Page 134 of Be My Brayshaw (Brayshaw High 4)

He darts for it, and I sit forward in my chair, unable to hold in my grin.

Here we go...

Cap meets my eyes, nodding his chin and I wink.

Royce hangs up as quickly as he answers, and what do you know… he starts pacing, running his hands through his hair.

“Royce?” Raven notices right away.

He freezes, looking her way, his eyes growing wide as if he’s just been caught and I can’t help it, a loud laugh leaves me.

His glare is instantly on me and grows deeper by the second.

That has all eyes shifting to mine, and I only laugh harder.

“You little shit,” he drags out. “Always a step ahead, huh?”

“What the hell are we missing?” Maddoc eyes us both.

“Hey, Raven,” I say, eyes on Royce. “Did you know there was an opening at the Bray House?”

All eyes fly to Royce.

Raven frowns, confused. “Nobody moved in after you left, so yeah, I guess. Why?”

“Spot’s been filled.”

“Wait, what?” She looks from Royce to me. “By who?”

I grin, and Royce tries hard to keep his frown in place but ends up laughing.

“Yeah, VicVee. By who?” He saunters over, acting like he’s ready to share the juice and play along with me, but then I’m scooped into his arms, screaming as he jumps into the pool.

We pop up, and I splash at him, swimming to the edge as he grins.

We laugh as I pull myself up to the edge, sitting there soaked, still in my clothes.

“So.” I hold my hands out teasingly. “You wanna tell them who the new girl is, or should I?” I tilt my head.

Royce’s smirk is slow.

And then he drops the bomb they never expected.

I smile, lean back on my hands and stare as the others gape at their brother.

I look across my family, a calm in my soul and humor in my eyes.

Captain hops onto the ledge of the pool beside me, Zoey splashing around near our feet.

He leans over, kissing my neck and one thing is agreed upon.

Summer is about to be a whole lot more interesting.Four months earlierRoyce“All right, bro. We’ve been sitting in the same spot for eight hours now and other than a car or two passing, only thing on this entire block that’s made a move is the bird in that tree over there,” Mac says with a chuckle.

“Fuck, man, I know.” I drop back in the seat of this busted-ass rental car—couldn’t drive my baby out of town without my brothers, or nosy-ass brows would rise, and Mac’s ride wasn’t an option either. “But this is the place. Gotta wait.”

I look around the open area.

The homes’ front doors are pushed closer to the curbs, the back yards lining up with each other and wide open, small porches of different kinds attached to each.

The one I’ve got my eyes on is a plain yellow house with old blinds, a white iron railing and cement steps that carry you down into the grass. There’s some kind of string hanging from the house to a random pole and some broken slab of concrete beneath the windowsill.

Mac huffs, side-eying me. “Why you gotta make me ask?”

I chuckle, glancing his way.

“Tell me why we drove ten hours through the night, to sit on this deserted-ass, quiet little town street and stare at this house.” He raises a brow. “Who lives here?”

I lick along the clear line of the paper, closing the joint up tight, and roll it between the length of my thumb and pointer finger. I grin, sparking the lighter. “Not happenin’.”

He doesn’t get mad, though, just laughs and pulls out his phone to check on his girl.

Most people would dare ask what I didn’t voluntarily share, but he’s my boy, has been for years now, and outside my family, the guy I trust the most.

He wouldn’t be sittin’ here if he wasn’t.

I end up smoking this round by myself, putting it out against the fake leather of the armrest with a sigh. “Fuck man, I’m starved.”

He nods, sitting up. “Let’s go get some food, come back?”

I lick my lips, thinking.

My brothers would fuckin’ kill me if I got out in a town across our territory alone, they were trippin’ enough two nights ago when the morning after Maddoc and Raven’s wedding, I told them about this impromptu trip I was taking, but I’ve got hours into this. I’m not wasting that time.

Gotta fuckin’ eat though.

I push the door open, stepping out and Mac flies with me.

“Bro—”

“Go get some food and come back.”

His head tugs back. “You crazy? You want me to leave your ass out here when you won’t even tell me where here is?”

“I said go.” My eyes narrow. “I’m good. The trouble I’m after here ain’t the kind I need backup for.”

He eyes me a long moment. “You sure?”

“Yeah, man. Go find me a fat-ass burrito and some chocolate.”