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I stepped closer. “And no, it’s got nothing to do with him.”
“What is it?”
“I need you to go on a date with someone. Hell, take him with you to the concert.”
“Who?” she asked suspiciously.
“Oh no. It don’t work that way. You’re in or not.” I wanted my deal done. I did the negotiations, no one else.
I caught a quick grin flash across Tray’s features—he’d seen this side of me before.
Aidrian chewed on it for a moment. Then she said, “Fine.”
“Fine,” I said firmly.
“Who is it?”
“He’ll pick you up with the tickets. Just be ready,” I instructed her, and then I raised my hands, Tray’s keys hanging from my fingers. “Thought you might want these.”
Tray took them, his fingers sliding against mine for a moment.
One hand grabbed one of my belt loops and yanked me against him, he asked, “You coming over tonight?” He bent and nuzzled my neck—I was realizing he loved to do that. One of his hands slid down my back and rested just inside the back of my pants, his palm hot against my skin.
Casners was watching us, so was everyone else.
I was tempted, I really was, but I had work to do.
I sighed, turning to give him a long, deep kiss. “I can’t.” I pushed him away. “I have work to do. Remember?”
He frowned at that. “Taryn—”
I heard the warning in his voice and I snapped, “Don’t even.” I didn’t care who heard. “They fucked with me—they’re going down. Even if I don’t get any sleep for a year straight.”
I made sure to send a warning sweep over Casners as I finished that statement.
Tray caught my elbow and dragged me away, pulling me into an empty room. He pulled me close against him and warned, “You need to be careful.”
I wrenched away from him. “What are you talking about?”
“You’re not going after Lanser. You’re going after Galverson,” he stated.
“So what?”
“So it doesn’t matter how good a thief you might be or where you can break into. He won’t care, trust me, Taryn,” he bit out, gravely serious. “All he’ll care about is where you live, who your family is…and he’ll go after you, by using them. Just like he went after my family.”
“This doesn’t have to do with your family or my family. This doesn’t even have to do with Galverson. This has to do with Jace and everyone else who’s lying to me.”
“Why does it matter?” Tray cried out, irritated. “You’re not there anymore. You’re here. Why does it goddamn matter what they’re lying to you about? It might have nothing to do with you, they just might be doing this so you’re protected—think about that? It happens, Taryn. It could happen.”
“You don’t even know—” I shrugged him off.
“No. I don’t. But I know Galverson. He’s the reason why I’m alone in that house of mine. He’s the reason why I don’t ever see my brother anymore, I don’t even know if he’s alive,” he shouted.
The shouting managed to rattle me. I blinked, realizing I had only been seeing through my revenge-tinted glasses. That was the perspective I’d adopted since last night, since I made a resolution to find out the truth.
But I saw a different Tray before me. He wasn’t giving me the cool, calm, controlled façade everyone else saw. I mean—yes—it was there. If anyone else would’ve come in, they would have been scared shitless of Evans. But I saw what they didn’t. I always had, remembering that I’d seen Tray slip back into his mask when Mandy had sat at our table. She hadn’t. She hadn’t even noticed anything.
But I was seeing it again.
