There was silence around me and then she belted out a hysterical laugh. "I knew you were sleeping with Logan. Of all—"

I slapped her.

Then I stood there and waited for her reaction. She gasped and reeled back with a hand pressed to her cheek. Her eyes bulged out and she was seething. "You just—"

My face was calm, devoid of emotion. I didn't feel a thing. "I did. What are you going to do about it?"

She watched me, torn for some reason.

My eyebrow lifted. "Are you going to hit back or are you going to tattle on me?"

The tension was thick in the air. I felt it swirl around inside of me and knew she could see the storm inside of me. I wanted her to hit me. I wanted to hit her again…I wanted a reason to unleash my hell on someone…

Her shoulders slumped forward and she looked down as she stepped back.

I clipped out, "Are you backing away from me?"

She looked up. I caught the scared look in them. Then she turned and was swallowed up in the crowd.

I stared after her and started to look around. Miranda Stewart stood there, so did the rest of the Elite. I met all of their gazes unflinching. One by one they looked away. When I got to the last one, I was surprised to see pity in Adam's gaze.

"What are you looking at?"

His chest lifted up and down. "I told you. We're friends. I may hate your stepbrothers, but not you. Never you."

Logan bit out a curse. "Is he serious?"

Mason turned on him. "Shut up." He strode forward until he blocked me from Adam's gaze. His back was to me, like so many other times. "Message received, Quinn. You're not going anywhere, but neither are we."

Adam flinched, but a resolved look came over him.

Then Mason reached behind him and grasped my arm. He turned and led through the crowd, dragging me behind. Logan followed, but threw a few dirty looks behind him. He muttered under his breath, "Gonna bust your face open."

We hadn't gotten to Mason's car before David's voice hollered through the parking lot, "You can't leave, Mason. You agreed for the whole day and tomorrow."

Mason let go of my arm and cursed as he turned back around. Empty cars were parked all around us and a slight chill breezed around us after a soft rain. The cars were wet and small puddles had formed on the pavement. David approached us with a forceful stride. His jaw was clenched tight and his shoulders were thrown back.

He raked his gaze over me, but spoke to Mason, "You can't leave. That's part of your discipline."

Mason cursed at him. "Forget your little agreement. I'm not staying in there where my brother and your daughter get attacked. You've got a bunch of angry pussies on your team. They don't know when to shut up and leave things alone."

David's mouth turned into a frown. I felt his gaze over me again as he asked softly, "You were attacked, Samantha?"

I jerked away.

Mason stepped in front of me again. "Quinn's obsessed with her. That doesn't bode well with the rest of the girls in your school. She should switch to public school. We could protect her there."

David stepped around him and reached for my arm. "Sam, is this true?"

I hissed as I swung my arm away, but I sent Mason a searching look. What was he doing?

"Sam."

"What?" I wheeled to the only father I knew. "What do you want? The guys in there hate Mason and Logan. You were stupid to think this would work out and Mason could last the whole weekend."

David looked down. "I tried to steer him clear from them."

"It didn't work. Think of another plan, but surrounding him with those guys won't work, especially if he's alone. Logan and I were there to support him."

David's jaw clenched. "Who were they, Sam? Who targeted him?"

I wanted to throw my hands up in frustration. He wasn't hearing me. He didn't get it. "No one, but they don't mix. Mason, Logan, and me—we don't mix with this school."

"You've gone here all your life."

"I don't mix anymore."

"You don't want to go to school here anymore?"

Logan stepped forward and brushed me back with his arm. "She's not saying that, sir. Fallen Academy is a good school. Sam will be fine, but she's saying that you can't ask us to get along with your football team. It won't work, sir."

David looked between the three of us. He breathed in and out and then murmured, "So it's like that, huh?"

I closed my eyes. His hurt was evident.

He added in a quiet voice, "You're one of them, aren't you? I tried to tell you—"

My eyelids came back up. "Are you kidding me? Is this really about Mason and Logan or is this about you and mom? Why'd you want Mason to volunteer at the festival? Was it really because you needed the help or is it because you wanted one of James Kade's son under your thumb, for even a little bit?"

"Sam." Mason touched my arm.

I whirled to him. "Back off."

He moved a step away, but there was no judgment in his eyes, only understanding. My heart jerked at the sight of that. I didn't want him to understand me. No one could. They'd only pity me instead.

He blinked and it was gone. His hand moved away from my arm.

David looked between the two us, but sighed. "Samantha, your mother said I could have joint custody of you—"

"My real dad's in town."