #4) (7 page)

“You dated the second string quarterback also.”

She gasped. “I did. I forgot about Jeff. I shouldn’t have. He’s a sweetie.”

I gave her a dark look. “You know a different Jeff than I do.”

“That’s right. You dated him too. Wait.” She cocked her head to the side. “He cheated on you. He didn’t cheat on me, but I didn’t really
date
date him. We hung out. It was like the before-dating, before being a couple. Does that make sense? That’s what Adam and I did. And I didn’t sleep with them. I only fooled around with them.” She groaned. “A year before that, I probably would’ve slept with them, but Charlie yelled at me enough. She said I used guys to make myself feel loved.” Her voice tapered off and her eyebrows slowly lowered together. Her head went down as well. “She said it’s because our dad left us and I compensated—”

BUZZ!

It was halftime. I grabbed her arm. “Let’s continue this in a bit. I have to get some water.” The girl in front of me stood up and I saw my opportunity. Slipping over her seat, and instead of fighting the crowd for the stairs on the side, I grabbed the lowest bar and slid my body underneath it. Landing on the grass, in front of the bleachers, I ran alongside them until I could slip around the fence that kept the crowd from going onto the field.

The teams were still milling off the field, and I was almost to them when the last of the Fallen Crest Public team stepped off the track field. I figured Logan and my dad were both ahead, so I started to cross their path for the concession stand. I didn’t really need a water, I just didn’t want to get pulled into Kris’ story. Just hearing the small amount of pain with her first words, I knew there was a ton more. I had my own trauma to deal with. I didn’t want to start feeling sorry for Logan’s girlfriend.

I heard: “She said that, David?”

“It’s too soon, Garrett. I’m sorry I didn’t catch you in time.”

“No, no. I forgot my phone in the car and you wouldn’t have Sharon’s…”

They kept talking, but I couldn’t hear what they were saying. All the anxiety from before blasted up, exploding into my chest and throat, filling me with dread, like I was about to witness a car accident and saw it coming. I knew to avoid it, but I couldn’t. As that registered with me, my head turned and I saw them. They were standing off to the side. David’s head was bent down, his hands on his hips. A clipboard was in one of his hands and he was chewing on his whistle at the same time. Garrett stood over him. His features were as chiseled as I remembered from the last time I saw him, but his hair seemed whiter. I continued to study him and laughed softly to myself.

They looked at me. David straightened abruptly and Garrett moved back a step.

I laughed again, shaking my head. “For some reason, I imagined you in a business suit. That makes no sense. It’s a football game. I suppose you only wear those when you’re working, being a big hotshot lawyer…” My mind was spinning and I stopped. My throat was dry. I’d been going to get water, that’s right.

“Sam—” David started.

Garrett stepped around him. His eyes were glued to my face. He said, “It’s because the last time you saw me I was in a business suit.”

“That’s right.” I could picture it again. “You hugged me and never came back.”

“Sam,” David said again.

I shook my head. “It’s halftime and you’re the coach. Go, Dad. I’ll be fine.” I waved at Garrett. “Damage done. He’s here. I’ve seen him.” I swallowed over a lump in my throat. “I’ll deal with it.”

He looked between us, then shook his head. His shoulders slumped down and he murmured, “All right. I love you, Samantha. Just remember that.”

“Got it.” Lifting my hands, both of my thumbs shot up. “Two thumbs-up, Dad. That’s what you get for this whole thing. Well done. Way to prepare me and way to not follow through with what you promised. He’s here anyway.”

David opened his mouth. “Sam—”

“Go, David.” Garrett’s hand came down on his shoulder. “She lashes out when she’s hurting. She gets that from me.”

I don’t.

David said. “She doesn’t, not all the time.”

A bubble of laughter was coming up. I could feel it making its way from my stomach, gliding past my chest, slipping around the lump in my throat; my mouth opened and it pealed out. As they heard me, they stopped. I bent over. More laughter kept coming. I couldn’t stop it, and I didn’t want to. Kris had the right idea. Get drunk. Not deal with things. That seemed to be working for her. She was popular. She had friends. She was liked. I sighed, the laughter subsided, but it was on an anguished note. Even I cringed as I heard it with my own ears. I lifted a hand to them, letting it fall back to my side right away. “Look at you two. One thinks he knows me and the other…oh my god. This is a comedy skit. Why was I panicking at the thought of seeing you? This is the best entertainment I could get. You both think you know me when only one of you was around, but you both left. Now you’re both back. Fuck,” I grunted. My eyes started to water and I flicked the tears away. “You’re both a riot.”

My stomach rolled over and I shook my head. “Go away. I don’t want to deal with either of you.”

“Sam?”

Turning, the voice was like music to my ears. Logan was standing there. He was holding his helmet with his dark hair sweaty, sticking up in clumps. His cheeks were smudged with black paint, dirt, and sweat. He had mud and grass stains all over his uniform.

“What are you doing? You have halftime.”

“I was told to come out here.” He walked forward, then saw David and Garrett. “Fuck.”

Exactly.

In one motion, his arm reached out for me and I went to him. I didn’t huddle there. I stood tall, but I moved into the shelter of him for a moment. One damn second, and as I did, he rested his hand lightly on my back. His body was rock solid, and I heard a growl in his voice that started deep in his throat. “What the hell’s going on?”

“Logan.” David sounded exhausted.

I started laughing again. “I have to go.”

I started to step back, but he kept me anchored to him. His head craned to see me. “Sam? Stay. No.”

I shook my head and pushed off from his chest. “No. I’m going to see Mason.” Mason made me feel better. He always had. He always would. “I’m going to see him.”

“Sam—”

I started off down the field, towards the opening in the gate. Then I saw Natalie. She was standing there with the money box in her hands. Of course. They took tickets until half-time. A voice in my head said that, like I was adding what two plus two was. That was ridiculous. What was wrong with me?

She rolled her eyes. “My god, could you be more dramatic? I don’t even know what the situation is, but I know the signs. Samantha Strattan, there she goes. Always fucking running.” She gestured to Logan. “He left his locker room to be your protector, but that’s not good enough for you. You’re running away to Mason. Grow up. Like I said, find your balls and start flashing them around—”

I saw red. My eyes narrowed and I lowered my head, as if I was going to charge her. “You want me to find my balls?”

Natalie grunted. She dropped the money box, kicked it to someone on the sidelines, and smirked back at me. “I’d love to get a taste. Bring it on, Strattan. I don’t need my friends to back me up. I can take you on all by myself.”

Memories of being in that bathroom last year, of being hit, how I crawled away from them, and how they dragged me back dredged back up in my throat. A flash of white covered my vision. White hot fury. It was then my mind checked out.

I wanted to do damage, like the damage they did to me.

I lunged for her, but an arm wrapped around my waist. I was yanked backwards.

“No!” I didn’t need to see who was holding me. It was Logan. He set me on my feet, then adjusted his hold so I was thrown over his shoulder before I could move away. He began walking from the field and down to the parking lot.

I ignored the stunned looks on both my dads and the crowd that had formed. Natalie was glaring at me as Logan crossed the parking lot and went inside the school. He dropped me on my feet and pointed in my face. “You stay here. I mean it.”

“No—”

“SAMANTHA!”

My mouth shut. I moved back into the wall.

He let out a ragged sound. “God. Just stay. I have a coach who’s pissed at me. Wait ten fucking minutes.” He didn’t wait for a reply, he swept into the locker room. As the door opened, I heard his coach yelling, “Are you ready—” The door closed and I was left alone in the hallway. The rest of the hallways were in the dark and there were only two lights on in the entrance, for both teams to enter their own locker rooms.

I sunk down to the floor and pulled out my phone. I needed Mason.

“Sam?”

The sound of his voice was enough. I felt myself calming down. “Hey.” Hearing loud music and an announcer on his end, I asked, “Where are you?”

“I’m at a restaurant with the team. They’re doing some grill thing. The guys flip food in the air and tap their cups. It’s not my thing, but Matt seems to live for it.”

I grinned. “How is your roommate?”

“Sam.” Suddenly all the background noises disappeared and I could hear his voice clearer. I also heard the concern in it. “What’s going on? You don’t call this early.”

“My dad is here.”

There was silence before he asked, “You don’t mean David?”

“No.”

“Where are you right now?”

Sudden cheering and clapping came from inside the locker room, followed by a thunderous sound. I said, “I’m in the hallway outside the locker room. Logan brought me in here. I was at the game when I saw him. Mason…” Gripping the phone tighter, my feet slid back and I pulled my knees tight to my chest, resting my forehead on them. “I didn’t even know. David knew, but didn’t tell me until today.”

“Is he there for a visit?”

“To stay.”

He sighed. “I’m sorry, Sam.”

“I’ll be fine.” As I said it, I knew it was true. I knew I was overreacting.

“No, I meant that I’m sorry I’m not there.”

“Oh.” Hearing the raw emotion in his voice from over the phone, a warm feeling flooded me. A little tingle started and it continued to spread. “Why does that make everything better?”

He laughed. “There’s nothing I can say over the phone that’ll help, but if I was there, I would just be with you. I know that helps me, when you’re standing next to me.”

“I don’t like this long-distance thing.” Pressing the phone even tighter to me, I wanted to reach through it. I wanted to feel his arms around me. Right now, the phone was my closest connection to him. “And you did help me.”

Another softer laugh. “It’s for a year, just one year, and then you’ll be here.”

“Yeah.”

There was another moment of silence before he asked, “Are you okay otherwise?”

No
. “Yes.” Hearing the team cheering again, I knew they were coming outside, and I lifted my head. “I will be. I promise.”

“Okay. I can hear them in the background.”

“Yeah.” God, there was so much I wanted to say. The phone wasn’t enough. His presence would’ve been. He should’ve been there, right with me, alongside of me. He wasn’t, though. “I love you.”

“I love you back.” He seemed to hesitate, and then added, “Be strong, Sam.”

My breath caught in my throat.

He said, “You already are, but don’t be afraid of it. Be you, who you are on the inside. You won’t lose anything.” He paused again. “You won’t lose anyone.”

The door burst open and the first of the football players took off past me, shoving open the doors back for the field. As they went by, their sounds deafening, I said into the phone, “I will. I am. I love you.” I thought I heard him say the same and a second later the call was disconnected. Logan broke off from the line of players and stood next to me. I held my hand out, he caught it, and pulled me to my feet. His gaze fell to the phone still gripped in my hand. My knuckles were white around it.

He asked, “Mase?”

I nodded. The emotion was choking me, but it was the good kind of emotion. I wiped a tear away.

He threw an arm around my shoulder and turned for the door. “Come on. Stop being a sniveling, crying mess—” I elbowed him in the side and he chuckled, “—and come cheer me on. I’m awesome, Sam. Have you not gotten the memo recently? It’s supposed to go out every Friday morning with Twitter alerts. #Logansawesomenooneforgetit.” He flashed me a crooked grin. “I’m going to make shirts. Yours can say Kade Crew on the back of it. How about that? But no family discount. Sorry. I’m a cheap bastard.”

I laughed. It felt good to laugh. As we started through the cars, I saw them. Garrett and a woman were coming down the path in our direction. They were watching the players run by them, making sure to stay out of the way. As the last of the players ran past them, they turned and saw us. Only a few yards separated us.

Logan dropped his arm and moved forward a step. I touched the back of his arm and shook my head. Reversing our positions, I was the one in front by a small inch. Two parked cars were between us and them, but I could see they were holding hands. This was his wife. He had left and not come back because of this woman. Their shared history was the span of my entire life. It was then that I realized I’d been jealous of her. I met my father, thought he would be around, and lost him to her. It took him a year to return.

There were questions. There were emotions, and I didn’t want to deal with them.

As if sensing my decision, Garrett led the woman around the opposite side of the cars. Logan’s coaches were behind us and one said, “Kade, get your ass with the team.” They moved around us. Logan remained at my side. As they moved further up the hill, he called out again, “Logan! Now.”

I didn’t say anything, but I pushed Logan ahead.

“You sure?”

I nodded. I was still watching Garrett. They paused when the coach spoke, but his head went back down as he led her away. They began angling further away, moving through all the cars, until they were on the sidewalk next to the school.

Logan had gone ahead. I was the only one in the parking lot and I couldn’t stop watching them. Even after he was out of eyesight and turned to follow the sidewalk around the other side of the school, I still stood there.

It hit me. My dad really was back.

*

MASON

“Dudette.”

Grinning, I turned. Matteo had left the table and was in the doorway of the lobby, pounding his chest. With a wide smirk, he pounded his chest again and grabbed his pectoral, jiggling it. He winked. “Like that? There’s more to come.”

I shook my head. He’d already had too much sake. “My girl called.”

He grunted. “She’s still coming this weekend, right?”

“Should be here before the game.”

“Good. I want to meet her. Georgie and I will be at her place all weekend.” He puckered his lips out and lifted a hand, pretending to make out with himself. “You two can get it on. All. Weekend. Long.”

He stopped, waited for a reaction from me, and I gave him a smirk of my own. I had every intention of enjoying Sam this weekend. Even the thought of feeling her again was getting me hard.

Matteo burst out laughing. “You’re a too-cool type of guy, Kade.”

I shrugged. “Why don’t we stop talking about my girl and head back to the festivities.” I clapped a hand on his shoulder. “It’s your birthday, brotha. How crazy are you getting tonight?”

He sighed. “Not as crazy as I’d like.”

“That’s why you’re going out tomorrow night after the game too.”

“Yeah.” He pursed his lips together. “Why aren’t you coming again?”

Because Nate’s fraternity was having another party, and he wanted Logan and Sam to go. Knowing the history with my roommate and Nate’s fraternity, I only shrugged. “We’ll do a stop-over. I told Sam she’d meet you since you didn’t get to when they helped me move.”

“Yeah. True.” He nodded as we started back to the main room. “I intend to spend the rest of my birthday weekend between Georgie’s legs. That girl is like paradise. One touch and I’m salivating like I’m in a damn desert.”

“Ah,” a voice spoke from behind us, and we turned. Park Sebastian had come into the waiting room of the restaurant, dressed in a tuxedo. A girl wearing a red, slinky dress was perched on his arm, and he hustled her inside, towards us. As he did, she lifted a hand and caught a tendril of hair in her finger. Twisting it around, she gave me a seductive smile. Her lipstick matched her red dress. Park didn’t seem to care about his date as he scanned Matteo and me up and down. As the room filled with more of his fraternity brothers, he said, “Enjoying a quiet dinner before the big game tomorrow?”

Matteo grunted, showed him his teeth, and lumbered back into the main room. As he walked by me, he said, “Sorry, brotha. I’m out. I want to keep my birthday buzz.”

“Understandable.” I clapped him again on the arm before he left.

Park tilted his head to the side, and his eyes narrowed. “He’s never going to not-hate me, is he?”

Glancing through the room, trying to find Nate, I murmured, “Well, you did screw over his best friend.” As I said those words, my best friend finally came into the room. Nate’s eyes widened and he began to push his way to us. As he did, I murmured, “Speaking of best friends…” When he moved around the last of the crowd, Nate’s date came with him, and my tone trailed off. Marissa was with Nate. Seeing my attention, her cheeks pinked and her head turned to the floor. The hand she was holding onto Nate’s arm with tightened, her fingers digging into his tuxedo jacket. Her other hand readjusted a strap from her dress as it slipped off her shoulder.

“Hey.” Nate flashed me a grin. He pulled Marissa forward a step. “I totally forgot Marissa was coming to Cain U. Did you remember?”

“Yeah.” Marissa still wasn’t looking at me. “We ran into each other the other day, and she’s in a class with me.”

“That’s awesome.” Park moved forward too. His date was behind him, closed out because Nate had adjusted so he was slightly in front of her. It was a small circle of Nate, Park, myself, and Marissa who was looking at the wall. Park seemed eager. “Another high school friend.” His eyes fixed on her with a keen look in them. “I’ll have to get to know you better.”

Nate shared a look with me. I was fighting from rolling my eyes, and Marissa looked ready to disappear into the floor.

Nate said quickly, “Hey, so, Logan and Sam are coming tomorrow night, right?”

Marissa’s head jerked back around. Both her and Park focused on me.

I nodded. “Yeah. You going to the game?”

“Yeah, I’m going—”

Park interrupted, “A bunch of our brothers are going. Who’s Logan and Sam?”

I had no intention of telling him and started to tell him
that
when Nate forced out a laugh. “Uh, yeah. I guess Park and some others are going with me. I’ll send Logan a text. We can meet up at the end or something.”

I nodded. That sounded fine with me, but Park asked again, “No way. These are more friends of yours? They can sit with us. We have a private box. Lots of food and booze.” He winked at me. “If your friends are into that. I know you’re not a big drinker yourself.” He swung his head to Marissa. “How about you…”

My irritation level had been on a good, slow burn with the conversation, but seeing that Park didn’t know Marissa’s name switched the level to slightly amused. Marissa shot him a glare, and Nate seemed to be holding back his own laughter. Park forced out a small laugh. “I’m sorry. I must’ve forgotten your name.”

“We were never introduced.”

At her soft retort, Nate and I shared a grin. Some of the old Marissa was still there. She could be feisty at times.

“That’s right. We were all in such a hurry to get to the restaurant.” Unfazed, Park drew his date closer to his side, bringing her into the circle. She lifted her head and looked down her nose at Marissa, whose shoulders pinched together. Her size seemed to shrink, and she took a step backwards. Park ran his hand up and down his date’s arm. He said to me, “I don’t know how long your group will stick around, but head over to our table at the end. We’re all going to a formal banquet for the fraternity after this. This is our dinner. It’s an exclusive thing, just for the brothers and their dates, but you’re welcome to join. Just you, though.” He glanced over my shoulder. His fraternity brothers started to move around us and into the restaurant, but I knew he was focused on Matteo’s table. “We can find you a date, if you’d like. That’ll be no problem for a guy like you.”

My grin chilled.

“You can call me, if you decide to join us.” Nate lifted his eyebrows, giving me the unspoken message to hold back. I rolled my eyes and leaned back on my heels. Fine. I’d play silent for now, but the asshole needed to stop insulting me. Offering up a girl for me when I had Sam—I took that as a big fucking insult. Nate propelled Marissa forward. “Park, they have our table ready for us. We should go. Mase,” he halted, seeing the glare I had fixed on Park. He cleared his throat. “Uh, call me later.”

He moved forward, but Park held back. I turned. I wasn’t going to wait around for a private chat with the douche. As I began to follow the end of his group, waiting until I could veer off to my table, someone brushed against my arm, giving me a good graze of a breast. Glancing to the side, I saw Park’s date. She shot me a secretive smile before she turned to follow Park, who was always watching me. When he saw my look, he shot his eyebrow up in question, and I had a feeling he wouldn’t have minded if I wanted his date. He winked at me, but turned and ducked into a private room before he saw my real reaction.

When I got to Matteo and took my seat again, he asked, “What’d Park Seb
ass
tian want?”

I grunted and took a good swig of my sake. “The guy’s going to be a pain in the ass, isn’t he?”