“Are you here?” My heart wouldn’t stop racing. I needed it to calm down. I didn’t want to die.

“Sam.” Adam spoke in an assertive voice. “Mark and I are outside Garrett’s house. Are you there?”

“I’m at the mansion.”

“Can we come there? Is Mason there?”

“No.”

“We can’t?”

My tongue felt funny. Why did it feel funny? “You can. I think.”

He sighed. “Are you alone there?”

“I think so.” I looked at the hallway, but no lights shone from underneath it. My mom had called from the station and Mason hadn’t come in yet. That meant none of them were home, right? Things weren’t making sense to me anymore.

“Okay. We’re coming there. Meet us at the door?”

“What? Oh sure.” Wait. I tried to clear my head. Oh—they didn’t like people in their home. I rasped out, “You should go to the basement. Remember the door in the divider wall?” I couldn’t believe I was making sense.

“Yeah. I remember. Mark’s been there before.”

I frowned. Adam sounded so normal. Didn’t he know?

When I stood my knees buckled and I grabbed onto the desk for balance. I couldn’t fall down. Mason wasn’t there to catch me. So I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I fought against everything in me until I felt strength surge through my legs again. I could stand again.

It seemed to take forever until I opened the door for them. Adam and Mark both gave me grim smiles. Each raked me over for a moment and then Adam pulled me in for a hug. He held me tight for a moment before Mark grabbed me from him. He swung me in the air. “You okay, Sam? How are the guys?”

I gulped when he set me on my feet. “You know about the clip?”

They nodded.

Adam touched my arm. “Where are they?”

I swallowed over a knot. “They’re at the police station. I haven’t heard anything from him. I’m…that’s not what happened. In that clip, how it looks like.” I shook my head. “It’s not what happened. It was self-defense. Mason was defending them. There were fifteen guys against them.”

They shared a look and Adam spoke in a gentle tone, “We figured.”

“Oh.” My shoulders loosened. “Really?” My feet still wavered, but I forced myself still. “You believe me?”

“Yeah.” Mark’s eyebrows were high. “Have you seen them fight? For them to get beat that bad, there had to be a lot of guys.”

“Oh.”

Adam grinned. “We’re not here to judge ‘em. We’re here for you. We were concerned.”

I held my hands against my stomach. Why was it always filled with dread? “Thanks, guys.”

Mark shrugged. “Yeah, that and your mom called your dad, who called my mom. He said he was concerned for you since you were alone. That was all we needed to hear. We took off before she hung up the phone.”

“Oh.”

He threw an arm over my shoulder as we headed inside, past the pool. “So, my possible future stepsister, what’ll it be tonight? Movies? Pool? I could kick your ass at pool, I bet. What do you have in mind?”

Adam followed behind. “There’s a basketball game on.”

Mark snickered. “As long as we don’t call anyone else over. Last night didn’t end well.”

“You could say that again.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

They stayed the whole night. It was early in the morning when we heard footsteps above us. Then Adam glanced at his clock. A big yawn spread over his face. “Dude, it’s almost time for school.”

Mark grunted. His eyes drooped.

“Thanks for staying up with me.”

Mark grunted again, “No problem.”

Adam stretched. “Should we drive together?”

“I’ve got basketball.”

He glanced at me. “Sam?”

I shrugged. “Sure. Can we get coffee first?”

“Forget that.” Mark rubbed at his eyes. “I want five energy drinks. Nothing less is going to get me through school and practice.”

A small grin appeared over Adam’s face. “And I’m glad, yet again, that hockey doesn’t start till next week.”

“Shut up.” Mark smacked him in the back of the head.

“Samantha?”

I stopped when I heard my dad’s voice from above. “Dad?”

“Coach?”

David came down the stairs with lines underneath his eyes and a droop to his shoulders. He was dressed in a buttoned-down shirt and khaki dress pants. He wore a red blazer over them. “Your mother told me how to get inside. They’re staying at a hotel next to the police station. Everything is taking longer.”

“Why?” I felt a kick to my gut again.

“Apparently there are conflicting testimonies.”

“Well, yeah. The Roussou guys against Mason and Logan, right?” Adam moved closer to me.

David’s eyes lingered on him before he looked to me. “No, the conflicting testimonies are between the Roussou young men.”

“Really?”

Mark grunted and nodded. “Cool.”

“So.” David’s eyes narrowed again. “Mark, what are you doing here?”

“We heard mom on the phone with you. We took off when we heard Sam was alone.”

“Oh.” He seemed taken aback. “That was very kind of you.” But a question lingered in David’s depths as he looked from both of them to me.