He glanced over his shoulder with a scowl, but his eyes went wide. The girl twisted out from underneath him and tried to pull down her black tube top. Lipstick was smeared over both of their faces.

I gutted out in a laugh, "Are you kidding me?"

"Sam, wait." He scrambled off the bed. I turned to bolt, but he caught my arm in the hallway. "Wait. Please."

"I'm not even surprised." I spoke in a calm voice. My heart was racing. I knew my face must've been red because I felt my blood boiling. My arms, legs, knees, everything trembled and shook, but my voice sounded like I had asked if it was raining.

He paused and watched me.

"Isn't this the cliché ending to us?"

"Ending?" His Adam's apple moved up and down.

"Yeah," I laughed outright now and swept a hand towards the bedroom. "You were making out with another girl."

He narrowed his eyes and pulled up his pants.

A door opened behind him. It was quiet, so quiet that if I hadn't seen it, I wouldn't have sensed his presence. Mason came out with a skinny blonde on his arm. She looked unable to stand, but I saw his hand grip underneath her legs and he lifted her against him. She hung on around his neck and leaned a head against his chest with a contented smile on her face. He narrowed his eyes when he saw me.

Then Jeff broke the spell. "I know it looks bad."

"Looks bad?" I spat out. "Are you dense?"

"Yeah, well, you had me going so hard all night." He gestured at me. "Look at you, Sam. You're hot, hella hot. And I get nothing. I've been your boyfriend for three years. It's taken me a damn year and half to see your tits."

My eyes turned to a glare.

He ran a hand through his haphazard hair. "I'll change, Sam. I've gotta. I love you."

"You don't love me." I said it quietly.

"Three years. That's gotta mean something. Please, Sam."

"You don't love me."

He looked ready to argue, then something flashed over his face, and a snarl came out instead. "Why don't you get off your high horse? Fine, we're done. I'm not even going to kiss your ass. It hasn't done me a damn thing in the three years we've been dating or the two it took me to get you. I can be half the nice guy I am to you and I've got no problem getting panties to drop."

I geared myself.

He spat out, "You're just some high class bitch that ain't high class, Sam."

Mason lifted his head. His eyes remained narrowed to slits, but no other reaction came from him. His face was a blank mask.

I tore my eyes from his and found my soon to be ex boyfriend's in a glower. "Don't you want to know who I've been with? You don't have any inkling?"

"I know that you've been cheating on me. Even my mother knew."

"That makes you look like a fool." A cruel smirk came to him. He stuck his hands in his pants and a prideful look came over him.

"Maybe. Or maybe I didn't give a crap."

He grew quiet. "Yeah, you're screwed up, Sam. I've never known another girl who'd stay with a guy if he cheated the whole time."

My heart skipped a beat. The whole time?

He laughed again. The sound sent shivers up my spine. "You've got no clue who with, do you? You've got piss poor taste in friends."

"Friends?" I wrung out. My eyes gleamed with an ugly feeling.

He was so smug. "Jess has been giving it to me for two years now."

"Jess."

"And Lydia knew. She's known the whole time. She's helped us cover it up too."

"Lydia knew?" I parroted like a fool.

Jeff chuckled and shook his head. "I'd be up here with her now if she wasn't so obsessed with Kade. Ever since the car bombing, it's all either of them talk about. I told her to get straight. The Kade brothers are going down. They set fire to those cars. The cops have to know—"

Mason started to step forward.

I cried out, "Shut up. You don't know a thing about it!"

Jeff frowned.

"I was there. I was outside and you don't know anything. Jessica and Lydia were inside. They didn't see a thing. They were wasted that night."

Mason moved back a step. The girl on his arm looked up with concern, but settled back against his chest a moment later.

"It don't matter. They'll get what's coming to them." His mouth curled up in an ugly smile.

I slapped him. When it was done, his head snapped back and he stared at me, his eyes wide. The air had grown thick, tense. I found it hard to breathe. Then I turned and left. This time I found the front door and I drove off. The hand I slapped him with shook even after I got home and crawled in bed. I tucked it under me and tried to go to sleep.

I never fell asleep that night.

CHAPTER FIVE

When the morning came, I rolled out of bed and went for a run. I didn't last long, four or five miles, but I slowed to a walk and I didn't return home till noon. When I did, I was surprised to find a bunch of cars parked in the driveway and on the road. Then I rounded to the back patio and saw a ton of people by the pool area. The door in the divider wall was open and more people were on the beach.

The Kades were having a party. Joy.

Then I checked my phone after I had showered and ate a few crackers. Lydia and Jessica both wanted to know where I'd gone from the party and why I hadn't said goodbye. I turned my phone back off. There was no one else I cared about who would call.