Nate and Logan didn’t say a word. They didn’t move a muscle either. As soon as the last adult was gone and the door shut, Mason turned swiftly and held me in his arms. “What’s wrong?”
I couldn’t speak. I shook my head and lifted my arms and legs around him. I just wanted him to hold me. I just wanted him to soothe me.
He cradled me in his arms like a child as he sat on the couch. He kept rubbing a hand down my hair, arm, and back, then he’d circle up and repeat.
We stayed like that for a long while. After ten minutes, as Logan and Nate both sat waiting in silence, Logan said, “She’s used to only being supported by you and me. Even Nate wasn’t supportive in the beginning, and now everyone stood for her, not against her.”
God.
The trembling started again.
I was being such a baby.
“Sam?” Mason pulled back to see me. The entire front of his shirt was wet from my tears. “Is that what it is?”
I shook my head. “I have no idea.” I could barely talk. “I’ve been feeling like this since the beginning of summer. I’ve just felt something wrong with me. It got better when we came back and I started running, but your mom being here, and hearing my dad talk—” My voice trembled. “I don’t know why I’m reacting like this. I wish I did.”
Mason nodded, bringing me back to his chest. “It’s okay. Whatever it is, we’ll be fine.” I felt his words floating over my head to Logan and Nate as he repeated, “We’ll all be fine.”
“Sam, can we talk about the article?” Logan asked. “Is that okay?”
I nodded against Mason’s chest. I wanted to participate, and I was trying to get there. The shaking had almost completely subsided. I still needed some time, just a little. Mason’s hand kept caressing my side.
I needed a bit more of that too.
I turned my head so I could see Logan when he pointed to the article. “What do we do about that? We all know Helen’s not going to do shit.”
“Everything is in there from this summer.” Mason’s chest rumbled under my head as he spoke. “It was the Quinns. I’m sure of it. I bet if we ask Garrett, he’ll say Adam’s dad’s trial is starting. They did this to throw blame my way instead of his.”
“You look like a wealthy, privileged boy getting off when you shouldn’t,” Nate added, nodding.
“Pretty much.”
“This will end your football career.”
Mason let out a silent breath. I felt his chest lift and fall under my head. He agreed with Logan. “Probably, especially with our history in school.”
Nate held up a hand. “Can we spin it? My parents are always saying stuff like that with scenes in movies. Maybe we can do that here. You go out before this gets out. You tell everyone about your past, and about this summer, and you show the correct footage from that day at the carnival. We have shit on Quinn Jr. I say use it.”
Logan leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. “It’s risky. That’s what it is.”
Then a thought occurred to me, but it was one I didn’t like. I didn’t like attention. When it came, I’d been taught that it was usually negative, and this—this would be the spotlight of all spotlights.
But . . .
I pushed down the fear. It was a big, fat lump that formed in the bottom of my throat. It was always there. It was always waiting for bad stuff to happen. Even though I’d gotten some good things lately, a part of me was always tense, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
This time, I decided.
I sat up from Mason’s arms. “Use me.”
“What?”
“Use my story. I wasn’t always wealthy and privileged. I came from a family that barely held its head above water. My dad was the only breadwinner, on a high school teacher and coach’s salary. My mom suffered mental illness all her life. She went to a treatment facility for two years, and you guys gave me back a family. Use me. I’m the underdog.” I cracked a grin. “Who doesn’t root for an underdog?”
Logan’s grin had been spreading as I spoke, and it stretched from ear to ear as I finished.
He snapped his fingers. “And an underdog who’s going to the fucking Olympics one day.”
“Exactly.”
I ignored my ice-cold panic.
MASON
It wasn’t right to use Samantha.
She’d already made the decision to sacrifice herself. The hope was to champion her as the underdog, and people would like me for ‘saving’ her. Maybe it would work. Or maybe it wouldn’t, and it would backfire completely. But I knew it didn’t feel right. I didn’t want to use the woman I loved. People would either like me or they wouldn’t, it didn’t matter to me.