I wanted him to break the fucking bed for me.

I was going to lie to him. Even now, watching him coming back to me, I knew what I was going to do. Park Sebastian’s name would take this from us. I wouldn’t allow it. Mason would be upset, if he ever found out, but I’d stand by my decision. This lie between us was for us. It was for him. He protected me from so much.

I had no choice.

I loved him, but I was lying to him.

Guilt rose up in me, threatening to choke me, but I envisioned Sebastian winning. I envisioned the hurt on Mason’s face. I envisioned what he would do to Sebastian. Then I envisioned the consequences afterward; Mason could get kicked out school. He could get kicked off the football team. That meant no football career, no fulfilling his dream; but worse—he’d be hurt because of me.

That. Could. Not. Happen.

I was wrong in what I was doing, but it was my turn to protect him. My turn.

He paused above me, leaning down so that his lips were just above mine, and he whispered, “We’re going to the house after this.”

I closed my eyes, feeling his hands under my shirt.

He added, taking my shirt off, “I want to do this all night with you.”

Hell to the yes.

LOGAN

I weaved around a group of people. The girls looked good. The guys looked lazy. The redhead caught my eye, and normally, I’d stop, share a few jokes, and wait and see how the guys reacted to me. If they were pro-Logan, I’d stay and end up taking one of the girls back to the car for privacy. If the guys were anti-Logan, I’d keep going. The girls would find me later.

That was how it usually ended but not this time. The party was in the backyard of someone’s house. It was on the outskirts of town, but my information was good. This was one of Park Sebastian’s parties, and I only had so much time. Nate hurried to catch up, and he was casting nervous looks to the side, watching the groups of guys who were observing us.

Yes, bitches. A motherfucking Kade was in their presence.

The news would reach Sebastian before I could, so I hurried even faster. I wanted to get there first. I didn’t want him to have time to strategize and round up his assholes. This was his territory, but I had the element of surprise…for the next few minutes.

“Logan.” Nate veered close, dropping his voice so that only I could hear him. “Are you sure about this?”

I wasn’t surer about anything else. “Yes.” I gave him a dark look. “Don’t turn chickenshit now. We’re doing this.”

“I know. And I’m not. I’m just,” he kept going, “saying that we need to make sure we have everything worked out ahead of time. I mean, this is one of their parties.”

I scowled. “You’re turning into a chickenshit.”

“I’m not, but why aren’t we doing this with Mason?”

“Two reasons. One, my brother is making sweet, sweet love to his woman tonight, and two, because he can’t do shit. He’s on the football team. It’s on us to do something.”

“Mason has a plan.”

I shot back, “Yeah, well, I love my big bro, but he’s dragging his feet with this one. Sebastian needs to be dealt with. I’m tired of sitting on my hands. You backing out?”

“Shut it, Logan!”

“You are.” I glimpsed his face.

He’d gotten worked over by them a few weeks ago. His bruises finally faded. I paused. Maybe I should send him back. But no, I needed backup just in case.

“Kade?” The guy came over with a beer in each hand. His hair was sticking straight up in the air, and he looked like a rejected has-been fraternity brother.

Recognition hit, and I flashed a grin. “You’re Blazer. You’re the Toga Kid.”

“Uh, close.” He held out the beer to me.

I held up a hand, rejecting it.

He handed it to Nate, saying, “I’m Blaze. I had that party at the beginning of the year. You were there with your brother’s girlfriend, who lives on my friend’s floor. She’s Sam’s RA.”

Nate glanced at me.

The pudgy Toga Kid called her Sam. He didn’t get to call her anything, except his friend’s floormate, but since he was there, and I was remembering other conversations from that night, I held my tongue. I skimmed him over. He didn’t look too drunk. He was happily sloshed. His smile was lazy. He wasn’t teetering on his feet, but his shirt was unbuttoned, and the T-shirt underneath had a few stains from the night—ketchup, mustard, but mostly spilled beer.

He was drunk enough, and after he opened the second beer and was lifting it to his mouth, I took it.

A quick smile to smooth things over, I told him, “I changed my mind.”

“Oh.” His shoulders went up and down. “Sounds good to me. I can get more, but, uh…” He noticed the looks as well. “You do know where you’re at, right?”

We were gaining more and more attention. The small frame of surprise was gone.

I nudged Nate with my elbow. “Maybe you want to bring the car around?”

“What?”

“The car.” I shot a meaningful look at the fence beside us.

“Oh.” He frowned. “But…”

He gave me another look, and I knew what he was thinking. I smiled back at him. I took his beer and gave it to the other kid, Blazer—no, Blaze.

The guy blinked in surprise and started to smile.

Oh, no, we weren’t friends. I was going to use this son of a bitch who thought he could use Sam’s name like he mattered.

Throwing an arm around his shoulder, I patted him on the chest and said to Nate, “Blazer will help me out.”

“Blaze.”

I patted him again. “That’s the least of your problems.”

Nate was shaking his head. “No, Logan. No, no, no.”

Blaze was frowning. “What problems?”

I pointed to the street. “Get the car. I’ll need it.”

Nate let out an unhappy sigh. “I’m not okay with this.”

I didn’t care, and I jerked Blaze around with me. “Say, Toga Kid, where are all your friends?”

They’d claimed to hate Sebastian. It was their day to show their balls or let ’em shrink back up into vaginas. I had a feeling they were going to shrink, but either way, we were going to have some fun.

“Uh…” He wasn’t fighting me. He was just confused as he replied, glancing across the crowd, “They’re by the fence. Why?”