Kate had moved down the hallway, but stopped. She listened.

Jenny kept going, flicking her off. “I’m the captain of the drill team. Guess how many girls want to be on my squad? Guess how many girls want to be me?”

“Whatever.”

“Take your fight elsewhere, Kate. You’ll lose against me.”

“Stop.”

She struggled against my hold, but Kate had turned the corner. Lowering her to the floor, as soon as her feet were touching, she shoved my arm off her and raked her hands through her hair. Her eyes were wild. “Holy shit, she’s psychotic.”

I frowned. I was realizing just how psychotic she was now.

Jenny shook her head and a hollow laugh came from her. “You have a major problem on your hands. Keep messing around with her and she’s going to get worse and worse. She’s going to do major damage to someone.” She swept a palm over her face, wiping at her eyes. “My god. I can’t believe that just happened.” Then she slashed a hand across her throat. “You and me, no more. I’m not ready to battle that crazy, not for a guy I screw every now and then. If you were my boyfriend, yeah, I might battle her, but not for what you’re offering.” She started down the hallway, but glanced back before turning the corner. “You know that little friend from your class? Heads up, Kate’s got her eyes on her. You know what Kate would do to a sweet girl like that? It wouldn’t be pretty. That’s all I can say.”

Kate was a f**king headache and I had no idea how to defuse her. When I went downstairs, she was outside with her friends. When she saw me coming, she looked ready to bolt, but thought better of it and held her ground.

My patience was up. I wasn’t going to deal with her anymore. Grabbing her arm, I dragged her around the side of the house. There were people there, but I didn’t care. I was fed up. Pushing her against the house, she shoved me back. “Watch it. You wouldn’t want to hurt a girl.”

“Shut up.” I barely touched her and she knew it. “I don’t need to use force to hurt someone. If you push me far enough, I will fight back and it won’t be physically. I’m not that type of guy so do not insult me again.” I stressed my words and let her see the warning in my gaze. It was real. She needed to heed it. I meant what I was about to say.

The conversations around us quieted when they heard us, and they moved closer.

Kate was watching them. Her unease was clear, but she kept quiet. For once. I rolled my eyes. “You listen to me because this was the last straw.”

She snorted, folding her arms over her chest. She was trying to be brave, but I saw the fear in her eyes.

I kept going, this wasn’t her time to smart off to me. “I don’t care about you. I might have at one point, but the farther you push things, the less I give a shit about you. You did this. You trampled our friendship into the ground. You and I are done. Do you hear me?”

“Good luck trying to get with someone—”

I shook my head in a forceful clip. She stopped talking and I finished for her, “There will always be someone else. Always. You don’t have the power to keep girls away from me so don’t use that card. Don’t even try to use it. It won’t work. You’re scary, but not nearly as scary as I can be. Trust me.”

The fight was in her gaze. She wanted to fight back, threaten me, use her fists, but she didn’t. She kept it reined in. As I stepped back from her, she hissed at me, “We’re through.”

“Good.”

“I mean it, Mason.” I almost rolled my eyes, but I refrained. I’d let her have her say. She added, “You can screw whoever you want. I’m done. I won’t give a shit anymore because I don’t give a shit about you.”

Then she swept a cold look at the crowd that had formed. “Do you hear that? He’s fair game. I’m out. Go ahead and deal with him, but I feel sorry for whoever does.” She ended with a last hateful look at me. “You’re broken inside. I don’t know what broke you, but they did a goddamn good job. You’ll never love anyone. Only Logan. That’s all you’ll let in. I feel sorry for whoever falls in love with you. It’s not a mistake I’ll be making.”

She left, stalking around the house. I heard her snap out, “Let’s go, you guys!”

“Why? What just happened?”

“LET’S GO!”

There was a little bit of silence after they took off and then someone started laughing. “Finally. She’s been on that high horse for too long.” Others joined in laughing and I glanced over. Her friend was there, the one that hooked up with Nate. He had his arm around her waist, but he dropped it when he saw me looking. He jerked his head in an abrupt nod and moved back a step. Parker? I think. She twisted around, fixing him with an accusing look. He never met her eyes. Then she cursed. “Are you serious?”

She stormed away, but bypassed me on her way. As she went past me, she muttered, “You turned Kate into a laughing stock just now. Don’t think for one second that I won’t tell her.”

I didn’t care. Maybe I should’ve, but it was becoming hard for me to care about anything at that moment. Kate. Other girls. Maybe I should’ve cared, but I didn’t. Then Nate came up to me. He said, “Logan called. He needs a ride. He’s at Quickie’s.”

“What?”

He shrugged. “I have no idea. You want me to go?”

“No.” I shook my head. “I’ll go. Stay here and have fun.”