A Whole New Crowd (A Whole New Crowd 1)

I shook my head and cleared my thoughts. Moving back to the punching bag, I hit it. It barely moved again.

“Taryn?”

I couldn’t talk so I swung again, then again. I didn’t care if the bag didn’t move. I was moving. I was doing what I needed. I wanted all the shit from inside me out of me. As I kept going, punch after punch, I imagined a huge dump truck coming in and scooping out all the crappiness from me. With a guttural cry, I switched my feet, switched my fighting stance, and swung with my left arm. Then I kept going.

Tray came to stand on the other side of the bag. He held it, hugging it, as I kept pounding. I didn’t care if my hands bled or if my knuckles bruised. My head went down and I kept hitting. I went until my arms wouldn’t lift and my body was exhausted. Even then, after an hour, I wanted to keep going. Too many emotions were still swirling inside me. They were slithering around like snakes and I couldn’t get them out. I didn’t know how anymore.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

“I thought Mandy dumped her friends.” I paused, then added, “Your friends.”

Tray chuckled. “She did, but I guess the girls went to visit her last night. Plus, Dylan’s in town again. This get-together is at his parent’s vacation house. I think he wants to try his hand with your sister since she dumped Devon.”

I frowned. “Why am I jealous that you know more about my sister and her friends than I do? I’m the girl. Isn’t that what we do? We get the gossip.”

He laughed again, turning onto a different street that headed out of town. “I think the girls would give you the info if they weren’t scared of you, and Mandy’s only been home a day. I only know because Dylan called to explain it all last night when he invited us.”

“She should be resting,” I paused again, “at our house.”

“Our house?” He threw me a grin.

I flushed and leaned back in my seat. I didn’t even know I had sat forward. “Mandy is delicate right now. She just left rehab. She should be around people who support her sobriety and understand it. This get-together is not a good idea. There’s going to be alcohol there. I’m sure there’s going to be triggers for her, whatever her triggers are.” Why didn’t I know? That was what was bothering me the most. I didn’t know.

Tray’s voice gentled. “You took your sister to rehab and found out a day later that your ex-boyfriend died. It’s okay that you didn’t go see her.”

“They had family sessions.”

“And you didn’t go because you found out your adoption was a lie. You felt like they didn’t want you after all.”

“Kevin was forced to take me and he tricked Shelly into wanting me.” Tray was right. All of it. I shook my head. “I don’t feel like I was there for her.”

“Taryn.” His tone firmed. His eyes darkened. “You were both going through some massive things. Stop feeling guilty. Believe it or not, you can’t save the world. Stop taking on the duties of Wonder Woman when you’re not Wonder Woman.”

I cracked a grin. “It’d be awesome to have those powers.” I frowned. “What powers did she have?”

He chuckled, patting my le

g as the car slowed and he turned onto paved driveway. “Does it really matter? Get the lesson here. You’re human. Stop acting like you’re not.”

“Okay, okay.”

The driveway went up a hill and curved to the left. There was dense forest on both sides of us and when we saw the house, I saw the amount of cars and my eyes got big. “For real? There’s like thirty cars down there.” I didn’t waste time. As soon as Tray parked, I was out of the car and into the house. The living room was crowded. I couldn’t get through to the kitchen, but then I growled and the crowd parted. People saw me coming and moved aside. Sweeping through the kitchen, I went to the patio and there she was. Mandy was at a table, sitting on Dylan’s lap. Jennica and Amber were laughing, but the sound shriveled up as I headed for them.

Mandy saw me and sat upright. “Taryn?”

Her surprise punched me in the chest. “You didn’t know?”

Dylan squirmed underneath her. His hand was on her thigh. She was wearing a dress. The hemline rested above his hand and he cupped her skin for a moment before letting out a soft sigh. She turned to him. “Dylan?”

“I invited Evans. Her and him are a deal now, you know.”

“You don’t want me here?”

She looked back to me. Her indecision was clear, then she shook her head. “It’s not that, Taryn. It’s…” She bit her lip and scanned the table. Her friends had varying expressions. Amber seemed expectant of something whereas Jennica couldn’t look away from the doorway behind me. Then Mandy stood up. “Can we talk?”

I nodded, my neck stiff. Following Mandy as she weaved through the crowd, I wasn’t surprised when people shouted their hellos and welcome backs to her. A few saluted her with their cups. When she headed for the stairs, Tray was coming from the kitchen. He paused and his eyes narrowed. An unspoken question passed from him to me, asking what was going on. I lifted a shoulder. I was about to find out.

“Hi, Tray.” Mandy gave him a small wave.