“Hey!”
We heard a commotion and raised voices from the front door.
“Mason!” Logan was there, waving. The police stationed in front of the house were holding him back. “I live here. Tell ’em so I can come in.”
“So we can come in.” Nate popped his head out from behind Logan. “I’m here too.”
“Yeah.” Mason turned to the cop holding the notepad. “That’s my brother and my best friend. They live here too.”
The cop narrowed his eyes, then gestured upstairs with his pad. “Their rooms are the ones upstairs?”
“Yeah.”
The cop looked at Adam as he said, “The rooms this guy was searching in.” He let out a sigh, putting his notepad back in his pocket. “What do you wager those two guys don’t have any idea about this ‘prank war’ you’re in? You went through their stuff. I wonder if they’ll want to press charges?”
Adam just closed his eyes and folded his head down. He was dressed for the part, in a black long-sleeve shirt and black pants. He’d had a flashlight with him too, but the cops confiscated it, along with his ski mask.
The cop waved for Logan and Nate to come in. Taylor came with them, holding Logan’s hand. Logan went right to Adam, his jaw clenched.
“What the fuck, Quinn?! I could’ve been here. Taylor could’ve been here.”
Adam opened his eyes and held his hands up in surrender. He shot Mason a look. “It was a prank. That’s it.”
Logan snorted. “Right. Because we’re in one big fucking prank war, huh? My ass, a prank war.” But he looked at Mason. “Were you aware of this prank war?”
Mason half-grinned. “I was. Not telling you was part of it.”
Logan shook his head. “That was the best part, right?” He was laughing, but his eyes were dark with anger and his tone was biting. He sent Adam another glare as he tugged Taylor away.
The cops said they had a few questions for Logan and Nate, but they had them both look through their rooms first. Taylor went too, since she half-lived here. When they were done, and hadn’t noticed anything missing, they convened in the kitchen to talk to the police, and Mason went over next to Adam on the couch. I moved with him, but kept a little farther away. Mason’s arms were crossed over his chest and he spoke low, so the cop left in the living room couldn’t hear him.
“What the fuck were you doing?”
Adam eyed the police warily. “Can we wait till they leave? I’ll tell you everything then.”
“You’ll answer now.”
Adam let out another breath, raking a hand over his face. “Fine. You know about my dad’s case.” He spoke quietly too. “It’s because of you guys he was arrested.”
Mason knew. He’d been the one to find the evidence against him. He didn’t need to be reminded.
“My dad wanted to send a bunch of guys to see if you had anything else on him. He’s worried more evidence might come to light. You were at the cabin, and the security feed shows that you went into the garage. There was something in there that his men can’t find now.”
Mason frowned, glancing over at me. He’d kept relatively quiet about going to that house. I knew Mason had made a copy of the files on the computer, but that’s all he said he’d found. He glanced over at Nate and Logan from where he sat with the same impenetrable mask, but I knew. He didn’t have anything else. If someone went into that garage, it wasn’t Mason.
But all he said to Adam was, “He was going to send ‘guys’?”
Adam nodded, casting a worried look toward the kitchen. “I offered to come instead. I worried if they came in, they’d hurt someone.” Adam glanced to me. “I didn’t want anyone to get hurt.”
Mason caught the look. His eyes narrowed.
I had to blink a few times before I caught the significance. Adam was worried about me?
I narrowed my eyes too. “Please. Don’t pretend you care about me. You know it’s because of Becky’s loyalty to me that she gave us the full footage of Mason.” I moved closer. “Why are you really here? Were you hoping to hurt me? Because Becky dumped you and you blame me?”
“Contrary to your low opinion of me, I never stopped caring about you.”
I searched his face. Nothing. No reaction. He didn’t look away. His eyes didn’t widen. There were no twitches or anything.
I shook my head, moving away. “I don’t believe you. I don’t believe anything you say. You’ve already proven how deceitful and manipulative you can be.”
“Like you guys aren’t?” he shot back. He was still sitting on the couch, but he strained to sit as tall as he could. “Like you guys don’t lie to protect your own? That’s all I was doing. I sent that footage in to discredit Mason for my father’s case. That’s all. There wasn’t any other intention to hurt you guys.”
“That could’ve ended my football career.”
“Boo fucking hoo.” Adam glared at him. “So, you’ll make your millions through your father’s company instead? Am I really doing you such a disservice? You have to toe the line and act like a good little saint so you don’t get kicked out of your football career? Newsflash, Mason.” Adam’s eyes sparked in anger again. His hands balled into fists, pressing against his legs. “You’re not a saint. I bet it’s killing you to act like the model citizen. You want to beat the shit out of me just as much as your brother does over there, but you can’t because if it’s caught on tape or if someone witnesses it who shouldn’t—there goes your football future.” He sneered. “Get over yourself. You’re no longer going to play in the NFL, and you know it. You just can’t admit it.”
“Is there a problem over here?” The notepad cop came back from the kitchen.
Logan, Taylor, and Nate trailed behind.
“No problem.” Mason kept his gaze locked on Adam. “We’re just fine, sir.”
“Well.” The cop looked around everyone. “You all insist this was some stupid prank. If you discover anything missing, give me or the station a call. We’ll arrest the guy then.” He handed his card to each of us. “Would you like a ride somewhere?” he asked Adam.
Adam gazed around the room and cleared his throat. “No. I’m fine. I have my car. Thank you.”
“All right.” The cop waved his hand. “We can clear out.” He reached for his radio, and we heard him speaking into it as he left the house.
A moment later, all the squad cars were gone, and it was just as quiet as it had been before we woke to glass breaking.
Logan looked to Mason.
Nate looked to Mason.
Everyone was waiting for our leader, but Mason turned to me. “You wanted to be included—”
I felt sick to my stomach, but I knew what they needed to do. Mason couldn’t let this go. He’d let the video go, but not this.
I stepped toward Adam. “Is there anything else you haven’t told us?”
“No.” He frowned, rubbing at his forehead. “Why?”
“You’re really here to search for something for your dad?”
His hand fell back to his side. “I told you, Sam. I came so my dad wouldn’t send those guys instead. If he had, they were on order to remove anyone or anything that got in their way. They would’ve hurt you guys.”
“They would’ve tried.”
Adam turned to Mason. “What?” He looked around the room, and saw the intensity on Logan and Nate’s faces. A different awareness settled over him, like a veil lifted and he was seeing them for the first time. “What are you guys going to do?”
Logan shook his head. “Adam, who the fuck do you think we are? You think we’d take you breaking into our home and let you go with a pat on the back? You can’t be that stupid.”
Fear finally appeared in his eyes. Adam looked at me. “Sam, don’t—”
Mason blocked me from him. “You got a pass. Not anymore.”
“Are you guys serious?” Adam started to rise from the couch.