A Whole New Crowd(87)

I turned to Tray and found him watching me. I felt the kindness. I felt the understanding and knew Brian would never have reacted this way. That threw me. Brian would’ve been jealous. He was always so jealous, especially of his brother. I shook my head and continued, “Jace changed after that night. I don’t know what happened and I always wanted to ask, but now...” It was too late. “I don’t care about him anymore.”
“Taryn.”
I didn’t want to hear what he was going to say. It was going to be beautiful and it would probably make me want to cry. I shook my head. “I’m here to kick some ass. Let’s save the poetry talk for later, like never.”
He grinned, then reached over and cupped the side of my face. I leaned into his touch before I could lecture myself against it. He was there. Strong. Caring. As I thought of what a great guy he was, my heart sunk. I was spoiled for anyone else. He was it.
Shit.
“What?”
“We have to go to the same college.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m ruined for guys. No one else will ever measure up to you.” He opened his mouth, but I shot a hand up. “I don’t want to talk about it, but you’re stuck with me. Got it?” I didn’t wait for his reply. “Good. Let’s go.” And I shoved out of the car. As I rounded the back end—when the hell did we park?—I pointed at him. “You and I have to get it on. It’s sad that we’ve not fornicated yet.” I grimaced. “I’m not some damn virgin. What am I thinking?”
I started up the hill, but he caught my hand and pulled me back.
I groaned. I knew where this was going. He pushed me against the back of his SUV and lifted me. As I wound my arms around his neck, I said, “I know you’re perfect, but that doesn’t mean you have to prove it to me here.” My legs lifted and wound around his waist and I tugged him so he was pressed against my chest. “Although, public sex does have its own rush, and I have no doubt you’ll ace that as well.”
“Shut up.”
He was serious. All the jokes fled as he leaned down.
“Stop, Taryn. Stop fighting. I thought that we established this at Dylan’s house.”
I nodded. My forehead rubbed against his.
“Stop fighting yourself from feeling.”
“I have to.” I felt too much. “I just want to fight.” I didn’t want to cry.
“Let yourself feel. You need to.” He stepped back, shaking his head. “Use your emotions, Taryn. They’ll make you stronger in the end.”
A wave of sadness rushed through me. His words opened the door and I lowered my head. I felt the tears, but f*ck it. I’d feel later. Jumping off the car, I started up the hill. “Let’s go. I’ll use my emotions. I’ll use them to kick this girl’s ass if she doesn’t tell us everything.”
When we got to the house, people stopped talking. The music still blared. People were yelling and laughing from inside the house, but conversations trickled to a stop outside as people turned and saw us. No. I scanned around. They were looking at me. They weren’t focused on Tray. All their hatred was coming at me. I lifted my hands. “What? Is there a poster with my head on it somewhere?”
A girl stepped away from the crowd. She was holding a red plastic cup with her purse hanging off her arm. Her hair was braided to the side and it rested over her shoulder. She wore a skimpy black shirt that showed her midriff and baggy jeans. Her eyes were cold. Her lip lifted in a slight sneer. “We know who you are. We don’t want you around here.”
I frowned. “I’m here for answers. Where’s the girl that said Brian’s death was a set-up?”
She laughed, rolling her eyes. “You mean every girl? We all know it was a set-up. No one believes Brian Lanser was robbed and killed. We’re not dumb.”
Tray tugged at my belt loop. He pulled me backwards. “This doesn’t make sense. They wouldn’t rally for Brian.”
I shot him a look. He didn’t have to explain that to me.
He tucked me behind him and asked the girl, “What else happened that we don’t know?”
“Ask her. The rumor is that she was there, that she was at the Seven8 with Jace Lanser that night.”
A shiver went down my back. Someone had seen me, someone that wasn’t Jace.
Tray said, “She was there for a different reason. That’s when she was told about Brian’s death too. She’s been in mourning since. This is the first we’re hearing about a set-up.”
The girl scoffed. “Yeah, right. She saw Brian that night. He died hours later. Gray told me he was going to see her. Now he’s missing too. Like I said, we’re not stupid.”