Page 15 of Crew
Race's smirk never faltered, but a coolness came to his eyes as he looked from Jordan to Cross, then to me.
"Family emergency, cousin," he answered. His gaze left me as he turned to Alex. "You got yourself a roommate."
"What?" Alex straightened to his fullest height. "What happened?"
Race looked over his shoulder at everyone.
We were all listening. Not even hiding it.
"I'll tell you later, huh?"
"Oh. Oh yeah." Alex raked a hand through his hair. "That's cool." He looked at me. "Bren, I am sorry about grabbing you. I know better. I just forgot." He glanced at Cross. "You disappeared too."
Cross' arm came down around my shoulders. He raised his chin. "It was a crew thing last night."
Alex's gaze flickered to Jordan and Zellman. A slight question lingered there.
Jordan's eyebrows lowered as he nodded. "They had it covered." He jerked a thumb toward Zellman on his right side. "We were free to get wasted and laid." He held up a fist. "Thanks for that, man."
Alex snorted, hitting it with his own fist. "Yeah. Any time. That's why I throw those parties, so you can get laid, Pitts."
Jordan shrugged. "Seems a good enough reason in my mind."
Zellman started laughing. "It's the new theme for every party now: getting Jordan laid."
A warning bell sounded.
Most of the students began grabbing things, hurrying around us to their classes.
But not us. We stayed put.
"Anyway." Alex touched Race's arm and jerked his head to the side. "I gotta talk to some guys. You'll be okay? You know where you're going?"
"I'll be fine." Race's eyes were still fixed on me, blatantly staring.
Cross' arm tightened around my shoulder. "Can she help you with something?" It was in the tone of his voice that stopped Alex, had him turning back to look between us. There was a dangerous note in Cross' voice, low and lethal, and it sent those same tingles flaring down my spine. He didn't say it in an obvious way, where there was a challenge thrown down between them. Those same words spoken by anyone else might've come off sounding like they were insecure, or threatened. Not with Cross. Not when he spoke.
It was the opposite.
And as the new guy took in the casual way Cross stood next to me, the deliverance of those words, and the way even his cousin faltered, he knew Cross was someone not to cross. Pardon the pun.
"Guys," Alex murmured.
Jordan jostled forward to stand in front of me.
Race dipped his head toward his cousin. "I'm good."
"You sure?"
Race's gaze skirted from me, to Cross, to Jordan, and then he nodded again. He said in a sigh, "Yeah. I'm fine."
Alex nodded and began walking away. "Okay. I'll see you later then."
His cousin nodded. "Yeah."
Alex left the hallway, his guys following, though quite a few glanced over their shoulders, still watching us. It wasn't long until the rest of the hallway emptied, and it was just the four of us and Race Ryerson.
He looked around. "You guys don't go to class or something?"
