The Original Crowd (47 page)

“Hey.” He grabbed me in a hug, squeezing my entire body. In my ear, he whispered, “Listen…huh—”

“What?” I asked, standing in his embrace, long after conventional norms.

“Grayley’s missing,” he choked out, “I wasn’t sure about…I didn’t know what to say, but…he went to find Brian…and he never came back, if you know what I mean.”

When the words registered, my body went cold.

*

I’d told Brian that I wanted to know what Jace had done, what arrangements he’d made for me. Geezer had told me that Brian had found the answer and had been on his way to see me.

Brian was dead.

Grayley was missing.

And Jace was here.

I looked up, my arms still around Geezer, and I saw Jace standing at his car. He looked like he was waiting—waiting for me.

“Geezer,” I said, pulling away. I met his eyes, mine fierce. “Where did he go?”

He looked away, running a hand through his shaggy hair.

“Charles!” I said firmly.

“He,” he sighed, stuffing his hands in his pockets, “he…went to Jace’s. Brian called me from there. He said he had some information and that he was on his way to find you. He said you needed to know…and then…he never called us back. He was supposed to go and see you, then report back, but he never called. Grayley got antsy and took off to go find him. Then I got a phone call from a friend who works at the hospital; she knew I was close to Brian. She said a chopper went out to Rawley to pick him up. When I got to the hospital, Jace told me he was dead.”

I turned away, my arms hugging myself. I was shivering.

“Taryn,” Geezer mumbled, “what are you…I mean…what are you going to do?”

“Do?” I asked numbly. .

“Yeah, I mean…we gotta find Grayley, you know? He’s my best friend.”

“Mine too,” I mumbled, my eyes only seeing Jace. His eyes were still blank. “Mine too,” I repeated.

Geezer sighed a deep shuttering breath.

“Fuck…,” he groaned. “I could go for a joint, like, right now.”

“Geezer,” I snapped, “stop it! Just stop it!”

Taken aback, looking confused, he asked, “Huh? What?”

“Stop living your life on marijuana. Weed’s not going to get you anywhere, you’re wasting your life. It’s gonna ruin everything for you. So just…stop.”

“Yeah, but—”

“No, Geezer. Stop it.”

“I can’t talk to people unless I’m high,” he debated.

“You don’t talk to people anyways. You hole up in your house and get high. You’re not doing anything. Go back to school—Brian would want you to go back to school.”

“Come on—”

“Who do you want Brian to remember?” I asked. “The Geezer who doesn’t do anything and just gets high all the time…or do you want to be someone else? Someone Brian would be proud of?”

He glanced away, torn. Pained.

I gentled my voice, “You don’t give a shit about your life. But I do. Do it for me, at least until you can do it for yourself later.”

He still wouldn’t look at me. The topic was too personal, too raw for him, but he’d heard me. It was all I could do for him.

“Taryn,” Tray spoke up, his hand touching my elbow, “we should go.”

“Okay,” I murmured to myself, feeling my feet following behind. As we approached his car, I saw Jace straighten from his. He took a step towards me, hands in his pockets, his tie flapping in the wind over his shoulder.

I saw the intensity in his eyes as our gazes met, but I looked away. I had an awful feeling that Jace had a part in Brian’s death and I couldn’t face him, not now.

“Taryn—” he started as Tray led me past him.

Tray let go of my elbow and walked to his side of the car. As he unlocked it, I stood there, facing away from Jace.

Standing beside me, he spoke earnestly, “Taryn, look at me.”

I didn’t acknowledge him. I couldn’t. I’d go off and I wasn’t going to do that at Brian’s funeral.

“Can you please just stop…please?”

“No.” I turned to face him. “Brian found something out, didn’t he? Something that you did to me and he was going to tell me. And now he’s dead. Kind of a coincidence, isn’t it?”

Jace paled. “It’s not…that’s not—”

“Fuck you,” I bit out, climbing inside the SUV, I slammed the door.

*

As Tray left the church, I spoke, quietly, “This isn’t about you, it’s not about your dad, it’s not about Galverson. It’s about me and Brian…and whatever Jace is hiding.” I looked up and met his gaze.

“I’m going after him,” I announced.

Tray didn’t say anything, but turned the wheel. He pulled into the nearest parking lot and stopped the engine. Sitting back, he asked, “Do you know what you’re getting yourself into?”

“Yes. No. I don’t care.”

“Taryn, it
is
about Galverson, whether he’s your focus or not. Jace is connected to Galverson, so whatever you find—will have Galverson’s prints on it too. You’ll have both of ‘em gunning for you.”

“Jace knows what happened to Brian.”

“Yeah, probably,” Tray murmured, rubbing his jaw, “but it doesn’t mean he killed him. It doesn’t even mean he found anything out.”

“I told Brian that I wanted to know what arrangements Jace had made for me. I told Brian that and then he told Geezer that he found out. He was coming to tell me. He found something out…and now he’s dead.”

“If it was so dangerous, why’d he leave a trail and tell Geezer that?”

“Grayley’s missing,” I exclaimed. “He went to find Brian when he didn’t call…and now he’s missing. Grayley’s missing and Brian’s dead. I can’t sit back anymore.”

“Even though it might be you in a casket next?” he asked tiredly.

“Tray—”

“I mean it, Taryn, you go after Galverson and chances are fucking high it’ll be your fucking funeral next time. I don’t want to go that fucking ceremony.”

“My best friend is missing. I can’t lose him too,” I pleaded.

“Oh come on!” he cried out, pissed.

“You took him on once before. Help me this time. Help me finish him for good,”” I begged.

“Please,” I asked again.

“Taryn,” he hedged, shaking his head.

“I’m one of the best there is, I can get anywhere, Tray. Anywhere. I went in blind and got into a police station. A fucking police station! I can do that, I can go anywhere with planning. I already have some stuff.” At his quick glance, I told him, “I haven’t looked at it, not since I decided to leave it alone.”

Tray swore.

“Your family’s alive,” I spoke. It was true, but Tray had already lost them. He’d already lost his family. “Brian’s dead.” And I lost something similar. “I can’t lose Grayley too.”

“Fuck…Taryn—”

“Brian’s dead,” I bit out. “I’m going after him whether you’re with me or not.”

“Oh—”

I stopped, pleading with my eyes. “You know how to do this. You know how to take him down. You know so much about their fucking world—things that I could never know. Please, Tray, you did it when you were in the fucking eighth grade. You did it when you were a kid. We’re not kids anymore.”

After a second, I could see his decision flash in his hazel eyes and I grinned. It was time for war.

I was waiting by Props’ locker when he arrived to school and I grinned, seeing him pale slightly. His eyes went to the flash drive that was dangling from my fingers. “Heya, Props!” I said cheerfully.

“Hey—” he said uncertainly.

“How was your date?”

He opened his locker and said stiffly, “Fine. What are you doing here?”

“I took a peek at what’s on here,” I stated, leaning against the next locker. “Guess what? It doesn’t make any sense to me. So, seeing how I don’t read technical code, I should come to the resident expert. That’d be you.”

The guy looked like he was about to pee his pants.

“So, you’re going to tell me what’s on this,” I announced.

“What…what’s in it for me?” He hesitated.

“Same deal as before. What do you want? And it better not be a second date with Aidrian Casners.”

“Uh—”

Too late—he took too long in answering me—I wanted a ‘yes’ immediately. I snapped, “You’re going to help me or you’ll deal with me. And if I’m not scary enough, remember what I said about my car? I
like
running people over with it.”

“Fine. Fine. I’ll help, jeez. Just…”

“Just what?” I warned.

“Nothing.”

“That’s what I thought. So, when and where do we get started?”

“Uh,” he scratched the back of his head, “how about after school? You could come over to my house—”

“Where I’ll have to meet your mom, who will think I’m your girlfriend? I don’t think so, you can come to Tray’s house. Bring your laptop and whatever techie gadgets you need.”

He paled.

I turned and marched off. Not appeased, not fucking at all. I wanted to get at that information ASAP and now I’ll have to wait for the entire fucking day.

Swearing, I kicked my locker when it stuck.

“Man, I’m surprised to see you here,” Crystal remarked, hugging her books to her chest.

I spared a glance at her, but went back to beating the shit out of my locker.

“You’re entitled to some time off, you know? You shouldn’t be back at school already. Brian’s funeral was yesterday.”

“I know when Brian’s funeral was!” I snapped, punching my locker. It wouldn’t move. Props wouldn’t help me right this second. And Brian was still dead.

I was mortified, feeling tears tease at the corners of my eyes.

“Hey, hey, hey.” Tray seemed to materialize out of nowhere. He blocked me from the watching audience and Crystal quickly stepped closer, blocking me from her angle.

“Get off,” I warned.

Tray rolled his eyes and slammed a fist to my locker, where it opened immediately. He grabbed my books and held them hostage. “You going to calm down?!”

“Give me my goddamn books.”

“If you’re going to go at it like this, all emotional and shit—we’re gonna fail. You have to push it aside, Taryn.”

Crystal frowned. We weren’t referring to books.

“I don’t need—”

“My help?” Tray slipped it, “Because, according to you, you do need my help and I’m telling you—calm the fuck down!”

“My locker wouldn’t open.” I knew it was a shameless excuse.

“We’re not talking about your damn locker and you fucking know it,” Tray growled.

“Stop it!” I shoved him away. “Give me a break…”

“You can’t afford any breaks, not now.” He cursed and drew me with him, down the hallway and into the empty gymnasium.

He sat on a bleacher and murmured, “You took off early.”

I didn’t respond, but hugged myself. Trying to hold in the blistering rage.

“Taryn,” he began, softening his voice slightly, “you have to shut it off. You just have to. Being emotional will end up getting us killed. This isn’t some fucking high school prank—this is you and me playing a game that could get us killed. You’re right, you do need me on this and this is how it
has
to be.”

“But I can’t—”

He stood up and said sternly, “You have to or I walk. That’s the deal. There’s no other way.”

I glared at him, hating him in that moment.

Tray grinned at me and pulled me against him. Encircling an arm around my waist, he bent and whispered against my lips, “Why don’t we skip and go screw each other’s brains out?”

It had some appeal.

“We skipped almost all of last week. I don’t think I can afford it.”

Tray shrugged. “It’s not like you’ll get into trouble.”

There was that again—the elite—they could fucking get away with whatever the fuck they wanted to. But I’d been included recently, so I could get away with it too. I was such a hypocrite.

Brian’s dead. The reminder popped in my head—bringing me back to reality. I’d forgotten, for a few minutes, but I had. I clamped down on the guilt that speared my body.

“I gotta talk to the counselor about Mandy, too,” I murmured.

“Fuck that. Your folks should have to do it.”

“Yeah,” I bit out, “because they’re
always
around, aren’t they?”

“Come on. Let’s go to my place and spend the rest of the day in bed. It’d be good for you.”

“So I can enjoy sex when Brian’s dead.”

Tray pulled away, but not completely. It had worked, partially, but Tray watched me. And I knew he figured it out when the corner of his mouth curved upwards, “Not going to work, baby. I’m not going to ‘rescue’ you and tell you it’s alright and you don’t have to feel guilty that you’re still living. You know that shit and besides, the guy seemed to love you. He wouldn’t want you to go down that route, Taryn.”

I knew he was right, but—fuck, fuck, fuck.

“I’m sorry,” I slipped out, my hands twisting in my hair. “I’m just…I can’t handle this, I can’t not do anything, I can’t just sit in class, I can’t jus—”

Tray slammed his mouth against mine and an explosion erupted inside me. It was what I needed and I met him full-force, drowning in him. My hands wrapped around his neck as I hoisted myself up, my legs wrapped around him and he walked us against the wall. Pressing against me, he licked, sucked, kissed, and caressed my mouth.

“God—” I moaned, raking my hands through his hair, holding him tightly against me.

“Okay, laps around—”

Of course, there had to be a gym class first period. The teacher stopped in shock, students milling around him, trying to see what stopped him.

“Mr. Evans and Miss Matthews!” he reprimanded.

Tray held me in place as he lifted his head lazily and grinned at the teacher. “Hey, Mr. Martson.”

“This is not appropriate behavior and the two of you are missing your classes.”

I grinned, leaning my forehead into Tray’s neck.

“Well, you see, Mr. Martson,” Tray began, flashing a charming smile, “this isn’t what it looks like.”

“It isn’t? he asked skeptically.

“No, you see Taryn thought it’d be a good idea to practice her climbing skills.”

“On you?” Mr. Martson supplied dryly.

“Yeah, exactly, because you know, I wouldn’t let her fall.”

“Mr. Evans.”

“Yeah?”

“She can
un-climb
off of you now. Then make sure to take a trip to the principal’s office. You can resume your ‘climbing’ there.”

“I don’t think he’d appreciate that, Mr. Martson,” Tray said seriously.

“Out. Now.”

Tray let me down and I saw more than a few grins behind the teacher’s back.

When we got to the office, Tristan was sitting in the waiting room, looking irritated.

“Hey, guys!” She brightened up, seeing us. “Tray, how are you? I can’t believe you guys missed the entire play-offs. Seriously.”

He shrugged.

I was bored, pissed, and restless.

“Can it, Tristan,” I snapped, pacing.

“You are such a bitch!”

“Please. I’m just callin’ it like I see it.”

“Right…you know what? I am sick and tired of you. I come back from Spain and all I hear about is how great Mandy’s new sister is. She’s so fun and free-spirited. She puts Amber and Jasmine in her place—they’re right, but what they failed to mention was how you couldn’t care one iota about decency. It’s called class and you’ve got none.”

I laughed. “What makes you think I care?”

It pissed her off even more. This was putting me in a much better mood.

“Oh my God…I
cannot
believe your nerve. You treat Mandy like shit—”

Oh no, bitch.

“No, you treat Mandy like she’s your bitch. Like some little lapdog for you to play with and screw with her mind. You think she’s yours, like you have claim over people—which is why you and Amber don’t like each other. You’re the same, you’re both psychotic narcissists.” I got in her face.

“If anyone’s the—”

“It’s you. Trust me,” I clipped out, staring her down.

“You waltz into town and think it’s yours, but I’ll tell you one thing…I’ve been here a lot longer than you. My family founded this fucking town—”

“Ooh, look at that class. I didn’t know blue-bloods knew what swear words were,” I taunted, sitting back, watching her stumble over her words.

“Oh my God!” Tristan shrieked. “Can you get over yourself?” She turned to Tray and pleaded, “Tray—”

Tray stood up lazily, and remarked, “Why do you think I’m sleeping with her? Couldn’t beat her, so I joined her.” He sent me a private grin, his eyes lustful.

“Holy hell! If I knew this school was this entertaining, I’d have been here a long time ago!” Carter exclaimed, standing in the open-doorway. There were more than a few students behind him, shamelessly listening to the entire exchange.

“We’re not selling tickets. Shoo, fuckers,” I barked.

“I’d pay.” Carter held out his wallet.

“Carter, what the hell are you doing here?” Tray asked, moving towards him to punch him in the shoulder.

“Orientation, baby. Orientation.” He gestured to Tristan. “Guess that’s why she’s here too. I’m transferring.”

“Let me guess, your files were destroyed in a freak accident.” Tray said wryly.

“Something like that.” Carter sent me a grin. “Thanks for the idea.”

“I’m leaving,” I announced, and walked out. This was pointless. If Tristan, her royal fucking highness, hadn’t been helped, yet Tray and I shouldn’t have to stick around when all we were doing was making out. The principal will probably just throw out some bullshit about appropriate boundaries, and I’d tell him that Tray and I knew exactly how appropriate our boundaries were. Then we’ll get detention. Or I’d get detention. This was not what I needed right now. Not when I planned on using every free minute either hunting down Props or threatening Props.

At my locker, Molly proclaimed, “Is it true? Is it true? Is Carter Sethlers going to school here now? I’ve, like, heard it from eight people.”

Who does she talk to? Is there a secret underground of Invisibles that just see and hear everything? Seriously.

“Yes,” I bit out, grabbing my second period book now. Tray still had my first period book.

“Oh my God! This is great!”

I said, “You have a boyfriend. Sethlers is off limits.”

“Oh.” She blushed, how unusual. “Well…yeah, I mean…I spent the weekend with Garrett and it was…”

I couldn’t handle another full-body blush, so I asked, impatiently, “Did ya have sex or not?”

I literally thought, for an actual second, that her eyes would pop out of her head.

“Taryn,” she whispered, horrified she glanced around, “I…oh gosh…no. We didn’t have sex.”

“Did you want to?”

“Taryn!”

“Come on. That was the whole reason you were apprehensive about going to the cities for the weekend, right?”

“Yeah, but you don’t have to announce it.”

“I asked a question. Announcing would be different. I’d use the PA system if I wanted to announce something.”

“Hey, bitch!”

I looked up—that
is
my name after all.

Aidrian Casners was pushing her way through the crowd, wearing a frilly pink halter-top over a black leather miniskirt. She had white hoop earrings dangling to her shoulders, which looked like they were about to rip her ears off from the speed she was zooming my way.

I grinned at that thought.

Molly shrieked and melted away. Literally. She had mad Invisible skill.

Crystal was following Aidrian, but I saw the grin she was biting back. She was only there for entertainment. Hell, Aidrian entertained me too.

“What up?” I asked easily, standing to face the firing squad.

“You sent that freak nerd to my house Friday night. I had to baby-sit his ass at Third Wave,” she hissed.

I rolled my eyes, then said smoothly, “That freak nerd is going to bank-roll you in one year. Trust me. He could own Third Wave in another ten, max.”