Page 26 of Boys of Brayshaw High (Brayshaw High 1)

“Maddoc doesn’t get tied down.”

“Then why you trying so hard?” I pop a brow. “What’s the point if you can’t keep him all to your bitchy little self?”

“You wouldn’t understand, skank.” Her eyes skim over me in repulsion. “Stay out of my way. It’s my time now.”

“Yeah, it is,” I praise mockingly.

She rolls her eyes and when she pushes past me, I spot the hickey on her neck and my brows snap together.

Then I remind myself I don’t care, forcing a fixed expression as I hit the free mats, but before I can drop down, a guy calls out.

“Hey, Rae, now that your nights are free again, maybe you can show me some tricks your mama taught you.”

I tense a minute, then turn to face him, giving a fake smile. “You wanna feel something my mama taught me, huh?”

The guy, no fucking clue who he is, licks his lips and nods, his filthy gaze dragging over me as I approach him where he leans against the wall of the weight room.

My lip twitches as I reach him, and I trail my hand down his chest, feeling his abs flex beneath the cotton when my hand passes his abdomen. I pause at his waistband and his hips involuntarily push forward, his shoulders flat against the wall. My fingers float lower, and just before I grasp him through his track pants, a tight grip encloses over my wrist and yanks my hand away.

I shoot my glare left to find Maddoc at my side, his eyes hard.

I lift a brow and his frown deepens, so I lift my knee, jamming it right into the douche in front of me’s dick.

“Fuck,” he cries out. “Dumb, bitch.”

I lean toward him, but Maddoc pulls me backward. “Learned that from my mama, piece of shit. How’d she do on the lesson?”

In the next instant, I’m lifted in the air and carried through a door that leads to the hall where the entrance to the locker rooms are.

Maddoc tosses me onto a pile of dirty ass gym towels.

I hop up, shaking the shit off, then glare at the asshole in front of me. “What the fuck?”

“What the fuck is right, what the fuck was that?” he roars.

“It’s called, standing up for myself.”

“You were about to put your hands on his junk.”

“Did you not see me knee him in the nuts?” I shriek. “It’s not like I was about to grip him and have a playdate for all the class to see. He was being a dick, so I was gonna hurt his. Still did, in fact. And why the fuck do you care?!”

“I don’t!”

I cross my arms. “Really?”

“You callin’ me a liar?” He steps closer and the hairs on my neck stand.

“If the jock strap fits.”

He slides closer, his eyes cutting to my lips before hitting mine again. “Why are you so much trouble?”

“I’m not,” I tell him, my eyes zeroed in on where his tongue sneaks out to lick the corner of his lips. “I’m silent ‘til pushed.”

“And why do I wanna push you?”

My gaze snaps back to his. He’s even closer now. “Because I push back.”

“You kiss back?”

“Try it and find out.”

He moves in, gripping me by my ribs so he can put me where he wants me, with my back against the lockers. His dark eyes study me, trying to dig beneath the surface. Not sure what he hopes to find, but there’s not much on the inside.

I’m jaded, trailer park trash with nothing to lose. My life, minus a detail or two, is in a ten-page file in a group home down the street, a file he’s read.

“You fuckin’ Bishop?”

“No.”

“Plan to?”

“I’m not one for planning. I’m not known to stay in one place long enough for that.”

“That’s not a good enough answer.”

I pop a shoulder.

“You piss me off.”

“You piss yourself off. Stop butting into my business and everything would be fine.”

He growls, his head dropping as his grip tightens, his fingertips pressing into my back.

Heat stirs in my abdomen and my chest inflates.

A light chuckle leaves him, and the sound, low and dirty, has my skin burning. But then something shifts in his eyes, like the heat and playfulness was detected by what plagues him on the inside and he switches gears, eyes now hollow and hard.

“You’re predictable, Raven.”

“Yeah.” I drop my head back. “How so?”

“You come in here without a fight, let me put my hands on you without shoving me off – like you’ve done to every other motherfucker in this school when they’ve touched you.” His lips move to my ear. “I knew you’d let me, though. Just like I know, under this silk skin you wear like armor, you pretend what others think rolls right off you, but that’s an act, isn’t it? There’s one thing that gets to you. One thing you can’t stand.”