Always Crew

by Tijan

  Alex nodded, taking a sip of his drink. “Sure do.” His gaze caught and held mine, and I swear I thought a hidden message was there for me. “We used to be enemies in high school. Bren was the reason I went to jail.”

  My mouth dropped. “Are you kidding me?”

  He winked. It was slight, so slight it looked more like a tick, but I knew what it was, and I shut up seeing it.

  He continued to Harper, “Fought her crew, too, bunch of times.” He went to scanning the vehicles. “No Cross? That’s shocking.”

  “It was supposed to be a girls’ night.”

  “What is going on here?” Jade moved forward.

  Aspen was with her. “Yeah. I’d really like to know what this has to do with Blaise.”

  At Blaise’s name, Alex’s eyes sharpened and went right to Aspen. “I remember you. Monson, right?”

  “Yeah.” It was obvious she didn’t know who Alex was. That was fine. There was too much history here to educate everyone. “Are you from Fallen Crest?”

  Alex smirked, his gaze including me. “Roussou.”

  “Oh.”

  I was thinking about something totally different now, and hoping to hell there wasn’t something else in the works here.

  I told Alex, “Drake called me.”

  His gaze had moved onto Veronica, who was starting to thrust her hip out toward him. They were both eyeing each other, but at my words, his gaze whipped to me. “What?”

  “He told me something about my dad.” I was testing him, seeing if he knew what I was talking about.

  His eyes went flat, flatter than Harper’s mouth had been moments ago.

  He knew.

  “Is that why you’re here?”

  He swore. “No. No way, Bren. I’m here because I know Harper. His dad was friendly with my uncle.”

  My head lowered.

  He read my motion right. “Yeah. That uncle.”

  Race’s dad, the dad who ran the drug business in Roussou before Drake turned on him and ensured all of them went to prison, or just county, in Alex’s case.

  I nodded to his drink. “Sober?”

  He looked down, his eyebrows pinched together. Then he laughed. “This is pure soda, but drinking wasn’t my issue, and to answer your next question, I’m clean.” His gaze jumped to Harper before swinging to me. “Got clean in county. Planning on staying that way. And now that we’ve covered all the bases, you want to tell me what you’re really doing here?”

  Alex had never been an ally.

  My stomach was starting to churn, but that mattress. I kept going back to that mattress.

  I asked him, “You know why that was brought out?”

  He turned and paused before swinging back. His gaze met mine and I saw the look there. He wasn’t happy. His lips thinned. “No, Bren. I’m really here just for a get-together. Harper invited me, said it’d be a good time, but that was it.” He gestured to the mattress with his drink. “None of that, not like what you’re thinking.”

  “What shit is she thinking?” came from Aspen.

  But Alex didn’t answer.

  I didn’t answer.

  Harper didn’t either.

  Jade swore behind me. “Those invites were only just for us, weren’t they?”

  Veronica swore. “And there ain’t no barn, is there?”

  Harper’s smile was almost evil. “No, ladies. There’s no barn, but yes, you were the only special ladies on the invite list.”

  Jade grimaced. “I want to barf.”

  “Me too.” That was Angeline, and she sounded just as pissed as the others.

  Good.

  Good!

  They were fighters. Warmth spread through me. They weren’t going to wilt or cry or whimper. They might not get a lot of hits in. They’d for sure take hits, but they would fight. The guys were not expecting that.

  I looked right at Alex. “You against me?”

  And for the first time I had ever known Alex Ryerson, he smiled at me. It wasn’t sleazy or swarmy. It wasn’t dirty. There was no hidden agenda. Nothing. No pride. No ego. It was a pure and authentic smile, and it was almost blinding right before he tossed his drink. “Bren, you and your crew have saved my life twice. That means something to me.” He dipped his head down. “I’m with you.”

  Good, because Alex could fight, too.

  Relief flooded me, almost so much that I got lightheaded for a second.

  “What are you doing?” Harper barked at Alex.

  A laugh was his response. “Have you seriously never seen Bren fight?”

  Harper flinched, his gaze cutting to me.

  Alex saw the look, frowning at me.

  I shrugged. “I beat him up once.”

  Harper’s chin jutted up and he puffed up. “I didn’t have my bros then. It wasn’t a fair fight.”

  “You didn’t even fight back, dude. And I was the only one swinging.”

  He cringed, but then caught himself and covered. “Whatever.”

  I was running an inventory of my weapons, but I really only had one. My knife. The one with the wolf carved in the handle.

  Harper was glaring at Alex. “Are you serious right now? You’re going to throw down for this bitch?”

  Alex’s eyes got all glittery and dark. That was the old Alex, but he was darker now. Before he’d been angry, and the ego had been his biggest weakness. I wasn’t seeing the ego anymore.

  It was nice to see people could change. I mean, besides myself, though I wasn’t really feeling a lot of change right now.

  I’d accepted our situation, so the alarm had diminished into acceptance.

  Now I was starting to get thirsty. I was beginning to salivate. And it wasn’t for something to drink.

  Alex saw the look and his grin spread. “Missed seeing that girl. Nice to know she ain’t totally gone.” I shot him a look. “Who said she was gone?”

  “Everyone.” He snorted.

  I didn’t know if I should be insulted or complimented by that?

  Harper shook his head. “This is stupid. You’ve messed all of this up, Monroe. You being here is forcing my hand. I wanted to do this smooth—” Meaning he wanted to drug the girls. “I wanted everyone to have a good time—” Meaning he wanted the boys to have a good time. “And we’d all be good afterwards.”

  Meaning that he was going to dose the girls with enough drugs so they’d forget what happened.

  I cocked an eyebrow up. “Were you going to leave them as they were when your boys were done with them? Or were you guys going to wash them and fix their clothes so they wouldn’t know what happened to them?”

  “Oh God.”

  I had no clue who said that, but it wasn’t one of the girls.

  It was one of the guys, and the guy who spoke swung toward Harper. “You said we were just chilling, pulling a prank on Allen ’cause we didn’t invite him.”

  Harper stepped back. “It’s not like that.”

  The guy next to him was frowning at him, then at us, then Alex, and back to Harper. “We’re here as a favor, dude. You’re getting kicked out. We all know it and we came here to say goodbye. None of us knew any of this shit was going to happen.” He nodded to the girls. “This was not our idea and we would not have been down for it.”

  Aspen growled.

  Yes. Aspen.

  I wasn’t mistaken.

  “I don’t care. I’m pissed.” Also from Aspen.

  Harper began backing out of our group, and he studied the group, then studied where all the vehicles were going.

  He was going to make a run for it.

  “Are you kidding—”

  At that moment, like we were characters in a movie and were in a rebel camp, masked guys materialized from the woods. All were masked, every single one of them. They weren’t there a moment ago, then blink, and there they were. And they were dressed head to toe in black. There was no sound.

  Harper kept talking, digging into his pockets. He hadn’t seen them.

  I didn’t think
—someone yelled, “What the fuck?!”

  Someone saw them.

  Then everyone saw them.

  The girls jumped together, gasping and one screamed. I thought that was Angeline but couldn’t tell for sure.

  Alex moved in, his back to me.

  Nice to know he was going to protect me.

  He darted around me, going to the girls, and he placed a hand in the middle of my shoulders and pushed me forward.

  Yep. There’s some of the old Alex.

  I shot him a look, but I couldn’t deny that I was freaked.

  Every instinct in my body was screaming to run.

  These guys—there were too many of them, and they were fit. The black from head to toe helped with the dangerous vibe I was getting, but half of them looked like they could eat these guys for breakfast and a late-night snack. Forget boulders for these guys.

  And they were holding guns.

  I hadn’t noticed until now.

  More than a few had AK rifles swung over their chest. They were walking forward, unfazed by the yelling from the guys, but they moved through them with ease.

  They were looking, looking, looking.

  More moved in.

  We were completely surrounded, until one came up from behind us.

  He moved to Harper and took him by the arm, then he lifted his hand and made a motion. A few others made the same motion, and almost as eerily as they had materialized, they started to leave, except they didn’t return to where they had stepped in from the woods.

  They moved past us.

  No one moved.

  No one spoke. The yells had cut off abruptly.

  The air was almost suffocating, but everyone felt the same instinct that kicked in with me.

  These guys would kill, so shut the fuck up.

  Everyone shut the fuck up.

  The only person who argued was Harper. “Hey!” That was his first fight, but he was jerked forward as the guy who found him began walking him back toward where the vehicles were all parked, where the road led in from the other road. One by one, these men walked past.

  All silent.

  All moving like shadows, except they weren’t. Their feet touched the group. They left tracks.

  They moved past me, and they were close enough that I knew they were real, and not a figment of my imagination, but it was almost like they weren’t.

  And then there was one who brought up the back end of the group. He didn’t have the black from head to toe. He wore a white mask, like a hockey helmet or a white mask that a serial killer would wear. No joke. For real. A serial killer.

  He moved, but it was like he wasn’t moving at the same time.

  I looked down not wanting to make eye contact, but as he went past me, that white mask looked my way and he stopped.

  My heart lurched into my chest, but I held firm.

  I couldn’t move.

  I couldn’t inch back.

  I couldn’t show weakness, so I kept my face impassive, and a second later, he moved forward.

  I felt as if he’d let loose with a spell on me, and I could suddenly breathe again. It was so sudden and so jarring, that I felt tears surge to my eyes, but then another guy, one of the last two who brought up the rear passed me by.

  He went slow and I could see through his goggles.

  The others, no. I didn’t know why, but this guy—his eyes were…recognition flared through me, and I gasped, but he shook his head. He was telling me to keep quiet, and I clamped down on my reaction because I knew who this guy was.

  Heckler. The Red Demon with the almost white eyes.

  Holy…shit! Those were Red Demons.

  And they were here.

  And they grabbed Harper.

  Why did they grab Harper?

  Was one of them my dad?

  Was Maxwell the one wearing the white mask?

  A thousand questions ran through my head, but Harper was quieted almost immediately, and then they were gone. Simple as that.

  They materialized. They found their target. They left with their target, and no one made a move to stop them. No one was stupid enough. If we had, they would’ve killed us. Everyone felt it in their gut, and I was shook, because the last time I felt this was when my attacker caught me coming into my bedroom, when he pushed me to the bed and covered my mouth with his hand.

  But like that time, I would’ve fought back.

  After a few minutes, as if we were all afraid to move or say a word, someone broke the seal. “I think they’re gone.”

  Then it was chaos after that, but not within me. I could breathe. I just breathed. The other girls started crying.

  I mean, they were crying, but they were also pissed. And they were swearing.

  And Veronica had sidled up next to Alex.

  I pulled my phone out, saw there was no reception, and now knew why Cross hadn’t rolled up.

  I asked around, “Anyone have a phone with reception?”

  BREN

  Cross and the guys arrived three minutes after the masked men left.

  We’d called the cops, so it wasn’t too long after they got there when the air lit up with blue and white. Cross swept me up. Jade looked to Jordan. Both seemed tentative with each other, but Jordan pulled her in for a hug. Angeline was eyeing Zellman, and he was eyeing her back. It seemed like a beat later when Blaise drove in with Zeke exploding from his passenger side.

  I glanced at Cross. “You called him?”

  He nodded, his jaw tight. “He was quiet.”

  Oh, whoa. That said everything.

  Cross’ arm tightened around me, and he buried his head into my neck. He pressed a kiss there. “Got a text from Zeke.”

  “You did?” That wasn’t normal either.

  He nodded, his face grim. “Asked if I knew where you were, thought it might be where his brothers were.”

  That said a lot. Zeke reaching out to Cross, not a thing. Ever.

  Then Cross’ hand tightened around me and he asked, “Why am I seeing Alex Ryerson holding one of Aspen’s friends?”

  I grinned and patted his chest. “I’ll fill you in on the way back.”

  And that’s what I did.

  I gave my statement because Tim Harper getting taken was a big deal. More and more cops were pulling in, but it wasn’t until when a detective broke away from a large group and came over did I realize what really happened.

  He was thirty-ish, and tired. A buttoned-down shirt. Gun holster. Badge clipped to his side. He wore jeans and his hair looked raked through. He came right to me and lifted his chin up. “Bren Monroe?”

  I nodded.

  He pulled out his wallet and gave me his card. It was held between two fingers, and I took it.

  He pointed to it. “Come to the station tomorrow?”

  “I already gave a statement.”

  “You’re Channing’s sister, yeah?”

  I was confused. “Yeah…”

  Another point to the card. “Come tomorrow and give me another statement.”

  Cross frowned. “Why?”

  “Because the case against the Red Demons just fell apart.”

  “What?”

  Wait.

  What?

  “Harper was the witness?”

  The detective didn’t respond, just echoed, “Tomorrow.”

  “She’ll be there.”

  I glanced at Cross, and he shot me a look.

  There was more happening that I wasn’t understanding, but fine. I’d wait and find out.

  Jordan moved in. “It’s late. We have a long drive. Can we head back?”

  The detective nodded, starting to back away. “For those who were here, if they gave a statement, then they can go.”

  He headed back.

  Blaise came over, Aspen remaining back with Zeke.

  He asked me, “Aspen said what you confronted Harper about. That true?” His jaw was clenching, and his eyes were fierce.

  “Yeah, but it looks like it was just him with the
plans. The other guys backed away once I started talking about it. They thought they were coming for a goodbye party since he was getting kicked out of the frat.”

  “Fuck that. Some fucking goodbye party.” He shared a look with his brother. “I bet you a million fucking bucks that he was going to drug the guys, too, get them all in one go. Hurt me. Hurt Aspen. Hurt the house that kicked him out. Such a fucking piece of shit.”

  “Yeah, well, he’s gone.”

  “Aspen said those guys were scary.”

  I felt a kick in my gut. I couldn’t say anything. Not to anyone. Not ever.

  I nodded, letting out a shaky breath. “Yeah, they were.”

  Cross’ fingers flexed into my skin, and I knew he’d felt my reaction and would ask me about it later.

  “Okay. Well.” He looked back. “We’re taking off. We can get most of the girls with us, but Jade said she drove.”

  Jordan overheard. “I’ll go with her.”

  “Us too.” Zellman was next to Angeline. He was holding her, and she was firmly snuggled up to his side.

  That was interesting.

  Jordan caught my look and shared a small grin with me.

  I snorted.

  He laughed.

  Blaise looked between us, then held his hands up. “I don’t want to know.” He went back to Aspen and soon, they were heading out. Alex came over and said he was leaving as well. Veronica was headed back with Blaise, Aspen, and Zeke.

  “Alone, huh?”

  He shrugged, dropping his head to the side. “As I live and breathe, but respect. Yeah?” He held a hand out. I shook it, and he extended it to the others, saying, “Met Harper through his dad and my uncle. We kept in touch, but I didn’t know he was like this. Or maybe I did. That was back when I was a douche, so maybe that’s why we were friends. Gotta admit, never felt totally right coming out here, getting his call out of the blue.” He nodded toward me. “But it was nice to be on the right side this time.”

  Jordan, Cross, and Zellman all gave me a look, all with their eyebrows raised.

  “I’ll fill you guys in.”

  Jordan grunted.

  After that, Alex left.

  The others were starting to leave as well. Most went right away, probably fearing they’d get in trouble by being associated with Harper.

  Jordan said to Jade, “Mind giving us a moment?”

  Zellman nodded to Angeline, too.