A Whole New Crowd(33)

“Hey.” I waved him to the table. “Have a seat.”
Mandy and Molly stopped laughing. Dylan sat up straight. He’d been warm and friendly a second ago. He was cold now. “Pedlam student.”
“My friend.” I leaned forward and kicked Tray’s seat out for him. “Sit down, Gray.”
He did.
Once he was seated, I asked, “Heard we spanked you guys.”
He snorted, running a hand through his hair. “Please. As long as we can drink, we’re happy.” Then he grew serious, lowered his voice, and leaned closer to me. “Can we talk? Somewhere private?”
I knew what he was going to ask. “I’m sorry.”
“Okay. Another time then?”
“No.” I shook my head. “I went to Jace and he wouldn’t tell me anything. He kicked me out.”
His eyes widened. “He kicked you out? For real?”
I nodded. Remembering it brought some of the old emotions back up. “I’m trying not to think about it, to be honest.”
“Man.” He sat back, dazed. “Whoa. I’m sorry, Taryn.”
I jerked a shoulder up. “It’s no big.” It was. We both knew it was, and he patted my hand, sighing softly.
He added, “I’m still sorry.”
“Yeah.”
He glanced from me to the table. Mandy and Molly were both staring while Dylan was watching the house. I knew who he was waiting for, but Tray wouldn’t kick him out. They had met already, somewhat, at Rickets’ House, and Tray knew I had gotten the blueprints from a friend. Gray sighed and leaned close again. “You want me to go?”
Did I?
I shrugged. I should’ve been clearer about a decision, but I didn’t care in that moment. Gray was a friend, maybe the only one from Pedlam that I could still talk with. He knew me better than the people at the table, but Tray chose that moment to return with two cups in hand. He gave Grayley a brief nod in greeting as he placed the drinks on the table and pulled a chair to sit between us.
I said, “We can talk later.”
“Yeah.” An uneasy laugh came from him. “When it’s not enemy territory, right?” He clapped a hand on Tray’s shoulder. “That was an awesome prank, by the way. The guys are planning their revenge already.”
Tray nodded. “Good. I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
Grayley laughed. “I’ll let the guys know—” He stopped. “Or maybe I’ll keep quiet since I got a friend on your side.” Nodding to the others at the table, he tapped me on the shoulder as his farewell before he headed away.
Mandy asked, “Who was that?”
“A friend.”
“Like me,” Molly piped up, then her cheeks got red, and she ducked her head again.
“He seems like a good guy,” Tray spoke up for him.
I could sense an interrogation from Mandy coming, but it was halted at those words. No one went against Tray Evans, certainly not my adopted sister. Knowing what he did and that he had done it for me, I turned to him. “Thank you. He means a lot to me.”
“I know.”
“Yeah.”
Then Mandy shrieked in laughter and I sighed.
“Come on,” Tray murmured in my ear. He took my hand and stood up.
I didn’t care where he was taking me. He tended to know when I needed to get away so I went, with another wave of gratitude going through me, but paused when Molly jerked her head back up.
Tray pulled me into his side and leaned around me. He handed Dylan a twenty. “Can you call a cab for Taryn’s friend? For when she wants to go home?”
“Sure thing.”
I ignored the knowing look from the cousin and the confused expression from my sister. Molly was grinning from ear to ear. This would be spread over the school as well. Maybe I should’ve been happy. My goal for a while had been to distract the gossip mill from Devon and Mandy’s break-up, but at this point, I didn’t think it mattered.
We left. When he headed out, I asked, “Where are we going?”
He didn’t answer. He took my hand, glanced over his shoulder, and flashed me a smile. Oh f*ck. It was one of those smiles. It was earth-shattering, heart-melting, and a fireworks type of look. A lot of promises were attached to that look, and I swore my panties were soaked through. Yes. I definitely needed to deal with this. My body was starting to develop a mind of its own, and it was starting not to listen to me.
He squeezed my hand and slid both of them into his pocket. It was snug and too close to where I really wanted to put it. My body was ready to erupt. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been like this with a guy. A part of me loved it. The other part was in one giant pretzel-like knot.