I reared back and took a long look at him. I thought he was angry, but I saw concern in his eyes now and something akin to fear?

I lowered my voice as well. "Why are you worried about Jessica? Shouldn't you be concerned about Jill, your girlfriend?"

"You weren't betrayed by Jill. You weren't friends with her. Jessica's the one that stabbed you in the back."

"Exactly!" I said in a sharp tone.

Heads turned our way.

I rolled my eyes, but quieted my voice. "I was the one stabbed in the back. Jessica could probably stop worrying if she'd apologize to me."

"What are you talking about? She has—"

"She hasn't said a thing to me."

He held my gaze for a minute and then edged back. "Are you serious? I thought she apologized a long time ago. I thought you were being stuck up and not accepting it."

I was amazed at his stupidity. "For one, I don't automatically have to accept an apology and two; you're the only one who's seemed sorry for what you did. Lydia's a beach ball. She keeps blowing from one side to the other. She's never apologized either and Jessica hasn't said a thing. She ignored me and then said hi once to me. I'm not going to sweep it under the rug."

He ran his hands through his hair, pulled his hair into a spiky Mohawk, and messed it up again. "I know they're both real sorry. It's got Jill paranoid. She thinks they're going to dump her for you and now all this crap." He swept his hand up and down the hallway. "You're in with the popular clique. How did that happen? You've never cared about any of that crap."

"Jeff," I sighed. "You and me are okay. I think you should leave it alone. Don't try to protect or apologize for Jessica and Lydia. That's for them to do, not you."

"Yeah, I know." He let out a ragged breath. "I'm just so pissed for messing our group up. I tore us apart. I should've said no to Jessica, but she kept asking. She made it seem so exciting…"

When my phone vibrated, I saw it was Mason. He sent a text, 'here.'

"Look, I have to go. My ride's waiting."

He nodded his head and pulled the ends of his shirt together. The movement emphasized how thin his frame was. I'd forgotten how skinny Jeff had always been, but he pulled the look off. Trendy baggy jeans and a polo that was supposed to look vintage gave him a preppy look with an edge.

I chuckled and punched his shoulder lightly. "You look good, Sallaway. Jill must be good for you."

The side of his mouth curved up. "Hey, thanks, Strattan. That means a lot coming from you."

I shook my head, still chuckling, and headed to the parking lot. I figured Mason would have football practice to get back to so I didn't want to make him late. When I cleared the school and saw him parked front and center, I was aware of the attention he was warranting.

His window was rolled down and he flashed me a grin. He tapped the side of his car twice. "Come on. Coach is making us do two practices tonight."

I picked up my pace and got inside. As Mason wheeled his Escalade through the parking lot, he drove past Adam. He held my gaze as we passed him and I watched as his mouth tightened. Cassandra was beside him. Her expression mirrored his.

Mason chuckled, "Your quarterback's pissed."

I took a deep breath and tried to relax in his seat. "Yeah, well, I have a feeling a lot of people are going to be pissed at me."

He glanced at me. "What are you talking about?"

I shook my head. "I'm going to make some people very angry in the next week."

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

Mason dropped me at home and took off for his practice right away. As I lugged my bags through the mansion and up to my room, I found a note on the kitchen table.

'Hi, honey! James and I are in the cities, gone to the Bangor for dinner. We'll be back tonight! Love you! XOXO'

I dropped it back on the table and fought the urge to tear it up.

Since I knew I'd do my homework later, I pulled out my running shoes and laced them up. Then I hit the pavement hard. I ran for two hours, three would've winded me too much, my body was wheezing too much when I rounded the last curve to the mansion. Panting, with sweat streaking down my body, I went back to my room and as I got into my shower, I was tempted to lock my door.

No one was home yet, but I didn't want to deal with Analise when they did return.

An hour later my phone vibrated and I answered, "Hey, Becky."

She groaned on the other side. "I can't go out for dinner."

"Really?" I tried to hold back the disappointment.

"Yeah, my mom is all furious at me. She said I could go as long as I didn't miss school, but she found out that I missed half the day today. I didn't do it on purpose and she found out that it'd been a Kade party we went to. I had no idea how she found that out. I told her I was going with you and your family to a cabin. She likes you, but now she knows all about your parents' divorce and everything. I could murder whoever told her that stuff."

I crawled onto my bed and rolled on my back. "Gossip's pretty rampant. I'm sure it got out somehow about the party."

"Not to mention that your mom's hooked up with James Kade. My mom seemed pretty bent about that one for some reason."

I frowned into the phone. "Does your mom know mine?"

"Your mom used to be in some committee at the country club with her, but I think my mom's more mad because of your dad. You know everyone loves Coach Strattan."

"Yeah, there is that…"

"Anyways, so I was just calling because she won't let me go out to Gino's with you."

From the way her voice quieted, I felt a kick in my gut. I knew something else was going on and I sat up. "She won't let you go to Gino's or she doesn't want you to go with me?"

"Both."

I could imagine the glower on her face.

Becky added, "Oh gawd, I'm so sorry. My mom doesn't want me to be friends with you anymore. I guess she called a bunch of other moms and they were told by their kids that you're tight with the Kade brothers. My mom's scared of them, everyone's moms are. My dad was ecstatic. He wants to meet them; he wants to talk football with Mason. Yeah right, like that's going to happen."

I drew my knees against my chest and hugged them tight. "So we can't talk at school?"

She snorted. "Forget that. I'm still going to be friends with you. My mom can't tell me what to do with that, but she won't let me go to Gino's tonight. I'm sorry, Sam. I know you wanted to go so you didn't have to go to that Elite dinner thing."

"You knew about that?" I grinned into the phone. Of course, she knew

"Of course I knew. Who do you think I am? It's not my first day on the gossip pages. Everyone knows that Miranda invited you to the Elite dinner tonight. Only I knew that you weren't going to go." She paused for a beat. "Are you going to go now?"

"Uh…"

I was about to say that I wasn't sure, but Mason threw open my door. "Logan's going crazy on your mom." And he was gone in a flash.

I said in a rush, "I have to go."

"What? What's going on—"

I pressed the disconnect button and threw it on the bed as I hurried down to the kitchen.

"Are you kidding me?!" Logan cursed as he stood in the foyer. His chest was rising up and down at a rapid pace and his hands were balled into fists, pressed tight against his legs. His eyes were wild in anger and his jaw kept clenching and unclenching.

Analise looked annoyed dressed in a white lace dress. She still held onto her white clutch. A string of white pearls were nestled between in her cle**age. James stood between them, dressed in a black formal suit. Whatever Bangor was, it must've been for the formal and expensive.

I snorted to myself. Of course it would've been.

Mason stopped in the doorframe and held onto the post above his head. He was quiet and my mother glanced back at him every now and then.

Logan spat out, "Are you seriously trying to tell me what I can't do?" His eyes were narrowed at an alarming level.

My mom patted her chest in a dainty fashion. "I am voicing my opinion. It's eight at night. I don't think it's appropriate for you to go out this late. You should be studying, staying in."

Logan snorted out a laugh as he shook his head. His hands were still in fists. He opened them and closed them back up. He kept doing it. "I can't believe you. Who the hell are you, woman?"

Analise glanced back at Mason and then she saw me behind him. Her shoulders lifted a bit and she stood a tiny bit straighter on her feet. "Since everyone is here, I'd like to make an announcement."

"Not another one," Logan muttered under his breath, still glaring at my mother.

She cleared her throat and took James' hand in hers. "I have gone room to room and emptied out all of the liquor that was in this household."

Mason didn't react, but a nerve in his shoulder jumped. Other than that, not a muscle moved. Logan shook his head and cursed some more. Both of his hands rose in the air like he wanted to put them around her neck. "Dad, control your whore."

James was in his face in the next second. "You will watch your mouth, son."

Logan's mouth clamped shut, but he heaved a deep breath and continued to shake his head. "I can't believe you. You're going to let her tell us what we can drink or not drink?"

His father's voice was quiet. "All three children in this home are underage. And since all three of you claimed Analise was in a drunken fit the other night, both of us deemed it a responsible choice to be rid of all alcohol."

Logan's smile was dangerous. "You think we're the problem?"

His father stepped back once. "No, I don't. I saw her that evening as well. She had been drinking too much." He glanced at me. "She was under a lot of emotional anxiety that night, but this is an answer that can help multiple levels for a problem I'm sure that's yet to be unearthed."

Mason bit out a laugh. His hands clenched around the post above and his muscles grew tighter at the movement.

Everyone looked at him and quieted.

"She doesn't want you to go out?" he spoke to Logan.

He gave a short nod. "She thinks I'm being irresponsible."

Mason turned his gaze towards his father, but spoke to Analise, "You might be her mother." He gestured towards me, over his shoulder. "But you're not ours. We have a mother." Then his eyes met his father's again for a brief second. It was a meaningful one.

James turned on his heel and left the room.

My mother's mouth dropped open and her hand jerked after him. "Wha—uh? What are you doing? James!"

Logan grinned in victory and shared a meaningful look with his brother.

Mason dropped his arms abruptly. "Our mom's got custody of us. We can go back to her anytime we want. You might want to remember that."

Tight fists flung against her legs and she stomped her feet. "I cannot believe you two! You are the two most horrible children I have ever met—"

"We're not children." Logan got in her face. "And we're not yours. If you dare try to tell us what to do, you'll regret it. I promise that."

She looked around and I saw how frantic she was. When she found me in the corner, she spewed out, "I don't know what you have done to her, but I will make it my mission to destroy you two."

I jerked forward in surprise.

Logan's hyena laugh sounded out, but Mason tilted his head to the side, just a slight movement.

Analise sputtered to a halt. Her hands were forcibly pressed against her as her knees trembled.

"You really need to stop threatening us. It makes it worse." Mason turned with a hard smirk on his face. He touched my shoulder and glanced back at her. "You should think about that."