Nate nodded in agreement, rubbing his hands together.
Logan rolled his eyes. “For real? I’m not signing up to run for the senate. You can’t fight, Mr. I’m Going into the National Football League, and Everyone Will Watch Me.” He pointed to himself. “I can still fight. High school wasn’t the best years of my life. I’m planning for college to be that time. Sorry, Mase. I love you. I’m with you, but if I feel a good fight coming on, I’m not holding back.” He jerked his head upward, his chin nodding to Mason. “And don’t even try arguing with me. You love fighting as much as I do.”
Mason didn’t agree, but he did say, “With this group, we fight back smart. Okay?”
I hadn’t been smart. Sebastian outsmarted me.
I thought, Fuck me.
“I figured you wouldn’t drink. You’d be coming into enemy territory, and Mason would’ve coached you better. That meant a clear head, but I also knew this would take a long time. There’s a lot to explain, and I’m not even done. I still have more to enlighten you about. I knew you’d want some water. The only problem was that.” He gestured to a cupboard behind me.
My arms were growing heavier the more he talked, but I opened it. Two cases of water sat there. I could’ve grabbed one of those twenty-four bottles. I’d taken the single one in the refrigerator.
Sebastian said, as his hand rested on top of the bar an inch from mine, “But I eliminated the risk and put only one in there.”
“How?”
“A syringe,” he said so matter-of-factly. “If you turned your bottle over, a very, very small leak would show up. It was big enough, though, for what I needed.”
Everything was getting even heavier. I wanted to lie down.
“Sam?”
I wanted to shake my head. I didn’t want to hear the rest. He hadn’t won. He just thought he had, but he’d find that out in the morning. I started to look around. I needed a chair. I would tell him where his plan wouldn’t work out when I woke up.
I needed to rest.
“You’re not going to fall asleep.”
That was not what my eyelids were saying. I grinned, laughing at my stupid joke. My eyeballs, my legs, everything in me wanted to check out and go away.
“You’re going to stay awake.”
Pfft.
He was an idiot. I took a step around the bar. That couch was my goal, but my body went the other direction. Sebastian grabbed me.
I didn’t want him to touch me. I tried to swing my hand at him. Nothing. I slapped my other arm. I started to shake my head, but the room turned to the left. It wasn’t upside down. It was just sitting at a side angle.
He helped me to the couch. His touch was soothing. He cradled the back of my head, and I was placed on a pillow.
“There you go. See? That’s not too bad.”
Asshole.
I wanted to growl at him.
I couldn’t do a thing, except hear him and stare at him.
My body was almost paralyzed. He could do as he pleased. This…this was what he thought of when I came to the party.
He’d drugged me, and he was going to rape me.
“Ah, yes.” His head floated right above mine. He was staring down into my eyes, waiting. “I see it now. You know what I’m going to do, don’t you?” His hand ran down my forehead and traced the side of my jaw, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. It was almost loving. “My grandfather and The Network want Mason and his father in with them, but that can’t happen. Mason pissed me off, so no, he won’t be brought in. I’m going to do everything in my power to stop that from happening. I thought the little battle would be over in a few months. I underestimated you guys. All of you. Mason. Logan. You. Even Nate. All four of you were together in this against me. I don’t know how to fight like that. It’s me, but I realized I could use the fraternity against you. When Nate left the house, it didn’t take me much to stir up resentment. The hit-and-run was my idea, and of course, Mason was the target. He already knew that, and he knew why. I wanted to hurt him, but I wanted him to live with it. I thought football was his obsession. I was wrong.” He sighed to himself. His hand fell to my arm. He began rubbing it in circles, caressing me.
A tear welled up in my eye. I couldn’t do a thing. I wanted to run. That was all I wanted.
Sebastian continued, “I realized it was you. I needed to find a way to destroy you. Summer was supposed to help me, but everything she told me about you, none of it seemed to matter. I already knew about Analise. Your other father and stepmother—they weren’t weak. Your only weakness is yourself. Once I knew what I had to do, I guess you brought it about. When you came here, that was the perfect time to do this.”