I forced myself not to respond. Not yet.

Nate needed time to get to the car.

Sebastian moved closer, cocking his head to the side. “Or are you just deaf? You didn’t hear me? Should I repeat myself?”

I still waited. If I started now, I didn’t know how long I could stall. Better to hold off before fully engaging. Again. Mason would be so damn proud.

“Hello.” He lifted his hand. He started to snap his fingers.

Okay.

My patience just ran out.

I caught his hand right before he could snap his fingers once more, and I narrowed my eyes. “Think twice before raising your hand to me.”

His eyes went wide. He was startled by how fast I moved, and so were his buddies. I had one second before they got over it, so I shoved his hand back, hard enough that he stumbled back a couple of steps, too. I changed, my entire demeanor forming the same old cocky Logan Kade.

I grinned, winking at him. “Careful, Sebastian. I’ll snap back if you’re going to roll that way.”

“What?”

My warning was filled with violence. He reacted to the threat of it, but my tone was light and almost flirting. The douche had no clue who the fuck I was. He was off balance. I could go in, sweep him back up, and could control the conversation instead.

I did as I said, “You’ve come to welcome me. Thank you.” I glanced around the growing crowd. “You’re one kind motherfucker if you’ve personally welcomed everyone here.”

Sebastian’s face went from confused to scowling. His eyebrows locked together. “What are you doing here, Kade?” He made a point of looking around. “Is your bitch hiding in the shadows?”

I shook my head, tsking him. “Come on, Sebastian. You left the gate wide open with that one. I have so many comebacks. ‘Don’t talk about your mama like that.’ ‘Oh, but she’s not my bitch. She’s yours. Thanks for loaning her to me.’ Or even the typical, ‘I know you’re angry about your girlfriend jerking me off, but damn, you don’t have to be petty about it.’” I drawled, “There are so many of them. I’ll just leave all of them alone and come back with a pretty simple one.”

I stared him down, letting the amusement fade away. He could see that I was serious. I’d waited long enough for Nate. It was time to get down to business.

I ended with, “You’re the only bitch I see here.”

It was a simple insult, but it worked. His anger went up a notch. It had been there, simmering with my light jabs, but it was like I’d hit him with a straight-up uppercut.

I showed him my teeth. My smile didn’t reach my eyes. “Come back at me now, bitch.”

A second uppercut. Right there. Right to the face.

The crowd was deathly silent. I had a feeling no one insulted Sebastian—at least to his face. The ass needed to really learn who the Kades were.

He kept quiet. Ah, he was thinking. He was doing that thing that Mason liked to do. I’d pushed him, but he was rallying back. He wanted to get his feet on the ground and take control of the confrontation.

I wasn’t going to let him do that, so I said, “You asked about my bitch before, but seriously, where’s yours? I’d like to meet your girlfriend.”

When he didn’t respond, I looked around, craning my neck. “I don’t see any chick who’s worried about you. What does she look like? Wait.” My hands went up, and I moved back a step. “Do you not have a girlfriend?” I moved a second step back.

Sebastian frowned. He noticed my retreat, but he didn’t get it. I wasn’t backing down. I was forcing Blaze and his pals to surround me. I wanted to draw Sebastian farther into this circle, farther away from his A-holes.

He stepped forward.

It was working.

I waited. He’d catch on if I took a third step backward. Blaze was to my right. His other friend, who had the pony keg, was on my left.

I asked Blaze, “Does Sebastian have a girlfriend?”

Blaze’s eyes lit up. He didn’t want to get drawn into this. Too late. I just pulled him in. That was the entire purpose of this venture. Sebastian thought he controlled everyone. He was ill-informed. I just needed to show him that he didn’t and that meant forcing people to stand against him.

Sebastian looked at him. I was willing to bet good money that he had no idea who Blaze or his group of friends were. In fact, I was willing to bet even better money that Sebastian didn’t know half the people at this party.

One match, one person—that was all it took to start a fire, so here I was. I was the fucking first spark.

Blaze couldn’t go against what he’d already proclaimed at his party. There were witnesses, and like he’d said, his friend was Sam’s RA.

Girls didn’t respect cowards.

If Blaze backed down, he’d be a coward.

Granted, this was plan B, and yes, I hadn’t thought of it until Blaze sauntered up to me at this party, but as agendas went, this was an even better one than my original idea. The crumbs were tossed on the ground.

I asked Sebastian, “Are you good friends with Blaze here?”

Blaze did a double take as I’d correctly said his name, but he looked back at Sebastian.

Sebastian was studying him, scratching at his jaw. “I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure.” He glared at Blaze. “Who are you?”

“Uh…” Blaze shifted on his feet.

Yep, the kid didn’t do confrontations well.