Page 97 of Break Me (Brayshaw High 5)

My frown begins to fade, and before I can stop it, a low laugh leaves me.

I close my door and drop my head against the headrest. “You just said fuck.”

Brielle grins, and I let her take the bat. “Drive, playboy, before they get out and knock on your window and I have to find another way to reel you in.”

“Maybe I should stay right where I am then.”

She laughs and I put the car in drive, headed for the group home.BrielleWe roll to a stop, and Royce sighs, staring at me.

I don’t say anything, but wait for him to instead, and it doesn’t take long.

“You trip me out,” he shares.

A small grin twitches at my lips. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” His voice is heavy, full of rasp. “You make me laugh when I wanna tear shit apart.”

You make me feel things I’m not sure I should.

Royce’s knuckle lifts, lazily trailing along my jaw. “What kind of things, baby girl?”

My gaze flies up to his, and the heat in his is too much.

My stomach comes alive with a million flutters.

He grins, but it’s faint, something so much deeper playing in his eyes.

“Do you have blankets in your truck?” I find myself whispering.

He stares, his tone low. “Why?”

“We could lay them out, watch the stars...”

His hand comes up to push my hair back. “You wanna spend your night with me, Tink?”

I think I want to spend all my nights with you.

I don’t say that. Instead, I answer simply. “Yes.”

He pulls in a long breath and then we’re headed forward again. “I’ve got a better idea.”

That’s all he says, and I don’t care to ask what the idea is.

I’m all in regardless.

In more ways than one.

Royce continues forward, curving around the back of the property, a place I’ve yet to see.

Tucked behind the mansion is a giant trampoline with a large net wrapped around it. It’s in the center of a wide-open field to the left of the overflowing flower garden and pool house.

“We put this up for Zoey about a week ago, but I don’t think she’d mind loaning it to us for the night.” He grins, his eyes shifting to mine. “You good with that?”

I nod, because I’m not sure what my voice would sound like.

He brought me to his house, where no one is allowed.

Okay, sure, I’ve come back here on my own twice and this isn’t quite the house, but I know this boy, and this is just as much his home as anything inside that mansion is. Not that going into his home wouldn’t feel like, I don’t know, more? Because it would, but this. This is more than I’d have expected.

“There’s a zipper where the stepstool is, climb in and I’ll be right back.”

I nod and head right for the trampoline.

The moment I step inside it, lights flick on.

Running along the bars at the bottom and trimming along the tip-top of the net, soft white lights shine, illuminating the area. And then they change to pink, and then blue, green, and purple.

I grin, spinning as I wait for the next color to show itself.

Royce is back as quick as he disappeared, large puffy blankets in his hands.

He shoves them in, and I grab one, laying it along the bottom.

I notice there are two more, one for him, one for me, maybe, but I leave those on the side and drop onto my back.

Royce climbs in, a bag of candy and two water bottles in his hand. “We were out of Yoo-hoos.”

“The travesty,” I gasp playfully.

We lay back, and after a few minutes, both of us let out a long sigh.

“It’s calming, isn’t it? The sky.”

“It’s dark.”

I smile. “There are so many colors.”

“It’s a pit of darkness, like my soul,” he jokes.

I laugh. “If that’s the case, let’s look closer, find what you can’t see.” I scoot my head toward his, my hands lifting above us to point out the varying shades. “In this darker spot, you can’t see many stars, but you can see the deep, dark blue—”

“Blackness.”

I grin. “The blue that takes up this space.”

“Anger.”

I grin into the night. “Okay, fine, but here.” I run my hand left. “That darkness, or anger, blends into the lighter, more royal blue we’ll call loyalty. Then a deep violet shade, devotion.” I make a wave with my fingers. “And then you get here, just before the edges of the stars that allow for the most unsuspecting part, a softness. An almost gentle-like baby blue. Tenderness, maybe?”

Royce’s hand comes up to encase mine, and our eyes meet.

He holds my gaze. “Don’t forget the silver.”

I swallow. “Silver?”

He nods slowly. “It’s in there, too. All over, everywhere.”

Everywhere.

Jesus.

“Thousands and thousands of specs of silver, too many to forget.” His eyes fall to my lips. “Too many to leave out or let go.”

The stars.

The shades of his soul.