“You promise?”
I nodded, feeling some of my unease lessening.
“Okay.” She sighed, raking a hand through her hair. She leaned back against Logan. “I suppose it’s for the best anyway. I wasn’t lying when I said this year is going to be hard. I’m even worried about finding time with you.”
Logan’s arm curled around her. “You can study at the house. We’ll stop partying there as much.” His eyes flicked to mine. “Classes and all.”
She groaned. “Yeah, maybe, but I’ll be at home tonight. I want to try to get a head start on things. See?” She pointed to herself. “Me getting ahead of my studies, totally believable.” She waved in the direction Nate had gone. “Him, not so much.” She pulled away from Logan and glanced at her phone. “I have lab in twenty minutes. I should grab something to eat, then jet over there.” She pecked Logan’s cheek before walking toward the food court. “I’ll see you guys later, and I gotta talk to Coach about quitting, so maybe I’ll see you at practice. Bye!”
We watched as she turned around and picked up her pace.
Logan said quietly, even though it was just the two of us, “If this spreads to Taylor, and Shaw hurts her.” He looked at me. His eyes darkened in a dangerous glint. He didn’t say anything more, but his threat hung in the air.
“Nothing will happen. We’ll find something.” We had to. “I promise.”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”
He’d been the one reassuring me not long ago. But I did what we did for our family.
“Nothing will happen.” I touched his arm. “I promise, Logan.”
Coach Langdon never got around to that meeting with Faith and me. Taylor was in his office by the time I got there, and he was distracted afterward. I didn’t know if it was because of her or something else, but it didn’t matter. Everyone finished stretching, and he lifted his whistle to his mouth.
He blew it and hollered, “Get running. Friday was a good race, but don’t start slacking now. Strattan, no holding back. You go as far as you want and as fast as you want.”
I looked to Faith, who was already scowling in my direction, and gave her a smug grin. Game on.
As soon as we started, I felt her breathing down my neck. I knew she’d gotten the memo. It wasn’t long till I pulled away, and after another half-mile, I never saw her again.
I did as Coach said.
I ran for two hours, and I ran hard. I felt my phone buzzing at one point. It was a text from Coach, asking where I was. I told him I was still running, and his only reply was that I needed to log my miles and time when I finished. Everyone else was done and had gone home.
I’d gotten a ride with Mason that morning, and he texted too, asking if I wanted a lift home with him. My reply was the same to him as Coach, but I added that I was just going to run home. I felt it in me. I hadn’t run all weekend, and it showed.
I did just under twenty miles in two hours, ten minutes, and twenty-three seconds.
I had already showered and was sitting at the kitchen table to study when Mason came home. He walked over, kissing my forehead. “How was your day?”
“Good.” I’d tell him later about Faith and my concerns. “How was your day?”
He looked tired, with bags under his eyes, but he was freshly showered. He had changed from the clothes he wore this morning into a Cain University black blazer. I pulled my attention away from the way it fit over his shoulders. My mouth watered, but I needed to eat, not engage in even more physical activity.
He grabbed a sports drink from the fridge and an apple, then sat next to me. “It was fine. I had to officially meet with all of the coaching administration, and they just gave me a warning not to pull something like that again.”
“Like the press conference?”
He nodded. “And admitting that they knew about my charges this summer and didn’t do anything about it. Telling the press that wasn’t my decision to make.”
“I thought your head coach and Taylor’s dad were okay with the press conference.”
“They were, but they didn’t know I was going to admit to that part.”
“Oh.” I snagged some of his sports drink.
He frowned at me. “How far did you run tonight?”
“Farther than normal. I didn’t run this weekend. I had energy to burn.” I shrugged.
His eyes narrowed, darkening with suspicion. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing.”
“You’re lying to me. Stop.”
I pressed my lips together.
“Sam.” That one word was a warning from him. “I know you. I know you inside and out. I know you bare naked, and I know you to your soul. You’re lying through your teeth right now. What happened?”
I leaned back in my chair and told him my concerns.
He agreed with Logan, saying, “We’ll find something. Don’t worry about her or your coach. She got put on the back burner, but I can still call my dad if you want.”
“Yeah.” Maybe that was the best course of action finally. Forget my mother, just for them to go to James? But there was a nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach. I didn’t know what it was about, why it was there. It just wouldn’t go away since this morning.
I reached for his sports drink again, and he just pushed it in front of me instead. He got up and got a new one for himself. “My mom called earlier.”
“About dinner?”
“You knew?”
I explained that part too. “I was with Logan.”
“And he doesn’t want Taylor involved?”
I nodded.
“That’s smart of him, but she wants to meet tonight.”
“Not tonight.” Thirty minutes of sleep, an adrenaline-packed day, and twenty miles later, the exhaustion was going to hit me any moment. I was just waiting for it.
He ran a hand down my back. “We could handle this without you. Are your parents still in town?”
I shook my head. Malinda had texted Sunday morning to say they were heading home, and Garrett told me at the game they were leaving last night. I knew both were gone. “Just your mom.”
“You don’t have to deal with her, you know. Logan and I can go.”
“I want to.” I needed to. Everyone else was done and dealt with. There was no one else to handle in the family. I even had closure with Analise. Helen was the last one.
“Okay.” He ran a hand down my back again before standing up again. “Have you eaten yet?”
I gave him a rueful look. He already knew the answer to that.
“I’m taking that as a no.” He grinned at me and grabbed his phone. “Let me call Helen and move dinner to tomorrow night, then I’ll make some food.”
Helen argued, but accepted the dinner date delay. We were supposed to go to her hotel suite, and she was having it catered in. As soon as I heard that, my stomach dropped. If Helen was pursuing a private venue like that, it meant she wanted to talk about real business. I wasn’t looking forward to it.
After that, Mason opened the fridge and found it was almost empty. There was nothing to cook. My stomach was growling and so was his, so he suggested going to get food instead. I went with him, and fifteen minutes later, he pulled into the bar where Taylor used to work.
“They do pick-up here?”
“Nate texted when we were leaving. He said to stop in. He’s picking up a late shift.”
“I’m going to get sleepy soon.”
He took my hand in his. “I’ll carry you home.”
I gazed at him a moment.
He was dangerous at times. He was loving all the time. And he was all mine.
He was literally my other half.
“I love you,” I breathed.
His eyes grew warm, and the faintest grin back was my reward. “I love you, too.”
When we got out, he took my hand in his and we walked into the little pub. It wasn’t long before people realized Mason Kade was in their presence. More and more attention came our way. I leaned into him as he waved to Nate behind the bar.
“Hey, guys.” Nate came to our booth in the corner a moment later and slid in next to me. He leaned his elbows on the table. “Change of plans. I told you the sister wouldn’t respond to me. Well, she’s here.”