Keep reading for a bonus scene from FALLEN CREST NIGHTMARE!

“Sam, what are we doing here?”

“Shh.” I squeezed Mason’s hand, leading him away from his Escalade. He hadn’t said a word when I told him I wanted to take him somewhere. He hadn’t questioned me when I told him to dress in all black, complete with ski mask. He hadn’t even raised his eyebrows when I was downloading sounds of women screaming, a chainsaw, and a little girl whispering, “I see you.” And he never balked when I gave him directions that took us out of town and into the hills that overlooked a haunted maze.

Glancing over my shoulder, I gave him a small grin. “Just ignore the sounds of people screaming below us.”

His eyes locked on me before he gave a slight shake of his head. “Okay.”

I led him to a perch. “I found this spot the other day when I was running. They were shaping the field into a maze. I didn’t put two and two together until a guy in class mentioned it, said he was manning it with a bunch of his fraternity brothers.”

Whoever owned the field below had sculpted the cornfields to show three major images. The bottom, where people entered the maze, was a giant pumpkin. They went in through the bottom of the pumpkin, and there were rows already started through its teeth, mouth, nose, and two eyes, and then the stem of the pumpkin joined with the rest of the maze. From there, the path split into two main directions people could take. They could either go to the right, which led to a bunch of rows of corn that had been formed into the shape of a werewolf. The path that led them to the left would bring them into a witch riding a broom, and that path was the one that led the way out of the maze. But the people had to go through some wind machines, which were decorated to look like a bunch of ghosts, then the broom itself, and upward through the witch. She was pointing a hand in the air, and that was the exit point.

Some rows were dark, but others were lit up.

There were sections within the maze where my classmate and his fraternity were set up to scare people. Those sections were dark until suddenly, light would shine for a second. People screamed, and it would go dark again. That was happening often enough to show that there were a ton of people going through the maze.

“This is huge.” Mason was studying the maze.

I nodded. “They started it last year but finished this summer.” I glanced up at him.

It felt wrong to bring him there, to have him see it for the first time while I’d been hearing about it in my class since August. It was Halloween weekend. He’d come after a game to see me, holding me while I woke from one of the worst nightmares I could ever imagine having, so tonight, I wanted to have a little fun with just him.

I murmured, “I’ve seen you almost every single day since high school.”

He tore his gaze from the field and looked to me.

I held his eyes, looking into them as he was searching mine. This was how we were. We weren’t just holding hands. We weren’t just standing next to each other. We knew each other inside and out. Heart. Soul. And body.

I kept on, my voice soft but clear despite the sounds below our perch. “Every day. From when I was a junior in high school, then when I was a freshman in college, and until a few months ago.” He was a year older, so this was the second temporary distance between us. He went to Cain a year earlier than I did, and I had to leave his side in Massachusetts to start my last year here. Threading our fingers together, I felt the rub of my engagement ring against his finger, and I couldn’t stamp out that pride mixed with love and bittersweet sadness.

It was good to miss Mason. I did, every damned day, but we had an entire lifetime together. This last year at university was mine to be with friends and train for my future. He wasn’t the only one who was a professional athlete. I had an Olympic-sized future for me too, but until then, until we got married, until I was done with college, I wanted to have fun.

And focusing on the field beneath us, I wanted some revenge fun too.

“In a way, it feels weird being the one to tell you about something at Cain.” It was his place first. He came there first, and his brother and I followed the year after, but it became my place once he graduated. He had moved on, playing for the New England Patriots, so it was like I was sharing something with him that should’ve been his in the first place.

As if reading my mind, which he seemed to do so many times, he pulled me to his side. His arm fit around my back, dipping under my shirt and holding on to my hip. I closed my eyes, feeling his lips on my forehead. He said, “We’re apart for now, but it won’t last. And I’m coming back to crash at the house during the off season anyway.”

I blinked back a few tears. It was ridiculous, but the love I felt for Mason was more than me, more than where we stood, more than the skies above us. It felt big enough to fill the galaxy at times, and yes, that was cheesy, but it was how I felt. It was the truth.

A scream cut through our small moment, followed by an almost maniacal-sounding laugh.

I sighed, recognizing the sound. “That’s him.”

“Him?”

“Lawrence Yearly.”

“Who’s Lawrence Yearly?”

Mason’s chin rested on my head, and I leaned back against his chest. His arm fell down, encircling my waist. I let go of his hand so I could rest my own on his arm, dipping my thumb to slowly caress the inside of his wrist.

I answered, “No one really.” Of all the villains our group had come across, he was more of a gnat, but he was an annoying gnat. “He hit on me the first week of classes, asked if you’d cheated on me yet.”

His arm tightened around me. “He did what?”

“Don’t worry.” I swiped my thumb back and forth again, feeling his pulse thrum against the pad of my finger. “I told him to fuck off and to say it to your face when you came to visit. He’s stayed away since, but he torments a girl in class. I didn’t know it’d been going on since August, but I overheard it this past week.” My stomach churned just remembering it. “He complimented her breasts like they were actually people and then kept licking his lips every time she got up from her desk or moved in class.”

“You know her?”

“Not personally. I know her name. I know she’s super quiet. I know that I’ve been watching her this past week, and every time I see her on campus, she isn’t with anyone else. She eats alone. I saw her studying in the library alone.”

I kept flipping each instance over and over in my mind. My gut was literally tightening into one hard knot.

“And he’s the guy you know down there.”

“Yeah. He’s been boasting for a long time about this maze tonight. Who knows what sick shit he might be doing down there, grabbing people, scaring them a little more than necessary.”

I half expected my own memories to surface. I’d been bullied, kicked, ganged up on. I’d had my tormentors, but they weren’t there. I no longer felt them swimming in the background. No, all that was there was a desire to give someone a small taste of their own medicine.

Lawrence had tried with me, but he was shut down, and unlike some, he slunk away and stayed there.

“Did you tell Logan about him?”

I heard the slight roughness in Mason’s voice. He was concerned about future retaliation, but that wasn’t going to be a problem. The guy was scared of girls, picking on the ones that didn’t stand up for themselves, that didn’t know they could, so I would. And I wasn’t alone.

I didn’t have my one friend anymore. I had a solid group of female friends, and we helped take care of each other.

I bent down, dislodging myself from Mason, and pulled out my phone from a bag. “I want to scare the actual shit out of him.”

It was small. It was a little petty, but it was something I wanted to do.

Mason nodded, his eyes darkening. “The way you’re holding your phone shouldn’t turn me on, but you’re fucking hot, Sam.”

I cocked my head, smirking. “Fuck yeah. Ready to do this?”

He didn’t respond. He turned, grabbed the ski masks, and handed me one.

Almost as one person, we turned for the path leading down to the haunted maze and pulled our ski masks down. We were about to hunt a hunter.

* * *

I had studied the maze enough times when I ran on the hills that I had it memorized. We bypassed the main entrance since I didn’t want to go through where everyone else did. I wanted to sneak in the back.

Yearly was stationed by one of the ghosts right before the witch’s broom started, so he wasn’t completely at the edge of the maze. We did have to venture through it a little.

The masks covered our faces, and if someone saw us, they’d assume we were volunteers with the maze itself. I was banking on that, and when we slipped around a section where a bunch of people were in cages, it worked. They didn’t reach out for us or screech. They were quiet, letting us get to our section.

I hoped it would work for the next two.

A bunch of mirrors were set up behind the corn stalks, and they were covered with strings of neon lights. I saw the flashing ahead of time, heard the clown’s booming hysterical laugh over a megaphone, and knew people were walking ahead of us. I paused, holding Mason back a little. I wanted some space. When people went past those mirrors, they lit up suddenly. It went from complete darkness in that corner to the bright lights and images of yourself behind the corn. On top of that, a clown who was wearing a matching neon-lit costume would chase people. It wasn’t that I’d get scared; I knew that clown was another one of Yearly’s fraternity brothers.

I didn’t want to punch him if he tried to chase us.

I shouldn’t have even worried, because when we got there, the lights did go off. He started toward us, but two things happened at once.

Mason moved in front of me, his shoulders going back, his head lifting as he squared off against the clown, and the clown braked so abruptly, he almost fell over.

“Oh. Sorry.” He lifted a hand, and the lights turned off. “I heard they were rotating some sections. You must be one of the new ones, huh?”

“Yeah.” One clipped word from Mason, a matching nod, and we walked right past the clown.

We had to go through two more rows. They kept each section far enough from the other to give the people a break, or at least I had guessed that was why, but being in the maze, I realized they had another reason. They allowed enough space and distance from the other section so lights didn’t travel ahead, giving people a glimpse of what was coming and ruining the surprise. It didn’t matter because the last section was for us.

I almost touched Mason’s back to warn him.

Unlike the last section, which set the mirrors on the other side of the corn, this one had put up walls of black plastic tarps. They were stretched tight with a ceiling above, like a tunnel. I saw them being put up during the day but didn’t know what they were used for until I heard one woman screaming about a snake.

I had a feeling about what we would be walking into.

Mason saw the tunnel and paused. “What the fuck?” he muttered under his breath.

I was guessing, but . . . I pressed against him, murmuring quietly in case someone was near us, “I think they send fake snakes over our feet.”

“Shit.” His back tightened even more. “Okay. Let’s go.”

We treaded closer, not pausing or slacking in our stride.

We were there for a purpose. We couldn’t let them think we weren’t a part of them, but once we stepped foot in the tunnel-esque area, I saw the fear factor. It added an extra layer of foreboding. Then, suddenly, a hand smeared with white neon paint pressed against the black plastic, and I felt something slimy touch a bit of skin by my ankle at the same time.

I didn’t look down. Nope. It was fake. It better have been fake.

“We fucking work here.”

“Oh,” a voice said from behind the sheet a second before the hand disappeared. “Sorry about that. We can’t see the best from this side. Just saw your shadows and assumed, you know?”

“Yeah.”

The same guy raised his voice a little, saying, “Hold off, guys. The next two work here.”

“Got it.”

“Okay.”

“Do they have supplies? I radioed for water thirty minutes ago.”

“Uh,” the voice closest to us said. “You guys aren’t here with food and drinks, are you?”

“No.” Mason pressed a hand against the small of my back, moving behind me again. He urged me forward as he said over his shoulder, “We’ll pass the requests on, though.”

“Thanks, man!”

A few repeated his sentiments as we went by. The last one, the one who asked for water, added, “Yearly’s up ahead. He has the main radio. Can you tell him to order a pizza? I’m starving.”

“Yeah. Sure.”

I suppressed a laugh, but then we went a few feet, and I felt my stomach dip.

We were nearing the entire reason we came out there.

To be honest, I didn’t have much of a plan. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision when Mason asked what I wanted to do tonight. Images of me sneaking up on Yearly, playing a chainsaw behind him, playing that woman’s screams, or even that child’s whisper, had been the extent of it. But, as we went past those sections, I realized the scream wouldn’t scare him. I wasn’t sure if the chainsaw would, either. Maybe the abruptness of it? That it would come from behind him and it wasn’t the one he was holding? I knew he was the guy starting the fake chainsaw and chasing people with it. He had bragged about it in class, his chest puffing up when he described how fast he would make those “fat asses” run.

Mason was right next to me, and as if sensing my hesitation, he stopped us. “What is it?”

I didn’t run these operations. This was more of a Mason mission. He could’ve done this in his sleep with Nate and Logan, but it wasn’t his idea. It’d been mine, and feeling a little bereft, I admitted, “I don’t know how to get even with him.”

He peeled up his mask so I could see his eyes. He dipped his head down so we could see each other clearer. “What do you mean?”

I explained my doubts and handed him my phone. “I have those ready to play, but I don’t think they’re enough.”

“What’s your goal?”

I shrugged. “Get an image of him actually crapping his pants? Give it to that girl in class so she can use it against him if she wants? I’m not the best at these things.”

A faint smile spread over his face, and he leaned close, pressing a kiss to my forehead. “I have a distinct memory of you throwing a firecracker in your dad’s car, shutting the door, and getting back in mine.”

“Oh yeah.” I grinned. “I forgot about that.”

* * *

The ski mask was taken off. My phone and the bag were with Mason, and as I walked down the row toward Yearly’s section of the maze, Mason was slipping up in the rows to the side.

I heard Mason’s voice in my head as Yearly stepped out in front of me, waiting for me.

“Guys like that, you can’t scare them.”

Okay. Check.

Yearly thought I was a regular customer, and he lifted his chainsaw. A light flared from behind him, illuminating both of us so he was able to see my face. He faltered, his eyes widening.

“Strattan?”

Mason was right. I saw a cocky flare that lit up in Yearly’s eyes, but behind it was a hardness too. It went perfectly with his costume. Decked out in a ripped-up old mechanic’s uniform, red dye or paint was splattered all over him and went all the way into his hair.

He looked different from how he looked in class. Normally, he was dressed in brand-name jeans and shirts. His hair an unruly mess because it was the “in” style. Basically, he always looked like a stereotypical fraternity brother. I had no idea, but I wouldn’t have been surprised to go to his fraternity and find a picture of him wearing a button-up shirt, a V-neck sweater tied around his shoulders, and his hair perfectly combed to the side. I would put money on him either smiling like a realtor or being stone-cold serious in the thing.

Lawrence Yearly was handsome, but that was it.

He wasn’t mouthwateringly gorgeous like Mason. He wasn’t the reformed player with a wicked glint in his eye like Logan. He wasn’t in their league, and it was a fact Lawrence Yearly knew, which was probably why suspicion flared, shrouding over his eyes as I raised a hand.

“Hey, Lawrence.”

“If you want to scare them, you have to fully commit. That takes time. It takes commitment. It takes the willingness to cross over a boundary I know you don’t want to cross.” Mason shook his head, watching Yearly’s section from the shadows before he nodded. “Okay. I have an idea.”

“You remember what you said to me the first day of classes?” I stopped right in front of him, putting some frostiness in my tone. I chewed the inside of my cheek.

“You need to use what he gives you, what kind of guy he is.”

Yearly pissed me off. I was embracing that feeling, letting him see some of it, but I wasn’t letting him know where it was coming from.

His eyes narrowed, staring at me hard as his forehead wrinkled in confusion. “Yeah. Why?”

“Ask me again.”

“He’s cocky. He has an ego. He likes sex.” I had agreed with all three things Mason had said, and then he had added, “But he likes power, most of all. That’s what you’re going to use against him.”

Yearly’s voice was flat. “Did Kade cheat on you yet?”

There it was. I looked a little harder, and I saw what Mason said.

“Dangle me in front of him. Guys like him salivate at the idea of getting another guy’s girl. They look at you like things, like objects. They want to steal you away from guys like me.” I hadn’t needed Mason to explain how guys like him and his brother were viewed by guys like Yearly.

They were better than them, and Yearly knew it.

“They judge guys by money, power, and height.”

Mason bested him in all three things. He was wealthy from not only his father’s trust fund but also from his contract with the Patriots. He had fame, which gave him power, and he was an inch taller than Yearly.

Yearly was looking at me differently. His eyes slid down my body and then back up. He leaned forward, just a centimeter, but it was enough. I was hooking him, just like Mason said I would.

“And lastly, they judge guys by the women they have. You’re an ‘it’ girl.”

“An ‘it’ girl?” I had laughed.

Mason hadn’t. His face had become a cement mask. “You’re the girl most guys want, the one they dream about having. And you’re mine. Give him an indication you’re upset with me, because that makes sense to them. They cheat, so they think all girls cheat. They lie, so they assume everyone lies. They’re willing to do horrible things to another human being because they think everyone has it in them to do it too. They don’t believe everyone will do it, just that every person has it in them to do it.” He held his hand out. “Show him you have nothing on you. Show him you have no pockets.”

Which I didn’t. My pants had no pockets, and I only wore a long-sleeved shirt. I held my hands up, showing Yearly I had nothing there. “I run these hills for my training, and I dropped my phone somewhere.”

He glanced up, as if he could see the trail I took. “And you were running tonight?”

“What?” I laughed, making sure it was breezy and slightly husky-sounding. “No, no, no. I went for a walk.” I looked away, hugging myself, acting the part. “I was upset, and then I saw the maze and remembered you mentioned in class that you were the chainsaw guy tonight.”

“Yeah.” His eyes flicked down to the chainsaw in his hands, and back to me. He straightened, his shoulders back, his head up. He was almost taking the same stance Mason did before we came down here, like we were going off to battle. The difference between the two was that Mason was dangerous in a way Yearly wasn’t. Mason would follow through, destroying everything and anyone for someone he loved. Yearly was dangerous in that he would hurt someone weaker than he was, did hurt people weaker than he was.

That girl in class. She was why I was there.

Okay, truth time, Samantha. I needed to be honest with myself. That girl in class wasn’t the whole reason I came out here. Yes, my demons were laid to rest. Yes, I had healed those wounds, but I was in this corn maze because it wasn’t just that girl. It was the girl after her, the girl after her, another girl, maybe a woman, maybe his wife? I didn’t know Yearly. I didn’t know the extent of how he could hurt someone, but I felt it in my gut. He had, he did, and he would again.

I was out there for them too.

“So what’d Kade do to piss you off?”

God. A shiver went down my spine. Just in that tone from him, like it was inevitable, like Mason couldn’t help himself, like he sympathized with him.

“You know that girl in class?”

He stilled, his mouth losing the smirk to flatten into a disapproving line. “What girl?”

“You know, the one you were flirting with this week.” Not flirting. Harassing.

His shoulders relaxed a little, and he nodded, the movement more fluid. “Yeah, yeah. Her name’s Brittany.”

Brittany. I felt a pang in my chest. I wished I had found out her name myself instead of having to learn it from him.

“Yeah.” But I didn’t sound like that. I sounded almost seductive, coy. “I checked Mason’s Instagram. She’s been sending him pictures of herself in his DMs.”

I had laughed when Mason told me that.

“I don’t know your password. Are you for real?”

“But he would. If you were his girlfriend? He’d know every password you had, and the sooner the better.”

“Are you joking?’

Mason sighed, some of the cement wall softening around his mouth. “He cheats, so he assumes the girl will cheat. So he’ll control her to make sure she doesn’t. He doesn’t understand that you trust me, so you don’t know my passwords.” He reached out, tugging me to him, and bent down. His mouth nuzzled my neck a moment before he whispered, “But you should know that my password is your full future name.” He pressed a kiss there before stepping back, nodding in Yearly’s direction. “Go. I’ll be following behind you behind this corn row.”

I had shivered then too. “You’ll be with me?”

“Always. Just in the shadows.”

And I looked, my eyes trailing past Yearly’s shoulder to find Mason standing in the shadows. His eyes held mine, and I saw all the goodness in him that wasn’t in Yearly’s eyes, and I thanked God for that.

Yearly barked out a laugh. It was harsh, almost making me jump from how abrupt it was. “Strattan, hate to break it to you, but I’m sure your boy’s been doing worse than just getting tittie shots sent to him.”

A whole new burn was starting in my gut. Of course he’d think they were those types of images.

I forced a laugh, keeping it sharp, like I was mad at her. “Yeah, well, those titties might just end up in more places than Mason’s DM by the end of the night.”

His eyes grew keen, and he leaned another centimeter closer. “Yeah? What do you mean?”

Play it cool, Sam, I told myself.

I was reeling him in, but I didn’t want to lose him by going too fast.

I rocked back on my heels, shrugging. “I don’t know. You tell me. Give me some dirt on her. You must know something.”

Tell me something you did to her. Give me dirt we can use on you. Please.

He didn’t answer. He was silent. A second passed. Another. Five seconds. And when I was about to burst at the eighth second, he grunted. “You want to know something dirty about the girl?”

“Yeah.” He fell for it. I could hear it in his voice. Surrender . . . but also eagerness. And enjoyment. Fuck’s sakes, Mason had been right.

Yearly wanted to tell me about this girl. He wanted to show off, and I felt seven layers of dirt inside because whatever he was about to say, I knew he had imagined doing worse to me. I felt it in my core.

“Okay.” He beckoned to me, like he was the one pulling me in on a fishing line. “Come here, though. I don’t want to say this too loudly.”

A bolt of panic seared my chest, but Yearly was looking past me, and I settled. He was looking for other people to be walking the maze, and remembering them, I was surprised that no one had come along and interrupted us.

I scooted closer, turning to the side so he was facing me and his voice was clearer to Mason. “Tell me. I need something more on her. I want to make her life hell.”

“You will.” He licked his lips.

I threw up in my mouth. Okay, not really, but the sentiment was there.

He dropped his voice low, “I have pictures of her.”

“What?” I reared back, but only a little before I caught myself and leaned close again, remembering that I was supposed to have pictures of her too. “Pictures of what?”

“My buddy knows her.” He was pulling his phone out. “They went to the same school together, and a guy she was with there shared a bunch of images.”

The sick feeling was back, crawling up my chest.

“Yeah?” I forced myself to look when he showed me his screen.

I broke for her.

She was smiling at the camera, waving. She was exposed and naked and vulnerable, but it was in her eyes too. She adored whoever was taking that image.

“Her boyfriend took that of her?”

He snorted, flicking through some more photos. “As if. The dude just poked her a few times, gave her a ride every now and then. Nothing serious.”

“Right.” I couldn’t keep the bite out of my tone. I tried, but I just couldn’t.

His head snapped up, his eyes narrowed. “What? You pissed about that?”

“No.” Lie, Strattan. He was nothing compared to others you’ve gone against. And just like that, a smooth lie came out of me. “It isn’t enough. I need something else, something worse.” I was eyeing him, biting my lip. “What about you? You’re always flirting with her. You and her ever do anything?”

He stiffened, a mask walling up over his face as he stared at me intensely. Then it dropped, and he jerked up a shoulder. “What kind of dirt are you talking about?”

“Any, honestly. Don’t make anything up, though.”

“I wouldn’t.” He sounded offended.

I fought against rolling my eyes.

“Okay. Yeah.” He was nodding to himself, making a decision. “She and I just joke in class. You know how it is, but yeah, there was one time after class. She was going to the bathroom and she looked back, gave me the nod to follow her.”

“Nod?”

“She looked at me.”

“Did she wave or anything?”

“Nah, but it was in the look. You know. You were looking at me the same the first day of school.”

Puke. Vomit. Bile. All of it was flaring up in my sternum, threatening to spew. I looked at him with distaste.

“Really?”

“Yeah.” He oozed slime. “You know it. But anyway, so I followed her in the bathroom and locked the door.”

I didn’t want to hear this. I really didn’t, but I didn’t react. I waited.

“And yeah, we fooled around for a bit in there. Is that good enough for you?”

I needed more. I already knew that, but I didn’t want to ask. I didn’t want to know because then it would be with me too. I forced out, “No. I need details. What happened?”

“She went down, you know.” He made a motion with his hand, and I knew what he meant, but I still forced the words out.

“She went on her own?”

“No. I mean, I had to push her down, but she likes it rough. I mean, that was all it was. I let her leave afterward, but come on. She liked it. That’s probably what she’ll do to Kade if he hits her back. But Strattan, and I don’t talk like this lightly, but that man of yours probably has hotter pieces hitting him up. He’s in the pros. Honestly, I’m shocked you’re still in school. Thought you’d stay to keep an eye on him, try to keep him in line.”

A red light waved behind him, Mason signaling that he had enough. Yearly “pushed” her down. She liked it “rough.” He “let” her leave. And the big kicker, she “looked” at him. It might not be enough to convict him of anything, but it was enough to notify the school officials they had a big fucking problem on their hands.

I nodded, almost falling back in my rush to get away from Yearly.

“Wha—”

Then Mason stepped out, right between Yearly and me.

I could see Yearly shrink back, and it was then I let the coward part of me take over. I gripped the back of Mason’s shirt and pressed my forehead to him. I needed to touch goodness, but it wasn’t enough. My mind was running rampant. I could imagine the truth between the lines, what Yearly had really done.

I molded completely to Mason’s back and held on. I just held on.

“I got all of that on tape, and I forwarded a copy to Nate and one to Logan, so now it’s their decision too. And I’ve a good feeling Sam will want a copy for herself, and she’ll send one to that girl you ‘followed’ into the bathroom.”

Sam would be there for her, if she decided to go to the authorities. And if she didn’t, I’d let Sam and Logan make that decision. They were the ones living here, but I knew my family. They’d want the fucker to burn.

Mason’s voice was rough, but there was real danger lurking underneath. His body was rigid, not an inch soft or relaxed. He was fighting to keep himself from launching at him. I knew Mason. I knew if Yearly said too much, he’d react, and then it could be Mason’s future in jeopardy.

He had changed. Violence was behind him, but I could feel that line being pushed inside him.

“Sam wanted to come out here today because she wanted to scare you. She wanted some fun revenge on you for what you’ve been doing to that girl. I don’t know her. I don’t know you, but I know the situation. I know the type of guy you are, and I know your type likes to prey on girls. You don’t like women like Sam, who stand up and fight back, who say no. And I could go on a whole spiel, telling you exactly what kind of a piece of shit you are, but I’m not trusting myself right now.” His voice broke, and his hands curled into fists.

I slid a hand down, catching his and intertwining our fingers.

His entire chest lifted up and went back down, and just like that, he felt more in control. He felt steadier. “When you think about getting some revenge later, you need to remember a few things. You need to remember me. You need to remember Logan. You need to remember our reputations, and you need to remember we have that reputation for a good goddamn reason.” He softened his voice, making it sound almost eerie from the promise there. “Even think of hurting Sam, and I will end you.”

He tightened his hold on my hand and pulled me with him so we could disappear into the rows of corn.

We moved fast and hard, the corn almost whipping us from the speed we were going. It took a second to realize what was going on. He wanted us out of there because there were only two of us and Yearly had all of his brothers back there.

I moved beside him, and we broke through the last row. We were outside of the maze, and I took the lead.

My feet picked up.

The need to run was at my back, spurring me on, and as I hurried up my pace, so did Mason.

It wasn’t long before we were mounting the hill where our night had started, and I knew there was no way they could catch us. No one could. I was training for the Olympics and Mason was in the National Football League. We were too fast.

When we got up the trail and made it to his Escalade, I thought back over what just transpired.

I hadn’t intended for that to happen tonight. I didn’t know how bad he was, the extent of what he had done to Brittany, but I knew that somehow we had helped.

That felt damned good.

Mason held my hand the drive back to the house. We didn’t talk much, but then I remembered what he said, and I laughed.

“Your passwords are my name? Samantha Jacquelyn Strattan?”

He smiled. “No. Samantha Jacquelyn Kade.”

And that felt damned good too.