“Are you lost?” I called as I sat up from Mason’s chest.
His arms remained around me, but they moved to my legs. He looked over to see who I was addressing. Everyone did, and Logan was the first to snort.
“They gotta be lost,” he added, and with one lithe jump, he was over the veranda’s fence and landing right in front of them.
Their eyes rounded, but Faith’s jaw firmed. “We’re not lost.” Her hand tightened around her drink.
“This is a private party.” Logan folded his arms over his chest. “Next time we’ll leave signs up to alert everyone that you’re not welcome, but if you want to save time, just know there’s always a disclaimer to our parties.” He placed his hand to the side of his mouth and pretended to whisper, “You’re not invited.” He shot Raelynn a look. “You either.”
“You don’t have to be rude.”
“On the contrary, what are you doing here? I think that makes you the rude ones.”
Faith started laughing. She turned to find me. “I’ve heard stories about your guard dogs. Is this it? I get a vague and sarcastic threat?” She looked Logan up and down, wrinkling her nose. “I gotta say, you’re underperforming.”
I almost laughed. Almost. I held it in and got comfortable against Mason’s chest once again. The whole veranda seemed to share my thoughts. Taylor was shaking her head, grinning. Nate too. The other guys just watched. Logan wasn’t one to ignore when a gauntlet was thrown down.
“Say what?” He pretended to wind his arm up, his hand ending cupped behind his ear. Pretending to clean his ear out with a knuckle, he shook his head. “What was that I just heard? Did you say I ‘underperformed’?” He twisted back to us. “Mase.”
“Yeah?” Mason sat up again, but he held me in place so I wouldn’t fall.
Faith and Raelynn looked as well. Faith’s eyes caught mine and lingered. I saw a quick flash of emotion, something dark, but it was gone as soon as it appeared.
“All the chicks I’ve been with, have any of them said I ‘underperformed’?” Logan asked.
“Watch where you’re going with this,” Taylor warned, but she hadn’t moved from her relaxed position on the bench. Her eyes were alert.
Logan pointed at her without looking. “See? Right there. That’s one satisfied girlfriend. I’ve never underperformed.” He looked Faith up and down again, exaggerating this time. “Though I can’t say the same for you. Word through the cross-country grapevine is you’ve been underperforming quite a bit this week.” His eyes narrowed. “You thought you could keep up . . .” His eyes glanced to me, then back to her.
I sat up slowly.
Mason’s arms loosened around me again.
Faith stiffened. “It was a learning curve. I know better now.”
“You’re right. You know how much ass Sam can kick, and she kicked yours.” Logan whistled under his breath. “She kicked it all up and down an entire second route.”
“Like I said,” Faith hissed. “I know better now.”
I frowned and called, “What does that mean?”
Faith found me again. That same dark emotion appeared before it vanished. “What?” Her tone was frozen.
“You ‘know better now.’ What does that mean?”
“It means I know how much I have to train.” Her smile turned icy. “Because I’m going to beat you. I should thank you.”
That was a bait.
I wasn’t going to get hooked.
“I’ve never been challenged before,” she said, her eyes bored.
Raelynn snapped around to look at her friend.
“It’s about time it happened.” Faith either didn’t notice her friend’s reaction, or she ignored it. She moved closer, so I was almost staring down at her. “You’re going to make me a better runner, but don’t get confused. I will beat you. I win. That’s what I do.”
“You really think like that?” That wasn’t what bothered me. I moved to stand by the stairs, and crossed my arms over my chest. “What happens when you don’t get your way? What do you do if you can’t fulfill what must happen in your mind?”
She rolled her eyes. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m going to beat you.” I already had. “I will continue to beat you. No matter how hard you train, how fast you can go, I will always be faster. What are you going to do when you’re forced to accept the fact that I’m better than you?”
She wasn’t laughing anymore. There were no scoffs or cocky attitude. She glared right at me, and that dark emotion showed again. This time, it stuck. I identified it now.
Jealousy.
That was when I knew. She knew I was better. She knew she couldn’t beat me.
“Are you going to physically hurt me?” I asked.
I waited to see surprise at the idea of it. There was nothing. That told me one thing: she’d already been thinking about it.
“No.” I shook my head. “You’re not going to take running away from me.” My tone was curt, and I felt shivers down my spine. They weren’t there because of her, or what she might do. They were there because of me.
I wasn’t sure I wanted to know how far I would go to keep the one thing that had saved me.
Running saved my life.
She scoffed now, but saw my darkness too. And she blinked. I heard a twinge of caution in her voice. “Stop trying to claim I’m going to hurt you. You did it earlier, saying I was going to hurt your friend—”
Taylor surged to her feet, coming to stand beside me. She folded her arms.
Faith wavered; her voice hitched as she finished. “I had no plans of doing that, and I have no plans to hurt you either.”
“Here’s the rule.”
Faith looked at me, waiting.
“You hurt us. We hurt you. What you dish out comes back at you.”
Her lips pressed together, and her thin shoulders lifted up in a breath. She didn’t reply, but I thought I saw a slight edge of fear spark in her eyes.
Raelynn broke the brief silence with a mocking laugh. “Why do you think—”
“Shut up, Rae.” Faith grabbed her arm. “Let’s go.” She glared at Taylor and me, then swept her eyes to Logan. She spoke through gritted teeth. “We’re not welcome here.”
They left, and Logan waited two seconds before bursting out, “I either wet my pants, or I had the quickest release ever.” He waved his hands in a flourish, indicating us. “Well done, and you two together are fucking hot.” His hands fell to the front of his pants. “I’m still hard. Honey?” He winked at Taylor. “Quickie?”
She groaned, but her face was already flushing. “You’re the most romantic boyfriend ever. How have you stayed single all this time?”
Logan hopped up the steps and grabbed her hand. “With tenacity and battering rams. Those bitches try to break down my barriers, but fuck no. I got SWAT covering me. No bitch could shatter my protest line.”
She laughed as he swept her inside. The door shut before we heard her retort.
“Sam.” Matteo raised his beer to me. “I got new respect for you.”
He wandered down to the bonfire, followed by the rest of the guys who had been on the veranda with us. They nodded to me as well, and I felt an arm encircle my waist. I closed my eyes, feeling Mason’s hard body pressed up against me.
“Hmmm.” I moaned, feeling his lips settle on my neck. “Is this your version of asking for a quickie?”
His other arm slid around me, anchoring me in place. His lips moved up my throat and landed at the corner of my mouth.
“It’d be longer than a quickie, and I have to give my brother props. That was hot.”
“That’s my goal in life. To embody my inner she-devil for your viewing pleasure.”
He pressed up against me. “Consider this my thank you ahead of time.”
I laughed and turned to wind my arms around his neck. I looked up into his eyes. There was a lot of shit going on with me, but him and me? We’d never be on shaky ground.