The Original Crowd (A Whole New Crowd 0.50)

Tray grinned at that, sweetening my coffee. I’d like to think I’m one of those hard-asses who only take their coffee black—black and strong. But I’m not. I’ve got a sweet tooth, hence my addiction to Tray Evans.

The sex was not just sweet, but it melted my pants off. Every time.

I grinned at that thought.

“I’m going to go and shower.” Tray set the mug in front of me and headed out the backdoor, to the pool-house.

Checking the clock, I remembered that Brian used to always be up at rehab by this time. Grabbing my cell, I called the main desk. Patricia might still be working. Sometimes she’d do overnights and she always patched me to Brian’s room. It was nice being liked by the front desk clerk.

“Hello, Northeast Rehabilitation Center. This is Patricia speaking.”

“Pat, it’s Taryn.”

“Oh, Taryn!” I heard the warmth in her voice. “How are you, dear?”

“I’m good. I was wondering if my sister might be awake?”

“I’ll put you through right away. You come and visit, Taryn. I mean it.” Then I heard her transfer me.

“Hello?” Mandy was awake, but barely, by the sound of it.

“Hey, sis.”

“Taryn?!” she asked sharply, suddenly more awake.

“The one and only, sister dear.”

“Holy shit. How are you? Are you okay? Tray called me Saturday morning. I’m so sorry, Taryn.”

“I’m…,” I hesitated. This was Mandy and I had grown to love her, even if I were just worth a mere ten million to her parents. “I’m getting through it.”

“I thought I had it bad, you bringing me, but man—I don’t know what I would do if anything happened to Devon.”

“And speaking of Devon, does he know where you are?”

“Yeah, I called him. He came to visit Sunday and yesterday.”

“Tray said Shelley and Kevin showed up at his house yesterday looking for me.”

“Yeah, the counselors called them. I think they’re coming out today to see me. Not looking forward to that.”

“Austin said your mom found your pills one other time.”

“Whatever. Those were more her pills than mine. Dad was there, that’s the only reason she even made a big deal about them.”

I was right. But my heart just dropped a little at the knowledge.

“But I’m going to say something when they get here. I even talked to my one-on-one counselor about it. Karen said they can’t make Mom stay and get into rehab, but she said it’s good to have everything out in the open. It jumpstarts the healing process or some shit like that.”

I had to grin at that. Mandy. Swearing. I must be rubbing off on her.

“So, you got through the weekend? I know those are the hardest, the first few days.”

“Yeah, it sucks, but…I’m here for a reason. Devon broke down crying on Sunday and that just killed me. But I needed to see that, you know. Karen said I need to know how my actions and decisions affect other people. Something about The Impact.”

I remembered. The Impact referred to how you hurt others by your decisions and how your decision was a selfish act. Kind of like a ripple effect. I’d heard before when I attended a few sessions with Brian. But later he told me that he got more motivated from watching me leave with Jace. He hated any time I spent with Jace while he was in rehab. It just grated at him.

The Impact had no impact.