Page 136 of Crew Princess
“Nope. And by the way, they want to corner the high schools for drugs to avoid the Red Demons. That’s the only connection with your dad, in case you were wondering.”
Relief hit me hard.
Then I thought about common denominators.
Alex.
Drake.
The time.
When Drake came to Roussou.
A person in the Fallen Crest police force.
The ease and speed with which they’d done all of this told me they’d done it before. That told me they probably had money.
“Think, Bren. Who all was moving to town around the same time?”
Alex. Drake… Race…
I knew. I never met the person, but I knew he wasn’t good people. I knew he’d already broken two families apart.
“Your uncle,” I said.
“Bingo.”
“Race’s dad.”
“Same guy.”
My head spun. “How did you—how did you get roped into it?”
Race’s dad had money, but I thought it was from his Harley business.
Drake laughed, the sound bitter. “How’d I get roped into it? I got into some trouble where I was staying. He bailed me out, literally. I racked up a gambling debt. My uncle paid it for me and said I could work it off if I came back here and whispered manipulative words in your ears. You’re the Crew Princess, Bren. You’re the heart of that worldandthe Normal world. Your crew. You guys are the guard dogs at school, and your brother is the pit bull of Roussou. Couldn’t just take you out because your pops is connected now. Red Demons would go all out on one of their kids getting murdered.”
I flinched.
A hard look was in his eyes. “And no, I’d never be a part of that. No. My uncle knew that couldn’t happen either so fucking with you. That’s the job I was given. Fuck with you, and both your crew and your brother go away, at least for a while, at least long enough to slip in and set something up. You were my job, but I got here, and I wasn’t about playing my part for him. I messed around.” A slow and sensual smile spread over his face. His eyes twinkled. “I had some fun, maybe too much fun, and then suddenly I got another incentive to play along, make some money, not fuck up and get inmoretrouble.”
I frowned. “What?”
“I got a kid on the way.”
A kid—Sunday. Sunday!
I scrambled to my feet. “You’re the guy who got Sunday pregnant?”
He tipped his head back, watching me. “Really? That’s what gets the biggest reaction from you? A teen pregnancy?”
I sat back down in a huff. “She told us it was someone from Fallen Crest.”
He laughed, the sound smooth. “I know.” He took a minute to crack himself up. “I told her to say that,” he chuckled. “She and I were being nice to each other then, figured that’s why she actually said it. I knew I’d be calling in the District Weekend party, and it might buy time for you guys to suspect those rich pricks for being behind it. Z having that in his head, it was only a matter of time before he went off.”
Rich pricks.
A part of me collapsed inside. I knew where I’d gotten that phrase suddenly, and thinking on it, I remembered all the hateful things Drake used to whisper about Fallen Crest. I hated people from there, but even this year, I’d been proven wrong time and time again.
