Fallen Crest Forever (Fallen Crest Series Book 7)(114)

Nate shrugged, leaning his head back. He extended his legs, his heels resting on one of the tracks. “It’s overdue, if you ask me.”

“You’re wrong.”

“It’s not?”

“No. You did prove your loyalty.” I didn’t say the words, but our eyes met and he knew. The frat house. “You proved it.”

He nodded, then asked, “What are you going to do about those videos? Cops never showed up asking for them, so I’m guessing Quinn never mentioned them.”

I snorted. “Would you?”

Nate smiled faintly. “No. I wouldn’t. You still have them?”

I nodded. “I’ll keep them, in case he comes after us again. Just in case.”

But maybe I shouldn’t have them. Maybe that was the bad part of me I could help make good? Maybe that was part of why I was even sitting on a fucking abandoned rollercoaster in the first place. “I could delete them.”

“Why would you do that?”

“We did that to Quinn. He brought a gun to campus. I mean—” I suppressed the rage that flared every time I thought about it. “Sam was there. I’ll never forgive myself for that.”

“So don’t, but don’t let it change you completely.”

“What do you mean?”

He leaned forward, looping his hands together, resting them on his legs. “The problem would be ignoring this whole thing. Don’t do that. You pushed a guy. We all pushed him, and maybe it was too far, but we could’ve pushed him further. We could’ve burned the place down. We’ve done it before. I could’ve actually screwed his woman. You could’ve released those videos. It could’ve been worse.”

“I don’t think Sam would agree with you.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong.”

My eyebrows went up at that.

“You know what I mean. You were protecting. That’s what you do. Sam knew who you were when she fell in love with you. She signed up for it. She can’t claim ignorance now and back out. That’s not right. If she’s scared, that’s another thing, but she can’t blame you. You’re being you. None of us are saints. That’s for sure, but it could’ve been worse.”

I shook my head. “He had a gun, Nate.”

“Yeah,” he clipped out, jerking forward. His eyes were blazing once again. “And the problem would be to ignore what happened. You’re not ignoring it. Neither is Sam. You’re both doing what’s right, but you don’t have to change. You already have.”

“What do you mean?”

“Not being scared, that would’ve been wrong. Acting like it was no big deal. Pretending it was all him, and not you or us. Not realizing how close you and Sam came to your lives being threatened. All of that would’ve been wrong. You guys aren’t doing any of that. You took notice. You’re acknowledging it. You don’t want it to ever happen again. You’re scared it could. That’s the right thing you’re doing. You’ve learned that you don’t want this to repeat again, and my guess is that it never will. You’ll read the signs. You’ll know when you’re going too far. You’ll rely on the rest of us too. I’m here. Logan’s here. We’re all here. No one’s leaving. It’s never just you. Ever. You can trust us. If you don’t see the line, we will. Trust us. Trust Sam. Trust yourself. You don’t have anything more to repent. You already have. You get that, right?”

Goddamn. I felt tears in the corner of my eye.

I scowled at him. “If you make me cry, I’ll punch you in the face.”

He barked out a laugh. “You do that, you’d have to carry me back down. You’d probably knock me out.”

“I’d call Logan. He’d figure out how to get you back on the ground.”

“Fuck.” He grimaced, some of the blood draining from his face. “He’d probably lower me down with a rope tied around my waist. He’d get me killed.”

“But it’d be on me because I punched you in the first place.”

He laughed, and I joined in.

I rubbed a hand over my forehead. “You’re right. My brother would kill you, somehow.”

“Speaking of death,” Nate looked over his shoulder and down to the ground. “Can we please leave this thing? Logan’s batshit crazy for coming up here whenever he does.”

I stifled a small shudder and stood. “Let’s go.” Once we were heading down, I asked, “Where is Logan?”

Nate was ahead of me and he tossed back over his shoulder, “Said something about picking Taylor up. She went out with some girls and got drunk.”