Page 126 of Crew Princess
Halfway to Roussou, a text came in.
Race: Alex is fine. He’s at the hospital.
I was right. They were told to arrest me. At least one person inside the department knew this was a setup and was acting on outside orders. We needed to find who that was.
A second text came in.
Channing: We know who that cop called. Change of plans. You and your crew go home. Lock up. Be safe. We’re taking over.
I wanted to curse, throw something, argue; but I did none of that. In a way, Channing was right, and I knew it. I knew my role. I was in high school, soon graduating, and I still hadn’t decided what my future would look like.
Once I figured out this whole mess had to do with drugs, I knew I was out of play. I knew my brother would step in, and I knew he would handle it. He always did. He’s the one who had contacts inside the Roussou Police Department. He had contacts everywhere. Becoming a fucking great bounty hunter in such a short time said a lot. He wasn’t just good; he had relationships.
But Alex, Drake. Those were our problems.
Jordan was turning onto the road leading to Channing’s office when I told him the change of plans.
“What?” Z twisted around. “No way. We helped his crew with the Demons. He can help us this time. Come on. This is our fight.”
But it wasn’t.
I shook my head. “Do you actually want to wade into that world? Drugs? Territory war? I don’t. I want to remain a high school student, worrying about what I’m going to do next year. They told me Alex was dead. They pointed guns at me. They came at me in SWAT gear. I don’t want that life, at least not yet.”
Not yet.
Jesus.
Wasn’t that the key phrase here.
“Thenwedon’t,” Jordan said. “It’s your call. Your brother. Your arrest. We do what you want.”
What I wanted…
What did I want?
My hand brushed over my dress—more than a little worse for the wear now—and I wrinkled my nose. “I want to change clothes. I want to shower. I want to do simple shit.”
I didn’t want to be crew right now. And I hoped they didn’t think less of me, but I was tired. Plain and simple, I was just tired.
“Then that’s what we’ll do,” Jordan confirmed.
Zellman started to say something, but there was a movement and he grunted. “Ooomph. Yeah, Bren. Yeah. Simple shit.”
We went to my house. Cross went with me to the bedroom to make sure I was okay. There were hugs, kisses. He kept wanting to make sure I was okay. We might’ve fallen to the bed, ignoring the others in the house. But when the doorbell rang, Cross cursed and pulled away.
I heard a lot of footsteps, Taz’s voice filtered down the hallway to us.
Cross groaned, pushing up and off of me. “I have a feeling everyone’s coming over here. I’ll deal with them.” He paused, looking down at me. “Are you okay?”
I touched his face, my palm smoothing over his cheek. “I will be.”
His eyes clouded over. “You sure?”
I nodded. “I’m sure.”
Straightening his shirt, he shot me a dark and rueful look. I found myself grinning as he pulled the door open and headed out.
I stopped listening after that and went into the bathroom.
