The Original Crowd (A Whole New Crowd 0.50)

Tray must’ve felt the fight in me, because he ran one hand down my back and soothed, “Get some sleep.”

“Do I have to move?” My eyelids were already closed at his permission.

“No, baby. I’ll put you in bed when I’m done.”

“Okay—” Then I was instantly asleep.

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

I woke up and looked at the clock. It was five-thirty in the morning. And Tray wasn’t beside me. Getting up, I padded out the door and into the hallway. He’d put me in the same room we’d slept in before. As I circled the stairs, I could hear voices from the library.

What the fuck?

I recognized Carter and Bryce’s voice.

“Seriously, dude. Come on,” Carter said.

“I can’t.” Tray replied, sounding exhausted.

“You’re up, man. What’s the problem?”

“I’ve got to finish some stuff up before school.” I could hear the sleepiness in his voice. And I instantly felt guilty. It must’ve been seven-thirty or eight when I nodded off to sleep last night. That meant Tray had either catnapped during the night or had stayed up the entire night. While I’d been sleeping like a baby.

Guessing from the waft of coffee I got, I was guessing he’d been up all night.

I slipped inside, but Bryce and Carter didn’t notice me right away.

Carter was saying, “School won’t care. We can leave now and you’ll be back in time to bang Taryn after school.”

Thanks.

Tray grinned at that, meeting my eyes, “Sound okay with you?”

“Oh shit!” Carter wheeled around, eyes wide as he saw me.

Bryce tipped his head back and laughed.

“Now I know how you really feel,” I only murmured, moving to curl up in the chair next to Tray’s.

“Oh God. I’m sorry, Taryn, I didn’t mean—” But he just shut up, shaking his head in surrender.

I grinned, resting my cheek against my knees as I pulled them against my chest. “Carter, your simplicity is refreshing at times.”

Bryce laughed harder.

Carter looked like he’d blush if he was capable of it. I didn’t think he had the capability for it though.

Tray just grinned half-heartedly, as he looked back to the computer’s screen.

I wanted to ask how long he’d been up and what he learned, but I didn’t want to broach the conversation with Carter and Bryce there. They didn’t need to get curious about what would keep Tray up all night, if he wasn’t ‘banging’ me.

“Taryn, we heard you were forced to join the swim team,” Bryce commented, the laughter subsiding.

“Yeah,” I sighed, “but that’s okay.”

“Well, then you would appreciate our efforts here.” Carter was back, charm and all. “We’re trying to persuade Tray to come on a trip with us. The coast is supposed to have some record waves today. How can we miss this chance?”

“I didn’t know you guys surfed.”