A Whole New Crowd(87)

I started up the hill, but he caught my hand and pulled me back.

I groaned. I knew where this was going. He pushed me against the back of his SUV and lifted me. As I wound my arms around his neck, I said, “I know you’re perfect, but that doesn’t mean you have to prove it to me here.” My legs lifted and wound around his waist and I tugged him so he was pressed against my chest. “Although, public sex does have its own rush, and I have no doubt you’ll ace that as well.”

“Shut up.”

He was serious. All the jokes fled as he leaned down.

“Stop, Taryn. Stop fighting. I thought that we established this at Dylan’s house.”

I nodded. My forehead rubbed against his.

“Stop fighting yourself from feeling.”

“I have to.” I felt too much. “I just want to fight.” I didn’t want to cry.

“Let yourself feel. You need to.” He stepped back, shaking his head. “Use your emotions, Taryn. They’ll make you stronger in the end.”

A wave of sadness rushed through me. His words opened the door and I lowered my head. I felt the tears, but fuck it. I’d feel later. Jumping off the car, I started up the hill. “Let’s go. I’ll use my emotions. I’ll use them to kick this girl’s ass if she doesn’t tell us everything.”

When we got to the house, people stopped talking. The music still blared. People were yelling and laughing from inside the house, but conversations trickled to a stop outside as people turned and saw us. No. I scanned around. They were looking at me. They weren’t focused on Tray. All their hatred was coming at me. I lifted my hands. “What? Is there a poster with my head on it somewhere?”

A girl stepped away from the crowd. She was holding a red plastic cup with her purse hanging off her arm. Her hair was braided to the side and it rested over her shoulder. She wore a skimpy black shirt that showed her midriff and baggy jeans. Her eyes were cold. Her lip lifted in a slight sneer. “We know who you are. We don’t want you around here.”

I frowned. “I’m here for answers. Where’s the girl that said Brian’s death was a set-up?”

She laughed, rolling her eyes. “You mean every girl? We all know it was a set-up. No one believes Brian Lanser was robbed and killed. We’re not dumb.”

Tray tugged at my belt loop. He pulled me backwards. “This doesn’t make sense. They wouldn’t rally for Brian.”

I shot him a look. He didn’t have to explain that to me.

He tucked me behind him and asked the girl, “What else happened that we don’t know?”

“Ask her. The rumor is that she was there, that she was at the Seven8 with Jace Lanser that night.”

A shiver went down my back. Someone had seen me, someone that wasn’t Jace.

Tray said, “She was there for a different reason. That’s when she was told about Brian’s death too. She’s been in mourning since. This is the first we’re hearing about a set-up.”

The girl scoffed. “Yeah, right. She saw Brian that night. He died hours later. Gray told me he was going to see her. Now he’s missing too. Like I said, we’re not stupid.”

My blood ran cold, and I surged forward, around Tray. “What did you say?”

“Gray. He’s missing.” Her eyes were locked on mine and her hatred went up a notch. As she said that, the crowd moved forward. A few people called out, “Yeah, where is he, bitch?”

I looked around. This was it. They were rallying because of Gray, but I shook my head. I didn’t want to believe this. “You’re kidding me, right? Gray’s fine. Gray put you up to this.” I raised my voice, “GRAY! Where are you?”

“He’s missing.”

A guy stepped next to her. “He went missing last night. He wasn’t in school today and Dee told us that he went to see you.”

“What?” No, no, no. I couldn’t go through this again. There was no way. “Who’s Dee?”

The girl jerked forward. Her fingers tightened on her cup, and it broke in her hands. She kept glaring at me. She didn’t notice her cup or the liquid that was running down her arms and legs from it. “Stop insulting us. I hate you. Do you understand that? Gray is missing because of you.”

The guy touched her arm and said to me, “Dee was with Brian last.”

“That girl he was hooking up with?”

Just then, the crowd parted and two guys brought a girl forward. She was struggling against their hold. She didn’t see me at first and when they shoved her forward, she rounded and punched one of them. Then she turned to the girl. “What the hell, Ro? You guys just grab me?”