He smirked at me as his eyes glazed over. “We’re not going home. You heard Ethan. He’s got a problem.” Then he clambered outside.

When Fischer didn’t follow him right away, I shot him a glare. “Go with him. Calm him the f**k down.”

He grunted, but did as I told him. Logan waited at the front of the car, and when Ethan joined him, I heard him say something about Molly’s pu**y.

Strauss started laughing. “I know your brother isn’t high as a kite, but man, he’s acting like it.”

“What do you expect? Two girls blew him.” And he was trying not to think about tomorrow, but I didn’t share that information with him.

I lifted the gas handle and put the nozzle in my car. I knew Logan wanted to fight someone; he kept asking if we could go after the Broudous tonight. I kept saying no. When we fought them, we were going to make sure they wouldn’t come around for a long time, but I felt the itch inside of me too. I wanted to fight someone. I wanted to do physical damage.

I sighed and leaned against my car, waiting for the gas to fill up. We were supposed to help them move in the next day. There was no way we were going to, and there was no way we’d take his money to help move them. The bitch and her spawn would have to move themselves, even though I knew James would end up paying for movers if we didn’t go.

Then I saw her.

It felt as if someone had punched me in the stomach. It was the same girl Logan had googled. Samantha Strattan. It was her.

She was waiting by her car. Her arms were crossed over her chest, hugging herself. She was staring at Logan, who was now inside of the gas station. She had long black hair. It whipped around her from the wind, but it was like she didn’t even feel it. No. She didn’t give a damn. That look punched me in the gut.

She was strong. I saw it in her. She had dark eyes, petite lips, and high cheekbones. Her rack was decent. Her body was long and thin, and her legs were strong. Shit. She was tiny, but her eyes were dead.

This was the bitch’s kid?

Then her shoulders tensed. She’d been studying Logan. Her eyes were eating him up, but not like the two chicks who had just been with him. She looked at him with loathing.

I narrowed my eyes.

I saw her turning—here she came—and her gaze locked with mine. Her eyes widened. She moved away from her car, just a step. It was the same look I got from wide receivers after I sent them to the ground with one touch. They were always shocked by the force and they'd reassess me. Every time. I had shaken her, but she had shaken me too.

Strauss came to stand beside me. He studied her a second before he commented, “Kate’s going to shit her pants by the looks of that one.”

I wanted her. And he was right. Then I smirked at her. This was going to be interesting.

She saw the exchange. Her eyes narrowed and she lowered them for a second.

I couldn’t stop watching her. What was she going to do? She knew we were talking about her, but then her jaw hardened. She jerked her head back up and there was that same loathing, but it had doubled. She stared right at me. Her shoulders squared as she faced me and then her chin lowered. Whether she realized it or not, her stance was challenging me.

I fought against smiling at her. She was hot. I knew Logan was going to think so too, but damn, I didn’t know if I could pass this one up.

Logan and Ethan came back. My brother said my name, but I didn’t hear him. He said something else to me, but I wasn’t paying him attention. All of it was directed on her.

“Who is she?” Strauss asked as she went inside to pay. “You know her, don’t you?”

I wasn’t sure what to say. He’d say something and I didn’t want the guys to dissect her like they normally did. I shrugged and said, “I’m going to pay.” As I did, she was coming back. The challenge was back in her gaze. I couldn’t help myself. Veering towards her, I purposefully walked right at her. At the last second, I moved away an inch so my jacket brushed against her. I wanted to brush against her. Shit. I wanted to do more than that to her already, but I glanced back, watching her the entire time as I passed by.

She never wavered. She held her ground and stared right back.

She had balls, whether they were real or not, the girl had balls. After I paid, I was itching to test her some more. I wanted to see what she’d say, but when I went back outside, I could hear her friends giggling behind me. I didn’t want to deal with them, but still… I paused by her car. She straightened, expecting me now. I started turning towards her without thinking, but the sound of screeching brakes pushed everything out of my head.

“What the hell?” It was the Broudous. Two cars had pulled into the lot and one of their buddies jumped out with a smoke bomb.

Everything else was forgotten. I rushed past her. I knew Logan and the guys were behind me, but I didn’t care. I grabbed the first guy to pound. After that, it was game on. Logan took the smoke bomb from the guy and handed it to me. I launched it. If they wanted to fight, they were going to pay for it. A second car emptied and we were all fighting.

“Mason!” Logan shouted from somewhere, but I lifted my fist for another hit. I kept ramming it at the guy and then moved onto another when he couldn’t fight back.

It was later, after the guys were tugging on me that I realized the cops were coming. As we headed for my car, I remembered her. Our eyes caught and held for a second, but then Logan pounded on the car again and we peeled out of there.

We never went to Molly’s that night so Ethan could get laid. We went somewhere else, but I couldn’t lie to myself. James had asked us to help move Analise and her kid in the next day. We both refused and we already had other plans, but I changed my mind. I found myself wanting to help them move in. I wanted to be around this one. I wanted to study her. She was different. I wanted to know how different.

“Mason.” Logan distracted me and I stopped thinking about it. He tossed me a beer. “Time to get lit, big brother.”

I flashed him a grin. “Sounds good to me.”

He never asked why the change of heart and I didn’t know if I wanted to tell him or not, but there was a shift in the air. My gut felt it and I knew something was going to happen. I could feel that change was going to happen.

I was looking forward to it.