Adam’s jaw clenched again. “We voted before. You have to choose.”
“How did this come about?”
“Miranda told us. She explained everything, that Logan set her up and he did it because Mason had him do it. Miranda’s one of ours and one of yours came after her. We can’t condone that. You have to pick.”
Well. When it was put like that. I shrugged. “See you later then.”
Emily started laughing. Adam’s glare turned into a scowl. He asked, “That’s it?”
“Yeah.”
“I love it.” She came over and clapped me on the shoulder. “Good for you, Sam.”
“We go to your school, Sam. You need friends there.”
“No,” I spoke to Adam. “I don’t. I didn’t have friends there before. Remember those days? When you pretended to be my friend. When my boyfriend cheated on me and everyone turned against me. Remember that?”
“This was too much.” He pointed at Mason, who had remained silent the entire time. I glanced at him and saw that he was biding his time. I felt his unrest then. He was going to attack soon. The more Adam said, the more Mason was going to hurt him. I held my breath. I hoped it was verbal and not physical.
Adam continued, “They might throw good parties, but they hurt people. They hurt Miranda. I don’t know why he went after her, but he did. This has to stop. If you pick them, Sam, you better know what you’re picking.”
The warning in his tone made me pause. I narrowed my eyes. “What are you talking about?”
“It’s us or them.” There was a hidden meaning in his eyes. I saw it. Then he said, “You’ll have no one from our school. No one.”
He meant Becky. “You would do that?”
He glanced over. Becky and Rex had arrived. When she saw us, her eyes widened. She grabbed Rex’s hand, but they didn’t come over. It was already done. I rounded back to him. “What did you do?”
“I told her the truth. I told her how they hurt us and they’re going to hurt you too.”
I sucked in my breath. “You didn’t.”
Mason shifted behind me. Adam’s gaze transferred to his as he said, “You think the Kades are the only ones who can lie and manipulate? That’s what you did, isn’t it?” He wasn’t talking to me anymore. “You go a step further. You sicced your brother on a friend of mine. You made us all hate her, humiliate her.”
Mason’s hand came to my elbow. He pulled me behind him. I closed my eyes. This was it now. Then I heard his voice, it was soft at first, “You think that’s what I did?”
“Yes.” Adam’s voice was rough. He was on edge. “Logan seduced her. He preyed on her, and then he dumped her. You knew what that would do. You did that to a girl who’s done nothing to you.” He paused. I felt his attention on me. “I can’t imagine what you would do to Samantha.”
“You think I’ll hurt her.”
“Yes.” Adam growled. “You already have.”
Mason started to laugh. “You’re the one hurting her. You just threatened her that you would take her friends away.” He gestured to Becky, who jumped like he had slapped her, across the room. “No doubt she’s waiting for the signal if she should cut Sam off or not. That’s from you.”
“You did worse to Miranda.”
“No. I didn’t lie to her. Logan gave her a drink. That’s all he did. He gave her one f**king drink. Your leader had her hand wrapped around his dick within ten minutes.” Mason gave him a feral grin. “I bet she’s never told anyone that part. There was no seduction. There were no pretty words shared. She screwed him and sucked him before she decided to dump this guy.” He gestured to Peter, who was pale in the face. Mason continued, his voice low and controlled, “Your friends threw her out. Your friends laughed at her when Logan dumped her. I didn’t do anything, other than tell my brother to protect Sam.”
He was lying. Adam knew it. I knew it, but he was convincing. Emily, Mark, and Peter were enraptured by him. I knew the real reason he wanted Miranda taken down, but he was right about one thing. Miranda’s friends jumped on her. That was their choice. They could’ve stuck with her, but they didn’t. That was done because of Miranda herself. She passed judgment on them so they judged her back. Mason didn’t control that. He knew it was there so he used it, but that was all. The rest, about Logan, about his feelings for me, no one else seemed to know about that part of the situation. They didn’t need to either. That was between us to deal with.
Miranda and Amelia came back at that moment. Miranda’s hair was back in place. She wore a cardigan over her dress. It was buttoned so no one could tell she’d been in a fight. As she approached the group, a forced smile was on her face. When she saw that Mason had been talking, her smile grew more forced. She flicked her hair back and asked, “What’s going on here?”
Peter started for her at the same time Adam opened his mouth, ready to say something.
“I was telling them about when you sucked my brother.” Mason beat both of them to it and they froze.
Miranda did too. Her chest moved as she took a silent breath and fear entered her eyes. It was there for one second, but as she blinked, it was gone.
She was scared of Mason. I frowned. What did that mean? Had she not said anything to Logan?
“You were what?” A mask plastered over her, making her look calm and collected. Her hand twitched at her side, though.