A Whole New Crowd (A Whole New Crowd 1)

I snorted. “I’m a thief. I can usually find my way out of a situation.”

“Yeah.” He tapped my forehead. “You’ve always used this, but it’s personal now. You’re all heart now. You’re not going into anything clear-headed, not until you really grieve Brian Lanser fully.” His voice grew soft. “And I’ll be honest, I don’t think you ever will. When you love, you love hard. I know that about you. I also know you’re not going to let him go because you blame yourself.”

I reared back as if he had slapped me. “I blame Jace.”

“Yeah, but you blame yourself too. I can feel it in you. You barely eat. You’re a walking zombie. The girl who was so full of life and fight before is a shell now. You’re empty, but I know everything will slam back and you’ll go crazy. The need to hurt Jace will be too much and you’ll do something that could hurt you,” he pulled me close again, “really hurt you. That’s why I’m showing you this.”

“So what do you want me to do?” My hand wrapped around the knife. I felt the razor’s edge against my skin, pressing into it. I was fighting myself. I wanted to hurt myself, but I wanted to hurt someone else more. With a concerted effort, I relaxed my hand. I let the knife slip down, and I caught the handle of it. Then I looked at it. It was a small weapon, but it could be so deadly at the same time.

“Nothing.”

I flashed him a grin. “Brian died because of him.”

He let out a sigh.

“There’s a snowball’s chance in hell that I won’t do anything.”

“Taryn.”

I pointed the knife at him. “Jace wanted me gone. His boss is in town.” I remembered another fact. “There was a ton of security at the Pedlam High School. I’m going to figure out why. Something’s going on. I want to know what and then I’ll figure out some way to turn Galverson against Jace. He’s going to die, whether at my hands or not.”

As I left the gym, my shoulders were straight. My walk was steady. There was a calm that settled over me. It replaced the turmoil inside me and I felt good. I had a mission. I owed Brian. I was going to make his death stand for something, even if I died trying. So be it.

I kept the knife.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Mandy remained in treatment. Austin worshiped Tray. I became less of a walking zombie. People began warming back up to me. A few even said hello to me, but then I got a note to go to the counselor’s office in my last class on Friday. Tray and I had plans for more training; we had started to spar against each other in the boxing ring. As I stood up and headed for the door, the teacher called me back. “Take your books, Taryn.”

I paused at the door. Everyone lifted their heads, looking from me to the teacher. He pointed to my table. “You won’t be coming back today.”

“Well, that’s ominous.”

The room started laughing, but the teacher frowned. “This isn’t a laughing matter.”

I frowned, glanced at Tray, retrieved my books, and left. After stowing my books in my locker, I headed to the office, and when I got there, I stopped outside the door. Shelly and Kevin were already there. I could see them through the window. Shelly wiped a tear from her eye, and Kevin was bent forward, resting his elbows on his knees, a fierce scowl on his face.

This was about Mandy. They had finally found out.

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As I headed inside, I flashed them a smile. “So who told you? My bet’s on the neighbor. She finally figure out we’ve been gone?”

Their heads snapped to me and varying levels of outrage stared back at me. Shelly was dressed in a yellow dress, clutching a string of pearls around her neck. At my question, she yanked on the necklace and broke it. When they fell to the floor, spreading all over, Kevin raked a hand through his hair. He cursed and knelt, tossing his tie back over his shoulder so it wouldn’t get in the way. His suit coat had been discarded. It was folded over the third chair. As he reached under it, grabbing a fistful of pearls, I saw the sweat running down his back. I went to the chair in the far corner, my back to the door. Shelly was leaning down, and the counselor had joined Kevin in his search. When she crawled to me, I saw the pearls she was reaching for. As her hand stretched out, my foot came down on the pearls and she looked up, seeing the storm in my eyes. Her hand retracted. Kneeling upright on her knees, she stood and went back to her chair.

Kevin grabbed the last of the pearls and stuffed them in his pocket; he and Shelly returned to their seats. They rolled their shoulders back and lifted their chins.

They thought they knew what was going to happen. They thought wrong. I said, “Let me start.”

Everyone looked at me. I caught the expression that came over Kevin’s face. It was arrogant and superior.

He was my first target. “I took Mandy to a treatment center.”

He said, “You had no right—”

I interrupted, “You had no right to take me in when you didn’t want me.”

He stopped, his eyebrows bunched forward, and he glanced at Shelly. She wore her own small frown, and her throat moved up and down as she swallowed. Then she asked, “What are you talking about, Taryn? Of course we wanted you.”