He looked down, and we shared a look with music and moonlight as our background.
Then I heard, “You left without saying goodbye? Tsk, tsk, Kade.”
Jared Caldron stood behind us, a bat in his hand.
Three more guys filtered from the cars to stand behind Caldron, and I turned around to see another three standing behind us. We were boxed in, unless we ran through the cars, but as Mason’s hand took hold of my arm, I couldn’t gauge what he wanted to do. He moved me behind him and stood sideways, with cars behind us.
“Whatever beef we had is over, Caldron. It went to prison with Broudou.”
Jared came forward, his hard eyes glinting a boiling anger. “Right. Because you had nothing to do with that, and your little girlfriend there didn’t either.”
“She didn’t.”
“Bullshit.” The guy’s nostrils flared, and he started toward us, bouncing the bat slowly in his hand. He stopped a few yards away, lowering his head. “Kate squealed. I know you set her up so Budd would think she was your girlfriend, and this one here—” he pointed the bat at me “—had that clerk call the cops as she blew up his truck. You’re both the reason he went to prison.”
I might’ve gotten used to how safe Cain was, and I might’ve been shocked at the reminder how unsafe Roussou was, but my nerves and fear quickly dissipated. I was adjusting on the fly, and I almost growled. My nails sank into my palm as my hand formed a fist in Mason’s grip.
“Budd went to prison because he was going to rape her,” Mason said calmly.
“Bullshit.”
I surged forward. “I was there!”
Mason caught me, keeping me in place with a cement arm around my waist.
Caldron laughed. “You’ve got spunk—more than what I remember from high school.”
“Don’t talk to her.” Mason sent him a glare, adding under his breath, “Sam, stop.”
“Don’t talk to her?”
I stilled, hearing Caldron’s mocking tone.
“Who the fuck do you think you are? I can’t talk to your woman?” He snarled. “Boy, I’ll do anything I want to your woman.”
Two more steps. He was within arm’s reach now.
Mason tucked me behind him again. His hand gripped mine, and I realized he was guiding it somewhere. Down. Down. To my pocket. He pressed my hand around my phone. I was so stupid. Cursing softly under my breath, I turned and hunched my shoulders, trying to hide the phone as I sent a text to both Brandon and Heather. I hoped one of them wasn’t too drunk already to notice their phone blowing up. I sent another text to Matteo. I didn’t have Channing’s number, or I would’ve sent him one, too. After that, I said a quick prayer and moved my hand away. I was hyperaware of the phone, and when it didn’t buzz back, a feeling of helplessness hit me hard.
I blinked back tears.
Mason was outnumbered. He hadn’t had to fight in so long. This wasn’t good.
“Look.” Caldron threw his arms out, swinging his bat wide as he gestured to his friends. “This talking thing we’ve got going was just a stall tactic. I needed time to make sure the rest of my friends got into position.”
The rest of… I looked around again. The six friends now had another four added to their numbers. So it was eleven to Mason. No. Eleven to two. I was fighting, too.
“Now that’s all done.” He flashed us a smile. “Let’s get to dancing.” He hadn’t finished his last word before he was swinging the bat, but Mason ducked. The bat cleared his head, and he twisted, catching Caldron’s arm with both hands. He shifted, pulling Caldron to lie across his back. His toes were just grazing the ground. Caldron’s eyes went wide. Panic flared for a second, but then a murderous rage came to the forefront, and he started to struggle.
Mason adjusted his hold, ramming his elbow into Caldron’s face before wrenching his wrist to the side.
Three things happened then:
The bat fell to the ground.
I heard a snapping sound as Mason broke Caldron’s wrist.
And the ten friends rushed in.
What followed was a blur. I was terrified, desperate, irrational, and scared. But I surged forward, my hands already in fists. I was going to help, and I didn’t care what I had to do to keep him safe. My vision tunneled. I could only see Mason and feel the impending assault when he knelt down and scooped up the bat.
He tossed it to me.
I caught it, surprised.
He grunted before turning and hitting Caldron with one last good punch. “Aim for their knees.” And then, as Caldron’s body hit the ground, unconscious, Mason began exchanging punches with the others.
I blinked once, tasted the salt from my tears, and felt someone’s hand on my shoulder. I stopped thinking then and fell to the ground in a kneeling stance, sweeping out with the bat. I swung it with all of my might and heard a crunching sound as it made contact. Someone yelled and fell next to me. That was my first victory. I enjoyed it for a split second before I was plucked up in the air.