A Whole New Crowd(18)

“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.”
“Fuck 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. “Fuck.”
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.”



CHAPTER FIVE

Mandy cried the entire ride back to our house. After she showered, she curled up on my bed and cried herself to sleep. I wasn’t sure what to do, so I slept on the couch in my room. I figured Mandy didn’t want to be alone. The next morning, she cried again—through breakfast, lunch, and dinner. She didn’t once ask about getting revenge. After she went to bed early that night, around eight, I dressed in some black work-out clothes and slipped outside to my car.
I needed to do something to help take the heat off her tomorrow.
Driving to school, I parked on the road by the football field. It was far enough away from the normal parking lots that no one would look at it suspiciously and, if need be, I could run through the football stadium and evade anyone in the trees that outlined the perimeter if I got caught.
When I got to the school, I circled around to the janitor’s office and hooked a leg onto the fire escape. Darting up, I pulled myself onto the roof and crossed to one of the heating fans. Seeing it had been turned off, I unscrewed the shaft, lifting it clear off. Then I went to work on the fan—wedging a rock between the blades, just in case it turned on—I slipped my hands through the blades and found the bolts. After they had been unscrewed, I lifted the fan up and then slipped through. My feet touched the ceiling, and I ran my hands around the flooring until I found the hatch that led to the venting shafts. I lowered myself down and then began crawling, counting until I thought I was over the main office. My estimation had been correct—I was in the main office.