Her glower slipped a notch, but she still glared. "She's my friend." She stressed the last word.

His frown deepened. "We figured. We didn't mean any harm."

A sudden light clicked on in her depths, and I stepped in front of her. I said to the hulk, "We're friends and she's protective because I work here too."

He nodded, his eyebrows bunched together. "I figured that too. Look, we didn't come to hurt no girl."

"Then why are you here?" Heather scoffed behind me. She was more composed now. "This diner's in Fallen Crest. This ain't your town, and it ain't your crowd. What are you doing here?"

"Truth?" He scratched the back of his head.

Her eyes narrowed to slits. "You'd lie to me now?"

"No, no. I didn't mean that. But," he twisted around and took in the varying emotions from his family and friends. "We came for a brawl. We heard the Kades hang here a bunch. We were hoping to see them."

Heather nudged me with her elbow. I gulped—I hadn't had time to text Mason yet. He didn't know to not come tonight. Again, oh dear.

Brandon stepped closer to our group. "Hey, uh, Brett, I think maybe it's best if you guys take off."

"Why?"

Heather snorted. Her hand found her hip and her chin jutted out. "Are you serious? You admitted that you came here for a fight? At my establishment."

Brandon coughed.

She amended, "At my family's establishment."

"That's better."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm not as nice as my brother. Get out. I want your whole brood out. No one's fighting here. You're not going to destroy my family's livelihood, and you're definitely not going to scare away our regular customers."

"Oh, um." He turned back to his group. "They want us to go."

The blonde gasped. She shot forward from the table and was in Heather's face within two steps. "Are you effing kidding me?"

"Hey, whoa, Shannon. She's—"

"Back off, Shannon!"

Heather sucked in her breath, but tattooed-model Channing stepped around Brandon and got in the Broudou's little sister's face.

It was confirmed.

This was Shannon. This was the girl that had caused so many problems for Mason and Logan. My eyes narrowed to slits and my head went low. I wanted to hurt her. I wanted to do more than that. I wanted to hurt her like she hurt Mason. The need for violence was starting to sizzle deep inside of me. It was on a low burn, but the notch was turning up. It was going to be going full blast in a minute.

I was distantly aware that one of the mammoth brothers said something to Heather's model, w who said something back. The Shannon bitch had melted once she realized who snapped at her. A seductive smile was on her face now. I felt Heather's tension beside me and touched her arm. When she looked at me, she gasped and then shuffled so she blocked me from their view. Her hands went to my shoulders and she whispered to Brandon, "Get her out of here. Now."

His hand grasped the top of my arm, and he dragged me out the side door. As soon as the screen door slammed shut, he closed the second door as well. Then he started towards the house and I went. Wait, no. What was I doing? I dug my heels in and pulled away.

"Stop."

"No." His hand adjusted his hold and he yanked me even further after him.

"I have to go back. That girl," I gasped. That girl had been the start of all of it. If I said something, if I told them what happened—

"Hey!" someone yelled from the parking lot.

Brandon cursed but kept going.

I twisted around and frowned as I saw dark silhouettes. Someone was running towards us, there were more behind him. As he drew closer, he yelled again, "Let her go!"

Adam.

Brandon stopped and turned to face him. "Look, man. You don't know what's going on."

Adam's face twisted in a scowl. As he caught up to us, he ripped Brandon's hand from my arm and pulled me away. "No, man. You don't know what's going on. You okay, Sam? What were you doing?"

But I wasn't listening. I had turned back. It was that girl. I had to get to her. I didn't care about the consequences. They'd know about me, but they were going to find out anyway. It was on my time, this way. I chose it. I chose how. I chose when. I decided what they would be told. I started back. I heard Adam and Brandon's voices behind me, but I kept going.

"Stop her!" Brandon barked behind me.

"Hey, whoa." Adam moved to block him. "Back off, buddy. I mean it."

"Adam?"

I was focused on the side door, but the soft voice made me pause. I turned, everything was in slow motion now, and I couldn't believe what I saw. Becky was there, in person, with frightened eyes. Her red hair was pulled back in some fancy braided hairstyle. She held hands with a scruffy-looking guy beside her. His eyes were glazed over and his hair stuck up in all directions. He wore a ratty tee shirt over baggy and torn jeans. When he noticed my attention, he gave me a blinding smile. It was soft at the corners, and the focus in his eyes dimmed. Then he lifted his free hand. "Heya there."

Becky was dating someone. I remembered Adam telling me that. She was dating someone from Fallen Crest Public. I sucked in my breath. This was him, had to be. A different kind of pain sliced through me. She hadn't stuck up for me when Adam lied to her. She hadn't stuck beside me, and when he told her the truth, she still hadn't come to me to apologize. This was the one friend I thought would've stuck with me through everything. She hadn't. Now she had a boyfriend, and she never told me.

It was trivial to be hurt by that, but it stung.

I didn't notice her pale features until her voice trembled, "Sam?"

I stopped thinking. I forgot about what was going on behind me and what was happening in the diner. Someone that I had considered a friend was in front of me. So I opened my mouth and said the first thing that came to mind, "I have a new friend."

She reared back as if I had slapped her.

I kept going. My voice sounded distant. "She's tough. She's in there right now." I gestured towards the side door. "She's covering my back and you know what else?" I waited. Becky was looking everywhere but me. Then her jaw stopped shaking, and she made eye contact. Finally. "Mason and Logan respect her."