Fallen Fourth Down (Fallen Crest #4) (22 page)

I shook my head. “Nope, but I have a shift at Manny’s.”

“You can take the car for your shift, and I’ll make Derek drive me there after practice.”

“Okay.” I headed over and waved to Mark. “See you later.”

Instead of answering me, Mark went to the driver’s side of his car and opened the door. He didn’t get inside, he just stood there. After another moment, he glanced back, and stuck his butt out a little more. Logan winked at me, then went and smacked him on the ass. The two laughed, but didn’t say anything. When Logan got inside his Escalade, I shook my head. “You two are very weird. Do I need to be worried you might be my future brother-in-law? Or future stepbrother-in-law? Whatever. That’s so messed up.”

Pulling out to the street, he leaned out his window and gave Mark the middle finger. Mark’s car had pulled away, going the opposite direction, but a second later, we saw him stick his middle finger up as well. He held it high as he went up a hill and over.

I was done trying to figure them out.

Logan flashed me a grin. “I love your other future stepbrother.”

“I’m sure you do.”

He laughed and yawned. “Are you nervous?”

“For?”

“Sam.”

I sighed. “Yeah.” The state meet was in two days. In two mornings, I would be driving there instead of school. I wanted to throw up.

“I’m going.”

“What?”

“I want to be there. It’s a big deal, right?”

“I mean, I already have a scholarship. I have a back-up if I don’t get one from Cain.”

“Yeah, but the Cain U scout is going to be there.” He’d been laughing seconds ago. Now he was so serious. “That’s a big deal, Sam. Why are you downplaying it?”

My stomach decided it didn’t like my breakfast. I pressed a hand there, trying to soothe my nerves. “Because if I don’t get it, I don’t know what I’m going to do.” The Escalade rolled to a stop at a light, and I looked over. Logan met my gaze. His seriousness wasn’t faked. It was real. He was thinking about me, worried about me, and I could see the support from him. He was right there, seeing how scared I was. I murmured, “I have to get a scholarship to go there. If I don’t…”

“You will.” He reached over and took my hand. The light turned green and we started forward. Logan squeezed my hand. “I’ll be there for the whole thing. Whatever you need, you tell me. I’ll be your running bitch. I’ll give you a radio and you can call me any moment. I’ll come running. I’ll do whatever. If you want an inspirational poem, call me Logan Angelou. If you want music to warm you up, I’m the new Beastie Boy. Whatever you want.”

“Thanks Logan.” The ball of tension was still there, but I had to admit it had lessened by the time we got to school. It wasn’t until then that he let go of my hand.

MASON

The conversation with Nate had been put off long enough, so I headed to his fraternity house. I knew it might end ugly, but I was done with being patient. We had made a deal going into college. I was about football and school. He was about networking and branching out. That was fine with me as long as he didn’t assume I would go along for the ride. I was tired of social drama. I was tired of fighting. I was tired of worrying about my girlfriend getting hurt. My intention with college was to keep my head down and to keep moving forward. Then he fucked it up. He wanted me to be friends with his friends. No. That wasn’t the deal. After he brought Marissa to that lunch, I knew it was Nate’s way of giving me the middle finger. He declared his side in that one move, and it wasn’t with me.

The street was full of cars when I got to the house. As I found a spot and headed towards the house, I heard cheering from the backyard. Rounding the side of the house, I saw a large crowd had formed behind it.

A loud horn sounded and the crowd erupted in cheers. They flung their fists in the air. A few guys dumped their cups over their head, drenching themselves in beer. They let out a primal sounding cry as they shook their heads in a frenzy.

“Ladies…and the rest of you ladies,” a voice boomed through a microphone, “we are here for the Rival Revelry Rally because we are going to what?”

The arms shot up in the air again and a collective sound went out, “Revel!”

“That’s right, folks and Greek brothers! We may be in rival houses, but under the system, under the national blanket of our fellow houses, we are all brothers at heart. Am I right?”

I started through the crowd. As I did, I could see a guy standing on a platform set above the crowd. With his last question, he held the microphone to the crowd, and they yelled back, “No!”

He brought the microphone back and asked again, smirking, “What was that?”

“No. No. No,” the crowd chanted.

“No what?”

“No to brothers!” The crowd yelled out their responses at different moments, but the guy next to me grumbled, “I’m not saying I’m a brother to those Alpha Omega’s. No fucking way. Is Dusty nuts?”

His friend elbowed him in the side. “Just go with him. You know he’s leading to something big.”

“No way.”

Dusty gripped the microphone, bringing to his mouth once again. “All right, ladies and gents. If you’re not Greek brothers at heart, then what are you?”

“RIVALS!”

The sound was loud and yelled with such force, the air switched. It’d been light and fun, but a deeper feeling came over the group. It was intense. When I glimpsed the fierce determination in a couple of the guys’ faces, I knew there was a history between Nate’s fraternity and this other one.

“YOU’RE RIGHT! WE’RE RIVALS AND WE’RE GOING TO REVEL AND WE’RE GOING TO RALLY TONIGHT. AREN’T WE?” Dusty shouted into his microphone.

“HELL YEAH, WE ARE!”

A chant started, “RIVAL. REVEL. RALLY. RIVAL. REVEL. RALLY.” It kept going, but I ignored it, skimming the crowd. I saw Nate on the back porch and started for him.

“AND GO! FIGHT, YOU MOTHERFUCKERS!” A whistle sounded, and the cheering intensified. People began pounding their feet. I turned back, startled at the ferocity that had come over everyone, and saw two guys had started to circle each other below the platform. One threw a punch and the other countered.

The two houses kept going crazy.

They were having their own boxing match. Stepping around the last group, I covered the two steps to the patio. Nate had seen me. He was standing in a corner, tucked in the back with his brothers. He made no move to meet me. With lawn chairs between us, a couch, plus his friends, I couldn’t get any closer. I lifted my hands up in a questioning gesture. His chest lifted, fell back down, and a reluctant expression came over him. He said something to the guy closest to him. They moved and he was able to get out to me. As he did, I stepped back. We didn’t say a word as he led the way inside. We didn’t go to a room. He went to the front of the house. After the door shut behind us, a loud cry came from the back of the house.

I grinned. “You guys volunteer to go in the ring?”

Nate rolled his eyes, shaking his head. “No. It depends on the match. This one went to the best fighter in the house. When we fight each other, you’re picked if you lose at a different competition. All part of hazing.”

He sat on a chair, and I leaned against the railing. “You guys are still hazing?”

“Yep. It’s pretty much all year.”

“I see.” I didn’t ask how it had been for him. There were red marks on his neck. A couple bruises had appeared over his cheek, and his eye was swollen. I ran a hand over my hair and gestured to his. “They made you cut your hair?”

“Yeah.” He grimaced.

It was short, almost as short as mine. Nate kept his black hair longer than mine, enough so he could spike it when he wanted the badass look. From his reaction, I was guessing the haircut hadn’t been his choice.

“Look, I’m sorry I brought Marissa to the lunch,” he said abruptly. Kicking out his leg, he rested it on the railing a few feet from me. His chin lowered to his chest, and he looked straight ahead. The corners of mouth were strained. “I fucked up. Again. I was pissed at you about Park. I like him. He’s a big fucking deal with my fraternity, and this is important to me.”

“What’s important to you?”

“This.” He gestured around him. “All of this and you’re fucking with it.”

“How?”

“Because.” His feet kicked off the railing and he jerked forward. His elbows slammed down onto his knees, but he still didn’t look at me. “You just are. I mean, would it kill you to be friends with Park? He’s not a bad guy.”

“To you.”

“What?” A wary look filtered over his features.

“He’s not a bad guy to you.”

“What does that mean?”

“He doesn’t give a shit about me. He gives a shit about what I can give him. I’m not stupid. He was good friends with a teammate last year. That teammate got injured and couldn’t play on the team anymore. Guess what happened?”

Nate shook his head. “No. No way. Park said he had nothing to do with it. He said it was preposterous that the guy even came to him.” He looked up, a cloud of denial and disbelief hanging over him. “Park’s got connections, but for him to expect him to do that? He’s not god. He can’t work miracles.”

“The scholarship was given to him by Park’s dad.”

As I said that, I waited. Nate’s eyes narrowed, but he started shaking his head. “No. No way. I mean, that’s an ass move.”

“Exactly.”

He stood slowly, his eyebrows bunched together, but he kept shaking his head. “I can’t believe that. I mean, why wouldn’t he help them? That just makes Park look like an ass. There’s more to it. There’s gotta be.”

Did it matter?
I shook my head. “I’m not here to convince you the guy is an asshole. I’m here to tell you that I don’t have to be friends with him. I told you that to give you a clue that this guy doesn’t walk on gold-rimmed clouds. He’s just a guy and you’re here, pissed at me, your best friend, because I’m not friends with him. Since when do we hold each other to friendship contracts? You’ve never had to be friends with mine. Shit. Half the time you and Logan don’t get along. I’m not forcing my brother down your throat. That’s on you. If you don’t like him, you don’t like him.”

He was still fighting what I was saying. A small amount of irritation built in me. I didn’t need to plead my case. Nate was breaking the deal we made. I was pleading my side as a consideration to him, to our friendship, but this was beginning to piss me off. My eyes narrowed.

“Fuck it.” I stood from the railing. “I don’t have to be friends with your friends. That’s the bottom fucking line. If that’s an issue with you, we’re done as friends. I won’t be controlled and manipulated. It’s an insult every goddamn time your buddy tries to manipulate me. I’ve held back. I’ve held back a lot, but if he keeps it up, that’s it. My time of not fighting is over. It’ll be game on after that.”

Nate’s lips curved up in a snarl. “Why are you like this? Why can’t you just be friends—”

“Because I won’t be fucking used or controlled.” I got in his face, stepping close. “I had enough of that crap growing up with my parents. No more. After my dad screwed our family, I vowed to be done with these games. Park,” I tapped the side of Nate’s head, “got in there. This isn’t you. You kept screwing Parker when I wanted a freeze-out. I didn’t push, and that was for someone’s safety. That was agreed upon by all the guys, but you broke it. Even then I never gave you this fucking ultimatum.”

“No, Mason.” Nate backed up. He kept shaking his head. The cloud of denial was a fully enclosed wall. It slammed down between us, and when he took another step back, I knew I couldn’t break through it. He was gone. Park Seb
ass
tian had taken my best friend from me. “This is insane. I’m just asking you to be friendly with him. That’s all.”

My jaw clenched, and I felt as if a nerve had been hit one too many times. “If that’s all you think it is, he’s brainwashed you a lot more than I realized.” It was pointless trying to talk to him. I needed to move onto the second matter at hand. “What’s up with you and Marissa?”

“What?”

“Marissa. What are you doing with her?”

“Nothing. Why?” He had a hand on the side of his face, as if he was still pondering something, but it fell back down to his side. His head straightened and he focused on me more clearly. “Don’t tell me you’re interested in her.”

“No, but she’s causing problems for me and Sam. I don’t want to deal with her again. Keep her away from me.”

A spark of anger lit up his face, and his mouth tightened. “So you’re giving me orders? I thought that’s what you said Park was doing. He can’t, but you can?”

My eyes were almost slits. The ball of anger spread, moving up from my stomach. It was in my chest, but it was still rising. “I know you’re friendly with her. You took her as a date to that dinner. I don’t know what her agenda is with me, but I know she’s got one.
If
you see her,” I emphasized that word, “tell her to stay away from me. It’s never going to happen. The sooner she accepts that, the sooner she can move on and maybe fuck you.”

My own anger mirrored his features. His eyes snapped to attention and his shoulders shifted back, readying for a fight. Nate moved closer to me this time. “Excuse me?” He lowered his voice.

So did I. “You heard me.”

I was waiting. The crowd was cheering from the backyard, but we were about to have our own fight in the front. There was no announcer, no microphone, no audience for us. Nate had gone into that world where he needed those things. Attention. Power. Control. That’s what he wanted. I didn’t need any of it. His eyes shifted to the left and I knew he was going to throw a punch.

His arm lifted. So did mine. I blocked his right arm with my left, then reared back with my own right and let it go. My fist slammed into his face. It happened, as if in slow motion. We were standing so close together. Neither of us stepped back, but as I made contact with his face, I could see his skin rippling from the force of my hit.

He dropped. His body went to the ground, and at that same moment, another burst of cheers went up from behind the house. I knelt, checked to make sure he was breathing. He was. I’d only knocked him out. I turned, stepped over him, and left.

Now I knew. That friendship was over.

Fucking hell.

*

SAMANTHA

It was morning.

Every tendon in my body was stretched tight. I had perpetual butterflies in my stomach. It felt like they were on speed, whipping back and forth. When the first gun sounded, it was our alert to head for the starting lines. As I did, my legs were almost numb. I couldn’t feel them, just the nerves inside me. I looked to the sidelines.

David, Malinda, Mark, Logan, and Heather all waved back at me. Mason had a game that afternoon. He couldn’t make it, but he had called last night and this morning. There’d been ten text messages from him the last time I checked my phone. All were filled with good lucks and reassurance that everything would work out no matter what. It was easy for him to say; he was already at Cain University.

I was being irrational. He was there. I wasn’t. I needed to get there. It was on me. This was my job.

People were yelling out good luck to me. I heard my name being cheered, but it all faded. My eyes were trained on the referee holding his hand in the air. I waited. Everyone waited, and the more I focused on him, the more my nerves faded away.

The horn sounded, and he dropped his arm in a dramatic motion.

We were off.

The front of the group started off. I had been placed in the middle. It never took long for the groups to scatter. I waited again. Because of the press from the other runners, I couldn’t start out at my normal pace. I was itching to go, though. It was taking everything in me to keep from veering to the edge of the crowd and putting distance between me and them, but some girls spread out, and it took only a few more paces before I was able to stretch my legs.