A Whole New Crowd (A Whole New Crowd 1)

I had no idea, but I wasn’t going to admit that to a fourteen-year-old. I shrugged. “I’ll figure something out. Go pack a bag.”

“What about nosy neighbor?” He gestured to the house next door. “I think Mom was going to have her stay with us a couple nights, you know, to ‘check’ on us.” He laughed. “We could just leave a note. She doesn’t care anyway.”

“Oh.” He was right. “The neighbor is the least of our problems. Go get your bag.”

He started up the stairs, but paused again. “Where are we going?”

“We’re staying at Tray’s.”

“At Tray Evans’?” He smiled widely, blinding me. He added, “That’s awesome. We’re staying till Mom and Dad get home?”

“Or if Mandy leaves rehab.”

The smile fell right away. “Oh. Yeah.” He darted to his room, and I heard him shoving things into a bag.

As I waited for him to finish, I pulled out my phone and dialed Tray’s. When he answered, I asked, “Is it still okay if Austin and I stay at your place?”

“You already asked and yes.” He paused. I could hear his hesitation before he asked, “Are you okay?”

“I will be.” I was angry. I was more than angry, but my voice was tight and controlled as I gripped the phone. My hand clenched around it. “I have to run an errand tonight.”

He didn’t say anything at first. “Should I ask what the errand is?”

“No.”

“Taryn, I don’t like it.”

I didn’t care. “Tray, someone messed with my life. I have questions that I need answered, and I will get them.” At any cost.

“Just be safe.”

Hearing Austin’s door slam and him barreling down the stairs, I said into the phone, “I gave you a second chance to back out. Too late. We’re heading over right now.”

“Sounds good.”

“Okay.” I moved to end the call when I heard him say, “Taryn?” I pressed the phone back to my ear. “Yeah?”

“Be careful.”

My heart skipped a beat. Those two words were spoken with intensity and tenderness, but it was the raw emotion in them that had that alien feeling blossom again in my chest. It was another one of those moments when he spoke and his words went right into me. He could do that, more and more lately with just a look or a touch or a word.

That, in itself, was a whole other issue that I didn’t want to tackle at that moment. Instead of feeling vulnerable and stripped open, I was going to take on a fight that I could handle. Jace Lanser.

I drove Austin to Tray’s, dropped him off, and then left. Tray waved from the door, and Austin didn’t seem to care if I went inside with him or not. He was happy. I still didn’t know why, but I wasn’t going to question it. Then I drove towards Pedlam.

I wasn’t going to call Jace. I wasn’t even going to walk across the alley and try to get through the guards. For this conversation, I wanted to surprise him and if he wasn’t around, maybe that was even better. I could snoop around for my answers.

*

Jace had been kicked out of the house when he joined the Panthers. When their dad died, he moved back in to watch over Brian and me, since I was there so much, but I knew he still had his own house. Knowing that, I debated if I should head to his house first or gamble and try my luck with his office at the Seven8 first.

I decided to gamble.

Standing across the back alley, down the block from the nightclub, I saw it was another busy night for the establishment. The security guards were busy and as I was watching, two guys began fighting near the door. This was my shot. Knowing I only had a couple seconds, I sprinted down the alley and then pressed against the wall of the opposite building. I could hear shouts from around the corner. A crowd formed and more guards rushed from the side alley, running around the corner. They ran right past me, and after the last one shoved open the door, I jerked forward. I slipped through the opened door and immediately stepped behind the door. Two more guards rushed out, passing by where I was hiding. When they were gone, I heard shouts from inside—more guards were heading my way. I heard a voice yell over a radio, “Three fights! Get it under control!”

From farther down the hallway, someone answered, “On it, boss. Six more were dispatched.”

“We do not want the cops called.”