Mason didn’t let me go, and Logan nudged him. “Buddy, I know we were in the clinker, but it’s not like you had to hide some soap in your ass cheeks. Nate and I were there the whole time, and it was just a couple hours.”
Mason stiffened and pulled back to glare. “Buddy?”
“It’s the joint. I’m already a hardened criminal.”
Mason released me, but his hand still held one of mine. “You’ve been arrested before, and excuse me for hugging my girlfriend when I realized how Caldron could’ve really hurt her.”
Logan stepped in front of him, shouldering him out of the way. He pulled me in for a hug. “It’s my turn.”
“You have your own girlfriend.”
“Who went back to see her dad. Remember?” Logan squeezed me. “Besides,” he added as he let go, “Sam’s going to officially be my stepsister after next week.”
That was right. The big wedding was next Saturday. I didn’t have the energy to deal with the tension that clung to me anytime the wedding was mentioned. Mason and Logan had been discreet in going to get their tuxedos fitted. Beyond that, I didn’t know anything about the wedding. Malinda was helping, but I didn’t live with her and my father anymore. I didn’t have to see any of the decorations or preparations she might’ve been doing at her house.
Heather and Channing came over, his hand resting at the small of her back.
“What’s going to happen after this?” Heather asked.
Nate and Logan shut their mouths and looked at Mason.
I felt tension flood him, though he showed none of it. “We’re in the clear as long as those guys are okay.”
“What guys?” Heather looked around the station. “Everyone’s here.”
We all looked over as Adam and Becky entered the station. Behind them two police officers brought in Steven Quinn. His hands were in front of him with a sweater laid over them. It didn’t matter if we didn’t see the handcuffs. We knew they were there.
“Ah…” Logan cleared his throat. “Mason means Caldron and all his goons.”
“But Mason doesn’t have to worry about that.” Nate shot him a meaningful look.
Mason let out a silent sigh. I could feel the release from his chest. “You’re not doing that.”
Nate shook his head. “I don’t care. I’ll do it before you can.”
“Nate—”
“Stop it, Mason. I mean it. You have football yet.”
“What’s happening?” I asked them.
Nate and Mason fell silent. Logan said, “We’ll tell you later.”
“Nothing’s going to happen—” Mason started.
Nate cut him off again. “You’re right because there’s no way in hell I’m letting my best friend throw his life away because he was protecting himself and his loved ones. It will be self-defense. My parents are movie directors. They have good connections. If it goes to a trial, I won’t get convicted. You know that.”
“Nate—“
“For the last goddamn time,” Nate snapped. “Shut up.”
I was putting the pieces together.
Mason said if those guys were okay, so if they weren’t… I looked up at Mason and horror struck me deep in the chest. If one of them died, or even if they had serious damage, he would be arrested, again. He would be charged. There could be a trial.
Feeling like I was in water, like an invisible force had slowed my movements, I looked at Nate.
He would take the fall. That was what he meant.
My lips parted. I felt a gasp, though no sound came from me, and I reached back down to find Mason’s hand. I squeezed. I knew he was in pain. I knew I should loosen my grip, but I couldn’t. I felt like I’d almost just lost him. And now, if that happened, I could lose him all over again.
He would never let Nate take the fall.
I looked at Logan to find him watching me. He knew what I was thinking, and I could tell he knew it, too. I looked again at Nate and saw the same look there. He knew it as well. No amount of convincing would change Mason’s mind.
I wasn’t waking up from a nightmare.
It was only beginning.
When we got home, James followed us into the house, but he only repeated what he’d said at the station: Don’t say anything. That was the bottom line, and judging from the exhaustion and pain on Mason, Logan, and Nate’s faces, no one was going to argue with him.
Matteo had been sitting in the living room when we all went inside, but he waited until James left before standing up.
“Uh.” He folded his arms over his chest, his biceps and chest muscles bulging a little. Glancing around, he seemed unsure. “Do you guys need anything?” He turned to me. “Bandages? Antibiotic cream? Are you stocked with all that stuff?”
Mason’s hand came to rest on the small of my back. “I think we’re good on everything. Thanks, though, Teo.”
He nodded. “Yeah. Just let me know. If you need me to run and grab something, I can do that, too.”
I fought against leaning back into Mason’s hand. I wanted to. I wanted to sink into his warmth and reassure myself he was okay. I didn’t. I didn’t know the extent of his injuries, and I was grateful when Nate and Logan murmured they were going to bed.
Logan paused on his way to his bedroom. “I’m going to call Taylor.”
I rested a hand on his arm. “That’s a good idea.” She left a week earlier to spend some time with her dad and her friends. “She’ll want to know you’re okay.”
“Yeah.” He sighed.
Matteo lingered as everyone dispersed. Even Mason went to our room, but I held back.
Matteo’s shoulders fell. “I don’t know what to do.”
He looked lost, like a three year old whose mother was out of sight.
I knew that look. I’d seen it on others who’d thought they were in the circle and then realized they weren’t.
I patted his shoulder. “Just be a good friend. That’s it.”
“I didn’t—I know the three of them are tight, but I could’ve helped. They didn’t even give me the option, you know?”
“You’re a good guy. That’s how Mason views you. He doesn’t want to make you not good.”
“That’s what he thinks? Because it feels a whole lot like I’m not good enough.”
I shook my head. “No. That’s not it at all. Mason wouldn’t let you stay here. He wouldn’t have even called you if he thought that. He doesn’t want to put you in a position where your future could be affected.”
He nodded, his head hanging. “I get it, but I wouldn’t mind. I know I joke that Logan’s my soul brotha connection, but Mason’s the brother to me, too. I love the guy.”
“I know. He feels the same.”
“Just let him know that if he needs anything—and I mean it, anything—I’m here for him. There’s not a lot I wouldn’t do for you guys.”
“He knows.”
He nodded again, and I left him there, looking defeated.
I found Mason in the bathroom, stripped to the waist as he stared in the mirror. I had to stop in the doorway once I got a good look at him. Reaching for the doorframe, I steadied myself.
His entire chest and stomach were covered in bruises. There were cuts and gashes all over. Blood had seeped through some of the bandages the hospital put on him, and I couldn’t hold back a small whimper.
“I did worse than this.”
I took his hand. “I know.”
He was trying to reassure me, but as I led him into the shower, I knew what I could see wasn’t the real damage. I put the showerhead on a softer setting so the water wouldn’t pound down on him, and as he stood in the middle of the shower, I began removing his dressings. Once he was naked in front of me, I couldn’t help myself. Softly, I ran my hands over every inch of him and kissed all of his cuts, everywhere he’d been hit or where his skin was torn. I wanted him to know I loved every inch of him, and when I was done, I looked up.
His gaze was dark, but there was pain in his eyes.
He was hurting. I touched the side of his face and whispered, “What you did was to protect us. You protected Logan. You protected Nate. You protected yourself, and you were protecting me, too.” He leaned down enough that I could rest my forehead against his. “If anything had happened to you. Anything…” I closed my eyes, drawing in a shuddering breath.
I couldn’t even—
I couldn’t think about that.
My God.
I opened my eyes and stared right into his. “If anything had happened to you, you know how devastated I would be. You were protecting me, too.”
“I could’ve killed someone.”
He might have.
I shook my head. “You didn’t, and you won’t. Those guys will wake up. You were only protecting us. That’s it.”
“Sam.” His chest rose as he drew in a ragged breath. His forehead rested a little bit heavier on me. “If you’d been there…”
A lump formed in the back of my throat.
I swallowed it. He couldn’t think like that, and neither could I.
My hand trailed down his arm until it found his fingers, and I laced our hands together. “Everything will be fine. Everything will be fine.”
I was lying to him. Everything might not be fine, but I had to believe it, and I had to make him believe it. There would be other enemies. There would be other times when Mason might have to fight, but he’d risen above the odds. There were so many against him and Nate, and Logan. Too many.
I moved closer, folding my body gently to his. As his arms wrapped around me, I found myself saying, “They might’ve killed you.” My lips touched his chest. The water came down over both of us, and some of it hit my lips. I barely noticed. “The cop said sixteen guys came to attack you three. Sixteen to three. You defended yourself. That’s all you did.” I pulled back to hold his gaze again. I felt him searching. He needed to believe what I was saying. “Sixteen to three, Mason. No judge will convict you on those odds.”
He nodded, closing his eyes.
“Everything will be fine.”
Maybe I was lying to myself now.
Six days later
“I didn’t expect to see you here, Sam.”
I looked over at Nate. I knew what he meant. Here I was in the one place I’d been hoping to avoid all summer: Analise and James’ wedding. More specifically, I was waiting in the back of the church for their rehearsal and dinner.
I snorted, moving down the pew so he could sit next to me. “Trust me. I came under protest.”
He just grinned and patted my leg. The truth was, he probably understood why I was here. It wasn’t about Analise or James, or even their sure to be wedded non-bliss, but about Mason. Since the last attack and his arrest, I hadn’t left his side. I’d even quit the carnival. He never pushed to know why; maybe because he knew I wouldn’t give him the real answer. But it was because I had to be at his side.
If anything happened, I would be there.
If one of those guys died.
If one of them slipped into a coma.
If one of them brought a lawsuit.
I was going to be at his side. I wouldn’t be able to do much, I knew that, but I’d be there. I liked to think that would mean something.
So far, the guys had been recovering. They’d all woken, and most had been released from the hospital. The district attorney said they’d have a hard case since all those guys had gone to that parking lot with the purpose of assault. Mason, Logan, and Nate had been defending themselves.
I was also waiting for the day the incident was picked up and reported by media. Mason’s name was big. That fact that it hadn’t surfaced yet was miraculous. But when that day did come, I’d be there for that, too.
So even though I cringed every two seconds, I was here in the church, and I was watching as the woman who gave birth to me rehearsed how to marry the father who’d helped bring my soulmate to life. It was a whole clusterfuck, but I was here regardless.
“What are you doing here?” I asked Nate. He wasn’t a groomsman.
He pointed at Logan, who was making a crude gesture at us with his hands and tongue. “Our favorite douchebag told me to come. Said there’d be good food and free booze at the dinner.”
I paled. “We have to stay for the dinner?”
Nate grinned. “Logan said we did, but maybe you and Mason can slip out early.” He looked around. “Is Taylor coming?”
“She’ll be here tomorrow for the wedding.”
She’d better be.
“Matteo took off, right?”
I nodded. “He starts training next week. Everything’s going to be okay, so he headed home to see his family for a few days.”
“He’s a good friend to Mason.”
“To you, too.”
Nate smiled. “Same for you.” He nodded toward the front of the church. “And Logan. I know Mason wants to protect him, but Matteo was there for us. He’s kind of become family in a way.”
He gave me a meaningful look, and I knew what he meant. Matteo had made it known that he wanted to be brought into the fold, but he wasn’t out of the fold, even if he felt that way. I placed my hands together on my lap, looking up at Mason’s back as he and Logan joked, standing to their father’s right.
“Mason wants to protect him.”
“Yeah.” Nate shifted, lounging back against the pew and stretching his legs out. “I know what you mean, but it sucks being on the outside.”
I glanced at him.
He didn’t look at me, but he spoke as if feeling my gaze. “It was hard when I first came back in high school. Mason had been my best friend. I came back, and you and Logan had replaced me. It took me a long time to get back in.” The lines around his mouth strained. “I messed up a few times, but I’m in again. I won’t do anything to mess that up. I’m just saying, I feel for Matteo.”
There was nothing I could say. I knew how close Mason and Logan were, but I wasn’t around when it’d been Nate and Mason, not Logan and Mason. And he was right, I remembered the times when Nate hadn’t seemed to like me, when he’d looked at me like I was the enemy. But I knew he didn’t mean it. He came back around. He’d always come back. He loved Mason, just like the rest of us.
I nudged him with my shoulder. “Don’t be leaving us when you find your girl, okay?”
I felt his surprise. “What do you mean?”
I shrugged. “Mason and me. Heather and Channing. Logan and Taylor. Even Becky and Adam. Everyone’s found their person. Don’t leave us when you find yours. Deal?”
There was a hint of a grin on his face. “Deal.” Then he added, “Should we pinkie promise like Logan made me do one time?”
“Logan made you pinkie promise something?”
He nodded. “I can’t tell you what. I made a promise.” He was so solemn.
I cracked a grin. “I understand. I won’t push you.”
“So are we done then?”
Logan’s voice drew our attention to the front of the church, and the pastor turned to him. “Yes, I believe so. We’ve already had you guys practice coming in once. Everything should be set.” He gestured to Analise and James. “If you two could stay behind, we’ll get the marriage certificate signed tonight.”
Mason and Logan came down the side aisle toward us just as a