“Oh, yeah?” He clapped me on the shoulder. “When do I meet him?”

I shook my head. “You don’t.”

“What?”

“No. I’ll deal with this. I want you and Sam to enjoy your first year. When I know something or when something happens, I’ll tell you.” I held his gaze, making sure he understood I was serious. “Okay?”

Logan narrowed his eyes, but he didn’t fight it. His lips pressed into an even line.

I said, “I’m using the same company that Dad did. You know they’re good. They do their job.”

“I think that’s bullshit.”

“Logan.” No. “I’m pulling rank.”

“What?” His eyes widened.

“Yeah. I’m the big brother. I’m the reason behind this.” He was going to argue. His shoulders lifted. His eyes took on a defiant gleam, and he held a hand up. I interrupted him, “One semester.”

“What?” His hand lowered.

“One semester. I will handle the security company for one semester. I’ll bring you on board after that.”

His eyebrows were pinched together. He was mulling it over, and then his face abruptly cleared. “Well. All I can say is that you picked a good company. They’re top-notch.” Logan winked at me, getting up from the table. He tapped his head before disappearing into the kitchen. “One semester, Mason. And good job on hiring them. Way to think ahead. That’s your job. You think. I talk.”

Hearing the refrigerator door open, I called out, “I thought the motto was that I fight, and you talk?”

Logan came back with a beer and sat down. “I should be nice and offer it to you.” He popped the lid and took a big pull before he grinned over the top. “But I know you’re in training, and you’re wrong. That was the motto, but it’s changed. I added a section last night. We both fight. We both talk. What is my job? I joke. You never joke. Your humor sucks.”

Again, there were worse things to be concerned about. I grunted. “Like I give a shit.”

Logan laughed. He tipped the bottle back for one more drag. “I’m so damn thankful we’re living in the same house again.” He paused and lowered the bottle back to his lap. “What?” He gestured to his face. “You got the whole look like, ‘Grr, I’m Mason. Let me piss on you while I beat your face off at the same time.’ What did I do wrong?”

We talked about it already. I shouldn’t say anything again. Fuck it. It was still with me, always in the back of my mind. “You could’ve been for Sam.”

“Oh my god.” He tipped his head back, groaning. “Not this shit again.”

“We talked about it once.”

“Yeah.” His head bobbed up and down. “And you punched me later. Thanks for that, by the way.”

“My pleasure.” I flashed him a grin.

A low growl emanated from him. “You’re the sun and moon to her. I would’ve been a fucking chandelier. That’s it.”

“Chandeliers are pretty.”

“I said that last year to give you a different viewpoint. I’m like a chandelier. You’re the sun and moon.” Logan’s eyes narrowed. “Perspective, asshole.”

“I have it, asshole. The sun and moon are taken for granted. Chandeliers are put in magazines. People go ooh and aah over them.” There was no heat behind my words anymore. As soon as I’d said the words, I was fine.

Bringing the whole issue up had been enough. It made Logan squirm, that made me feel better.

He shook his head. “You’re being jealous.”

I smirked at him. “Not to Sam. She doesn’t know. You’ll understand when you meet your other half and I’ll love tormenting you, but until then—” I leaned forward and slapped his arm, spilling his beer. As he jumped up, I ignored his curses and said, “Let’s go and do some scouting. I want to find out where Sebastian actually lives.”

That was the plan until we got out the door and saw Drew and Nick, a lineman from the team, coming over from the team’s house. The looks on their faces stopped us.

I asked, knowing something was wrong, “What is it?”

Drew handed a phone to me. “That was campus security. They found Nate in a parking lot just now.”

I took the phone as a weird sensation started in my gut. It was blind rage, but it was being held at bay. A buzzing sound filled my ears as I grated out, “Found?”

Logan echoed, “What do you mean, found?”

Drew’s mouth flattened, and his shoulders slumped down. “I’m sorry, Mase. They beat him up.”

SAMANTHA

My first day at college consisted of hiding from two of my floormates, being involved in a public showdown that could’ve been a brawl, and now wondering where the hell my boyfriend was. It was almost midnight.

My classes were nerve-racking, but when they’d mostly gone over each syllabus with a light lecture, I started to relax. Only one professor made us break into small groups to read and discuss an article.

Mason said he would call. He never did.

I wasn’t sure about his football schedule, so when Summer and a bunch of the girls from the floor went to dinner, I tagged along. Afterward, Kitty and Nina wanted to hang out in our room. They’d brought movies and popcorn. Summer enlisted Ruby’s help, so she’d moved them to her room with the excuse that she had a large projector for the movie. I’d slipped out within half an hour and changed into my running clothes.

When I started outside, I faltered.

I’d be running alone.

I didn’t know the safe trails.

It was dark already.

But I needed to run. The need was almost an ache in me.

“Are you making a break for it?”

Summer flashed a grin. She’d come down behind me. Her hand scratched the back of her head, and she puffed out a burst of air, looking around the lobby. Her eyebrow lifted. “I’m surprised it’s almost empty.”

Two others were in the main lobby. One was on her phone and cast a glare at Summer, overhearing her. She went right back to texting a second later and slumped farther down in her chair. The other was in a chair by the wall, curled up with a book.

I lifted my foot, bringing it behind me to stretch. “Kitty was making me nervous. She kept looking at me with a weird evil-like Cheshire cat grin. I felt like a mouse being pulled in on an invisible string.”