A Whole New Crowd(21)

He stopped, but he was waiting for my say-so. I shook my head. It wasn’t time.

Brian laughed and raised his voice, “You guys think you know her? Huh? Evans? I’ve heard about you and your daddy. You’re all the same.”

My heart was breaking. Brian moved as if going to them, but I lifted a hand to his chest. His heart was racing under my touch. He acted as if he didn’t know I was touching him. He lifted his arm and pointed over my shoulder. “You’re weak. You’re targets. That’s all the good you are. You have no idea who you’re messing with. No idea!”

“Brian,” I whispered.

“She’s mine. She’s one of us.” He spread his arms out wide and raised his voice even louder. “We persevere. We’re the strong. We take on any circumstances and we still thrive. We’re going to keep thriving. Hell, we’re going to conquer. She’s got that rush in her and she won’t be satisfied with you. None of you. You just wait and see.” He looked down at me, his eyebrows lifted, as if seeing me for the first time. He fell back a step. Sweat was running down his face. He whispered to me, “I’ll wait for you, Taryn. I love you. You’re mine. No one else can take your place.”

Tears were rolling down my face. I ignored them.

He pressed his forehead to mine. His hands came up and cupped the sides of my face. “I’ll always love you. I will. Don’t forget me. Don’t give up on me. Please, Taryn. Please.”

I couldn’t do anything as waves of sadness crushed down on me. As he kept going, I felt an ache, big enough for an ocean to fill, opening inside of me. Then he pressed a kiss to my forehead. So had Jace. I had taken comfort from that one, but this one, I suppressed a shiver. Brian was my past. If I hadn’t been sure before, I knew now. I held my tongue and bit down on my lip. He wouldn’t accept it now.

Then I heard car doors slam.

I had stalled long enough.

Brian glanced back and a strangled laugh ripped from him. His hands fell from me and he shook his head, backing away from me. “My big brother, Jace.” He faced Jace’s men, three large men that were coming our way, and lifted both his middle fingers in the air to them. “My fucking big brother, Jace. Mr. High And Mighty, so fucking powerful he’s got these monkeys to run around and chase down his little brother.” He stopped and then shouted at them, “We’re good. You don’t need to come and protect little Terry. You can report back to big brother that the cops don't need to be called.”

“Go with them, Brian.”

“No.” A growl came from him.

“Go.” I didn’t look, but I lied, “They have their phones out. They’re calling the cops now, Brian. Jace said…” I hesitated.

He turned around. “Jace said what?”

I couldn’t. I shook my head and said instead, “The cops are already coming. Go, Brian. You’re not sober enough to drive. Give your keys to one of those guys.”

“Taryn?”

My jaw hardened and I turned away. “Go, Brian. Get out of here. I mean it.”

“Taryn, come on—”

It was killing me. Seeing him like this, remembering when he would carry me and comfort me, and knowing what everyone thought of him now felt like a knife had been sliced through me. It had slowly been pushed in and the person took their time, pulling it up through my whole body, causing irreversible damage on the way.

“GO!” I snapped and let loose the strap. The Taser dropped into my hand and I raised it. “I mean it, Brian. Get out of here.”

He looked at the Taser, but he didn’t move. He didn’t react. He only stared at it and then me. A hurt little boy looked back at me, but I turned away. One of Jace’s men came forward. He saw the Taser as I kept it hidden from the crowd behind us. “We’ll take him back.”

I turned it off and slipped it back into place. As he took Brian with him, a rush of relief soared through me when he went with him without a fight. I turned away and walked to my new home.

Tray came to the street to meet me. I stopped just in front of him and closed my eyes. The storm inside of me was raging on and on. I jumped when I heard their car doors shut. I listened as they pulled away.

Tray asked in a soft voice, “What do you need?”

I couldn’t handle anyone else. “I need to get out of here.”

“Done.”

We went to his car. I never looked at anyone, but as soon as he pulled away, I felt some of the weight lift from my shoulders again.





CHAPTER SIX


I didn’t care where we went. He asked once if I wanted something to eat. I nodded and he pulled into a drive-in type of diner. The waitress came out. When she asked what we wanted, I felt Tray glancing at me. He ordered for me and I was relieved. I didn’t know this guy, but he knew me. If I hadn’t been emotionally drained, I would’ve been scared by that. I wasn’t. I found it comforting instead.