SEE YOU LATER— Jason

PS I made a call on your behalf. Please don’t be mad, and if you are, you can chew my ass out the next time we see each other. Because there WILL be a next time.

Using the back of my hands, I wiped the tears from my face. Claire was still reading her letter. Jason’s roommate (ex-roommate) handed us the two letters earlier, both sealed in envelopes, and mumbled something before taking off.

Once we got back into the car, Claire ripped into hers. I only held mine. I listened to her sniffling for a full minute before I had the strength to open it. And now, feeling gutted, I waited for Claire to be done as well.

Jason wanted me to burn the letter, but that wasn’t happening. I folded it up neatly and put it back into the envelope. When I saw him again, I’d burn it. Until then, this letter would never be destroyed.

It was my last contact with him.

A PSEUDO KIDNAPPING.

NOT REALLY.

REALLY.

LOGAN

Taylor’s ex-douchefriend’s head had started to bob up and down, back and forth, before the first moan came from him. I put him on a couch in the garage and kept the lights turned off—except for one spotlight trained solely on him. The only door was locked, and I stood right in front of it. The dipshit wasn’t leaving without giving me some answers.

“Wha…” His head raised from his chest. “Huh?”

“You good?” I called over to him.

“What?” His eyes opened, but shut again right away. He groaned and coughed before asking, “Where am I?”

“You and me.” I walked over to lean against my Escalade. “We’re going to have a chat.”

“Wait.” He still seemed so confused. Looking around, he lifted his hands and touched his face. “I was at the bar. I wanted to talk to Taylor, but this guy—” He stopped and squinted at me. “Was that you? Did you knock me out?”

I didn’t see the point of lying, so I shrugged and walked out from behind the light. As soon as he could see me, his head fell back against the couch. “You.”

“Me.” I smiled.

“Who are you?”

My smile switched to a frown. “I thought you’d recognize me.”

“No.” He blinked a few times before focusing on me again. “Who are you?”

“I’m the guy screwing your ex-girlfriend.” I leaned down in his face.

His eyes jumped to mine, and a flare of anger appeared, but he didn’t say anything.

“Now.” I went back to smiling, though I knew my eyes weren’t showing it. My eyes were saying a whole host of other shit. He should be scared of me. He should be scared of Taylor. He should leave and never come back.

A wary expression flickered over his face, and I knew he’d registered each and every one of those messages.

“You’re going to tell me why you came to see Taylor,” I said.

“Why I—no.” He shook his head, his voice growing stronger. “No, I won’t. That’s between her and me. I don’t care who you are.”

“Dude.” I felt a speech coming—a good rip-into-’em speech—and the more I felt it, the more I knew I was going to enjoy it. I hadn’t delivered one of these in a long time.

I’d started to lean down again when I heard a door shut outside. Cursing softly, I whipped around as I heard Mason’s voice.

“I’ll catch up with you later,” he said. “I’m going to find Logan.”

This needed to be handled ASAP, so I pointed a finger at the douchefriend. “Stay. We’re not done.”

“What?”

Heading back around my vehicle, I opened the side door of the garage just as Mason walked by, raising his phone to his ear. He jumped at my sudden appearance.

“Holy shit.” He clapped a hand to his chest. “Where the fuck did you come from?”

“Shhh.” I looked around him. Nate was heading across the front lawn to his car. He was too far away to hear our conversation, and I was grateful. Nate had gone back to his weaseling ways. I didn’t want him anywhere near this guy. “Where’s Nate going?” I smirked. “Who’s he going to hang out with? Sam?”

“Fucking A.” Mason let out an aggravated sigh. “What the hell is going on with you two? I thought the petty bickering was done.”

“Never.” My grin turned frosty. “I was all fine and dandy till he started taking pot shots at me.”

He gave me a hard look. “I don’t like having a family rift. We’ve got enough to deal with.” He nodded behind me. “He’s here?”

I hadn’t known where else to take him. “Figured I shouldn’t go back to the amusement park, in case Street Thug has guys out looking for us.”

“Logan.” Mason twisted around, looking at the house. “This is our garage!”

“I don’t know of any empty warehouses,” I said. “I’m sorry. I’ve only been here a year.”

He groaned, tipping his head back. “But five feet from Sam? She lives here, too.”

I clapped him on the shoulder. “Relax. This guy’s just an ex-boyfriend. And it’s not like I’m holding him here against his wishes or something, like I kidnapped him.”

“You pseudo kidnapped him.”

“Not really.”

“Really. You did.”

I shrugged. “He can leave whenever he wants.”