Page 92 of Crew
"How'd you find out?"
Race turned to Zellman, his eyes narrowed. "Because I followed my dad, and I saw." His eyes flitted to me before finding a spot on the floor. It felt like he wasn't talking to us anymore. He was confessing, almost.
"Our dads are brothers and my mom has no idea it was her sister-in-law who destroyed her marriage. I haven't been able to bring myself to tell her. She's got no one--like, no one no one. Gram and Gramps died a year ago. They didn't leave any inheritance to my mom, and she's got no friends. She never kept in contact with our other relatives."
There was a beat of silence.
"Shit," Jordan said.
"Destroy your aunt by destroying her son, and that meant using us to do it." Cross' voice was soft. "Right?"
Race looked over and swallowed. "Yeah. I mean, all of the other stuff wasn't exactly a lie. Drake did stay with us for the summer. He talked about the crew system, how he hated it, how he left it because of his girlfriend." He glanced to me, but pressed on. "There was no real plan set before I got here. I saw how Alex has a thing for Bren."
What?
"And then I started kinda liking you guys. So yeah, I guess hurt my cousin, and that'll hurt his mom eventually. I can't go after her directly because how shitty is that, right? But fuck. I want to. I want to tell my mom everything--"
"Except you can't, because you'd be further hurting your mom." Jordan made an understanding sound. "I get it. I do."
I looked around. Zellman and Jordan both offered pitying looks. Cross was on lockdown, drilling holes into Race's skull with his eyes, and I couldn't believe I was hearing or seeing any of this.
"Are you fucking kidding me?"
Four sets of eyes lifted to me.
A guttural rumble ripped from my throat. I was beyond pissed. "Tell your fucking mom! She can do it alone if she has to. It's her decision. Not yours! You're making it worse."
"But--" Confusion clouded Race's face, his mouth pinching in.
I wasn't done. "And what about Drake? Explain. Now."
"Oh." He blinked, shaking his head. "Uh...yeah. What I said was true. Drake left the crew because of you. You didn't know?"
That growl was coming from me again. "Does it look like I knew?!" I snapped.
"Guess not. But yeah, Alex wanted you in the Ryerson crew. Drake told me how he kept bugging him, saying he needed to recruit you."
"Because he's got a thing for her?"
But I knew. That wasn't it.
"Because of my brother, right?"
It made sense. Alex wanted the biggest, baddest, fiercest crew.
Race nodded. "If your crew teams up with your brother's, you guys are the most powerful crew in Roussou. I mean, Channing's already is. They have fewer members than the Ryersons, but they're older. They're--"
"Channing protects this town. Yes. His crew is the most powerful."
My guys all glanced at me, but it was the truth. I was just stating the truth.
"That shit doesn't mean anything to us." Zellman sounded unsure, looking in Jordan's direction.
Race shook his head. "It mattered to Alex, and to Drake. Alex hated that Drake was dating you, but not making you switch crews."
"Our crew didn't form like that," Jordan said. "We don't recruit people."
"But his does," Race said. "We had a fight one night because he was pushing me to go after you. Said I could join up if I brought you with me. The little fuck doesn't get how much I'll do anything to go against him."
