I gave him a soft one back. Logan had been about to go in for the kill. I wasn’t sure why Mason didn’t want that, but there was a reason. There was always a reason.
“The only reason?” Garrett scoffed. He smoothed out his shirt and straightened his pants’ legs. “I love your mother. She’s another reason I’m here.”
“Our mom lives in Los Angeles. That’s a few hours away.”
He turned to Mason with a heated look. A darker emotion mixed with it and my heart stopped for a second as I saw it. Then it skipped a beat and bombarded back. I blinked back tears in reaction and gasped slightly. It tore out of me, over a knot in my throat. I looked away. I didn’t want to see it again, whatever my biological father felt for Mason.
When I risked a look back, it was gone and my heart settled down. A breath left me and my arms loosened in my lap, slightly.
“Why are you on my case? I’m here to get to know Sam. Why are you three jumping on me about that?”
“They’re not.” I sat forward. My voice came out quiet, but all of them turned. I gulped at the sudden attention and the intensity in the room. I grew firmer. “I don’t think they’re concerned about me. They’re concerned about their mom.”
“She’s already had a guy jerk her around most of her life.” Logan frowned and slumped down in his chair. His glower grew.
“I have no intention of jerking your mother around, but I don’t feel that I owe either of you an explanation about my relationship with your mother.”
“Why not?” Everyone seemed surprised the question came from me. I lifted my chin. “I’m not saying I’m a fan of Helen, but they’re her sons. Don’t they have a right to ask you?”
“Not when they try to bully it out of me.” Garrett held my gaze a moment longer than necessary. There was a message there, but I didn’t care to figure it out. I shrugged and looked away.
Mason bit out a laugh. “Like you would’ve respected a straight question. You’re not that type and don’t play us for a fool. We’ve been around enough bottom-feeder adults to know how the game goes. You might not be one of those, but you tried to play us like it.”
“I’m not trying to play you at all. You’re Samantha’s boyfriend.” His gaze swung to Logan. “Both of you care about her. Everyone can see that. That’s why I invited you here. It’s why I wanted to get to know you.”
“And not because of our mom?” Logan looked up. His voice had grown soft. I glimpsed a five year old who was asking that question.
Mason’s mouth twitched, but he pushed up from his chair. The food hadn’t been touched. “Let’s go, the game starts in an hour.”
Garrett stood as well. “I’m assuming my invitation’s been rescinded?”
“No.” Mason gave him a polite smile that had an attached message to f**k off. “We’d love it if you still played.”
They stared at each other with narrowed eyes before my biological father sighed. His napkin had been clenched in a hand, but he let it drop to the plate now. His eyebrow arched. “I’m all for it.”
“Good.”
“Good.”
Logan sighed and shoved back his chair. He stalked from the table and shoved out the door. It slammed with a bang behind him.
Mason met my gaze for a moment. I saw the goodbye in them and gave him a quiet nod in response. His eyelids shuttered close, and he followed behind his brother in the next moment. Then Garrett asked me, “Did you enjoy that?”
I turned, startled that I felt attacked by him. “What are you talking about?”
He gestured after them with a savage motion. “That was because of you. You know that, don’t you?”
“How was that about me?” And this was a stranger in front of me, but then again I was reminded that he’d never not been one.
“Helen can take care of herself. She doesn’t need her two ‘little’ boys to protect her. I don’t buy what they’re selling. This had nothing to do with their mother. That leaves you, my dear.”
He started to pick up the dishes. As he threw one down in the sink, I flinched but kept my voice controlled. “If you’re that stupid to believe that, then you can think that.”
He twisted around. “Then what was that about? Since I’ve known them, those two protect you. You’re the only thing they protect.”
“They protect each other too.”
He snorted in disbelief. “They don’t need to protect each other. Have you met them? They are the two most capable men I know who are able to take care of themselves.”
I quieted. He referred to them as men. Something clicked with me. A soft grin grew, and I couldn’t help to be amazed. In one conversation Mason changed his role from boy to man. I didn’t know if that’d been his goal, probably not. Who would have a goal like that? But whatever his agenda had been, that’d been a benefit from it.
And then I said in a soft voice, “If you haven’t noticed, they don’t like people getting close either.”
He shook his head as he continued to clean the table. “You’re right about that. Mason has to pick everyone he deems worthy of his attention. I’m not stupid. I know that Logan wanted to go off on me tonight and Mason kept him in check. I wish he’d let him go. I’d like to rattle their cage like they do to everyone else.”