Always Crew - Tijan Page 0,34

over my shoulder. Both Cross and Zellman had hard expressions on their faces.

Cross met my gaze. “If it were you?”

Zellman’s eyes narrowed. “If it were Sunday?”

Jordan shook his head, stopping, closing his eyes. He let his head fall back, his hand gripping the back of his neck. “It already was Tabatha. And he’ll do it again. Another girl. Another situation. Maybe that time he’ll go farther? What do you want me to do?”

If Jordan started, he wouldn’t be able to stop. That’s what I was fighting against here.

I stepped forward, my foot moving over the dirt. “Not what you want to do.” I couldn’t believe we were back here. Risking the loss of Cross had been enough. Jordan had been with me. He’d been helping me fight to reason with Cross. Now we were here again?

I got that we went dark, but not this dark. There were lines.

There had to be lines. Boundaries.

“We cannot cross this line. Hurt him, but that’s it.”

Jordan turned on me, roaring, “HE WON’T FIGHT BACK!”

Fine. My teeth ground against each other. We’d make him fight back.

I strode forward, my fist ready, and I swung first. I got him on a downward swing, and he stumbled a few feet, shaking his head. I was a girl, but I knew how to hit.

I taunted him, “Fight, fucker. You’re not going to get away from us scar free. Fight.” I kicked out this time, taking out his knee. He crumbled, and then I swung down again. He fell to the ground and I almost spat on him, needing him to get this through his head. “GET UP! You want to touch women you know don’t want to touch you? You get off on that shit? Be a man. Fight back. Take your hits. Right? Is that what you’d say to me? A woman? A girl?” And because he wasn’t standing, I swung again.

And again.

Again.

I kept hitting until he wasn’t moving.

My knuckles were split open, bleeding.

Still, he didn’t fight back.

He wasn’t unconscious. I knew my strength. I knew my limit. I wasn’t crossing that.

He was going to be bruised. He’d be sore. He might have trouble walking for a day or two, but I wasn’t doing the damage he was acting that I was giving him.

I screamed at him, “You don’t deserve to get off with just this! STAND UP!”

An arm came around my stomach and I was lifted off him. I was carried back, and I was crying. I hadn’t known I was until I saw Zellman and Cross staring at me, both with haunted eyes.

It was Jordan.

Jordan pulled me off of him, and I started kicking, struggling to get free. “No! He hurt her. She’s my friend, too, Jordan. Let me go.”

His other arm moved around me, and he held me.

We stood there. Him holding me. Him bent over me, and I felt his breath on my shoulder. I couldn’t stop staring at the guy. He was in the dirt, blood caked all over him.

A guttural scream erupted from me. It was primal, and I tried shoving away from Jordan again.

He only tightened his hold. “Stop.”

“He doesn’t get to get off this easy. A beatdown? That’s it.”

“Please, Bren,” Jordan whispered.

I sagged, hearing his plea.

If I didn’t stop, he’d start. I had to stop. I had to stop for him.

“We have to go. It’s done.” That was Cross, but he was the leader speaking now. “Get her in the truck.”

Jordan carried me over. Zellman hopped up and Jordan lifted me to him. I could’ve climbed up myself, but there was something about my crew doing this for me. Handling me. They needed to do this, and a part of me needed to let them.

I glanced back as Jordan was climbing up, coming behind us.

Cross was bent over Harper. He was talking to him. A second later, he pulled his phone out, punching some numbers. Then the phone was back in his pocket, and he was coming for the truck. His eyes held mine for a brief moment before he got behind the wheel.

Cross drove us back as Zellman and Jordan huddled on both sides of me.

My hands were still bleeding, but no one moved to cover them.

That felt fitting, for some reason.

Just let me bleed.

BREN

I went dark last night.

Correction.

I went dark five hours ago. Same day.

I was lying in bed, not wanting to look at the time, and I could feel her. The old me. The firefly was there, too, on the sidelines, waiting to emerge to keep