A Whole New Crowd (A Whole New Crowd #1)(20)

“You’re pathetic. You screwed your best friend’s boyfriend. Congratulations. You got into a guy’s pants. Wonderful achievement for you. Revel in it. It’ll last a week. He’s going to drop you.” I glanced at him, saw he was already uncertain, and rolled my eyes. “She’s already dropped you and you’re now known as the friend who sleeps with her friend’s boyfriends. Congratulations on your new reputation. The only people who will want to be your friend will be people like you. You’ll never get the good friends, the ones who are actual friends.” I never looked away. I never faltered. The longer I talked, the more she withered beneath me. I was finished. “I’ve kept quiet, but I’m done. Mess with Mandy again and you will be messing with me.” I stepped closer. “That’s not a threat. It’s a fact. Ball’s in your court if you decide to take me on and with that said, get out of my house.”
“And who are—” she sputtered, taking another step back.
“I’m her sister. Enough said.”
Everyone was silent. Jennica had grown pale, shrinking away.
I said, “I’m waiting.”
Devon cursed, grabbed her arm, and hauled her behind him. The door slammed shut behind them. It wasn’t long before the rest followed them. Amber and Grant were next. Samuel, Dylan, and Tray remained for a moment.
There was more silence. Then Dylan threw his head back and a deep laugh came out. “Oh, I like you. I really like you.” He thumped Tray on his chest and chuckled. “She’s a cold-hearted bitch.”
I took it as a compliment, then heard him head upstairs and knock on Mandy’s door. I asked Tray, “Who is that?”
“My cousin. He’s not from around here.” Samuel stood up and flashed me a grin. “Evans, I could go for a burger.”
Tray nodded, but said, “I’ll be out in a minute.”
As he left, leaving the two of us alone, I shivered from different anticipation now. One smoldering look from him and every cell in my body stood straight up, jumping alive. I didn’t think I would get used to this from him. Ever.
Then he nodded. “Congratulations.”
“On what?”
“You earned their respect.”
I snorted. “I don’t care.”
“I know.” A smile teased at the corners of his lips. “They saw that too and because of that, they fear you now.”
As he left, he walked past me and the backside of his hand brushed against mine, making me moan softly. My head went down. I couldn’t hold back my own smile.
He paused.
I waited…
Then he kept going, but I heard him pause and turn back. I never looked up. If I had, I would’ve gone to him. I wanted him. Amidst all the drama, that truth flooded me and overwhelmed me. I wanted Tray Evans like I had never wanted Brian before. I was beginning to lose the battle if I cared about that or not.
*

Mandy knocked on my door that night and told me that I had a visitor. I swung my feet from the bed and sat up. Tray? No. She wouldn’t have called him a visitor. It wasn’t Brian. She would’ve been scared. “Who is it?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know, but he’s hot. Like really, really hot.”
I caught the shadows under her eyes, the ones that weren’t from the dark hallway. “You okay?”
She didn’t answer. “Dylan’s staying over.” Then she walked into her room and shut the door.
I frowned at her bedroom door a moment and saw the light turn off. When had that happened? Then I shook my head. Maybe it was best if I didn’t ask. When I got downstairs, I stopped on the last step.
It was Jace.
He was dressed in dark clothing. I grinned. “If you’re going for dark and deadly, mission accomplished.”
He laughed softly. His blue eyes scanning over me. “You’re unscathed, I see. The men said Brian wasn’t too kind to you.”
“He wasn’t happy that I involved you.”
“My brother should’ve been smarter. He’s blinded by his hurt. You two are done. He won’t accept it. Who else would you go to?” Jace folded his arms over his chest, then glanced upwards. “So that was the sister?”
He had driven me to their house, but he hadn’t met them. “Yeah.”
“She’s sad.”
I wasn’t surprised by his quick deduction. Jace hadn’t risen to be the leader of the Panthers at the young age of twenty-two by luck. He was sharp, he was quick, and he was lethal. Mix all that together with his looks and he was a charismatic walking weapon. I had witnessed it most my life. People followed Jace. They wanted to listen to him and do as he said. He learned of his affect when he’d been in high school and used it to his advantage. The school expelled him because he had led too many protests and riots in their classrooms. Being restless, angry, and too smart for his own good, I hadn’t been surprised when he showed up at the house wearing the Panther colors one day. Their dad went nuts, but soon he grew fearful of Jace while Brian began to worship him.
Then their dad died and all that changed. Brian began to hate him too, even while he continued to idolize him. I stopped trying to figure out how that worked long ago. All I understood was to stay away from Jace. For a few years, we barely talked except in passing when I would go to Brian’s room and he’d come home early in the morning. A few of those times, he had blood on him.
I was relieved when the blood started to disappear altogether, but then I learned he still had blood on his hands. It was the invisible sort instead. Remembering those years and how I had been fearful of him, made me chuckle softly.