"I'm not that drunk."

"You are." He said it so smooth, so soft, and so chilling. Now he left me. I fell forward a step, lost from his warmth, but contained myself. He moved as a stalker, silent as a ghost. Then he motioned to Nate.

A second later, my mom whimpered out in pain. I had my hands in front of my face, but when Logan started laughing again, the sound was so delightful and so dark, I couldn't hide anymore. I took a deep breath and looked up. He'd taken hold of the back of my mother's head and tilted her head back.

Mason watched. He didn't seem affected and then he motioned for Nate with his hand again.

"No-!" My mother screamed out.

"Come on," Logan chided her and then forcibly pulled her jaw down. Her mouth snapped opened and Nate poured something down her throat. She convulsed forward, choking as liquid spewed from between her lips. Her back spasmed backwards then, but Logan didn't let her go. He clamped her mouth shut again and ran a thumb down her throat. I watched as my mom fought, but in the end she swallowed.

They did it again.

And again.

After a fourth time, after Nate had almost emptied a bottle down her, he looked up. "I think that's enough."

Mason nodded and stepped back towards me again.

Logan swept my mother up in his arms. She'd grown weak during the ordeal and the fight had left her after the second time. Her eyes rolled back as she was cradled to his chest. When he turned for the door, Nate followed.

The door closed behind them and silence filled the room again. I couldn't stop from trembling. My teeth were chattering. My arms were jerking all over and then Mason swept me against him. He cradled my head to his chest and ran soothing hands down my arm.

My hands took hold of his shirt and hung on. I couldn't let go or I'd fall. I didn't want to fall. When I thought I could speak, I choked out, "What's going to happen to her?"

His lips skimmed my forehead, so soft. "She'll go to a hotel and sleep it off."

"But…" I took a deep breath.

His lips pressed another kiss to my cheek.

I held on tighter. When his hand swept down and caught my leg, I climbed up him, grateful for the hold. I was going down otherwise. "What if she says something to your dad?" What would she do to me? I hadn't stopped it.

Mason lifted me so my legs were entwined around his waist. I hung onto him. My arms were wound around his neck. He ran a hand down my back as his other held me in place, splayed out on my bottom.

Then he kissed the side of my mouth and whispered against it, "She won't. She doesn't dare."

I sighed as he kissed the other side of my mouth. My lips moved against his. "What do you mean?"

"Your mom's a bitch and now she knows what we think of her…"

She knew what they could do to her. My body couldn't stop shaking as I realized this and pressed my forehead into his shoulder. I held on tighter, but a thought nagged me. Why had he done that? Why had all three of them done that?

Mason chuckled against my hair. "Because she'll shut up now. That's why we did it. And because she needed to know we could."

I closed my eyes and felt him moving. I had no idea where he was taking me, but I wasn't going to ask. My body had stopped shaking and a different feeling had taken hold of me, one I didn't think I could fight off. I didn't want to.

Need.

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

Mason sat me on the couch in my room and started rummaging through my closet. The need throbbed in me, it was slowly taking over when he started to lift my arms and pull my dress off. I blinked up at him. He seemed cold, hurried. This wasn't how I thought it would be.

My arms dropped back to my lap and I stared up. Desire was thick within me, blurring my vision. Why didn't he kiss me? I wanted him to and I reached up to palm the back of his head. Something was shoved down my arm instead. He slipped it over my head too. When he lifted my other arm and pushed it through a sleeve, I realized he was dressing me.

"What are you doing?" My voice was raspy.

Mason tugged me to my feet.

"Wha—?"

He pulled up some pants and I looked down at myself. I was fully dressed, even with socks and tennis shoes.

I blinked again. When had that happened?

"You couldn't go in that."

I spread my arms wide. "Like what?"

"We're taking off." He went back to going through my closet. More of my clothes were brought out and stuffed in a bag.

"We are?"

"When your mom wakes up sober, she's going to freak out. She'll call my dad hysterical."

"What?" I sat up further to clear my head. "They broke up…"

"No, they didn't." His head was in my closet again. "My dad called me and asked if we'd handle your mom. She got drunk at his business dinner and kept going on about you and your dad. He couldn't let her stay and he had to keep the meeting so we got babysitting duty."

I watched as he kept putting things in my bag and then disappeared inside the bathroom. "What are you going to say when he calls about tonight?"

"The truth." He came back with my toiletry bag. It was bulging at the zipper. "She kept drinking. You came home. She attacked you and then she started on us so we took her to a hotel."

"What are you going to tell him why we're leaving?" Where were we going?

"Nate's parents called to invite us up. We'll be back Monday or Tuesday we took you along so your mom wouldn't start in on you again. It's a long weekend anyway."