A Whole New Crowd (A Whole New Crowd 1)

It happened so quickly.

I was left, stunned, as Tray was in the air. His hands went out to tackle Jace, and Galverson’s eyes went wide. Jace twisted back around. He dodged Tray, brought his elbow up and clocked him in the nose. Tray fell to the side, but he tucked his shoulder to help absorb the impact and kicked his leg. Jace blocked his leg, grabbed his shoulder, and turned the gun so he was holding the end. He was going to hit him with it.

I yelled out, “STOP!”

He didn’t. He rained it down, hitting Tray above the nose. My stomach rolled over at the sound of it. Tray tried to move aside, but Jace had him trapped. He couldn’t move. I raised the gun. “Jace, I mean it.” I turned the safety off. “Stop. NOW!”

He glanced up, then did a double take. His hand let go in an instant

Tray scrambled out from his hold, then stood to the side. I looked for a brief second, to make sure he was okay. When I looked back, Jace had his gun pointed at me. It was him and me now. I stared at him, feeling all the old layers of laughter, times he was my teacher, times he was my friend, times when he comforted me, and when he took me to my new home. One by one, those memories peeled away. He had been family. That was gone as well. There was nothing left.

“You’re a killer.”

Jace didn’t respond. He moved forward.

I moved back, just one step. The tunnel’s edge was right behind me now. “Stop, Jace.”

“What are you going to do, Taryn?” Finally. The stranger fell away, and the guy who had loved his brother stood in front of me now. He began to move so his back was to the wall.

I frowned. What was he doing?

Then Galverson stepped forward. He had a gun pulled as well, but it was held at his side. He was silent, watching us.

Jace continued, “If you fall, you die. If you don’t, you still die.” His hand loosened on the gun and he softened his tone, “What are you going to do, Taryn?”

I didn’t understand what he was doing. “Are you trying to bait me?”

He stared at me, long and hard.

“Taryn.” Tray was glaring at Jace, but he pointed to the river. I glanced down and saw three boats below, moving to place a net in the water. My heart couldn’t sink anymore, it really was over. If we jumped, they would catch us. There was no hope.

“You and Brian were like my family.”

Jace didn’t waver. “We were your family.”

I flinched. “Then why? Why all this?”

“Because you were supposed to stay away,” h

e ground out. His eyes flashed a heated warning and he moved forward a step.

“Stop,” Tray held his hands out. “Stop.” His hand whipped up, I glimpsed a knife, but before let it loose, Jace swung his gun to him instead. Tray faltered and the knife fell to the ground.

“No! God, no.” I hurried to Tray’s side, but he held me away.

Jace shouted at the same time, “Move back, Taryn.”

More shouts were coming from the tunnel. There were men all around us, and Galverson let out a growl. “For fuck’s sake. This is enough.” He brought his gun up. It was pointed at Tray. He was going to shoot him; I saw it in his eyes. I moved without thinking. Tray couldn’t die. I threw myself in front of him, yelling, “NO!”

“No!” Jace jerked forward.

Tray fell back, but he grabbed me, trying to cushion my fall. It was too late. We were going backwards. As we tipped through the air and fell from the tunnel, I looked back. Galverson hurried to the edge. He was going to shoot at us, but Jace, never looking away from me, raised his hand to the side, and shot him instead.

I opened my mouth, shocked.

Galverson fell to the side. I couldn’t tear my eyes away. Jace shot him in the side of his head. Galverson was dead. We were going to die and Jace was alive.

It was too late. Nothing mattered anymore.