I nodded, my throat was thick with emotion, and I padded over to him. It didn’t take me long to get ready for bed. I took his hand and crawled beside him. On a normal night, I would’ve nestled under his shoulder with an arm over his stomach. I curled into a ball beside him this night and held his hand.
As I heard his breathing quicken from the pain, I wanted to cry.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
When my doorbell rang at six in the morning, I had a good idea who was on the other side. I threw a baggy sweatshirt on and hurried to the door in my sweat pants. James gave me a tired look when I opened the door. “We seem to be starting a tradition.”
“Um, yeah.”
Then the gentle smile turned serious. He expelled a deep breath. “Are they here, Samantha?”
I nodded, my throat still thick from a few hours prior.
He nodded and grimaced. “The police arrived at my home twenty minutes ago. They would like to speak with them.”
“Okay. I’ll wake them up.”
“Have them come to the house. They’re waiting for them.”
When I woke Mason, he turned his head to me. There was no reaction, only a bleak look in his eyes. The bruises had filled with more color. Somehow, they made his green eyes seem brighter. A soft curse slipped from him as he ran a hand over his face. Then he lifted the sheets and swung his legs over. His stomach muscles bunched together under the tee shirt that was stretched tight from the movement. As he stood, his pants slipped down and rested on his lean hips.
There was another large bruise on his hip. A red rash spread over it and the knot doubled in my throat. Dried blood was smeared over the rash. Some was in clumps, they looked black. I was sick to my stomach. “What happened?”
He glanced down and grimaced. Pain flitted over him as he rasped out, “They dragged me.”
“They what?” I swung back to the rash. “That’s a road rash?” I went numb as I asked it. I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe what else must’ve happened to them. I needed to know. I swallowed my knot. “How many?” My voice came out hoarse, but I cleared it. I needed to know.
He looked away.
I grabbed his chin and turned him back. “How many, Mason?”
“Fifteen.” He didn’t flinch, and his eyes held mine steady.
My hand felt scorched as I reeled backwards. “What else did they do?”
He lifted a shoulder, but it was slow and painful. “Why do you want to know? You’ll have that in your head. You won’t get it out, Sam.”
My teeth ground against each other. “I have to know.”
He studied me a moment, and it was my turn not to flinch. I didn’t. I squared my chin, and my eyes went flat. “Tell me.”
And he nodded. His shoulders loosened, as if he surrendered the fight. Then he sat back down, and I sat next to him. I turned towards him with one leg close to his and my other curved around his back. I tried to hold back from hugging him, but he caught my head to his shoulder and brushed back the hair. Then he started.
“The team took off after pizza, and we went to get some gas. When we left, they jumped us in an alley. Our car was trapped between two of theirs. When they got out, we knew we had to fight so we rushed ‘em. Tried to get the element of surprise, maybe a little, but it didn’t matter. They were ready, and it was chaos after that. A bunch of ‘em took a bat to me and I got knocked down. I was trying to fend them off, but they got a chain around my legs. It happened so fast. I couldn’t yell at Nate or Logan before their car took off. It went so fast.” He shuddered, but clasped me tighter to him. “I don’t know how I kept my head, but I saw a guy with the bat. I went right past him and I grabbed the bat from him. It happened so quick, he didn’t know it was gone until I came back.”
“You got loose?” There were razorblades in my throat.
He nodded. His eyes closed again. “The chain got caught against something and it ripped apart. It was a piece of crap chain. I rolled over. The car kept going, they didn’t know I was off, but I got to my feet and took off. I didn’t feel the pain, Sam. I was so pissed. I swear—I went nuts. When I got back to the group, I nailed a guy in the head. He had his hands around Logan’s throat. I kept pounding on ‘em, all of them until the last ones took off. They got in their car and left. I was going to go after it with the bat, but I figured it was a lost cause.”
He shook his head and took a shuddering breath. His hand started to brush my hair back. “Nate was all blood. He couldn’t stand for a while. Logan had a hard time breathing, even in the car when we started back. I didn’t start feeling it till we got to town. I think I collapsed or something. I have no idea. Next thing I know, we’re in your driveway and they’re helping me to the house.” He groaned, and his hand formed a fist over my head. His voice was rough. “I wanted to beat them. I wanted to kill ‘em, Sam. God, what if I had?”
I touched the side of his face. His eyes opened and held mine. The bleak look intensified. He rested his forehead against mine for a moment and let out a soft sigh. “I went crazy. I could’ve killed one of them. Hell, maybe the cops are here to arrest me.”
“It was self-defense.”
“I whacked the guy in the head. He had his hands on Logan’s throat. He held him down as his buddies pounded him.”
My heart was deafening in my ears and my lip trembled. The more he said, the more my gut twisted. It was churning when he finished, and I clamped my mouth shut. Vomit started to spew up, but I stopped it in time.
He held me and I remained there. My limbs were frozen around him, but my eyes were wide. I knew a haunted look was in them because I couldn’t stop myself. The image of Mason getting hit with a bat and chains around his legs flashed in my head. When I imagined his fear as he was dragged, I shook my head. I was trembling.
His hand shook with me as he pressed my head against his chest one more time. His lips kissed my forehead and he sighed in regret. “I’ll get the others.”
My eyes clung to him as he stood and pulled on a loose sweatshirt. “I’ll drive the car.”
“We can walk. I’ll get the car later.”
“Okay.” I started to follow him out the door.
“Stay.”
“What?”
He tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear. His fingers lingered on my cheek. “I don’t want you to hear this. It’s not going to be pretty.”
My hand fit into his. “It doesn’t matter. I’m still coming.”
A deep breath left him and he rested his forehead against mine. “We’ll go to the police station. I don’t want you there. Those guys are going to be there. I don’t want them to see you, to know about you, nothing. I need you here, where you’re safe.”
“Oh.”
He tipped my head up with a lone finger under my chin. When his lips touched mine, the kiss was tender. I gasped and surged towards him, but he didn’t deepen it. As his lips left mine, all of me wanted to go with him. I fought to keep myself on the ground.
“I’ll call you tonight, okay?”
I nodded. I couldn’t talk anymore.
And then the door closed behind him. Everything in me went with him, except for my body.
*
They were gone all day. Analise called me at seven that night and asked if I wanted to stay at the mansion. I did. Garrett was gone, and she told me it wouldn’t be until late that Mason and the guys would be free from questioning. They had been taken to the hospital to be cleared before any interrogations could go further.
A chill went down my back at that word. Interrogations.
It was after ten before I got the first text message. I had gone to the mansion and settled in my own room. I had just crawled into bed when my phone lit up. It didn’t stop for a long time after that. The first was from Becky. ‘Did you see the clip? Holy cats!’
‘What clip?’
‘On YouTube. Mason & a baseball bat!!!!!’
My heart started pounding and I started my laptop. Becky kept texting through my wait. She
couldn’t believe how scary he looked. She couldn’t wait until school. She couldn’t sleep; nightmares of Mason would keep her up. She didn’t think it’d be a nightmare. It’d be a wet dream. Lol. Mason was super hot. scary. Definitely scary, but hot too!!!
I ceased answering after her second message. Then she started on a different path.
What would Cass and the rest say? Oh my gosh. What about the rest of school and Jessica? They all hated me still. Did I know that?
My phone kept beeping, but I pushed it aside when the website came up. I searched for Mason Kade and baseball bat. Too many links came up, making me nauseous, but I clicked on the first one. My hands were so sweaty. I held my breath.
Loud yelling and curses filled my room. I jumped from the intensity. Then the camera was shaking as someone ran with it. A guy yelled in the background, he was clearer than the others. He must’ve been closer to the camera. “WATCH OUT!”
Someone screamed out in an angry growl and a loud whoosh sound happened next. The camera shifted and Mason was front and center. He had the baseball bat in his hands, winding up to swing. Hatred was dark over his face. His lips were curled in a furious scowl, and then he swung. There was no hesitation, and the camera watched as he hit the back of a guy’s head.
The camera rattled. “Holy shit!”
The guy dropped to the ground and Mason moved on. Suddenly the lens zoomed in and a close up of Mason’s hands was shown next. He tightened his grip and started to swing again.
Then there was nothing.
The image blurred to a frozen stop and the screen went black. Other images filled the screen; they were other clips that I might want to view next.
Vomit burst up, and I ran to the bathroom. One of my hands held it in until I stopped over the toilet. Then I spewed it out. It went everywhere, on the toilet seat, on the rim, on the wall, over my toilet paper. I groaned and held myself up. My stomach rumbled and my throat convulsed. I threw up three more times until I was weak and my eyes had tears in them.
After I cleaned everything up and made my way back to the computer, I slid into the seat and stared at the screen. I’d grown numb. Maybe it was the vomiting, maybe it was shock. I had no idea, but I was frozen. I sat there, staring at the screen. It might’ve been an hour, maybe a few minutes, until I heard a thumping sound. Then I looked down and saw my hand.
It wound up and slammed down on my leg. It went back up again and hit back down. Then again and again. The thumping sound was me. I was hitting my leg. My eyelid twitched and my lip trembled. A bruise was forming where I hit, but I couldn’t stop it. I didn’t want to stop it.
I gasped for breath and swung my head around. I blinked back more tears and tried to force myself back to reality. I was held suspended somewhere else. I couldn’t think. I couldn’t stop my hand. My heart was racing. I gasped again. Pain seared through me. It felt like something was on my chest.
I wondered if I needed to throw up again.
Everything was detached from me. It was me. I was detached.
And then I heard a small sound in the background. It sounded so far away, but my head swung down. My phone was lighting up again, inches from where I sat. I saw it was from Adam and tried to grab it. My hands were clumsy. They dropped the phone twice before I fumbled it to my ear and grated out, “Yeah?”
“….you okay…”
“What did you say?”
I couldn’t hear over my heartbeat.
“…Sam?...”
“What?”
His voice grew clearer this time. “Are you okay? Do you want me to come over?”
“Adam?”
“Yes.” He seemed to be yelling. “Are you okay? Where are you?”
“At the house.” I looked towards my door. Was he there? How had he gotten in?
“No one’s there. It’s all dark. What house are you at?”
“Are you here?” My heart wouldn’t stop racing. I needed it to calm down. I didn’t want to die.
“Sam.” Adam spoke in an assertive voice. “Mark and I are outside Garrett’s house. Are you there?”
“I’m at the mansion.”
“Can we come there? Is Mason there?”
“No.”
“We can’t?”
My tongue felt funny. Why did it feel funny? “You can. I think.”
He sighed. “Are you alone there?”
“I think so.” I looked at the hallway, but no lights shone from underneath it. My mom had called from the station and Mason hadn’t come in yet. That meant none of them were home, right? Things weren’t making sense to me anymore.
“Okay. We’re coming there. Meet us at the door?”
“What? Oh sure.” Wait. I tried to clear my head. Oh—they didn’t like people in their home. I rasped out, “You should go to the basement. Remember the door in the divider wall?” I couldn’t believe I was making sense.
“Yeah. I remember. Mark’s been there before.”
I frowned. Adam sounded so normal. Didn’t he know?
When I stood my knees buckled and I grabbed onto the desk for balance. I couldn’t fall down. Mason wasn’t there to catch me. So I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I fought against everything in me until I felt strength surge through my legs again. I could stand again.
It seemed to take forever until I opened the door for them. Adam and Mark both gave me grim smiles. Each raked me over for a moment and then Adam pulled me in for a hug. He held me tight for a moment before Mark grabbed me from him. He swung me in the air. “You okay, Sam? How are the guys?”
I gulped when he set me on my feet. “You know about the clip?”
They nodded.
Adam touched my arm. “Where are they?”
I swallowed over a knot. “They’re at the police station. I haven’t heard anything from him. I’m…that’s not what happened. In that clip, how it looks like.” I shook my head. “It’s not what happened. It was self-defense. Mason was defending them. There were fifteen guys against them.”
They shared a look and Adam spoke in a gentle tone, “We figured.”
“Oh.” My shoulders loosened. “Really?” My feet still wavered, but I forced myself still. “You believe me?”
“Yeah.” Mark’s eyebrows were high. “Have you seen them fight? For them to get beat that bad, there had to be a lot of guys.”
“Oh.”
Adam grinned. “We’re not here to judge ‘em. We’re here for you. We were concerned.”
I held my hands against my stomach. Why was it always filled with dread? “Thanks, guys.”
Mark shrugged. “Yeah, that and your mom called your dad, who called my mom. He said he was concerned for you since you were alone. That was all we needed to hear. We took off before she hung up the phone.”
“Oh.”
He threw an arm over my shoulder as we headed inside, past the pool. “So, my possible future stepsister, what’ll it be tonight? Movies? Pool? I could kick your ass at pool, I bet. What do you have in mind?”
Adam followed behind. “There’s a basketball game on.”
Mark snickered. “As long as we don’t call anyone else over. Last night didn’t end well.”
“You could say that again.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
They stayed the whole night. It was early in the morning when we heard footsteps above us. Then Adam glanced at his clock. A big yawn spread over his face. “Dude, it’s almost time for school.”
Mark grunted. His eyes drooped.
“Thanks for staying up with me.”
Mark grunted again, “No problem.”