Page 23 of Be My Brayshaw (Brayshaw High 4)

A sudden sting races across my neck as she twists her forearm against the stretched skin there, purposefully creating the burning sensation and regaining my attention.

“You better fucking hope you’re redeemable,” she hisses. “I’d hate to have to show you what’ll happen if you’re not.” She swallows, jerking her hand away, and with it goes every shred of emotion. “But I won’t hesitate to either.”

She steps away right as the others arrive.

Maddoc glares down at her, but she only places her palm on his chest, her free hand gripping and forcing him back down the dirt road with her.

I cough, clearing my throat as I watch her walk off, but Royce quickly slides into my view.

A hard edge lines his face and he stares directly into my eyes for a long, quiet moment. “It’s so much more than knowing she existed, isn’t it?”

I tell him what he already knows, what all those connected to the world of Brayshaw have either heard or experienced firsthand.

“Nothing is ever as simple as it seems.”

He scoffs, a hateful, disgusted sound, and spins on his feet, but he doesn’t start to walk, instead shifting his cold eyes over his shoulder to meet mine once more. “Get back to the house, now.”

He walks away.CaptainI’m sitting on the edge of my bed with my elbows on my knees when my brothers walk into my room.

“Zoey fell asleep?” Royce drops his shoulders against the wall.

I nod, frowning at the floor. “Dad home?”

“Yup,” Maddoc answers.

Good.

I lift my head, locking eyes with Royce.

“I need a body tonight.”

His smirk is slow, his phone already in hand. “Warehouses?”

Maddoc nods with a frown. “The new inside spot’s all set up now, too. Raven’s been wanting to go check it out.”

“Fuck, bro. You sure you want her out there?” Royce’s eyes widen.

“What’s she gonna do,” Maddoc snaps. “Jump in the ring with my kid in her stomach?”

“She might.” He laughs. “She only needs a solid right hook.”

Maddoc reaches out, punching him in the arm, making Royce grin. “She’s good. We’ll have them clear a path, so she don’t get bumped and shit by the crowd walking through.”

“Fuck yes!” Raven comes around the corner right then, huge grin in place.

I chuckle, sitting back. “So we’re good, then?”

“Oh hell yeah. One Bray Girl buffet coming up.” Royce pauses a moment before adding with a hint of a grin, “Should we stick to brunettes?”

Raven and Maddoc chuckle, and I can’t help but join.

Fucker.Chapter 6VictoriaAs if he knew exactly where I’d be, Captain’s glare finds me instantly, quickly traveling over my body as I lie here in the grass with my head at the edge of the flowers.

“What are you doing?” he questions.

I shrug against the ground. “Waiting for Monday.”

The corner of his mouth twists. “Why?”

“Because I hate being here like this.”

At least at the school I don’t have to hide anymore.

His eyes widen the slightest bit.

Why does that surprise him?

“If you hate it here, why the fuck are you?” he snaps.

With a sigh, I push to my feet so we’re standing face to face, but still a few feet apart.

“I said I hate being here like this, not that I don’t want to be, but don’t forget I was ‘ordered’ to stay.”

He pushes closer, so I square my shoulders.

He’s angry, but so am I.

Why won’t he ask me what he wants to know already?

“Yeah,” he rumbles. “And what if you weren’t? Would you have left?”

“Why ask if you don’t care, Cap?”

His lips clamp shut, the cords in his neck bulging as he watches me with hard, heated eyes.

Always so closed off.

I wish he’d scream and yell, demand or force me to do something I don’t want.

Anything to get him to surrender to whatever is going on inside him.

Maybe that’s what I have to do, piss him off, bring him to his breaking point.

Does he have a breaking point?

“I wouldn’t have left,” I admit and his eyes slim. “Even if you tried to make me.”

They narrow even more as he tries to gauge me. “You’d disobey a banishment from a Brayshaw?”

“Yes.”

“There’re punishments for that.”

“Not one worse than having to go when I want to stay.”

Another step closer.

“Stay where?” His chin lowers.

Mine raises.

“Stay here.”

“Why?”

“Because I belong.”

His knuckles come up, and I hold perfectly still as he brushes my hair from my face. “Belong... to who?”

A hushed chuckle escapes, and I shake my head, looking to the grass. “You want me to say it out loud and for what, so you can throw it in my face in some way?” My eyes pop back up to his. “I don’t think so. Only when you’re ready to hear it.”

Not until you’re brave enough to ask.

His entire face morphs, nothing but rage to be found as he encroaches. “You think I give a shit about anything that could possibly come from your mouth?” he questions, disgust tightening his words, mockery woven within them. “You’re nothing but an added figurine.”