A Whole New Crowd

CHAPTER FOUR

It wasn’t long until Tray’s phone went off. “Yeah,” he answered. A moment later, “Nah. Have fun. Grant knows the way back.”
His phone rang again, then again. He had the same conversation.
I glanced over. “A lot of people want you to go back to the party.”
He glanced sideways at me and then my phone rang, interrupting anything he might’ve said. I reached for my phone, but Tray caught my hand. “What?” It kept ringing.
“You know who that will be.”
Brian.
A weight dropped onto my shoulders and I nodded. I knew. This was part of breaking up. When he saw I was going to answer anyway, he let go and I held it to my ear. “Brian?”
He demanded, “Where are you?”
“I got a ride home.”
“I saw you, remember? Where are you? Why are you with that punk Evans and why was Clint hitting on you tonight?” He paused. I couldn’t answer before he added, “Were you teasing him? Shit. Are you teasing both of them?”
I frowned. This wasn’t Brian, or this wasn’t my Brian. He was hotheaded and a loose cannon, but he had never turned his rage against me before. I looked at Tray and saw that he had heard. Judging from the chill radiating off him and the set of his jaw, he wasn’t happy.
“Brian, you need to calm down.”
“The f*cker was all over you. He was two inches from—”
“I was handling him.”
Tray pulled the car over and watched me. A knot had formed in my gut and the longer he remained silent, just listening, the more it grew. I didn’t know how this was going to turn out, but I closed my eyes and concentrated on one thing. Brian needed to calm down.
“You were handling him? You’re the one who’s delusional, Tar. He needs to know that you’re still my property. He f*cks with me if he even goes near you.”
“Brian.” I wasn’t his property. He knew that. “Are you trying to piss me off now?”
He stopped, then let out a harsh laugh. “Are you kidding me? Are you f*cking kidding me?”
“Brian, stop.”
“No, you stop. You left, Taryn. You walked away from me, but you’re still mine—”
I ended the call. Grayley was right. Brian needed to be reined in, but I couldn’t do it. That wasn’t my place. I didn’t know why I asked Grayley to keep tabs on him. I couldn’t do anything about him anymore, but someone could and I knew only one person that Brian might listen to. His brother.
“We need to go somewhere.”
“Where?”
“You’re not going to like it.”
He frowned, then started the car. “Just tell me where.”
It was thirty minutes later when he shook his head, eyeing the nightclub. “Am I going to get killed in there?”
I laughed. I couldn’t help it. The Seven8 was home to Jace Lanser, Brian’s older brother. Brian and Jace had a love/hate relationship, but Jace had something that Brian didn’t: discipline. Brian was smart. But Jace was smarter and ruthless.
“Come on. You’ll be fine.” I climbed out of the SUV. Going to his side, I added, “Just don’t say anything.”
Tray didn’t look appeased, but he followed me.
When we neared the door, the bouncer scanned Tray up and down. “He going to be a problem?”
“No trouble. Is Jace in?”
“Hmm. He’s in. He’s with Cammy.”
I grinned. “Those two back on again?”
“Don’t care. She’s either here or she’s not.”
“Right.” I rolled my eyes. When he kept glaring at Tray, I sighed. “You going to let us in or do I need to get in my way?”
His glare turned my way. One night he refused to let me inside, so I went through the roof. The bouncers still hadn’t lived that down.
“He’s in the back. Take the small hallway.”
Tray followed me as we circled around the front entrance, the pounding music already blaring in our ears. Catching Casey’s attention, the front bartender nodded in greeting as we slipped behind him and trailed into the hallway that led its way around the club to the back offices. At the closed office door, I knocked and waited. A second later, it opened as Cammy slipped out. She slid the strap from her halter-top up her shoulder. When she saw it was me, she stumbled. “Taryn, I didn’t know—”
“Let her in, Cammy,” came from inside.
Flushing, she rolled her eyes and slipped around us.
The sight of a shirtless Jace with his pants unbuttoned, hanging low on his lean hips, welcomed us as we went inside. Raking a hand through his tousled hair, he grinned at me, his abdominal muscles highlighted against the neon lighting inside. Brian was solid, but Jace was in a whole different league. He had a lean build, dirty blonde hair, and piercing eyes. His eyes skimmed over me and settled on Tray. He stood there, studying him and as he did, as he breathed in and out, every muscle in his body rippling from that slight movement.
“Heya, Terry.” He flashed me a grin as he buttoned his jeans. He crossed over to us and gave me a hug.
Jace was the only one who could get away with calling me that name. Brian tried once and he got a swift kick in the balls. He’d never done it again, although he sneered every time Jace said it, which made him say it every time he could.
As his arms wrapped around me, a nostalgic feeling came over me. He and Brian had been my family. Each of them protected me for years. When he started to move away, I grasped onto the back of his arms and held him tighter. I just needed a moment longer.
He stayed there, wrapping his arms even tighter, tucking his chin into the crook of my neck and shoulder. I felt his lips brush against my skin as he murmured, “Missed you too.”
I nodded. I couldn’t talk. For some reason I was thankful Tray hadn’t heard him. I stepped back, brushed the tear that had escaped, turning away so he couldn’t see that either. I felt both of them watching me and swallowed the emotion. When I looked back up, I was all business. There was a reason we had come, but I couldn’t help myself from asking, “You and Cammy back on?”
“For the night.” He gestured to Tray. “Who’s he?”
“Not important.” I cleared my throat. I wanted to tell him about Brian and get out of there, before even more emotions came over me.
“Wait—” he murmured. A light of recognition sparked in his eyes. He snapped his fingers. “Evans.”
Tray looked at me and waited.
I laughed. “I didn’t mean it literally. You can talk. I guess he knows you.”
He winked at me before turning to Jace. “Yeah. I’m Evans.”
Jace regarded him with caution, but he shook his head. “You’re with Taryn?”
Tray looked at me. A jolt went through me at what Jace was insinuating. I shook my head. “No, no. Um...” I bit my lip, my cheeks warming, as both of them waited for my answer. “No. He’s friends with my sister.”
“The sister from your new family?”
I nodded. “Yeah. Her.” I grinned. “She’s popular, Jace. Can you believe that? I got one of those families.”
“Yeah.” He looked at me with fondness. “I can, Terry. You deserve it. You know I always thought that.”
“Yeah.” Other memories started to come to me, but I pushed them away. “Listen, we’re here because of Brian.”
“Aw. The real reason you came.” He shook his head. “What’s my brother done now?”
“He’s…” I hesitated. If Jace went after Brian, it could get nasty, but there was no one else who could reel him in. “He’s a little nuts, to be truthful. I’m scared of what he’s going to do. He saw me at Rickets’ Hou—”
“Wait.” Jace was startled. “You went to Rickets’ House?”
I nodded. “Yeah.” I glanced at Tray. “A bunch of people from our school did. Why?”
“Don’t go there anymore.”
“But—” This didn’t make sense. He had never cared before. It had been Brian who had been worried about me. “Why?”
“Just don’t, Taryn.”
He said my name. My eyes widened. I knew Jace could be serious and sometimes deadly, but he usually kept his lighthearted side for me. He was serious now. He was very serious. He said again, “I mean it, Taryn. Don’t go there. Changes are happening and it’s not safe.”
“What do you mean?”
He shook his head. “It’s not for you to worry about.”
“But—”
“Taryn.” He silenced me, moving towards me. “I mean it. I don’t want you there. I don’t even want Brian there.”
“You don’t?”
Jace gestured to Tray. “Drive her back.” As Tray took my arm, Jace said to me, “I’ll keep Brian away from you. I promise. Go back to Rawley.” He took both my shoulders in his hands and leaned forward to press a kiss to my forehead. “Go back to that new family. You’re better off.” He squeezed my shoulders. “Make something of yourself, Taryn. A chance like this don’t come along often. Grab it while you can.”
As we left, I couldn’t get Jace’s words out of my head. A shiver went down my back, and as we left Pedlam behind us, I couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling.
*

His phone kept ringing as we drove back to Rawley.
“Why aren’t you answering?”
He kept his eyes on the road. “Because they’re drunk.”
As it began ringing again, I saw the name Adrian Do Not Answer flashing across his screen. Tray knew what I was going to do. A small grin lifted the corner of his mouth, but he kept driving. He was going to let me do whatever I wanted. At that idea, my own wicked grin formed on my face, and I hit the answer button. “Hello?”
For thirty seconds, there was silence before she said, “Who is this?”
“Tray can’t talk right now. He’s too busy with me.” Tray turned to me and my cheeks warmed, but I didn’t look at him. I moaned into the phone then. “He’s soo good, ooh my gawwd.”
Silence again. I waited. When the silence stretched, I let out another groan and then she screeched. “Who are you?”
I laughed. “The girl that took your place.” Ending the call, I handed it back to him. “I hope that was alright?”
He took it, pressed a button, and dropped it into the console between us. “I think you took care of a problem for me. I should be thanking you.”
I laughed; the idea of Tray owing me sent a host of sensations through me. Then my phone rang and all that went away. “Are you kidding me?” Expecting Brian, the small burst of anger fizzled to concern. “It’s Mandy.”
She rushed out, “Devon and I broke up. I was right. He’s been sleeping with Jennica. Jennica of all people! I caught ‘em in one of the bedrooms.” She stopped as a sob came out. “I hate that bitch!”
“Mandy, I’m so sorry.”
“I hate her, I hate her so damn much. What am I going to do? It’s going to be all over school!”
“F*ck school. You don’t let her get away with this.”
“I know, but what can I do? I’ll get caught whatever I do and then I’ll get suspended. I can’t do that. Mom and Dad would be furious with me. I might lose my scholarship to Brown next year.”
Here it was. This was when I stepped forward and offered my criminal skills. F*ck my family. F*ck my future. My sister was hurting. I might not have been willing to throw it all down the drain for Tray, but this was different. My old protectiveness came out. Mandy was family. Enough said.
“Mandy.”
Tray frowned, hearing the sudden seriousness in my tone. He glanced at me. I didn’t know exactly what I was going to do, but I was going to do something, and it wasn’t going to be legal. I wanted to give her some form of comfort, but if she knew, she’d want in and she could get in trouble with me.
“What?” She paused in between her sobs and a hiccup. “Taryn?”
“Nothing.” I forced those words down. “Where are you?”
She hiccupped again. “I’m coming back. I made one of the guys drive me back. Taryn,” she started crying again, “I couldn’t stay there. They didn’t even stop. She saw me and kept going. I couldn’t stay there. I would’ve—”
I jerked forward in my seat. She couldn’t do anything. It was better if I got in trouble, not her. Mandy was good. Mandy was normal. She had a future. Mine was still in question. I shook my head. “You didn’t do anything, did you?”
“No,” her voice dropped to a whisper, “but I wanted to. I wanted to hurt them, Taryn. What am I going to do? Oh my god.” She dissolved back into tears. “I hate Devon. I absolutely hate Devon. I’m going to…I’m going to key his car; that’s what I’m going to do.”
The car slowed as we turned into Tray’s driveway. I said to her, “Just come to Tray’s. I’m here. I’ll wait for you.”
“Thank you, Taryn, just thank you.” Her voice was hoarse now.
“It’ll be okay. I promise.”
“O…o…kay.” She hiccupped again.
After we ended the call, I glanced at Tray. His lack of surprise set me on edge. My teeth gritted together. “You knew.” It wasn’t a question. It was an accusation.
Compared to the mob that had been in his house earlier, his mansion was eerily vacant. I followed him inside as he went to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. He had ignored my statement, but when he handed me a beer, his eyes caught mine. I couldn’t place what was going on in his head; he was wearing a mask. It was one that I had witnessed on him since I arrived in Rawley. It was the same mask he gave everyone, his friends, his teachers, and now it was directed at me Tray Evans wasn’t normal. I had forgotten during our recent interactions, but I remembered now.
I stepped back and ignored the beer he handed to me.
He dropped his arm with a sigh and shrugged, leaning back against a counter. “Would you care if I said it was bro code?”
I snorted.
He laughed softly. He sighed again and shook his head. “I’m not a narc, Taryn. I know a lot of shit and don’t say a word. That’s not me.”
“Mandy’s your friend.”
“So’s Devon.”
“You don’t care that your friend is getting hurt?”
“She wasn’t getting hurt. She wouldn’t until she found out.” He straightened from the counter and advanced towards me. He walked with purpose, stalking his prey, and I bit down on my lip. I should’ve moved. I couldn’t. The mask fell and someone dangerous was looking back at me. My heart leapt into my chest. There was more to him. I felt it. My body responded to it and responded to him because of it. I didn’t know what it was. My mind wasn’t thinking, but I couldn’t move away. As he stopped in front of me, just an inch separating us, he looked down to my lips. He said, “I’m no narc.”
I hated that word. I really did. I hated narcs, and I hated myself because I understood him. I had to ask, “If the situation was reversed? If someone was cheating on you and your friends knew?”
He merely smirked and set the beer in front of me. Keeping both arms on either side of me, he trapped me in place. Nudging the barstool I sat on with his knee, he twirled me around until I was facing him.
My throat swelled up. “How long has it been going on?”
He had started to move even closer. His hand lifted from the counter, and I closed my eyes, not knowing where he was going to touch me. My body was burning up. I felt alive from the anticipation of his touch, but as I asked that, I felt a cold chill instead. He stepped away. “I’m not answering that either.”
“What?”
He shook his head, the same mask falling back into place. “It’s not my business. It’s not my job to do clean up.” His nostrils flared as disgust filled his tone. “It’s not yours either. Stop making it your job.”
“She’s my sister.”
“And that’s her relationship.”
I didn’t care. She had taken me in, treated me like family. It was my job whether he agreed or not. “She said seven months before. He’s been acting off for that long. Has it been that long?” I wanted to grab hold of him. I wanted to feel him against me. No. I frowned as I corrected myself. I wanted to be in his arms again. They had been like a shelter to me. My frown deepened. I had never felt that with Brian…
“I’m not telling you.” His cold tone pulled me from my thoughts. I felt as though he slapped me across the face with his harshness.
“How long?”
“Stop pushing this. Nothing good will come out of it.”
“I’ll do it.”
He paused, eyeing me with caution. “Do what?”
“I’ll get you into the school.” No! A voice cried from the back of my mind, but I wanted to do something right. Mandy would want to know. She would be coming here, and her insides would be killing her. Giving her all the information I could was one way to help her, whether she would realize it or not. She needed to know because I had needed to know myself. “Tell me what you know and I’ll get you into that school.”
“F*ck you.”
I needed a new tactic, so I pulled him closer and slid a leg around his, twining it around his waist, bringing him into full contact against me. I slid one hand up his chest to curl around his neck. He wrapped both arms around me, one tilted my neck back and the other was on my butt, grinding me against him. Our mouths were slightly apart.
“I want to know how long.” My lips grazed his as I spoke.
“And my response is still f*ck you.”
His hand left my neck to grasp my other leg and twine it around his waist, both legs now wrapped around him. I fell against the counter slightly as he arched me against him. I gasped as heat seared through my body. He slid his hand to the front of my pants and moved underneath my shirt. I panted silently as his fingers caressed, moving upwards to softly flick against one of my breasts.
“I’m going to get you off.” His eyes darkened at my words. “But you’re going to tell me what I want first.”
“And my response will be the same, I want to f*ck you.” His intent glittered in those amber eyes as he slammed his mouth against mine. It wasn’t exactly rough, but it was fire.
I tilted my head back and opened my mouth, feeling his tongue sweep inside where it met with mine. As I felt him lift me from the barstool and plant me higher on the counter, I heard a soft moan and realized it had come from me. One of his hands was keeping my leg firmly wrapped around him as the other was exploring underneath my shirt, moving to the other breast. I slid one of my hands underneath his shirt and explored him in return, the other wrapped firmly around his taut shoulders.
And then he ripped himself away from me.
“What…?” I murmured, dazed.
Tray ran a hand through his hair. “F*ck.”
A flash of headlights filled the room, illuminating him a moment. It cast a shadow over him. He looked so gorgeous in that moment. Then the door slammed shut and I hurried out of there. When the front door opened, Mandy was there. I grabbed her arm and pulled her with me. “We’re getting out of here.”