A Whole New Crowd(16)

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!”
“Fuck school. You don’t let her get away with this.”