Yes, there could’ve been a Logan and Sam, but it hadn’t happened. Logan could’ve been a boyfriend, but Mason was my soul mate. The tension of that question, if Logan had feelings for me or not, had been plaguing us for a while. It was dealt with last year, right before the fraternity burned down. That truth came out, that there could’ve been an us with Logan and me. Mason took it easier than I’d realized.
And what Mason said was true. Logan had been making jokes about us a lot more lately. I couldn’t help to think it had more to do with the fact that Kris and he were finally done. They’d broken up, gotten back together, and repeated that chain of events throughout the entire year. Their final, final breakup was four months earlier. Weeks before our graduation, Logan dumped Kris at a party, and he’d gone back to his man-whoring ways that night. There were rumors he’d gotten blow jobs from two different girls that night, at the same party, and he’d gone home with someone else.
Girls were friendlier to me now than they’d been when Logan was serious with Kris. I wasn’t dumb. I’d learned to recognize the I-want-to-use-you-because-you’re-close-to-Logan-Kade looks from a distance. I was able to evade their hooks. When I couldn’t, my best friend, Heather Jax, had no problem removing the hooks for me.
Thinking about Heather now, I glanced at the clock on the wall.
I needed to go for hair primping with Malinda, her two sisters, and her best friend. I knew their daughters would be there, too. But no Heather.
“What?” Mason asked.
I asked back, “What?”
“You sighed. What’s wrong?”
“Oh.” Images of hairstylists, the smell of hairspray, and the sound of giggles and whispers all plagued me at once. I cringed. “I was just wishing that Heather didn’t have to work today.”
“Nate’s coming tonight. He has some meeting at Cain U, but he’ll be driving down later. Jax is coming tonight, isn’t she?”
I nodded at Logan. “Yeah. She’ll get off in time for the wedding dance.”
“Thank god.” He raked a hand through his hair. “She and Channing are on the outs now, aren’t they?”
I stiffened. It was true. Heather and her off-again, on-again boyfriend from Roussou, Channing, were in one of their off times, and the feisty back and forth between her and Logan increased over the last three weeks.
The look in Logan’s eyes didn’t sit right with me. Still. If Heather wanted to sleep with Logan, there was nothing I could do. It wasn’t like she didn’t know what she would be getting into, but I heard myself saying, “If you do what I think you’re going to do…” I paused to make sure Logan knew I was being serious.
He did. He moved in slow motion, so he was sitting at his highest height. The wicked glint he’d had when he came into the dining room now dimmed slightly. A more sobering look replaced it, and as he held my gaze, his head lowered just a bit. He was on my same level now.
I said, “You need to remember that she is the one female who’s been a true friend to me. Do not shit on my friend’s doorstep. You got that?”
His jaw clenched. “Jax isn’t like the others, Sam. I respect her.”
“Make sure to keep that respect afterward, too.”
A phone buzzed from the counter, and Mark went to grab it. After he read the text, he looked up. “Uh, Sam?”
I already knew what was coming, and I started to stand from the chair.
He was still hesitant, glancing from me to Logan, as he said, “It’s my mom. You’re wanted at the house.”
I nodded. “Hair appointment.”
Mason grabbed my hand and pulled me back. He cupped the back of my head and kissed me. He murmured in my ear for only me to hear, “Have fun with your new mom. She already loves you.”
A wave of something else went through me, and my throat closed up. I nodded and kissed him back again before pulling away and heading out of the house.
As I walked across the street to my dad’s and Malinda’s home, I wiped at my eye. No matter the undercurrents in our group, Mason was right. This was the day I was getting a new mom who actually loved me.
A weight lifted from my shoulders. I found myself grinning as I walked inside, already hearing shrieks and laughter from the kitchen. Today was the day Malinda would become Mrs. Malinda Decraw Strattan.
Malinda was there, her arms wide open for me, and she hooted, “Hot holy cannoli! It’s my daughter. Come here, you beautiful, beautiful woman!”
Standing at the front of the church, as Malinda and my dad, David, made their vows to each other, I couldn’t help but look at Mason. We were watching each other during most of the ceremony. It was a good feeling, being here, being a part of David’s wedding, knowing he would get a good wife now, and also having Mason and Logan standing as groomsmen. It was like we really were a family now, like Malinda adopted all of us.
When it was my turn to walk down the aisle, after the minister proclaimed David and Malinda husband and wife, Mason tucked my hand over his arm. He leaned close, brushing his lips over my forehead.