Logan dropped the smirk and gave me a knowing look. “Right. Because that’s our role. We stand back and let the chicks duke it out.”
I stifled a grin. “Sam thinks this is her fight, and she wants us to respect that.”
“You’re saying you’re actually going to not do shit here?”
Now I was the one to smirk. “Logan.” I shook my head as if to say, Come on.
He chuckled, bobbing his head up and down in approval. “That’s what I thought. So what’s the plan?”
“I’m thinking we should know as much as we can about the whole family. I don’t like when people threaten mine.”
Logan’s top lip curled. “I figured your whole passive boyfriend act wasn’t real. Call Dad? Have him find out information on this girl’s family?”
I hesitated. Things were still tense between our father and us. The speeches we’d made at his wedding hadn’t been respectful or loving. “I don’t know if we want to push our luck with Dad, not just yet.” A horrible idea took seed in my head. Maybe it wasn’t so bad, but . . .
Logan’s eyes narrowed. He saw it forming too. “What are you thinking?”
If we didn’t go to our dad ourselves, who else could go to him? Who else had a vested interest in Sam? Who had said she’d do whatever Sam wanted, and wouldn’t attach strings to any favor?
I couldn’t. No way. I loathed this person. But she’d proven she could be somewhat sane when it came to her daughter. Lately.
“Mason?” Logan prompted.
“Analise.”
His eyes widened. “What? Fuck, no. Have you lost your mind?”
“Think about it. Her psycho button is going to get hit eventually, but not yet. She’s still trying to do whatever Sam wants.”
“Which is to be left alone.”
“She can help us help Sam. That’s enough. She won’t go to Sam with expectations of being thanked or anything.”
Logan groaned. “Team up with Anabitch? Are you sure about this?”
It wasn’t ideal, but . . . “I can get Dad’s guy to look into this girl and her family, but Dad might have information we wouldn’t get any other way. It’s worth the try.”
“What makes you sure Dad even knows this guy?”
I wasn’t. “We have to see. If this chick is wealthy, and it sounds like she is, chances are good that Dad knows something about her family.”
“Okay.” He nodded. “And when we break the news to Sam that we went behind her back?”
“Remind her she’d do the same for us.”
His eyebrows lifted, but he didn’t comment.
“Mase!”
Matteo waited by the door. I held up a hand, then turned back to my brother. “Nate’s birthday is this weekend. We can pretend to take him to Vegas.”
“But by Vegas you mean Fallen Crest?”
I nodded.
Logan laughed. “Nate will be so disappointed.”
“Yeah, well, maybe we can use Dad’s favor and fly to Vegas afterward?”
“Mason!” Another yell from behind me.
“Score.” Logan held out his fist. “Your boyfriend is getting impatient. Pound it. I’ll see you later.”
I met his fist with mine, then headed for the doors. Logan sped past us out of the parking lot, giving the middle finger as he did.
“Did your brother give you a ride or something?” Matteo asked.
I shook my head. “Just had to talk about something. That’s all.”
He narrowed his eyes. “The draft is this year for us. Don’t do anything to fuck that up.”
I understood his concern, and as I nodded, he seemed to relax.
But I had started to wonder if it was worth it.
Did playing professional football outweigh doing the shit I’d always done to protect those I loved? Being good and saint-like versus what Logan and I had always been?
I was beginning to think it wasn’t.
SAMANTHA
A hand on my hip woke me in the night, and I rolled to my back, already knowing who it was. Mason was poised above me, and his hand inched upwards, pushing aside my thin shirt until he cupped my breast.
“Hey,” I murmured, touching his chest and sliding my hands around his neck. I raked my fingers up into his hair and grabbed a fistful. There was just enough. “What are you doing?”
He grinned in the moonlight as shadows covered him in a mysterious and alluring way. It didn’t matter that he was already above me; I would’ve been aching for him anyway. I opened my legs a little. He looked down, running his hand along my leg until his fingers rested right there, lightly grazing over me.
“I’m being a selfish ass, and I’m waking you up,” he said softly as he kissed my throat, sending tingles through my body. His head lifted; he didn’t move to my lips. His hand pressed a little harder, but it still wasn’t enough. He was going to tease me. I could feel it in the way he held himself, giving me just a taste.