Break Me

by Meagan Brandy

  She puts her earbuds in and closes her eyes.

  Well, okay then.

  I run my hands through my hair, and walk to the side of Mac’s truck she can’t see, lean against it and take a breath.

  What a day it’s been.

  What a month it’s been.

  I never intended for anything that has happened since I got here to happen, but I can’t say I’m upset over any of it, because it led me to something I couldn’t imagine if I tried.

  With that said, I hate that I yelled at my brother like I did. I made him feel like shit and that’s not what I wanted, but I need him to understand what I found here—more than I ever dreamed of.

  Friends, a life, a lover.

  Purpose.

  I had none of those things before this place and I couldn’t leave it behind, even if Royce wasn’t part of the equation. He is, thank god, but if he wasn’t, I’d still want to stay for me.

  I need my brother to be happy for me because his support means so much to me. I love him and I know all his backlash is coming from the same place, his love for me.

  A car rolls up behind Mac’s, the front red bumper showing itself first. Slowly, I step out to look inside it.

  I breathe a sigh of relief when August pushes the door open and stands at the edge of it. “August, hey.”

  He grins. “How’s it going, Bishop?”

  I smile, but it freezes.

  Bishop?

  I never told him my last name.

  Now that I think about it, this isn’t the first time he called me that. Last time I saw him, when he was suddenly at the curb while I was walking, he said it too.

  When he offered me a ride and I...

  Holy shit.

  The ‘chocolate treats’ from his front seat, he had said they were for a friend.

  A certain coach, I’m betting?

  I take a step backward and he steps with me.

  The sun catches the light of something golden, and I look to the necklace around his neck.

  A lion.

  I force my voice calm. “Let me guess, your zodiac sign?”

  He smirks, his eyes tightening. “King of the jungle.”

  Flashes of the blood in my brother’s smashed-up car fly through my brain.

  August is the longest month of the lion. Of fire.

  Of the Leo.

  Our eyes meet, and for the first time, I see the malicious hint behind his, one I’m not supposed to notice and pretend I don’t.

  I grin and he chuckles, dark and deviously.

  Shit.

  Chapter 35

  Royce

  Mac tosses the fire extinguisher to the side, and we step back, eyeing the pile of half-burnt trash in the middle of the asphalt, each net still up in flames around the rims, not a hint of fucking sparks anywhere near the buildings or anything else that could possibly catch on fire.

  “This is almost worse than if the school was on fire,” Mac says after a moment.

  “It’s a slap in the fucking face.” I sigh, looking to Bass.

  Mac clasps his hand on my shoulder as he walks by. “I’m gonna go check the back fence, just in case.”

  I nod, not looking away from Bishop.

  He’s moved a few feet down, the panic offset once we got here and shit was still standing—he was always a solid one to ride regardless of where we were going. Regardless of his urge to bury me alive, he was still all the fuck in.

  The bastard’s Brayshaw at heart, even if he is out after his own empire now.

  He stands there, rubbing at the back of his neck while staring up at the stars. He’s thinking of Brielle, I’d bet, and he’s fucked in the head, not knowing what to do. Wanting to do what’s right, no doubt, but the answer ain’t as clear as he expected it to be.

  “Talk to the man, brother. Lay it out. Let him see.”

  My ribs constrict, my features pulling. “See what, brother?”

  Cap grips my arm, whips me around and locks his hands on my shoulders. “You think Phoenix won’t need proof of what’s inside someone when Zoey gives her heart away? You think he won’t burn the house down to find it?”

  My stomach heats, my pulse kicking and a small grin forms. “Come on, Cap. He’s a Brayshaw. He’ll have the world up in flames.”

  Cap chuckles, but levels me with a steady glare. “Say it out loud, brother. Make it real. Take what’s yours. She wants you to, and Bass? He needs you to, even if he doesn’t realize it yet.”

  I pull in a full, aching breath of air and nod. “I got you, Cap.”

  I turn and walk closer to Bishop.

  He spots me in his peripheral and pulls a smoke from his pocket and up to his mouth.

  I leave him to light the thing, wait for him to pull in a hit and as he does, his head drops back with a sigh. “She’s fragile, man. You’ll destroy her.”

  “You think I don’t know that?” I laugh, but there ain’t a damn thing funny. “That I didn’t warn her, fight this all the fucking way? Because I did. You can ask her all about it and you’ll hate the shit she shares. I pushed, and pushed again, and that fragile girl, she wouldn’t hear it. Doesn’t accept it. I’m telling you, Bishop, she’s stronger than you know, tougher than I ever could have thought, and not like me, not with her fists or body. With her fucking spirit. And mind. And everything in between.”

  He looks away, steadies himself and when his eyes come back, they’re hardened. “I want to take her with me.”

  “Well, you’re too late and too fucking bad,” I shout. “Where you been the last four years? Do you have any fucking clue what she’s been going through?”

  He shifts, facing me fully, and getting angry all over again. “Don’t question me when it comes to my sister. I love her more than anything. More than anyone!”

  “Not more than me!” I hit my chest. Fuck, man.

  Fuck this.

  I dart forward and his eyes narrow farther.

  “I love her more than anyone has ever loved a soul. So much so I don’t even own mine anymore. She does. She said she’s inside me, and she was right. Every fucking bone in my body aches for her. I ain’t afraid to admit anymore that I will be nothing, fucking nothing, without her. I worship that girl.”

  “Fucking funny from the guy trying to drive her away,” he seethes.

  I get in his face, and fuck if the deeper truth doesn’t come up like vomit.

  “All she ever wanted in her life is her family back, the one fucking person who protected her all her life, who stood with her. The brother she took beatings for—yeah, that happened, and you didn’t even fuckin’ know—the brother she’d do anything for if asked, and you’re gonna fucking ask, Bishop. You’re gonna ask, and in the end, she might just go, ‘cause you are the one she’s been waiting for. You’re her fucking family.” I swallow, taking slow steps back. “I was nothin’ but the stand-in.”

  He curses under his breath, then forces his gaze to mine. “Tell me, Brayshaw, would you jump in front of a bullet for her?”

  “And make sure it stopped on me.”

  He blanches, smashing his lips together, his nostrils flaring. “She told you.”

  “About the car, about the bullet, and the life you promised and never delivered on.” His eyes narrow. “She didn’t see it like that, not until she came across your busted-ass Cutlass and realized you weren’t even here. That’s the only reason she came here, by the way. She didn’t do it to disobey or because I forced her. It had nothing to do with me. She came for you.”

  He scoffs, but it’s broken. “Yeah, and why’d she stay after that, huh? Why not call me, confront me?”

  “I’m bettin’ she did, asshole. Maybe not to call your ass out, but I know she fucking called.”

  He grinds his jaw.

  “Ain’t it fuckin’ obvious? It’s because she loves you, and she was afraid of what you might say. Because she likes it here, and she scared herself when she realized she could be happy in a place you didn’t exist. She saw for the first time al
l she knew wasn’t all there was. She had more to offer, more to gain.”

  He swallows. “She was supposed to live a healthy, happy life. A normal fucking life.”

  “She’s half you, man.” I shrug and his eyes cut to mine. “She ain’t fuckin’ normal. She’s meant for more.”

  He runs his hands down his face.

  “Fuck, man,” he groans. “For real?” His arms fall to his side. “This is for real?”

  He stalks over, planting his feet directly in front of mine, and glares. “You love her, completely? Down to your black ass fucking core? Enough to give up everything else, everyone else?”

  “I see nothing else. I told you, there’s nothing left inside me that’s mine. I’m made up of her and not a damn thing else.” I take a deep breath, but it never reaches my lungs. “But I won’t make her choose between me and her family. I want her happy, and she’ll resent me later if I do. I can’t live with that.”

  “So you’ll put her safety above everything, above what you want, and let her go when it’s time for us to leave, if she asked you to?” He eyes me.

  It’s as if he’s knocked me in the chest with a two by fucking four.

  My body, I fall backward, bumping into a picnic table behind me.

  It takes some effort, and my head won’t lift, but my eyes do, locking on to his.

  My vision fogs, the muscles in my jaw flexing.

  My baby girl.

  My tiny Tink.

  I choke on nothing, my eyes blurred, and I shake my head. “No. I won’t let her go. I can’t.” Fuck, if she chooses to leave, that gives me only one option. I look to my brother a few feet away, and my features pull tight. “I’ll have no choice but to go with her.”

  Bass jerks back, a cracked breath huffs from him and he spins around, his hands coming up to fold over his hair.

  “Damn you, Brayshaw.” His head falls, his resistant response directed toward the sky. “You had to go and fall in love with my sister.”

  I breathe a little easier.

  He’s getting it—this shit’s real.

  He groans, straightens, and faces me. “As much as I hate to fucking admit it, I know you. I know the way you work, and I know your strength.” He licks his lips. “If there is anyone in this fucking world that can protect my sister like me, better than me, it’s you.”

  My heart hammers beneath my ribs, so hard he must hear it. “I said I won’t make her choose.”

  “Don’t kid yourself, man. She already did,” he says quietly. “I didn’t ask her permission, I told her she was leaving with me, and my sister flat-out refused. She refused to leave you.”

  The weight of a thousand pounds both falls and lifts over me, sinks my stomach only to feed my soul. “I fucking love her. I’ll never stop.”

  “Yeah, man,” he grumbles. “I’m getting that.”

  I look to Captain, to Maddoc who has suddenly appeared, at the taut expression he wears.

  The fear I feel, the pain I let in, the possibility of tomorrow, and every emotion in between, it flows through them too.

  I feel, they feel.

  They want this for me, for us.

  The final loop.

  The calm for our storms.

  None of us have it, the purity she brings.

  The strength she’ll give and not just me, but all of us.

  We’re the five points of the star, and she’s the circle that’ll seal us in.

  “Go get your girl, brother.” Maddoc swallows, tipping his chin.

  I look to Bass and the dude holds his knuckle out, so fuck me, I lift mine to his.

  “Still think you’re a bitch, but I might let you come to my wedding.” I grin.

  Bass scoffs a laugh, but it turns into a groan. “Don’t start your ‘Brayshaws start early’ bullshit, man. It’s day one.”

  “For you. She’s been mine for a hot minute.”

  He flips me off with a laugh.

  Captain steps up to Bass, a hard expression on his face.

  My brother, he cares for Brielle. He believes in her place here, and his words prove it.

  “You’re wrong to think she don’t belong.” Cap’s straightforward with Bass, standing tall and sure. “We have power, we have schemes, we have knowledge, what we don’t have are gentle hearts. She does. She’ll round us out, and we’ll all be better leaders because of it. Because of her.”

  Bishop’s eyes gloss and he gives a hard, curt nod, turning to me.

  “The fuck you waiting for, Brayshaw? Don’t make my sister wait like I did. Let her know we’re good, we both know what it’ll mean to her.”

  I spin on my heels and dart forward, but something has me pausing and whipping back around.

  Bishop chuckles, and damn, it’s a deep one. “You really are fucking whipped.”

  He knows as well as I do why I stopped—it’s the look in my girl’s eye that I know I’ll get if her brother walks up beside me. If he gives her what she doesn’t need but desperately wants, even if she hasn’t said it yet. His blessing.

  I grin. “I ain’t mad about it.”

  He shakes his head and falls in line beside me.

  My brothers head out the back gate where Maddoc parked, and the two of us head back toward the front. We don’t have to say we’ll worry about this shit later. It’s agreed upon without a word.

  We step around the side of the school, slowing the closer we get when Brielle isn’t easily seen through the windows of Mac’s car.

  “Royce...”

  “Maybe she’s lying down.”

  We step up to it, tear the doors open, but it’s empty.

  Bass spins to his car, and his Barbie sits up in the seat, stepping out.

  “Where is she?”

  “Where is who?” She smirks.

  “Fuck this. Let’s head back, grab her on the way.”

  “Yeah, that won’t work.” She tips her head. “She didn’t walk.”

  Bass crowds her. “What are you talking about?”

  She shakes her head with a smirk. “I was scrolling through Instagram and lost services, so I hopped out and walked around a bit, within the five-foot span, so don’t have an aneurism.”

  “Keep talking,” he demands.

  “Imagine my surprise when I spotted the girl of the hour slipping into the night with a different knight.” she looks to the moon with a mocking edge. “Ah, the irony, right?”

  “Get to the fucking point, girl.”

  “Oh, an angry boy, nice.” She tips her head.

  “Cut it,” Bass snaps. “Where’d she go?”

  “Hopped in a car.”

  “What fucking car?”

  She smirks. “I could show you.”

  I rush her, but Bass doesn’t let me too close.

  She laughs, her eyes sliding to his. “Ah, down boy,” she whispers like a privileged brat. “First, I need your word that you’ll—”

  Bass shuts her ass up by slamming his lips into hers, and her eyes shoot wide.

  “Quiet, Rich Girl,” he rasps against her lips, snagging the phone from her hand.

  I glance between the two, at her, stuck there frozen, mouth parted, hand up even though her phone’s no longer in it.

  I laugh and her eyes snap to mine, her face smoothing and going back to the bitchy Barbie. “Damn, Bishop, girl’s got a Brayshaw size hard-on for you.”

  He scoffs. “Yeah, try and convince her of that,” he mumbles, looking to her. “Password?”

  She blinks, reaching out. “I’ll put it in.”

  He pulls it back. “Password.”

  She clamps her lips together, looking away when his eyes narrow, and he stalks toward her.

  “We don’t have time for this junior high bullshit.”

  Her lip curls my way, but her gaze falls when Bass pushes against her. “I haven’t changed it in a while...”

  “Password,” he snaps.

  She lifts her head, stealing herself. “D-O...”

  “M?” he growls.

&n
bsp; She clears her throat, nodding. “And add an S.”

  “Who’s Dom?”

  Bass glares and she slinks away, leaving her phone in his hand.

  Whatever just happened is forgotten, as he pulls up the photo.

  His face turns white. “Motherfucker.”

  I yank it from him, zooming in on the car, and the dead man beside it.

  Leo.

  Chapter 36

  Royce

  “There’s no way she’d walk away with a stranger. She had to know him or think she did. He made his way to her and introduced himself as someone different. Something.”

  “He had to have followed her here.” Bass shakes his head. “Think about it, someone had to lock the gates and that door that kept you out of the school those few extra minutes. Coach Von couldn’t do that and be in there at the same time.”

  “He knew she’d black out,” I realize, brows drawn. “He knows all about her. He watched her, followed her, and then I showed up in that town and threw him off course, but the fucker knew I’d never walk away from her. He bet on it and set shit off here, then followed her back.”

  “And he knew you’d fuck up, and that you’d call me to take her away when you did.” Bass glares, shaking his head. “Punk bitch,” he growls.

  This is why we don’t let people into our core group, this shit happens when things go sour.

  Bass closes his eyes. “I sent her to my aunt’s to keep her away from this, and it didn’t fucking matter, because I was still fucking in it. Everyone connected to anyone in worlds like this are at risk.” He meets my gaze, hit with a realization of his own. “People we love are safer with us than without.”

  He begins to pace and then suddenly freezes.

  “Bishop.” I dart toward him.

  “He led us here, knowing she’d be with us but not too close. That we’d keep her back just in case.” He starts walking, then breaks out into a jog, and I’m forced to follow.

  “Bass!”

  “He’s doing this because of me. I know where he’s taken her.”

  I fall in line beside him, running at his pace.

  “I thought I ended him,” Bass admits. “If he hurts her, I’ll kill him.”

  “He touched her.” I clench my phone in my hand. “He’s already dead.”