A Whole New Crowd(25)

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.
“What?”
“Nothing.” I didn’t want to remember when they changed. “Brian’s okay, right? That’s why you came here?”
He sighed. The air suddenly dropped to a serious feeling. “I didn’t come about my brother.”
“Why then?”
“Evans.”
“Tray?”
He nodded. “Stay away from him, Taryn.”
No Terry. He always said Terry. I frowned. “What does that mean?”
“He’s not what he seems. That’s what that means.”
He started to leave. I grabbed his arm and held him tight. His bicep shifted under my touch and he waited for me. An urgency filled me. “Why? Tell me what that means.” He wasn’t going to. “Please.”
I saw the surrender. He murmured, softly, “He knows people in my world, Taryn.”
As the full implication of those words hit me, I let him go and stepped back. I shook my head. “No.” But I couldn’t disregard his words. I remembered Tray’s own words hours earlier.
There’s a lot of people who hide their true shit better than others.
But that didn’t mean anything. “You’re going to have to do better than that, Lanser.”
His eyes went flat as I said his last name. Then he smirked. The sight of it was deadly. “I don’t care who’s in your pants, Terry.” A stab of pain went through me. He used to use that word as a term of endearment, in times when he had been soft and gentle with me. He was using it as a shield now. The cold stranger in front of me now added, “I can’t give you facts. If I did, you’d be dead and I would have to do it. This is a warning for your own good. Stay away from Evans. Everyone will be safer if you do.”
I shook my head and closed my eyes. “Stop, Jace.” This wasn’t my brother. He was the Panther’s leader now. “Stop.”
“You heard me.” Then he disappeared. The door closed a moment later. When I returned to my room, I curled underneath my blanket and flicked a tear away. I wouldn’t cry.



CHAPTER SEVEN

Mandy acted like nothing had happened. I was eating breakfast when she came down. She didn’t say a word to me and headed out. I grunted. Maybe I should take that way of living? Pretend nothing happened? It felt good and I nodded to myself. That sounded good to me. It was how I was going to handle the day, act as if nothing happened yesterday. When I got to school, no one said a word to me. I didn’t see Tray or Samuel. Mandy ignored me and was talking with a group of girls I didn’t recognize. Moving around them and the guys beside them, I headed to my locker and grabbed my books. Then I headed to class.
I took my usual seat in the back, then realized my table mate wanted to talk. She kept ducking her head down, glancing up, and would duck her head into a book again. When she repeated the process three times, I looked over at her.
She gave me a tentative smile.
Oh hell. “I’m Taryn.”
A squeal escaped her mouth as she extended her hand. “Molly Keeley. I’m your—”
“Classmate. I know that.”
“Yeah, and I’m in your health and gym class.”
Wait. “I’m in health?”
“You skip for study hall.”
“I thought I had study hall.”
“You should probably tell your teacher that.”
“Oh.” I sat back. “Thanks.”
“No problem. We’re playing volleyball next week in gym too. That should be fun.”
“You play volleyball?”
“Only with my family. I can’t wear contacts so I have to wear those goggle things in class.” Her cheeks flushed again. “It’s embarrassing. They look like microscopes, but my mom won’t let me get new ones. They’re not ‘cost-effective.’” She ducked her head again. “That’s what my mom says.”
“Keep your glasses.” The teacher stood up, and I leaned down in my chair. “You won’t give a shit in two years. They’ll help you find your soul mate in college anyway.”