Jaded

"Uh…" She shifted and said shortly, "This is Braven and Carlos."

"Hi!" I stuck a hand out.

Even though I didn't pay attention to most gossip, I knew my social hierarchy. At first, I thought Carlos was in Leisha's group, but when I saw him next to Braven—that changed things. That put him in a much higher position. Braven was a Bryce or Corrigan for his grade. That meant that Carlos would be there too and it wasn't a shock to see some of the more-popular senior girls flirting with them.

Braven looked to be the leader because he spoke up, "Hi."

Carlos nodded and watched.

"I know your friend Leisha." I ignored Braven and remarked to Carlos.

"Oh yeah?" Interest sparked in him and he murmured, "She's great, isn't she?"

"I like her," I said meaningfully to Mandy, who moved her hand from Carlos' arm. "She's funny. She's a little nerdy, but it works for her."

"I had hoped she'd come tonight." Carlos leaned closer. "But I don't see her anywhere."

"Maybe you should call her. She might come then."

"I don't know."

"I do. Call her."

Braven spoke up, "I thought you were hoping that Cassie chick was here?"

Carlos ducked his head. "So?"

"Cassandra Bens is good for one thing. If you're looking for a girl with class, I'd lay odds on Leisha any day," I spoke up.

Braven snorted in disbelief just as he was pushed out of the way.

I found myself staring into Chad Yerling's malicious eyes. There was nothing innocent in that gaze as he skimmed me up and down.

"What are you doing, Yerling?" I asked, stiffly.

He stepped closer to me and whispered, "I came to collect."

"Collect what? Another beating?"

"Your boys can come after me all they want, but they won't be able to beat it out of me what I'm going to do to you."

Carlos muttered, "Uh, dude…I don't think…"

"Back off, loser," Chad snarled.

Braven suddenly pushed in between us. With his back to me, he growled in Chad's face, "You might want to get out of here before you're sent to the hospital."

Chad smiled and it sent shivers down my back.

"Look at you." He looked Braven up and down. "You think you can hurt me, little boy?"

Carlos stood beside him.

Chad rolled his eyes.

"You two are pathetic." He sneered and met my gaze. "You and me, Jeneve. That's what it's going to be one of these nights. Scout can't always be there and even if he is, it'll be one to all my buddies. You do the math."

His eyes caught something over my shoulder and he froze.

Bryce stepped around me, grabbed Yerling by the throat, and dragged him out the door.

Corrigan stood at the door and closed it behind them as Bryce passed through. Neither of them looked at me, but Yerling did.

I felt that shiver again.

Braven and Carlos watched me, guardedly.

My little finger trembled so I stuffed my hands into my front pockets.

I gritted my teeth and pushed through the crowd to follow. Chet was at the door and he caught me around the waist as I reached for the door handle.

"No, Sheldon."

"Get off," I snapped and reached again.

"It's not just you," Chet reasoned in my ear as he held me back. "We can't have him here. He'll hurt someone again."

"God forbid that you guys say something to the cops about it," I cried out. "God forbid that he's not just locked up. That means that you guys would have to narc on him."

It was a stupid code. The guys ruled and governed each other, but a nark was the lowest of the low.

"Corrigan said something and they didn't do anything," Chet sighed. "This is what we can do. Corrigan already put him in the hospital for a few days. We don't know what else to do, short of killing him. We're open to suggestions."

I had none. My only solution was to hide a Colt.45 by my bed.

I turned away and grabbed another drink from the keg. I wasn't up for conversation and high school drama, so I found an empty room upstairs.

It was gorgeous outside. The sky was cloudless so the stars sparkled bright. With the soft breeze, some leaves were carried over the yard and a few hit the window glass where I stood. I sipped on my plastic cup.

I listened to the party, alone, but it didn't seem long before I heard Bryce's voice down the hallway. A second later, he kicked the door open and he walked inside, carrying cups while balancing three pitchers of beer. Corrigan followed behind with another three pitchers of beer and he kicked the door shut with his foot.

Bryce placed the pitchers on the nightstand before he turned and took the rest from Corrigan. As Corrigan bounced on the bed, Bryce poured the beer.

"So is he in the hospital?" I asked, guardedly. I wasn't sure how I felt about it all.

Corrigan ignored me and continued to bounce on the bed.

"This is a good bed." Corrigan looked at Bryce. "We should steal this bed."

"And you can be the one to tell Harris who stole it when he's going to ask around." Bryce sat against the wall, beside my feet.

"You think he'd even care?"

"His dad would care."

"Isn't his dad some general in the army or something?" I asked.

"Never mind," Corrigan said quickly. "Your friend Mena took off. She said something about running the warpath? Just as friendly as I remembered."

"You're not going to answer me, are you?" I drank my beer.

Corrigan glanced at me. I knew then that he wouldn't. "Hey, uh…if Bryce isn't over at your place, you call me."

"And the douche will wake up this time," Bryce pointed out.

Corrigan glared. "I already said I was sorry. It was four in the morning."

"I answered," Bryce remarked. "I was there."

"Shut up. Both of you. We're not going round three." I needed them. I needed them to not fight.

Both shut up and nodded.

I chuckled and moved to sit on Bryce's lap and stayed there the rest of the night as the guys drank and chatted. They talked sports, hunting, how fake Chantal's boobs were, and anything else.

I sipped my beer and stayed in Bryce's shelter, content.

Chapter 14





We stayed in that room until Corrigan's stomach growled loudly. There'd been one look shared between the two guys and both announced at the same time, "The diner." It was agreed and as we went downstairs, we left with another two cars of guys following. Everyone piled into the diner and we took up two tables. I found myself beside Corrigan with Bryce across the table. After I ordered a refill, my phone rang.

I answered, guarded, "Hello?" I hadn't had good luck with phone calls lately.

"Where the hell is my sister?!" Denton ground out, furious.

I was actually a little bit relieved. "Uh…she's not home?"

"No, she's not home. Where is she?"

"I don't know. Did you call her phone?" Brother or not, the guy was starting to get on my nerves.

"I don't know. Do you think I'm a moron?" Denton mocked me.

"Uh…" He did not just give me the perfect opening…

"Don't answer that. I don't know where my sister is and I know she went to some party with you tonight."

"Look, she left early. I don't know where she went."

"How'd she get there?"

"I drove."

"Did you drive her home?"

"No," I said sharply. "Your sister's a big girl. She can take care of herself."

"My sister is not like you and I don't want my sister to ever be like you."

I sighed. "If you want my help, insulting me is not the way to go."

"I want you and your friends to look for my sister. Now!"

"And issuing orders won't help either." I hung up on his sudden shout.

"Who was that?" Corrigan asked.

"Mena's brother. She's not home and he's blaming me."

"They're not right. Something's…I don't know…they're not right," Bryce muttered.

"He's just worried about her."

"My mom's not harassing you," Bryce pointed out.

"No. Your mom is praying for me," I said sarcastically.

Carlos, who'd stayed quiet the entire time, spoke up, "We could drive around and look for her. I mean, it wouldn't hurt, you know. Just in case something did happen, you know…"

"I've got some flashlights in my trunk," Chet offered and stood up. As we all stood, Corrigan hissed in my ear, "You stay with Bryce. Braven's too drunk to be rational right now."

"You think? He's been leering at me the entire time. And why am I adjusting for a drunk?"

"Because you're awesome…and you're sober."

"I'm not really," I glared. "Sober, that is."

Corrigan grinned and shrugged. "I know, but…you're more sober than Braven and I don't want to beat the crap out of him. I kinda like the stupid kid."

Bryce took shotgun in Chet's car when I slid into the backseat next to Tatum.

"Hey," Bryce peered at me, questioning. "I thought you were in the other car."

I shrugged and looked out the window. That was the extent of our conversation.

"Pull up next to him," Bryce instructed Chet and as he did, Bryce rolled his window down. Corrigan lifted himself out of the window and sat on the doorframe with his arms resting on the car's roof.

"What's up, boys?" Corrigan smirked, cockily, across the top.

"You want the back streets? We'll take Hyde Park?" Bryce asked.

Corrigan shrugged. "Sure. I don't care."

"Holster and his crew can check out the riverbank," Bryce murmured.

Carlos asked, "You got some flashlights?"

At Bryce's negative, Carlos jumped out and passed them out to the vehicles. Braven leered at me the entire time until I snapped.

Cursing, I was at his seat in a flash. I threw open his door and dragged him out of the car. As he fell, I kicked him in the stomach, head, and groin. He just laid there and groaned in pain as I knelt over him to whisper, "You stare at boys like that? Keep it up and I'll spread that rumor." I flicked him in the ear before I returned to my seat and turned mute.

Some of the guys were taken aback, but others weren't surprised.

Chet drove off when Corrigan started laughing in their car.

Bryce was fighting a grin when I glanced over. "Shut it," I growled and Bryce laughed outright.

Chet announced, "You're my god, Sheldon. I will pray to you three times a day. I will even buy a mat and declare it my 'Sheldonism' praying mat. It's all you from now on."

"Screw you too." But I bit back a laugh.

Tatum saw it and started laughing. He pounded the back of Bryce's seat and shook his head. "You've got to be an animal in bed, Sheldon." He asked Bryce, "Is she an animal in bed?"

Bryce's smile turned lustful as he remained silent, but met my eyes in the rear-view mirror.

Chet launched into a story about his most animal-like lover and Tatum topped it with a story of his own.

Bryce and I were both quiet until we pulled into the parking lot.

Okay, parks are meant for the daytime. Not nighttime. It's not a big leap to think that parks can turn creepy when the sun goes down. Hyde Park, underneath a full moon, is extremely creepy.

I hated to admit it, but I stuck close to Bryce when we started walking around.

We met a few homeless people, more than a few drunk parties playing Volcano Tag on the playground, and one hooker.

She grinned a toothless grin towards Bryce. I felt him shudder at the imagery of her proposition and coughed back my own laugh.

"Shut up," he threw at me.

Chet walked over to us. He gestured to the drunks playing tag behind him and murmured, "Mena didn't come this way. They did see someone else, some girl with black hair. She was wearing a clown outfit or something. I don't know."

Clown outfit?

"Leisha was supposed to come. Carlos called her and said she was on her way."

"Did you see her at the party?" Bryce asked me.

"I…I don't know. We were upstairs the rest of the night."

"Chet, call Corrigan. Have Carlos call this chick and see where she is," Bryce commanded. "We don't need to look for another girl right now."

Tatum lightly jogged over to us. "Nah." He shook his head. "No one's seen anyone like Mena. She's not here. She didn't come this way anyway."

"If she was walking, the river's the quickest way," I murmured and frowned. "She's not stupid. You'd have to be a complete moron to walk the river at night and alone."

"And dressed for a party," Bryce pointed out.

"Let's head over to the river. It's too big for Holster, Nate, and Justin to cover by themselves. It's not far off," Tatum suggested.

Bryce held my elbow as we walked back to the car and it wasn't a surprise to anyone when he slid in beside me in the backseat. Tatum took shotgun and Chet got off his phone.

"Okay." He turned around behind the steering wheel. "Carlos called that girl and he couldn't get an answer. He left a message."

No one suggested calling the parents. That was another code. Just like how the guys policed Chad. We'd figure out Leisha before we absolutely needed to involve the parents. There was a fine line between being a nark and checking on a friend.

We parked next to Holster's car and saw their flashlights just up ahead.

"Okay." Bryce took charge. "Chet, drive me and Sheldon down about two miles. We'll backtrack and meet you in the middle."

"I'll start from here then." Tatum flashed a grin and murmured, "Don't go in the bushes now and have crazy animal sex."

Bryce shot around the seat and punched him in the side.

Tatum grasped his stomach and sucked in his breath. He cursed, but quickly shot out of the car before Bryce tried for seconds. Through the window, Tatum wiggled his eyebrows in suggestion and pretended to howl at the moon.

I raised my eyebrows and gave a pointed look.