Fallen Crest Home(66)

“I didn’t know they were your enemies. I swear!” Matteo moved around Logan. “Mason, I didn’t know. I’m being honest.”

“What is going on?” Mark sat down, his gaze jumping around the room.

Mason said to Matteo, ignoring my stepbrother, “There’s a shit ton of history here. You’re always so happy. I didn’t want to rain on your parade. We’ve got enemies around these parts, and if you get involved, it can make you paranoid. You seemed like you were having a good time.”

“There’s no way he would’ve known about Kate,” I offered.

“Who’s Kate? Other than Tiffany’s roommate,” Matteo asked.

Mark snorted. “Some chick that went psycho on Sam a while back.”

“What?!”

I shook my head. “It wasn’t out of nowhere. She and Mason used to have a thing, before me.”

Matteo turned to Mason. “You dated her?”

“I used to fuck her.” His lips thinned. “Unfortunately.”

“She and her friends thought they were in an actual girl gang and jumped Sam,” Logan said. “They put her in the hospital one night.”

“Oh. Wow.” Matteo’s voice grew quiet. “I’m sorry, Sam. I had no idea Kate was like that.”

“You guys were told someone was snitching?” Nate asked Mason and me.

I nodded. “Kate found me at the carnival one night. She said we needed to be wary, that someone in the inner circle was talking.” I looked back at Matteo. “You had no way of knowing, so don’t feel bad.”

“He didn’t really know anything, right?” Logan asked Mason.

“Not really.”

Matteo frowned, scratching his head. “Yeah, you guys talk in riddles sometimes. I think I’ve gotten used to it, but now I’m starting to realize it’s just all code for things. Look, don’t tell me anything. I’ll stop seeing Tiffany. We’re not serious. We were just having fun until I go back to school and football.”

Nate and Logan seemed satisfied with that. Both leaned back on the couches, stretching their feet out.

Mark kept looking from person to person, and after a moment he threw his hands up in the air. “Am I the only one pissed right now?”

Matteo said nothing, just sat between Logan and Nate on the couch. Mason moved to stand next to me and touched the small of my back, his hand shifting under my shirt to rest against my skin.

“Why are you mad, Mark?” he asked.

“Because—” he sputtered. “I want to know what’s going on.”

“We can’t tell you.” Logan disentangled his arm from the back of the couch and leaned forward.

“Why not?”

“Because you’re friends with Quinn,” Logan explained.

“But he’s working with Adam.” Mark pointed to Mason.

“Doesn’t mean I’m friends with him.”

“He thinks you are.”

Mason frowned, his hand pressing harder against my back. He tugged me against him. “What do you mean?”

“He thinks you guys are all copacetic. Becky, too. They were asking what was going on last night, since everyone knew you were at that party.”

That didn’t sound right. “Becky asked, too?” I said.

He looked at me. “Well, I mean…” He lifted a shoulder. “She was there, and Adam was asking me. She didn’t tell him to be quiet or anything. I just took it to mean she agreed with him.”

Becky loved Adam, but she understood we weren’t friends with him. That made me feel like something else was going on, but it wasn’t something I could get from Mark. When Mason and Logan fell quiet and remained that way, I knew what they were doing. Mark might be friends with Logan, and friendly-ish with Mason, but he was my stepbrother. He was mine to handle.

I moved forward. “Mark, are you asking because you were worried about me, or because Adam asked you to find out what was going on?”

“He—” Mark stopped again. He gripped the back of his neck. “Adam didn’t really ask in so many words, not like he wanted me to find out. But it still pissed me off. I had no clue what was going on, and then I heard there were gunshots at a party you were at? Yeah, I guess I got mad.” He glared at Logan, then Mason. “She’s not just yours. She’s mine, too. My sister. My family. You can’t keep putting her in danger all the time.”

I didn’t look up at Mason. I didn’t dare because he was either ready to rip Mark’s head off, or—I didn’t want to know. I stepped toward my stepbrother. “Mark, it’s not like that.”

“Yes, it is, Sam. It has been for a long time.”