Fallen Fourth Down

“You have no idea—” she started, snarling at him.

He shook his head, stopping her. He softened his tone. “I’m not saying this to hurt you. I am sorry if that's what you think, but I know my brother.”

She began to shake her head as tears started to fall. “You don’t know this. You can’t…” Her voice trailed off and doubt clouded over her face. Her head dropped until her chin tucked against her chest. From my seat at the table, I could see tears dripping onto her hands. She never brushed them away as they fell steadily.

Mason glanced at me, a small frown on his face. He said, “I know you love my brother, but he doesn’t love you.”

Her shoulders lifted, and she inhaled a sobbing breath.

He added, “I think you know that too.”

“Excuse me,” she choked out and rushed from the table.

“Kris—”

Mason grabbed my hand and held me back. “Don’t.”

“You broke her, Mason. Let me go after her.”

“No. Let her go. It’s the best thing for her.”

“She’s hurting—”

“Yes, she is, but if you go after her, you’ll end up saying something to give her false hope, whether you mean to or not. Logan doesn’t love her. You know that. I know that. Logan knows it, and she does too. Let her deal with this on her own. She’ll be stronger because of it.”

I sat back down. Maybe he was right.

Logan came back at that moment. He scanned the table. “Where’s Kris?”

Mason never faltered. He never looked away. He spoke clearly, “She asked me why I didn’t like her.”

Logan froze. “You didn’t. Oh, god. Mase, tell me you didn’t.”

“So I told her.”

“Oh my god.” Logan’s hand flew up, and he pressed his palm to his forehead. “For real? Why? Shit, Mason. Why? That’s not on you to tell her.” He shook his head and raked his hand through his hair. “Look, I have to find Kris and see if I can do something to make this better.”

When he rushed from the restaurant, an alien feeling settled over me. This was off; Logan’s reaction wasn’t normal. I turned to Mason, still stunned at what had happened. “You basically ended his relationship, and he wasn’t even mad at you.” I shook my head. “That’s not normal. Why didn’t he get mad? Why didn’t he do anything?”

“He went after her.”

“To make it better. That’s what he said, but…” I looked towards the front of the restaurant where Logan had gone, but didn't see him. I blinked, still in shock. “Why did you answer her like that?”

We were attracting attention. There hadn’t been any raised voices or angry movements, but I felt the audience growing. Head after head had turned in our direction. Mason saw them too and cursed. He gestured to the door with his head. “Can we finish this outside?”

As I followed him, a foreboding sensation grew in me. When he led me down the street, then around a corner for more privacy, almost all of me had stopped feeling. I said again, “Why did you answer her like that?”

“Because she asked me.”

“Why didn’t you lie to her? You knew it would hurt her.”

“Because she wanted to know the truth.”

It sounded so simple coming from him, but I couldn’t get over the surreal feeling of this situation. “You broke them up. Why did you do that? You just caused pain for them.”

His eyes narrowed, and he shook his head. He looked puzzled. “Because it’s the truth, Sam. Logan doesn’t love her. She knows that, and she asked me because it was time for her to hear it. You don’t seek out an answer unless you actually want to hear it. She’s not dumb. She knew what she was going to get when she asked.”

“You hurt them, though.” I couldn’t get past that. A tightness had settled in my chest, burrowing deeper and deeper. “If you hadn’t said anything, they’d be still together. She wouldn’t have left crying. Logan wouldn’t have chased after her. I mean, even if they get back together, this will still be between them.”

“He doesn’t love her.” Mason shook his head, slowly, as he gazed at me. “Why is this bothering you so much?”

A bitter laugh gurgled up from my throat. Why was this bothering me? “You could’ve held your words and no one would’ve gotten hurt. That relationship is done, but if you’d just kept quiet, everything would’ve been fine.”

“Sam.” He started for me.

I moved away. My voice rose. “I mean, this is their relationship. That’s his girlfriend. It’s gone because of a few words from you; you destroyed them.”

Tate’s voice haunted me. “Logan’s in love with you.” I closed my eyes as that thought screamed in my head. I could destroy everything. I could destroy us.

“Sam.” Mason was shaking his head as he took another step towards me. Concern flashed in his eyes. “She loves him and he doesn’t return the feeling. That’s not fair to her to remain in that relationship. She asked me for a reason. She wanted to know the truth, and I’m guessing that she didn’t have the heart to hear it from him.”

“But how do you know?”

“I’ve known since the beginning.”

I sucked in my breath. “Have you guys talked about it? I mean, what other stuff do you talk about? How do you even have those conversations with each other?”