A Whole New Crowd (A Whole New Crowd 1)

“I’ll be fine.” The crowd parted and Tray moved me forward. I was in front of him. His arms were holding me in a big bear hug from behind, and he kept urging me forward until we were near the cars. He kept whispering in my ear, “It’s me, Taryn. It’s me. Calm down. Come on. Come back to me.”

When I felt the cool metal of a car, I bent forward and rested my forehead to it. I gasped for air, and my heart raced. Slowly, the panic and hysteria started to ease from me. I felt a tightness in my chest and tears on my cheeks.

Tray was bent over me, still whispering in my ear, “Come back to me, Taryn.” His hold gentled and he lifted a hand to my cheek. His finger caressed me, moving back and forth. It was a tender touch and I brought my hand over his. I turned to look him in the eye.

“Tray.”

He pulled back, moving so he was beside me. He cupped my face. “It’s me.”

“I wanted to hurt her.”

A soft laugh came from him. “You wanted to kill her, Taryn. You were calling her Jace.”

“I was?”

He nodded. “I think they believe you now. If we hadn’t been there, you would’ve done major damage to her.”

I closed my eyes. Oh my god. I shook my head. “I can’t think about that.” Gray. “They did something to Gray. She has to know something. I have to find out.”

I pulled away, but he caught my hand. “Hey, hey.”

“Tray.” I didn’t have time to argue. I looked at them, saw they were watching us, and my eyes went straight to Dee’s. She was bleeding. Her lip was swelling up and she was holding a hand to her eye, but she shrunk down at my gaze.

I started forward again. Tray didn’t stop me this time. He was right beside me. Three guys formed a wall between me and Dee, but Tray motioned them aside. “She won’t attack her again.”

They nodded and moved aside, but stayed close. I knew they would jump in if I attacked her again. I shoved them out of my mind. They weren’t important. “Tell me everything.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

“I don’t know what you want me to tell you.” Dee was huddled in a corner, sitting on the bed. We had moved inside with Ro and a guy I didn’t know. The rest stayed outside and kept the crowd away. Dee crossed her arms and lowered her head, and I wondered if she thought she could hide from us. I snorted to myself at that thought. Fat chance, honey.

“What?” Ro was leaning against the wall by the door, her boy toy beside her. She asked again, “What’s so funny with what she said?”

I narrowed my eyes. “Why do you care so much about Gray?”

She shot back, “Why do you?”

“He’s my friend.”

She lifted a hand and pretended to shoot herself.

“You think you’re the only one that's friends with him?”

I opened my mouth, a retort at the tip of my tongue, when Tray cleared his throat. He straightened from the wall. “Let’s stick to the topic at hand.”

I turned my attention back to Dee. She was biting her lip, glancing between all of us. I could practically read her mind. “You’re not getting out of this. Spill what you know and I’ll let you leave with only Ro on your ass.”

“And if I don’t?”

Really? Flashing a grin, I kicked one of her legs to the side. Her elbows fell down and she almost tumbled to the floor. When a heated glare came at me, I moved my finger from side to side in front of her face. “I would’ve done real damage outside. Do you want to piss me off again?”

Ro sighed from behind me. “Dee, just tell her. My god, we’re not going to kill you. Stop acting like this. We all want the same thing.”

Dee’s loathing doubled and she pointed at me as she spoke to Ro, “Speak for yourself. She saw Brian last. He was doing something for her and he’s dead. Now Gray’s gone. All I know is that he didn’t want to talk to her for the longest time and the moment he decided to go see Taryn, he goes missing. Those two things aren’t a coincidence to me.” She swallowed, her throat jerking up and down. She crossed her arms over her chest again. “If I talk, I die. I’m not talking.”

I started for her.

She screamed and scrambled back on the bed.