Always Crew
Chapter 54

BREN

I felt like I was heading to a dorm meeting point to plan the world’s insurrection. I didn’t know why, but it lingered with me.

I showed up. There was rap music blaring from Jade and Aspen’s room, with the door open. No one inside.

So, I waited.

Five minutes.

Ten.

Two girls came from the exit stairs, saw me and paused. “Hey.”

I lifted my chin up. “You guys know where these two might be?”

“Oh.” One hid a grin.

The other pointed down the hallway. “They hang out a lot with Angeline and V. Room 413.”

So I went to room 413.

I knocked.

No answer, but I heard more music blaring from inside. It sounded like Spanish rap, so I knocked again.

No answer.

Trying the knob, it was unlocked. I opened the door, looked inside and nothing.

So then I stood there and thought, If I was a girl, where would I get ready to go out for a girls’ night?

Yeah. I felt like smacking myself.

I headed for the bathroom, which also had music coming from inside. This time it was techno, and I pushed open to see four girls dancing in sync, up and down, and yelling along with the music. I had no clue what song it was or even what words they were saying, but they were all in different stages of getting dressed.

I’d met these girls earlier, but there’d never been a lot of personal time with them, not like this anyway. So I didn’t know know them, just who they were basically.

Angeline’s freckles looked flushed, and I wondered when she’d start giggling. I knew that much about her.

Veronica was next to her, shorter. Her dark eyes looked fierce and her hair looked shiny and ready to rumble. I also knew she was known as someone not to f**k with, which was now making me wonder why Blaise wanted me here? Oh well. I knew Jade a little bit better, but not much.

Then there was Aspen.

She saw me in the mirror, her hair being curled and she shrieked. “BREN!”

The rest looked and, “BREN!”

“BRENNERS!”

“It’s the Bren Bren!” Veronica was nodding emphatically, her bottom l*p sticking out in approval. “Nice. You’re hot. I’d do you if I went that way.”

Oh.

I grinned because who wouldn’t smile at that?

“Thanks.”

She winked, going back and stopping her bouncing/dancing so she could finish her eyeliner.

Aspen was all dressed, looking like she needed to finish her hair.

Jade looked ready to go, or I thought? I wasn’t sure. She was swaying back and forth in front of the mirror now, using a l*p gloss as a microphone.

And Angeline, she ducked her head, her red hair falling forward to avoid me.

Note that she wasn’t only an uncontrollable giggler, but also hella shy.

“Hey, guys.”

“Oh! Drink?” Jade asked, taking her backpack off and hefting it with a solid thud on the counter. “We’re mostly ready, just waiting for Aspen to finish her hair—”

“Done!” Aspen announced, yanking the cord out from the wall and then hurrying to put a bunch of her makeup in a plastic container. She spoke as she worked, “Yeah. Give Bren a drink. Tonight is for fun. We’re all going to have fun tonight.”

We’re all having fun.

I was down with that also.

Angeline started gathering the makeup on the counter in front of her and Veronica, while Veronica turned and leaned her h*p against the sink. She was eyeing me up and down again. “So, you’re the one with Blaise’s brother, huh?”

I glanced at Aspen.

She was hiding a smile. She and Jade shared a look. Both were hiding grins.

“Uh, yeah.”

Veronica raised her chin up, giving me a side-eye as Angeline finished getting all of their stuff. “You’re friends with Tabatha Sweets?”

“You know Tabatha?”

“She’s a Kappa. That house is the best on campus. Plus, Jessinda Hinkley is like sorority-royalty. We heard you had a scrape with Hinkley. I want to know how that went down?”

What had I gotten myself into here?

But instead of answering, Aspen went around me and opened the door. Jade followed her, holding out a glass. She pushed it into my hand. “Hope you like a pink vodka? It’s with lemonade and Sprite. I pre-made them because where we’re going, you can’t be too sure.”

I took the glass, but asked as she slipped around me, following Aspen, “Where are we going?”

She was through the door.

I looked back to Angeline and Veronica. Both were watching me. Both weren’t looking happy now. They were more cautious.

“Where are we going?”

“You can’t tell the guys.”

Oh, God. This was why Blaise wanted me here.

“Why?”

“Uh.” Angeline was holding their makeup container in front of her with both hands. She moved toward me two steps and nodded to my drink. “Maybe you should drink that whole thing before we go?”

Where were we going?

“Tell me. Now.”

Both ignored me.

Angeline shrugged and left.

Veronica followed but winked as she sauntered out. “Drink up, sweetie. Heard you and me are the muscle tonight.”

I gave her a side-eye now. “How many times have you fought?”

“I have a black belt, but I’ll be honest, it’s usually only drunk douchebags. And I normally just go for their junk, then try to scratch their eyeballs out. By then, they take off running from me.”

She left, and I stood there, not knowing how to comprehend anything that just happened.

I drank. I figured how this night was starting, it’d be my one and only.

Then I shot Cross a text before I left the bathroom.

Me: Girls are going somewhere weird. Remember my GPS tracker is on. Call me every thirty minutes.

He buzzed back as I was in the hallway, seeing the girls at the exit door, waiting for me. I noted as I passed that both rooms were quiet. Seriously. These girls were fast.

I checked my phone.

Cross: Want us to stay close, no matter what?

I was going with my gut, knowing that Blaise had been worried enough to ask me to be here.

Me: Yes.

Cross: On it. We’ll leave in twenty. Zellman’s in the bathroom.

Me: I didn’t need to know that.

Cross: We’re a crew.

I had no response, so I put my phone away and drank my drink in front of the girls.

Jade smiled. “Nice! You want a refill?”

I glanced at Veronica, and she gave me a slight head shake.

“I’m good till we get where we’re going.”

“Okey-dokey.”

And off we went.

Yeah. Blaise was going to be pissed.

I was pissed.

Cross and Jordan and Zellman would all be pissed.

We were at a fraternity party, and it wasn’t a typical frat party. Even though it was fully dark by now, I could see where we were, and we were not at their house. We were also the only ones here so far, at least there were no other cars around.

It was Zeke’s fraternity, and I knew this because Harper was here. I’d been to one or two of his house parties, and the numbers were lower here. We were in the woods, a full forty-minute drive from Cain. The farther we got, the uneasier I got.

“Why are we here?”

We’d just left Jade’s SUV, and the girls were starting forward. Jade had reassured me multiple times that she hadn’t drank at all, but wasn’t planning on it, so I could drink all I wanted.

None of this felt right.

I looked at Aspen. “What are you doing?”

She seemed startled, blinking and her head moved back. “What do you mean?”

Jesus. She truly looked clueless.

“Do you know that guy?”

I gestured to Harper, who had now spotted us, and I was not liking the look coming over his face. A gleam was starting, and he stopped talking to his buds, watching us openly. I noted how his hand was nicely encased in a sling.

But he was still coming, and he still had that gleam in his eyes.

I kept an eye on him as I reached for my phone.

His eyes darted, seeing where I was reaching, and he started for me.

He knew I was going for my phone. I keyed in my code and hit the dial, knowing I already had Cross pulled up, and I hit the speaker. Harper picked up his pace, but I kept my phone in my pocket. Pulling my hand out, he slowed back, but he was still heading our way.

“Hey.” A hand tugged on my shirt.

Aspen was trying to get my attention. “What are you talking about?

“Your boyfriend has had beef with that guy.”

She looked. “Who?”

Jade was looking, too, and seeing Harper, she gasped. She moved back a step.

Veronica looked, her eyes narrowing, and she moved the opposite way, moving so she was almost guarding our entire group.

Angeline was next to Jade, gripping her hand.

I did a double take, noting that she was also glaring at Harper, who was closer to our group and had five other guys with him.

“Who the f**k picked this party?” I growled to the girls.

Aspen’s mouth fell open, but she hurried out, “We all did. We thought it was a barn dance, that’s all. Who are these guys?”

I smothered another growl because I was betting they were the only ones who got the invite, and f**k Blaise for not being honest with his girl about his enemies. I glanced down, making sure my phone was still turned on and that Cross was hearing this. I tried to pull it out, so it wasn’t too smothered against my jeans.

Aspen’s phone started ringing, but Harper was on us.

“Monroe. I don’t believe you were on the guest list.”

The girls all went still.

Veronica was measuring the guys behind Harper, and yeah…it wasn’t looking good.

They were all built thick, looking like they ate bricks for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Then maybe snacked on little boulders for a late-night snack.

I stepped around and positioned myself slightly in front of Veronica. “What was the play here? What were you going to do?”

“Were?” He smirked at me, his head moving to the side so he could look Aspen up and down. “Nothing past tense about that. I still plan on getting to know Mrs. Blaise DeVroe.” He jerked his chin up. “What’s up, kid? You’re Aspen Monson, huh?”

“My boyfriend doesn’t like you?”

I was surprised at how chilly her tone was, and looked back. She wasn’t hiding. She looked pissed, livid even. Angeline had a hand on her shirt, and I noted that was to keep Aspen back. That was a nice sort of surprise. An enraged girl could do damage, and Aspen was fast looking enraged.

Harper’s smirk only deepened. “You know, I had a family function recently and talked to some of my cousins. They’re past brothers, too. One of them knew your brother. Nate Monson.”

“Yeah?” A nice little snarl from Aspen.

“Yeah.” Harper was loving it. “He said to show his thanks to you. Said it was because of your brother that we got a brand-new house. Guess the other one was burned down.”

Whoa.

I had new respect for Aspen’s brother, and even though I’d met him a few times, we never really interacted. Cross still had a problem remembering meeting him. He tuned out anyone who wasn’t us, so that meant anyone older.

“Are these your brothers?” I asked, scanning the rest of the guys and moving to the group behind sitting by a campfire near their two trucks. Coolers were pulled out. They looked like they were grilling. I was counting maybe ten other guys.

Shit. I was so not getting a good feeling here.

Then I saw a mattress on the floor, and that whole shit feeling was fast turning into a nuclear feeling.

“Were you going to rape them?”

I was seeing red.

I felt the air sizzling.

I noted in the distance that someone was moving away from me.

I swung my gaze back to Harper, and he was gloating now. Not smug. Not smirking. He was gloating.

I was going to rip his mouth off so he couldn’t gloat anymore.

Then I was going to break his other hand.

“You don’t f*****g know who I am, do you?”

I wasn’t being conceited. I was doing this so one, he knew. He couldn’t say he hadn’t been warned, but also because I wanted to get in his head. I was going to fight. I already knew I was, and I was going to stab and I was going to make them bleed, and I was probably going to go down, but I was going to take as many of them down with me.

F**k. F**k! F**K!

“Bren?”

Holy déjà vu flashback from the bad of bad times.

My head literally swam as I saw one of the guys head over, clutching a cup and frowning. He came at us hesitantly and then moved at a quicker pace once he recognized me.

“Alex,” I rasped out.

Alex Ryerson.

I was in a bad dream. That’s what was happening as I watched the guy who led the charge from the last time I thought I needed to take on an entire group that was coming my way.

Alex had always been stocky, kinda like these guys, but he was more slimmed down. Not in the muscle way. In the muscle way, his arms were bulging.

I noted, also taking in his short haircut so he looked almost military, “Jail was good for you.”

He laughed. “County. That’s all I did.”

“So…you’re out.”

He nodded, taking in the others and then Harper. “I’m out.” He gestured to Harper. “Want to tell me how you know Tim here?”

Harper was taking in this scene with confusion on his face. At Alex’s question, his mouth flattened, and a vein stuck out. “You know Monroe?”

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 h*p 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 f**k?!”

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 f**k up.

Everyone shut the f**k 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?”