Fallen Crest Forever
Page 56
They couldn’t come.
If he was going to do something, he was only going to get me. No one else.
“I was going to go to law school, Mason.” His shoulders crumbled before me. He was almost shrinking in size. “I was engaged to a great girl. Becky loved me for me. She was there in the beginning. She was always there for me, and I wouldn’t look at her. Not like that. It was Sam for me.” He cursed softly. “Man, Sam was so beautiful.”
He looked up again, a sheen of tears in his eyes. “I fell for her before Sallaway did. I wanted her first. She was stunning. I tried to talk to her, but she never saw me. Then he swooped in and got her, and she was gone. I started dating Ashley after that, but Sam was the one I wanted.”
That flame inside me was building. I wasn’t enjoying this walk down Adam’s memory lane.
“Then when I heard he was cheating on her, it was only a matter of time,” he continued. “She’d find out, and there was no way she’d stay with him. No way. Not a girl like her. She had spine. Morals. Values. And those stupid friends of hers. Both of them. They were horrible. One was screwing the boyfriend, and the other knew about it. I ended things with Ashley. First excuse I got, I jumped on it. Everything was lined up. It was a matter of time. I was willing to wait, then move in when Sam dumped him, and she would fall in love with me.”
He looked at me again, his jaw hardening. “Then you came along, and I didn’t even know it. That was the thing. I had no clue.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “You would’ve moved faster?”
“Yeah. I would’ve asked her out right away. I wouldn’t have tried becoming friends first.”
“You had since first grade to become friends with her. Don’t put that on me.”
A vein popped out in his neck. “Shut up.”
My eyebrow went up. “Excuse me?”
“You heard what I said.” A growl started in the back of his throat. His hands were in fists again, pressing against his side. He looked like he wanted to lunge, but restrained himself. “You and your fucking brother. I had no idea how much I would hate you guys.”
I frowned. “And if you had? What?”
“I would’ve handled it before now.”
What the fuck was this guy saying?
“You want to elaborate on that?”
A car’s lights swept over the parking lot as it turned in, but it parked far away. I tried to see who it was, but couldn’t. The air was thick with tension. If I moved, I didn’t know what Quinn would do.
I was still wondering about that damn coat. Why wear a coat? He didn’t grab it by accident. There was a reason.
“I don’t need to.” He started shaking, but he didn’t seem to realize it. Fury shone in his eyes. “You took everything, Kade. Everything.”
Voices sounded from the gym’s door. It was two football players, but they didn’t come our way. They headed to the section where the other car had parked. Who had that been?
“And Becky,” he started, his head hanging back down.
We were on a loop. I didn’t know why he came here, but he was going to repeat everything he just said.
Then someone appeared behind him.
He wasn’t looking at me, and I opened my mouth to tell them to leave, but the words died in my throat.
Sam looked at me. She saw me, then Adam, and I watched the blood drain from her face. Horror filled her eyes.
No.
No.
Icy dread formed in my gut, but I could only shake my head and motion for her to go.
She started to come forward.
I mouthed, “NO!” I put my hand up in a stopping motion.
She skidded to a stop again, her eyes on Adam. I could see a question in there, but she closed them for a moment.
I breathed a little easier. She was going to stay silent.
I motioned for her to leave.
She shook her head.
I did it again, an abrupt and almost savage motion.
She shook her head again, crossing her arms over her chest.
This woman—
Adam lifted haunted eyes back to me. “Why’d you have to take Becky from me?”
Sam’s frown deepened. Her forehead wrinkled.
“Kade!” he barked at me.
Fuck. He’d been expecting a response. “What?” I rubbed a hand over my face.
This could go from bad to worse. Sam had to get out of there. How the hell could I make her leave without letting him know she was there?
“Monson called her. What did he say?”
My alarms were blasting. This was why he’d come. Not Sam. Becky, because Nate called her. I stilled. Nate never actually talked to Becky. It was a bluff, one that he bought.
“How do you know he wasn’t honest with her?”
His nostrils flared again. “You told your best friend to take her from me. Logan slept with Ashley. You took Sam from me. Now it’s Nate’s turn, right? He’s going to make Becky fall in love with him, isn’t he?”
What?
I was distracted.
Sam was here.
He was talking.
Nate.
Becky.
“Kade!” he yelled, a vein pulsing in his neck.
“What do you want? You tried to set me up, you fucker.” Take the offense. Make him go defensive. I started for him. “That video could’ve put me away for years. My future would’ve been ripped from me.”
He stepped back.
It worked.
“It wouldn’t have,” he said. “You always get off. You and Logan. You get the girl. You get the life I wanted. You get the future.”
“I don’t want to be a lawyer.”
“Logan does.”
“Because of you. Because you and your dad kept fucking with us. He sent Caldron after Sam. He sent him to hurt her, and you were there.” That flame was a full fire in me now. Fuck what I did to his life. He tried to take mine. “You were there, you fucker. You did nothing. You stood there and did nothing!”
“I didn’t know. I didn’t. I didn’t see them, and when Becky told me, I couldn’t stop him. He was there with his friends. All of them against me. It wouldn’t have worked.” Some of his rage left. He sounded sorry. “I never wanted to hurt Sam. That was one concession I made with my dad. I insisted she’d never get hurt. Caldron went rogue that day.”
“Or the first time he attacked me and her? Are you not remembering that time either?”
“That was at your friend’s fight?”
I nodded.
“He wasn’t supposed to touch her. Just you.”
“Him and ten of his friends.”
Adam shrugged. “Whatever it took.”
To hurt me. That was what he meant. Whatever it took to hurt me.
I wanted to hurt him. All over again. I could feel it rise up in me, and I had to remind myself that I had hurt him. That was why he was there, but he wouldn’t go away. This asshole was never going to go away.
“But why Becky? Why her?”
“Because you loved her, and you lost her. You. Not me. And she doesn’t even know about the video.” I grinned, knowing it was a hard smile. “Imagine what she’d say if she knew what you’d done there.”
He paled, but he didn’t respond. He couldn’t. Those were all his fuck-ups, and he knew it. He couldn’t spin it around to blame someone else, and my patience was growing thin. If he was here to do something, he needed to get on with it—and before he realized Sam was here. I didn’t trust him. He claimed he didn’t want to hurt Sam, but I felt no guarantee.
“You lost her,” I ground out. My hands moved into fists. “You did that. Maybe I was pissed after you tried to set me up. Maybe I was even madder after you broke into our house. Who the fuck cares? Or maybe Nate knew she was single. She told Sam she broke it off with you. Maybe he wanted to see how she was doing, and he called once to do that, and that morphed into something else.”
“You’re lying.” His voice was shaking. “Stop lying!”
I moved toward him again. One more step. Come on, fucker. Do what you came to do.
I kept my voice level, steady. “Have you asked yourself why she answered the call? If it was something about you, Sam would’ve called. Or maybe she didn’t answer? Maybe he called, and she waited for him to leave a message?” I waited one second. I wanted his mind following along. I wanted him to imagine her perspective, to understand what I was saying. I was lying through my teeth here, but I didn’t care. I wanted him to act now, not later, not when he knew Sam was here. “That means she would’ve called him back. She would’ve dialed him up.”
If he was going to do something, he was only going to get me. No one else.
“I was going to go to law school, Mason.” His shoulders crumbled before me. He was almost shrinking in size. “I was engaged to a great girl. Becky loved me for me. She was there in the beginning. She was always there for me, and I wouldn’t look at her. Not like that. It was Sam for me.” He cursed softly. “Man, Sam was so beautiful.”
He looked up again, a sheen of tears in his eyes. “I fell for her before Sallaway did. I wanted her first. She was stunning. I tried to talk to her, but she never saw me. Then he swooped in and got her, and she was gone. I started dating Ashley after that, but Sam was the one I wanted.”
That flame inside me was building. I wasn’t enjoying this walk down Adam’s memory lane.
“Then when I heard he was cheating on her, it was only a matter of time,” he continued. “She’d find out, and there was no way she’d stay with him. No way. Not a girl like her. She had spine. Morals. Values. And those stupid friends of hers. Both of them. They were horrible. One was screwing the boyfriend, and the other knew about it. I ended things with Ashley. First excuse I got, I jumped on it. Everything was lined up. It was a matter of time. I was willing to wait, then move in when Sam dumped him, and she would fall in love with me.”
He looked at me again, his jaw hardening. “Then you came along, and I didn’t even know it. That was the thing. I had no clue.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “You would’ve moved faster?”
“Yeah. I would’ve asked her out right away. I wouldn’t have tried becoming friends first.”
“You had since first grade to become friends with her. Don’t put that on me.”
A vein popped out in his neck. “Shut up.”
My eyebrow went up. “Excuse me?”
“You heard what I said.” A growl started in the back of his throat. His hands were in fists again, pressing against his side. He looked like he wanted to lunge, but restrained himself. “You and your fucking brother. I had no idea how much I would hate you guys.”
I frowned. “And if you had? What?”
“I would’ve handled it before now.”
What the fuck was this guy saying?
“You want to elaborate on that?”
A car’s lights swept over the parking lot as it turned in, but it parked far away. I tried to see who it was, but couldn’t. The air was thick with tension. If I moved, I didn’t know what Quinn would do.
I was still wondering about that damn coat. Why wear a coat? He didn’t grab it by accident. There was a reason.
“I don’t need to.” He started shaking, but he didn’t seem to realize it. Fury shone in his eyes. “You took everything, Kade. Everything.”
Voices sounded from the gym’s door. It was two football players, but they didn’t come our way. They headed to the section where the other car had parked. Who had that been?
“And Becky,” he started, his head hanging back down.
We were on a loop. I didn’t know why he came here, but he was going to repeat everything he just said.
Then someone appeared behind him.
He wasn’t looking at me, and I opened my mouth to tell them to leave, but the words died in my throat.
Sam looked at me. She saw me, then Adam, and I watched the blood drain from her face. Horror filled her eyes.
No.
No.
Icy dread formed in my gut, but I could only shake my head and motion for her to go.
She started to come forward.
I mouthed, “NO!” I put my hand up in a stopping motion.
She skidded to a stop again, her eyes on Adam. I could see a question in there, but she closed them for a moment.
I breathed a little easier. She was going to stay silent.
I motioned for her to leave.
She shook her head.
I did it again, an abrupt and almost savage motion.
She shook her head again, crossing her arms over her chest.
This woman—
Adam lifted haunted eyes back to me. “Why’d you have to take Becky from me?”
Sam’s frown deepened. Her forehead wrinkled.
“Kade!” he barked at me.
Fuck. He’d been expecting a response. “What?” I rubbed a hand over my face.
This could go from bad to worse. Sam had to get out of there. How the hell could I make her leave without letting him know she was there?
“Monson called her. What did he say?”
My alarms were blasting. This was why he’d come. Not Sam. Becky, because Nate called her. I stilled. Nate never actually talked to Becky. It was a bluff, one that he bought.
“How do you know he wasn’t honest with her?”
His nostrils flared again. “You told your best friend to take her from me. Logan slept with Ashley. You took Sam from me. Now it’s Nate’s turn, right? He’s going to make Becky fall in love with him, isn’t he?”
What?
I was distracted.
Sam was here.
He was talking.
Nate.
Becky.
“Kade!” he yelled, a vein pulsing in his neck.
“What do you want? You tried to set me up, you fucker.” Take the offense. Make him go defensive. I started for him. “That video could’ve put me away for years. My future would’ve been ripped from me.”
He stepped back.
It worked.
“It wouldn’t have,” he said. “You always get off. You and Logan. You get the girl. You get the life I wanted. You get the future.”
“I don’t want to be a lawyer.”
“Logan does.”
“Because of you. Because you and your dad kept fucking with us. He sent Caldron after Sam. He sent him to hurt her, and you were there.” That flame was a full fire in me now. Fuck what I did to his life. He tried to take mine. “You were there, you fucker. You did nothing. You stood there and did nothing!”
“I didn’t know. I didn’t. I didn’t see them, and when Becky told me, I couldn’t stop him. He was there with his friends. All of them against me. It wouldn’t have worked.” Some of his rage left. He sounded sorry. “I never wanted to hurt Sam. That was one concession I made with my dad. I insisted she’d never get hurt. Caldron went rogue that day.”
“Or the first time he attacked me and her? Are you not remembering that time either?”
“That was at your friend’s fight?”
I nodded.
“He wasn’t supposed to touch her. Just you.”
“Him and ten of his friends.”
Adam shrugged. “Whatever it took.”
To hurt me. That was what he meant. Whatever it took to hurt me.
I wanted to hurt him. All over again. I could feel it rise up in me, and I had to remind myself that I had hurt him. That was why he was there, but he wouldn’t go away. This asshole was never going to go away.
“But why Becky? Why her?”
“Because you loved her, and you lost her. You. Not me. And she doesn’t even know about the video.” I grinned, knowing it was a hard smile. “Imagine what she’d say if she knew what you’d done there.”
He paled, but he didn’t respond. He couldn’t. Those were all his fuck-ups, and he knew it. He couldn’t spin it around to blame someone else, and my patience was growing thin. If he was here to do something, he needed to get on with it—and before he realized Sam was here. I didn’t trust him. He claimed he didn’t want to hurt Sam, but I felt no guarantee.
“You lost her,” I ground out. My hands moved into fists. “You did that. Maybe I was pissed after you tried to set me up. Maybe I was even madder after you broke into our house. Who the fuck cares? Or maybe Nate knew she was single. She told Sam she broke it off with you. Maybe he wanted to see how she was doing, and he called once to do that, and that morphed into something else.”
“You’re lying.” His voice was shaking. “Stop lying!”
I moved toward him again. One more step. Come on, fucker. Do what you came to do.
I kept my voice level, steady. “Have you asked yourself why she answered the call? If it was something about you, Sam would’ve called. Or maybe she didn’t answer? Maybe he called, and she waited for him to leave a message?” I waited one second. I wanted his mind following along. I wanted him to imagine her perspective, to understand what I was saying. I was lying through my teeth here, but I didn’t care. I wanted him to act now, not later, not when he knew Sam was here. “That means she would’ve called him back. She would’ve dialed him up.”
