A look of pride came over Mason as Logan was fighting to hold back a grin, and Mark sighed in relief beside me. I held my glass up, and they raised theirs.

I said, “To fucking family!”

Each of us downed our shots.

Logan grinned as he wagged a finger between Mason and me. He remarked, “In the literal sense for you two.”

No one commented.

The old Logan was back.

MASON

My brother was a dick.

After we took our shots and went back to the reception, I knew Logan got inside Sam’s head. This was David and Malinda’s day, but it was Sam’s too. She got a mom. She didn’t need to feel guilty about that, which is what Logan did. He should’ve let it go.

We weren’t being replaced.

Seeing him make a beeline for Heather Jax now, I knew this wasn’t going to end well. His hand was on her arm. He was looking down at her with a cocky smirk on his face and a look in his eyes like he was too cool for her.

Heather didn’t get pulled in by Logan’s tricks, but as her eyes darkened in lust, it was going to happen. She moved in closer. Her lip curved up in a seductive expression. She sucked in her breath, pronouncing her chest out more, and Logan’s gaze fell down, right where she wanted it to be. He wet his lips, and their eyes met again. I saw the look passing between the two.

They both knew where the night was headed. That was when I stepped in. Clasping the back of Logan’s neck, I grinned down at Heather. She jumped back. Her cheeks flushed, and she blinked up at me for a moment.

“Sam’s dancing.” I gave them both a knowing look.

Guilt flared in her eyes, and she looked down. “Oh, yeah. I should go say hi.”

“Yeah.”

Logan stiffened under my hand.

Fuck it.

I was getting the vibe that my brother didn’t care what he was doing. He was going to have his fun with Sam’s best friend. There was no point in keeping quiet. “You two are going to fuck tonight.”

Logan remained under my hand and his nostrils flared, while Heather bit down on her lip and swung her gaze in Sam’s direction. Neither of them corrected me. She felt bad. Logan didn’t give a shit.

“Jax,” I drew her gaze back to me again, “I’m going to violate my brother code right now.”

Logan sucked in his breath.

I didn’t care. “Logan wants to pound you. He always has, but he’s held back for a few reasons. Sam’s family. It would hurt her friendship with you. He doesn’t love you. You’re not the long-haul girl for him. And the last reason is Channing. However, my brother is not in the right frame of mind. He’s not thinking clearly, and he’s not caring about the consequences right now.”

“Fuck off, Mason.” Logan ripped himself from my hold. “Who gave you the right to play god for us?”

“I don’t have the right, but this is going to hurt Sam.” I looked through the corner of my eye. Heather had stepped back from us. She was thinking, and she was seeing that I was right, but hell, she was in pain too. I saw it there. Channing hurt her.

I added to my brother, “You can’t hurt Sam and definitely not on this day.”

Logan expelled a ragged breath, and he raked a hand through his hair. His head tipped back, and he let out a, “Fuck.”

As if hearing him, even though I knew she couldn’t because of the deejay’s music, Sam turned in our direction. She wore a bright smile on her face, her eyes sparkling and her cheeks were red from laughing. She lifted a hand to wave at us, but saw our faces. It was like watching a sunset falling fast. The liveliness left her. The smile dimmed. Her eyes grew worried, and the redness turned pink as her hand dropped back to her side. Just like that, with one look at us, seeing the storm over all three of us, it was like we’d sucked the life from her.

I gritted my teeth. I said to Heather, “Go and make her happy.” I said to Logan, “You and me—we’re going for a drive.”

Heather started away but stopped at my words. “Um…”

I shook my head. “Tell Sam we’re going on a keg run. We’ll be back in a bit.”

“Okay. Yeah.” She frowned at Logan, but he wasn’t looking at her.

Everything I’d said earlier to Sam was still weighing on my mind. Sebastian was a problem. I needed my brother with me to deal with Sebastian, and Logan was half himself right now. He didn’t fight me, falling in line with me. Both of us weaved our way through the groups. As we got to the parking lot, some people yelled out our names. It was like high school again. Logan and I ignored them and went to my Escalade.

As we started to climb inside, a truck braked right next to us, and a window rolled down.

“Hey!”

Nate was grinning at us. He had on a dress shirt with the top unbuttoned, and his hair was spiked up.

Logan grunted out a short laugh. “You sure you left the fraternity, Nate? You’re only missing a crew sweatshirt for your neck. You’d be the image of Yale assholery.”

“Missed you too, Logan.” Nate rolled his eyes and gestured around the lot. “Let me park my baby, and I’ll hop in with you to wherever you’re going.”

I was about to decline, but he headed toward a parking spot. As he did, I glanced to Logan. “I’ll tell him—”

“Let him.” Logan shook his head, letting out a long sigh. He leaned back in his seat, his head falling to the backrest. “I’m the asshole. I’ll get my shit together. I know what you were going to do, and we’ll talk. I promise. I’ll let you know what’s going on, but you’re right. I know you want my head in the game.” He rolled his eyes. “I’ve been an asshole almost all year, but we have Seb-ass-tian to deal with. Monson will have the latest updates on him. We need to hear what he has to say before heading back to the reception.”

I was slightly relieved. “Thank you.”

“I know. I know. Trust me. I want nothing more than to pound Seb-ass-tian’s head in, and it’s game time.” He grinned at me. “You have no idea how boring senior year was. No one to fight. No one to deal with. It was all too easy. Maybe I got bored. Maybe that’s the problem.”

He laughed to himself as Nate climbed into the backseat.

Logan remarked, “Maybe I need a war to get all my demons out.”

“What?” Nate was reaching to shut the door, but he heard Logan’s last statement and froze. “Huh?”