“Fuck yeah.” She scowled, but it wasn’t meant for me. “That asshole Sebastian needs to get fingered by some big-ass convict. It sounds like he’s playing mind games. Meeting you at the post office or wherever it was. You’re screwed either way. Don’t tell Mason, and it’s a lie between you two, or tell Mason and worry that he’ll go bonkers and do something to ruin his career. This dickhead isn’t normal from what I’ve been hearing. Is that what happened with Logan?” She gestured to her face. “All his bruises? He got in a fight. That Sebastian guy was in the parking lot, too, right? He was bruised up.”

“Yeah, I’m assuming, but I haven’t had time to talk to either Mason or Logan about it.”

Just then, a collective cheer sounded from the house.

Heather looked back over and ground out her second cigarette. “Well, he’s got buddies in there. Whatever happened, I’m guessing it was a win for our team.”

She was right.

Hearing those words helped. My chest felt a little lighter. My shoulders lifted again. They weren’t being pressed down by an invisible weight. Having Heather here and hearing her logic gave me new strength.

This was right. Whatever Logan and I were doing was the right thing to do. We were both protecting Mason in our own way.

“Thank you for coming to visit.”

Heather looked over at me, and she softened. Her eyes opened wider, and some tears pooled there on top of her bottom eyelids. One corner of her mouth lifted as she held out her arm for me. “Aw, Sam. It was the first home game. I had to get up here to support you guys. Now, come here, and hug me again. I’m such a damn sobbing wreck with you. You make me feel all girlie and shit.”

I laughed, but I went over and gave her another hug.

It felt damn good.

“Woohoo, my friends, where are you?” Summer’s voice came from the door. She was peering out into the backyard with her eyebrows scrunched together. “I don’t see anything. Is anyone out there?”

Heather called back, “Yep. Walk straight and go right. We’re thirty yards from you.”

“Oh. Good.” She went down the steps and followed Heather’s directions exactly. She saw us right away and dropped down to the empty seat. “I need to hide out. Ruby is insisting I’m her strip beer-pong partner.” She shuddered. “No, thank you, Mrs. Blaze. And he’s very drunk and hanging all over me.”

“Blaze was?”

She nodded to me. “I’m pretty sure our RA hates us now—or hates me.”

I scratched the side of my face. “But she asked you to be her partner?”

“I’m pretty sure she’s the type who brings her friends close but her enemies closer. Yep, that’s her. And now we know for sure, she’s completely in love with Blaze, who is completely in love with me and Logan. I’m pretty sure he asked Logan for my digits tonight.”

Heather barked out a laugh. “Typical dude. He could ask the RA, who probably has your number, but he didn’t. He went to the other guy, also claiming bro code at the same time.”

Summer leaned back and snapped her fingers in Heather’s direction. “Exactly. Thank you. I’m not the only one who gets the inner workings of guys.”

“Oh, no. Dudes can be catty, but it won’t faze Logan. He won’t even think about it, Blaze asking for your number. Don’t worry.”

Summer grew quiet.

Oh, damn. I felt a Heather moment. She was going to call out the truth, right here and right now.

Heather drawled, “If you’ve got the hots for Kade—and I’m talking about Logan—you can be reassured.” She turned to me as she said her next part, “Yes, I’ll probably be shagging him tonight, but it’s done. After tomorrow, I’m going to fix things with my current guy.”

“Oh.” Summer’s mouth was pressed in a flat line. Her hands sank into the chair’s armrests before she forced her shoulders to drop back down. “You know, I can’t blame you.”

Feeling influenced by the sharing bug, I dropped my own bomb on both of them. “Not that Logan is exclusive unless he’s in a relationship, but he has been spending time with a redhead.”

Boom. I lifted my hands in the air. The bomb exploded. There it was.

Neither girl seemed fazed.

I slumped back down, my hands still in the air. “I felt like sharing that, even though I can see both of you don’t seem to care.”

Heather pulled out a third cigarette. “Just for that, I’m going to ride him really hard tonight.”

My hands moved back in and fell to my lap.

The bomb just imploded.

The alcohol had me buzzing.

When we went back inside, I curled up on Mason’s lap. He held me through the rest of the night as our whole group took over the basement. Kitty, Nina, and some of the girls from the floor danced in the corner, sneaking glances at the guys. Logan was the reigning champion of the pool table. When he wasn’t aiming for a shot, he was flirting with Heather. Summer joined their conversation as well, which meant Blaze and some of his friends joined, too. The rest of the room was filled with Mason’s football teammates. They were like him, seemingly content to lounge around, play pool, talk, or watch ESPN on the television, even though there was no sound because of the music blaring from the speakers.

After so many shots that Logan kept bringing me, I was relieved when Mason announced he was taking his drunk girlfriend home.