My stomach clenched in knots. I leaned forward and lowered my voice, "Why didn't you bring this up in the car, when it was just you and me?"

He shot me an incredulous look. "Because your mom just went to the hospital. You were doing your numb shit."

"My numb shit?"

"Yeah." He jerked his head in a quick nod. "When you don't want to feel all your crap or your mom's crap so you shut down—but it wasn't working then. You were feeling it and you were freaking. I could see it. Remember? I distracted you."

I rolled my eyes. "That would've distracted me too, and it would've been a lot more private."

Heather snorted but turned her head and blew out her smoke again.

"Or tonight too. You could've waited until tonight."

Logan snorted this time. "Yeah, right. Like I could tear you away from my brother. If you're home and he's home, you two are always with each other." His voice went low, almost threatening. "It sucked being a third wheel before, but I don't appreciate being a fourth wheel now."

I sucked in my breath. What was he saying?

"If Mason doesn't tell me, you should. Don't kid yourself, Sam. Nate's not here for you or me. He's here for Mason. If my brother wasn't so straight with you, I'd think those two were a happy g*y couple. They're so giddy living together and making their plans for college." Logan kicked up a leg to rest on the edge of my chair. He pushed his chair in the air so it rested on the back two legs as he grumbled, "I forgot what those two were like when Nate actually lived here."

I sighed. What the hell did I do here? Logan was hurt, that was obvious. Mason had been shutting him out lately, but why? Was it my place to intervene? As I considered that, I remembered the party two months ago when Mason and Nate worked together like a slick team and manipulated Logan. He meant to protect me while Mason wanted to protect his relationship with his brother as well as with me. It worked. The threat had been silenced, and Miranda never even knew she had hit the one button that could've unraveled the brothers' relationship.

I was seeing another button now, the tight bond between Nate and Mason. Logan was hurting because of it, and he was right. If Mason wasn't going to look out for him, I would. He'd done it for me too many times to count.

I leaned over and touched his arm. "I'm sorry, Logan."

"For what?" He had tensed under my touch but didn't take his eyes away from me.

"For not telling you. I don't care what Mason says, I'll tell you from now on."

Some tension left him, and his shoulders relaxed. "Thanks, Sam. I know he does it to protect me, but it pisses me off."

I bit my lip. What would happen if Logan ever found out how they had manipulated him? A knot formed in my throat at the idea of that day. I knew it was coming. All secrets came out, no matter how long or deep they were buried.

Then Logan switched his gaze to Heather. The cocky smirk slid back into place. "So, how's Channing?"

Heather froze, but then threw him a seductive look and blew a puff of smoke into his face. "Oh, you know. He's probably still sleeping from all the sex we had last night."

Logan's eyes lit up. "Yeah?"

"Oh yeah." She nodded. Her voice lowered to a husky tone, full of promises. "I tired him out, especially when I brought out the handcuffs. I hope I remembered to uncuff him this morning." She feigned concern before her lips curved into a sultry smile. "I'm sure I did and if I didn't, I'll have to make it up to him tonight."

"You're into handcuffs?"

"Oh, I'm into a lot of stuff, Logan. A whole lot of painful dominatrix sort of things, only the good kink that every couple wishes they could do. You know what I mean."

I caught the wink she sent at me behind her hand.

Logan licked his lips. "Oh yeah. I love it when a girl lifts her legs like a pretzel. Do you do that for Channing?"

"Of course." Her voice lowered even more as her finger slid from her throat to the front of her shirt. She paused in the valley between her br**sts, above where she had knotted the ends of her shirt together. "He does. He really does."

Logan sucked in a breath; his eyes enraptured where her finger paused.

Then she snapped them together in front of his face. He jerked back, startled from the sudden movement, but Heather calmly grounded out her cigarette. "Anyways. Break time is over for me. Enlightening, Kade, every time you come here. It's always so enlightening." She caught my gaze. "You can stay for awhile if you'd like. You never took your half hour for supper."

When she went inside, I was surprised to see Logan grinning at them.

"She was joking."

He lifted a shoulder. "I don't care. Jax can be hella hot. I forgot how much fun it is to mess with her."

"You were friends with her?"

"Somewhat. She was best friends with Tate."

My gaze shot to his. "What?"

He nodded as his grin thinned.

"Tate as in the Tate that you dated for two years, that you loved, that tried to cheat on you with Mason?"

He nodded before yawning, "Yeah, that Tate. She wasn't always the prissy bitch you met a few months ago, Sam. Tate was cool. I wouldn't have dated anyone who wasn't cool. Her and Heather had been friends for years."

My eyes widened. "Did she used to work here?"

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