Page 128 of Boys of Brayshaw High (Brayshaw High 1)

I step into the shower, wincing as the warm water first hits the cuts on my face. I still haven’t looked in the mirror, but I never do until after the dirt is gone. I don’t like to see who I am staring back.

At least the cuts and bruises feel like part of the process, a few steps closer to freedom. It’s the steps before them I like to pretend don’t exist. The fighting, the attacks, the abuse.

One way or another, my skin is marked negatively at the hands of others. The saddest part is nine times out of ten it’s my own doing. A snide remark to my mom or decision I know she’ll rage from. A fight I took or a shortcut home through claimed territory.

A solo trip to the warehouses...

Truth is, my world is a little more like the boys’ than I admit.

They have separate schools, separate social systems and family standings that need to be followed, and I have a town divided into sides – North Side and South Side. You’re born into one, loyal to no others.

Unless you’re me, born to the whore in Gateway Trailer Park, the only area on the outside of the clearly drawn lines – who doesn’t play by the rules and services both sides, knowing her problems roll over into mine.

She fucks someone over, they come looking for me, knowing I’ll deliver. They probably think I do it for her, but I don’t. I do it to keep peace for me, so that I’m still alive when I finally get to run.

I stopped caring what happened to her years ago. My main goal in life is to be somewhere she won’t be able to find me, and not in some fucking system where a paper trail will lead her sorry ass my way should she try.

The door opens and Maddoc slips inside, and it’s not until his hand slowly and gently finds my hips that I take a deep breath. Not until he steps against me, molding my back to his chest, that my muscles relax.

Not until his lips meet my neck that it hits. His touch, it’s soothing in the worst way.

The needy way.

The stupid girl way.

The kind that makes me want to keep his hands on me, and not just tonight.

His grip to my chin is a soft demand as he directs my eyes up so I can meet his over my shoulder. His gaze roams my face, his fingers following the trail they take.

I close mine, allowing him to inspect the damage, somehow knowing it’s something he needs to do to calm himself.

“Raven...” My name leaves him as a distressed whisper and I open my eyes, locking onto his.

I should kick him out, cut the cord quick. Nothing good could come of this.

Instead, I slide my fingers into his hair and pull his lips to mine.

His fingers glide down my hip bone until he’s cupping me.

When his fingers start to swirl, I drop my head against his shoulder, and his lips move to skim over my skin. “I need to make you feel good,” he whispers against my throat. “Let me.”

A shiver runs through me despite the warm water running over my body.

He glides the palm of his hand over my chest and just like he wanted, my nipples rise to attention, begging for his mouth to close around them, and he doesn’t disappoint.

Still half behind me, he bends forward, flicking his tongue across the sensitive flesh until I’m panting against him, then his mouth comes down, his tongue swirling around before he sucks and moves to do the same to the next.

The hand on my pussy slides lower, and right when his middle finger slips inside me, his free hand comes up to pinch my nipple.

I clench around him as he works me from the inside, adding a second finger as he does. He pulls on my nipple, his grip creating a vibrating motion until my body starts to quake.

A deep moan makes its way up my throat and he captures it with his mouth. When he tries to pull back, I don’t let him. I grip his hair and force him to let my tongue in, fucking his while I ride his palm.

He feels when I’m close and yanks away, moving to nip at my left nipple while still twisting and pulling on my right. The speed of his fingers increases to where all I can do is fight not to fall over as I come apart.

I come for him and he hums his approval against me.

We stand there, his fingers still inside me, my body slouched against his until the water runs cold.Bass is hanging up his phone when I finally make my way down the next evening. I stayed in bed all day nursing some killer ass aches. Cap meets me at the landing with some more Ibuprofen and a bottle of water while Royce holds out two shot glasses.