Free A Whole New Crowd by Tijan

stared at it and then me. A hurt little boy looked back at me, but I turned away. One of Jace’s men came forward. He saw the Taser as I kept it hidden from the crowd behind us. “We’ll take him back.”
    I turned it off and slipped it back into place. As he took Brian with him, a rush of relief soared through me when he went with him without a fight. I turned away and walked to my new home.
    Tray came to the street to meet me. I stopped just in front of him and closed my eyes. The storm inside of me was raging on and on. I jumped when I heard their car doors shut. I listened as they pulled away.
    Tray asked in a soft voice, “What do you need?”
    I couldn’t handle anyone else. “I need to get out of here.”
    “Done.”
    We went to his car. I never looked at anyone, but as soon as he pulled away, I felt some of the weight lift from my shoulders again.

CHAPTER SIX
    I didn’t care where we went. He asked once if I wanted something to eat. I nodded and he pulled into a drive-in type of diner. The waitress came out. When she asked what we wanted, I felt Tray glancing at me. He ordered for me and I was relieved. I didn’t know this guy, but he knew me. If I hadn’t been emotionally drained, I would’ve been scared by that. I wasn’t. I found it comforting instead.
    When the food came out, a small table was hooked onto his door, and he handed my water to me. The food was left alone.
    “Thank you.”
    He nodded, but didn’t do anything. He didn’t eat. He didn’t drink his own water. Nothing.
    I frowned. “Where are we?”
    He shrugged. “Some other town. I figured you wanted to be long gone from Rawley and Pedlam.”
    “Thank you.” Again. I started to smile. That was somewhat funny to me, that I kept thanking him, but it fell flat. The humor was forced in me. “He’s not that bad.”
    “Save it.”
    “What?”
    “Save it.” His head was resting against his seat and he never lifted it forward, but rotated it to meet my gaze.
    There was no judgment. He didn’t care. I frowned. “Most people would say I’m an idiot to care about him.”
    He shrugged. “Who cares? You broke up. It’s obvious the guy’s having a hard time letting go.”
    I glanced at my lap. No one had really seen through Brian like I had, except his brother.
    Tray added, “Yeah, he’s a little unhinged, but I can be too. So can you. So can a lot of people. Now, if the guy was going to be violent towards you, that’s a whole other story, but if you’re asking without asking if I give a damn about your ex? No. I don’t give two shits about him.” The same blank expression looked back at me. “Do you really care that I don’t care?”
    “No.” I was honest. “It’s refreshing. Most people would give me a lecture to stay away from him.”
    He gave me a half-grin. “That’s a waste of energy. You’re already trying to stay away from him.”
    I nodded. “He’s not a bad guy. He’s just—”
    He cut me off, “No excuses to me. I don’t care, remember?”
    “Yeah.” A relieved grin escaped me. “I care about him still, and I don’t want to hear someone else that I care about judge him. He’s not below anyone. He just shows his feelings more than others.”
    Tray snorted. “That’s the kicker, though, isn’t it? There’s a lot of people who hide their true shit better than others and because of that, they think they’re better. It’s a load of bullshit to me.”
    I frowned. “I had no idea you thought like this.”
    He shrugged, but lifted up a burger and began to unwrap it. “Yeah, well, to me you were just another hot chick with an attitude. Guess we’re all due for some surprises, aren’t we?”
    I eyed him, as I let his words filter in. There was more to him than what he showed everyone else. Then I realized that he knew me better than my new family, than even Mandy. “Don’t tell anyone about Jace.”
    He was inspecting his burger, but glanced back up.
    “Please. They were both family to