The Original Crowd by Tijan Page A

could think Crispin dealing.”
    “You’re a nightmare, you know,” he suddenly growled. “You’re in deep with both of the Lansers. You got guys like Gentley avidly hating you. And…you got me driving around and waiting like a good little lapdog for you while you’re off doing God knows what.”
    I sat back in my seat, arms crossed. “I wasn’t doing anything illegal. Well, I was, but it isn’t anything that’s going to get reported, trust me.”
    Tray snorted in disbelief. “The way you walk is illegal.”
    “It is not. Shut up.”
    “Just…be quiet,” he shot back.
    I sat back, mystified. I couldn’t stop a smile from growing. I hadn’t this much fun since…since I’d broken into a car dealership with Brian. That had been fun.
    As my phone rang again, I sighed. “For the love—” I mumbled, but seeing Mandy’s name I quickly answered, “Hey.”
    “Devon and I broke up,” she said rushed. “I was right. He’s been sleeping with Jasmine. Jasmine of all people! God, and the way she acted tonight, like she didn’t even know who he was. I caught ‘em in one of the bedrooms. I hate that bitch!”
    “Mandy, I’m so sorry.” I could sympathize. After I caught Brian cheating on me—twice—I could’ve murdered both of them.
    “Oh my God…I hate her, I hate her so damn much. What am I going to do? It’s going to be all over school!”
    “Fuck school. You don’t let her get away with this,” I bit out. I was feeling for my sister here.
    “I know, but what can I do? I’ll get caught whatever I do and then I’ll probably get suspended. I can’t do that, Mom and Dad would be furious with me. Not to mention, I might lose my scholarship to Brown next year.”
    “Mandy,” I said sharply, “are you forgetting your resident criminal newly adopted sister, here?”
    “I wouldn’t want you to get in trouble. That’d be much worse than me, they might send you back to juvie or something…”
    “Meet me at Tray’s, we’re almost there.”
    “You’re still with Tray?”
    “Yeah.”
    “I hate Devon. I absolutely hate Devon. I’m going to…I’m going to key his car, that’s what I’m going to do.”
    “I’m hating him for you and keying his car is juvenile. Trust me, there are much classier ways to get back on a cheating bastard. I’ve perfected ways to get back on cheating bastards.”
    “Brian cheated on you?”
    “Twice, but my revenge was so good I actually got paid to help other girls when their boyfriends cheated,” I said smugly.
    I ceased caring that Tray was still in the car. He was a bastard just like everyone else.
    Noticing the SUV had turned into his driveway, I murmured, “Okay, we’re here.”
    “I’ll be there in a little bit. Thanks, sis. Love you.”
    I was shocked. Mandy was my sister. I knew this, but the words seemed different just then. They weren’t forced, it wasn’t just a phrase. There was meaning behind them.
    “Hey,” Tray interrupted my haze.
    “What?”
    “We’re here. You coming in or waiting for your man-hating sister out here? Or is an hour in my house with another— man —going to dissolve your bond,” he teased.
    I gasped. “You have humor. You actually know what comedy is. I never would have guessed.”
    “Fuck off,” he growled before slamming the door, but not before I caught the small grin that flitted across his features.
    The place was eerily vacant compared to the mob that had been in his home earlier. Following Tray as he strolled lazily inside, I shivered a little from the breeze that wafted through the rooms.
    “Want a drink?” he asked, opening the fridge and rummaging inside.
    “You have beer?”
    “Is that meant to be an insult?” He smirked, pulling out a bottle and sliding it towards me over the counter.
    I didn’t reply, but tipped my head back and took a long drink.
    Leaning against the counter, his arms crossed over his chest, he regarded me. “So Devon and Jasmine, huh?”
    I narrowed my eyes. The bastard