I nodded. "Yeah, I'll be fine. She brings bad memories. That's all."

"Okay." Then he yawned and ran a hand over his face again. "I've got to wake up. Man. You eat yet?"

"I was in there, yeah."

"Okay, go check the pool house. I'm sure he's in there. I'm going to get some grub." He pressed one more kiss to my forehead before he let me go. As he left, I watched him saunter away. I rolled my eyes. I didn't think Logan knew how to walk without a cocky strut.

When I slipped out through one of the patio doors, there were more people in the pool. A group had congregated at some of the tables near it. I didn't recognize any of them so I continued to the pool house. When I stepped inside, Mason was at the bar. He sat on a stool with a cup of coffee in front of him. It looked like it hadn't been touched, but the steam still rose in the air. He was hunched over with his phone stuck to his ear.

"Hey."

I jumped and whirled around. Nate sat on a couch with a grin from ear to ear. His shoulders shook in amusement, but he gestured towards Mason. "He's been on the phone the whole time."

"He was talking to his dad." I glanced over, but he hadn't looked up or acknowledged me. Then I heard his next words, "Fuck off, dad. I mean it!" The hostility in them blasted me. I jumped in reaction but was dumbfounded when I heard Nate's soft laughter. I whirled back around. "You think that's funny?"

"Yeah." The laughter died away, but a small grin was still in place. He lounged back on the couch and threw one arm to rest on the top. "When Mason gets pissed, it's never good for the other person. And since it's his dad, I'm excited for what we're going to be doing."

"If that's what you want, fine." Mason's loud exclamation was followed with a curse as he dropped his phone on the bar. He shoved back from the stool but stopped when he saw me. All the rage drained from him, and he sighed before his head slowly hung down. "I'm sorry, Sam. I am."

"What are you talking about?" My throat was suddenly so dry. It was painful for me to speak. "What did your dad say?"

"Your mom's being a bitch. We're supposed to head home right now."

"What else did he say?" I knew there was more. I could see it on his face, but he shook his head. "Mason."

"We should go home."

This wasn't good. Mason didn't stand down to anyone and that was what he was doing. Dread turned to a sick feeling. I didn't want to go into that house. I didn't want to deal with my mother, not when she had affected him like this.

Nate stood with us. He had a small grin on his face, like he was anticipating some fireworks. But Mason held a hand out. "No, man. Just me and Sam."

The grin vanished. Nate straightened to his fullest height of six feet and one inch. His shoulders squared back. "You sure?"

"Yeah."

"Logan?"

"Don't tell him what's going on." Mason touched the small of my back and urged me ahead of him. He paused at the door. "Keep him here. Keep him happy. He can't rush into this, he'd make it worse."

Nate nodded. Mission received and accepted.

As I watched the exchange, a different perverse feeling came over me. This was the dynamic between the two that I didn't like, where they cut everyone else out. If they did it with Logan, I knew they could do it with me. That didn't sit well with me. I didn't like the idea of Mason having someone 'handle' me as he had Nate handle Logan at times.

But I didn't say anything. I was too scared to, not because of how Mason would react, but because I couldn't handle any more deep stuff. The hurt that I was blasted with when I saw Jessica still felt raw. It made me realize how much I had suppressed at the beginning of the year, and that was just the tip of the iceberg. There was so much more pain where that came from, and right now, as Mason and I slipped around the side of the house and went to his car, I knew we weren't headed to an afternoon of kissing and cuddling. We were headed to meet with my mom and his dad. Not good.

Once we had left the driveway and headed back towards town, I reached over and turned the radio off. Then I leaned back and took a breath. I readied myself. "Okay, so what did your dad say?"

Mason kept driving. He didn't visibly react, but I knew he tensed. I felt it from him. Then he clipped out, "Your mom wants one of us out of the house."

"What?"

He jerked his head in a nod. "And I don't want to go. I don't want you sleeping somewhere else or me somewhere else. I don't want to have to sneak in to see my girlfriend or even having your mom breathing down our backs when one of us is in the house. I've dealt with so much more than her. It's pissing me off. And you, where was she when she dumped you in our house with no friends and no father? She took off with my dad. Now she suddenly wants to come and act like your mother?" He cursed again and shook his head. The anger in his eyes made them glimmer. "I can't believe her and I can't believe my dad. He's always known the deal. We raised ourselves. I raised Logan. He was never around. He was either cheating on our mom or away on business trips. I raised Logan. He didn't. I swear to god, he wants to start laying the law down as my father? I'm eighteen. I'm gone the end of the summer and he's doing this now?"

'I'm gone the end of the summer.' Those words hit me hard. I fell back against my seat. I knew Mason would be leaving, but I hadn't really thought about it. He was going. He was really going.

He would be gone.

I didn't want to go back to the mansion. "Stop the car."

"What?"

"Stop the car." Something fierce came over me. "Stop the car now."

"Why?" But he slowed it down and turned into a parking lot. "What's going on?"

I shook my head and rasped out, "I'm not doing this with them. You're right. I know my mom wants us to stop sleeping together, but we can't." I wouldn't stop. I couldn't.

"Hey, hey." His voice was low and smooth. He cupped the end of my elbow and turned me towards him. "We won't. I promise. I just don't know what to do with your mom. My dad said that she's going nuts. She's making all these threats—" He stopped abruptly.

Oh god.

I asked, with my heart pounding, "What is she saying?"