“Wait.” Logan jerked upright on the couch. “Am I the hanger-on? I had the idea, asshole! If it’s anyone, you’re the hanger-on.”
“Oh. Okay. That’s how it is.” Nate stood slowly. “I’m the one hanging around you? I remember when you were the scrawny little kid who’d steal Mason’s bag just to get attention from him.”
“Things changed.” Logan stood too. They grinned at each other, but there was a cockiness in the air. It started to feel heavy. Logan tilted his head, challenging Nate. “I grew up and became awesome.” He flicked his eyes up and down. “What happened to you?”
Mason’s hand paused on my back. “This is the stupidest mock-fight I’ve heard from you guys. You’re funnier when you pretend to be gay husbands.”
The tension that had started to fill the air eased. Nate and Logan went back to laughing, and then Logan put Nate in a headlock.
He tightened his arm. “Who’s the awesome one, huh? Who’s got the hashtags?”
“Shut up.” Nate got one of his arms between Logan’s arm and his neck, and he reversed the hold. But instead of pulling Logan in for a headlock, he shoved him back a few inches. He was laughing, breathing deep. “No one would ever assume you and Mason have one of those hated-sibling relationships.”
“My sister has one of those hated-sibling relationships,” Matteo suddenly said.
Everyone stopped and looked at him, sitting on one of the far couches. He wasn’t really looking at anyone. He seemed lost in his own thoughts.
When he noticed the looks, he blinked a few times. “Oh. I mean, her cats. One’s called Chloe, and the brother is Dingbat. Chloe hates Dingbat. Every time he runs through the house, she takes off after him. The girl cat kept beating him up, so my sister has to keep them separated, but Dingbat always gets loose. Every time he runs past her, she just says, ‘There goes Dingbat.’ It’s pretty funny. But yeah, those cats hate each other.”
The silence from everyone held for another beat before Logan snorted. “Speaking of dingbats . . .” He placed a hand on Nate’s shoulder. “I think I found your new nickname.”
Nate shoved his hand off. “You’re such a dick.” But he was laughing.
So was Logan, and he lunged for Nate again. As the two started to wrestle, I leaned back to rest against Mason’s chest. His arms curved around me, and he kissed the top of my shoulder.
“Did you want us to keep pushing the sister?” he murmured.
“No.” It was a dead-end. Nate said so. I watched Taylor as she moved out of Logan and Nate’s way. “Maybe instead of you guys asking my mom for that favor, I ask her.”
He tensed.
Logan and Nate stopped wrestling, and Logan looked over. “What’d you just say?”
“I said, maybe I should go ask my mom to ask James for that information.” Or . . . “I could also just ask James. He won’t try to hold anything against me. He wouldn’t dare.”
Logan snorted. “That’s why we didn’t go last weekend.” He gestured to me as he turned to Mason. “You told her our plan.”
“Yeah, and she didn’t like it.”
“That was the fight you had?”
“You didn’t tell him?” I asked Taylor.
She lifted a shoulder. “He doesn’t have to know everything.”
Logan twisted around to her. “Thanks for that.”
I felt Mason’s silent laughter behind me, a teasing caress. I felt his breath on my shoulder, and I was torn between paying attention to the conversation and pulling him into the bedroom and feeling his breath all over me instead.
His arms tightened, and he rested his chin on my shoulder. “Leave your girlfriend alone. That was between Sam and me, and she was respecting Sam’s privacy.”
Logan shot him a glare. “Sam’s my stepsister. There’s no privacy there.”
I grimaced. “Did you really just say that?”
He stopped, thought about it, and shook his head. “You all know what I mean.”
“I don’t.” Nate frowned at everyone. “I have no fucking clue what you guys are talking about, and I don’t like it.”
“Right there with you, man,” Matteo echoed.
“Yeah.” Nate looked at him, then back at us. “What happened? You guys had a fight or something? Where was I?”
“Sleeping, and it’s none of your business,” Mason said. “It’s none of yours either, Logan, but no, we’re not going to ask my dad for any information about Faith’s family.”
“Wait.” Nate held a hand up. “We weren’t actually going to Vegas, were we?”
“I thought you had to be smart to get your MBA.” Logan paused for a beat. “Oh wait. That’s after you get a bachelor’s. That’s right, you have to get the one degree first.”
“You’re such a dick.”
Everyone tensed. This had become something between Logan and Nate. I looked at Taylor and saw her frowning right along with me. I wondered if she knew the cause for this friction.
Then Nate just said it. “Don’t get pissed at me because I’m the one here, and you’re not. I’m not the one who chose to get a girlfr—”
“Shut up, Nate.” Logan growled.
He didn’t. “A girlfriend who continues to choose to sleep at her place, and not here. If you’re missing being around Mason and Sam, that’s on you. Not me. I’m getting real sick of you putting your shit on me. I’ve never done anything to you, Logan.”
“Shut up!”
Nate added, unperturbed, “Unlike you.”
Logan stood completely still, the unnatural and dangerous way. A shiver went down my spine, and I swallowed over a lump. Nate had just gone dirty in a way that wasn’t dirty at all.
“Are you serious?” Logan’s eyes were narrowed to slits, everything about him tensed. This was Logan right before a full attack. Whether it was words or fists, it was coming. And he was going to do some damage.
Mason suddenly lifted me to the side and stood up. “Stop. Both of you guys.”
“No.” Nate shook his head, still glaring at Logan. “I’m sick of it. Any time Logan starts feeling pissy about something, he takes it out on me.”
Mason moved to stand between them.
Nate leaned forward, looking at Logan around Mason. “Guess what? I’ve done nothing to you. I left when I was a kid because my parents moved away. They didn’t want me to be around Mason. When I came back, you’d replaced me. It wasn’t the other way around. You pushed me out, Logan. And I did nothing. I let it happen.” A cutting laugh came from him. “And that wasn’t even the biggest change. Sam was in our lives. I went from being number two to being number four, if that spot was even included in shit. How do you think that made me feel? And I put up with it,” he spat, his eyes blazing. “I thought we were good too.”
“STOP!” Mason shoved him, then turned to make sure Logan was still holding back. Satisfied that he was, Mason sighed. “This is all bullshit. We’re all family by this point.” He looked at Matteo. “You too, even though we don’t show it all the time.”
Matteo perked up. “Thanks. I appreciate that.” His tone was cheerful.
I laughed softly to myself. No one except Nate and Logan seemed too upset about their fight. Matteo must’ve gotten used to us by now. Fights flared up, but they always blew over. We all loved each other. That’s how we were. That, in itself, was comforting.
Then I looked over. “Where’s Taylor?” Her spot on the couch was empty.
Logan cursed.
She was gone.
CHAPTER 16
Logan took off to find her, then backtracked for Mason’s Escalade. Taylor had taken his.
Fighting back a smirk, Mason dug for his keys.
Logan’s head hung low. “Don’t start.” He held out his hand.
Mason didn’t drop the keys, prompting Logan to look up at him.
“Just tell her the truth. She’ll understand,” he said.
“Yeah.” Logan nodded and took the keys. “I’m hoping I get the chance.”