“Truth.” I coughed. “I just spoke the truth.”

Logan swung his glass in my direction. “And on the same theme of being true—”

Nate slumped back in his chair. “Oh no.” He tossed his cloth napkin on his plate.

“Logan.” Malinda gave him a small warning.

“Can you all relax? I’m going to be honest, but not in the way you think.” He paused, waiting for their permission.

“Logan, just talk,” I told him.

He nodded. “I will. Thank you, brother.” He cleared his throat and hit his chest. “There once was a little boy.”

“What?” Nate frowned, shooting forward to look at me.

I lifted a shoulder. “Just let him talk. This is Logan. We never know what we’re going to get.”

“Thank you, brother.”

Nate groaned, leaning back again. “That’s what I’m worried about.”

“Ahem.” Logan shot him a look. “Like I was saying, there once was a little boy who grew up in a palace, and there was a sad and lonely mother, who liked to drink her misery away with wine and diet pills, and there was also an older brother. And this older brother was looked upon by the little brother. He worshiped him. He idolized him, and when the older brother would get angry, get drunk, or get into fights, the little boy wanted to be just like him.”

I sighed. I’d asked for it.

Logan kept going, laughing, “And one day, when the wicked king of the palace came home, riding on one of his many w-horses—” He coughed. “I mean mares. The older brother had enough. He yelled and swore at his father, and he turned his back on the king that day. That was the day everything in the kingdom changed. The queen, who was still lonely and sad, moved to a different kingdom and found her love of traveling. She was never heard from again, but the two brothers banded together. They kicked the evil king out of the kingdom, along with his new prized mare.”

His lip twitched. “The one he had fallen deeply in love with, who was as evil as he. But you see, the story didn’t end there. No. The king and his new evil mare, who turned into a human and became his new queen, brought a daughter with her. And this daughter needed to be saved from the evil king and queen, and the two brothers knew they couldn’t just live happily ever after in their own kingdom with all their own mares.” Another lip twitch. “They knew they had to save this new daughter, and so they rode out on their mares, and laid waste to their father’s new kingdom to save their new queen.”

“Logan.” I leveled him with a look. “Wrap up this fairytale.”

“You were all about transparency at the wedding. And excuse me, but this is a fairytale. Everyone knows I’d never insult a horse by calling it a whore.”

“Let him finish.” Nate gestured to Logan. “I’m enthralled.”

“Thank you, and you didn’t want me to do a speech.”

“I stand corrected. Please go on. I enjoy hearing about the mares.”

“Oh, yes.” Logan smirked. “There were lots and lots of mares in this story, but when the two brothers brought back the new evil queen’s daughter, she cast a spell over their kingdom and both brothers. But it wasn’t one of evil or one she meant to do. It was magic. One became destined to be the new reigning king at her side, and the other was destined to always protect and cherish her as a brother should.”

His gaze lingered on Sam before he kept going, forcing a lighter note in his voice. “And there you go. The new kingdom was created, and the new and loving queen replaced both the evil queen, and also the sad and lonely queen, who was never heard from again.” He held his glass out. “And let’s all drink to that odd and kind of twisted fairytale.”

Logan was about to sit down as everyone sipped from their drinks, when a new voice spoke from the room’s doorway. “Is that what you think of me?”

Helen stood there, a hurt look in her eyes. “You think I’m sad and lonely, and that you’ve never heard from me again? You think I abandoned you?”

Logan didn’t reply.

I knew my brother. He did think that, but he wasn’t going to say anything because he still felt some loyalty toward her.

I did not. “If the shoe fits, Mom.”

SAMANTHA

“That’s hilarious.” Helen gave Mason a scathing look, folding her arms over her chest. She was dressed in a pencil skirt with a white silk top. With her pointed heels, she looked like an older model who’d stepped out of a business magazine. Her blond hair was pulled up into a fancy twisted bun, but every time I saw Helen, that was how her hair was done.

Garrett stood. “Helen, to what do we owe the pleasure?”

A gargled sound came from Taylor’s throat, and when everyone turned her way, she held up an apologetic hand. “Sorry. She texted and said she couldn’t get ahold of Logan. I told her we were at dinner and he’d probably call when we were done. I had no idea she was in town.”

“Or that your phone pinpointed the actual restaurant you were at?” Helen didn’t sound amused. “Yes, well.” She swept a cold gaze over everyone. “I’m afraid I have to interrupt. As happy as my sons seem to be with my arrival, I need to pull them away.”

She turned to Mason. “A journalist friend of mine gave me the heads-up about an article coming out on Monday. I may be sad and lonely, and I may have abandoned you, but with this bit of news, I could not stay away. Can we talk in private, please?”

Mason narrowed his eyes, but a half hour later, we were in Malinda and David’s hotel suite. Malinda had insisted, and Helen took a minute to scan the room again. Mason had insisted the parents be present, along with Nate, Logan, and myself. The only adult who’d excused herself was Sharon, Garrett’s wife. I wasn’t sure if that was because of Garrett and Helen’s brief dating history or because she just didn’t feel her presence was necessary. Either way, I couldn’t blame her. Helen hadn’t seemed happy to see her, and Sharon only managed a brief smile as everyone left the restaurant.

“Is everyone necessary?” Helen asked Mason again.

He shrugged, standing behind where I sat on a couch. Logan stood next to him, and both had their arms folded over their chests.

“They’d all find out anyway. Besides—” He gestured to Garrett. “Meet my new lawyer. If memory’s right, you two know each other, in a biblical way?”

My biological father grimaced, rubbing a hand over his face.

Helen bristled. “Is this what’s to come? Have you and Logan switched roles? You’re the sarcastic one now?”

“No.” Logan leaned back against the wall, giving his mother a dark look. “He’s just a bit meaner to you than I am. You took me to Paris. And you’re actually nice to my girlfriend. Mason doesn’t have those reasons to be kind. You like to be a dick to his girlfriend. Remember?” His voice indicated that he wasn’t all right with that, but he bared his teeth in a forced smile. “Trust me, mother. I’m walking a fine line here between being pissed at you too about Sam and being somewhat grateful to you about Taylor. Keep being a dick, though, and I’m certain Taylor won’t care to have anything to do with you either.”

“Noted.”

She glowered at me before letting out a loud sigh, pulling out a magazine, and tossing it on the hotel’s table. “This is running on Monday. It’s an article saying my son was given special privileges because of his ‘promising’ future. He was arrested for assault and battery, but was released and received no consequences from the Cain University administration.”

Mason let out a savage curse.

Helen kept going, as if her son hadn’t reacted, “It was supposed to run later in the month. They wanted to wait for a bowl game, but it was pushed up because Samantha ran an impressive race yesterday afternoon. A second article is coming out on Tuesday where they’ll talk, at length, about my son’s history, along with his Olympic-hopeful girlfriend and my other son. Now,” she said, looking around. “Was I wrong in interrupting such a cozy family meal?”

“Come on, Mom.” Mason moved forward to pick up the article. “Don’t be snide because you weren’t invited. If you were ever around, I’m sure we would’ve thought about inviting you.”