A Whole New Crowd(27)

My nostrils flared. “I think we are friends.”
He flashed me a grin. “Does that mean you’re going to help me?”
“I think it means that I have to.” I snorted. “I’m sentimental like that. I tend to help friends and family whether they want it or not.” My eyes narrowed. “But is that all you want?”
The loaded question held between us. His eyes darkened back to that amber color, and I knew he was thinking the same thing I was. My chest tightened and my pulse started racing. I had a strong feeling we were going to be more than friends. When that happened, I’d deal with it. I was starting not to be able to control myself when it came to Tray Motherf*cking Evans.
His eyes fell to my lips and stayed there. “I think,” he flashed me another heart melting grin, “that the whole ball is in your court.”
“Shit.” I shook my head. “The innuendos I could make with that one word. You couldn’t have used a different word?”
“Sorry.” He wasn’t. He was laughing.
“Ball. You used the word ball.” I rolled my eyes, but couldn’t hold back the grin. “A set of balls. A pair of balls. A bowling ball and a pin. Ball. Just one? I think it could get lonely. I think you should add onto it. Maybe say the whole donkey’s pair is in your court.”
He barked out a laugh. “That makes no sense.”
I shrugged. I was trying to slow my hormones so I joked some more. Tray stopped listening and grabbed my hand. I stopped talking. He pulled me in front of him and I stood there, feeling all girly. I had never felt like this with Brian. None of it made sense to me. He rested his arms on my shoulders, his head bent so we were eye level, and I stood in front of him. He didn’t wrap those arms around me. He didn’t pull me against his chest. My hands lifted and held onto his biceps, and I stared back at him.
Then he smirked again. “Thank you for helping me.”
Yep. A tingly sensation had started in my gut, but it kicked up a notch now. I wanted to curse my hormones and since I couldn’t say a smart-ass comment, I nodded.
*

This was my moment. This was my element. Standing on top the roof of my old school with the black night as my backdrop and the wind rushing behind me, I closed my eyes for a moment to savor the feeling. It was like nothing I’d ever experienced. I didn’t know what it was, or how I could describe it, but even the hairs on my fingers were vibrating. I felt alive.
I got the blueprints for the new school from Grayley. He hadn’t been happy about getting them or handing them over. He hadn’t been his usual carefree easygoing way so I pressed him. “What’s wrong? Tell me or I’ll find some computer nerd to hack your email.”
His eyes got big, but then he scowled. “You would, wouldn’t you?”
“Spill it, Gray.”
When he told me that his dad had returned to town, my senses went haywire. Grayley’s father wasn’t a good guy. He got out of prison for transporting drugs over the border six months ago. Gray hadn’t been worried. His dad chose to remain in the south, but I could see the concern and knowing the reason behind it, I asked, “You want me to talk to Jace?”
His head whipped up. “What? No. Why would you offer to do that?”
I shrugged, tucking the blueprints into my bag. “Because you’re a friend and Jace is family.”
“No. Don’t do that.” He frowned. “Aren’t you supposed to be leaving us behind? I mean, I heard that you had been told to stay away from Rawley.” He pointed to the blueprints in my bag. “Why do you need those? They renovated, but trust me, not much is different.”
I shrugged. He didn’t need to know any of that, but I asked, “I noticed they upped the security. Why? I meant to ask you that at Rickets’, but you know how that night went down.”
He sighed. “You’re not getting into trouble, are you? I have a hard time imagining that Brian or his brother would be happy about that.”
“Leave Jace to me.” I wanted to ask about Brian, but I wasn’t sure if I could handle hearing it so I bit my tongue. “I’ll be fine.” I lifted my arm and bounced the bag up and down. “I’m a cat burglar. We always land on our feet.”
He groaned. “You are so not funny. It’s painful.”
I had laughed. He had laughed, but the unease lingered. It was in the bottom of my gut, and I sensed it was with him too. Gray never questioned me when I asked for odd favors in the past. This has been the first time and knowing his father was back in town, that unease was mounting. Something else was going on in town.
Coming back to the present, I watched the guards change their positions. If my calculations were correct, they would change again in two hours for breaks. I didn’t want to be weaving through them when they would be moving around so I had to go now. Questions about Gray and his father were pushed to the back burner. Tray was waiting for me to deliver an entrance to the school and that was what I was going to do. So, with that thought, I grabbed my rope and began rappelling down the side of the building.