BE MY BRAYSHAW

by Meagan Brandy

  Captain isn’t deterred. His gaze is sharp, focused, and sure. “But you want to know me, like I need to know you.”

  My body warms.

  Like he needs...

  The soothing heat quickly shifts to a burning flame, and I dig my nails into my thighs. “You won’t like what you find.”

  “I like enough already, and I’m not asking you to tell me all your secrets, yet… even though you already know my biggest one.”

  Fuck.

  He keeps going, a hint of a smile on his lips. “You’ve been out here every day, Beauty. You’ve seen her, my daughter.”

  My jaw clenches tight and I consider lying for the hell of it, but he saw me, right? I have no bar to balance on, no rope to grip.

  This is it.

  I knew it was coming, it’s why I delayed as long as I could.

  This is it.

  I give a jerky nod.

  “You want to meet her?”

  My brows slam together, the hope in his eyes causing my stomach to turn.

  Captain Brayshaw. The strong, but guarded brother. Quiet and logical, fierce and loyal to his core is standing in front of me, inviting me into his entire world having no idea I’m woven deeper than he.

  He’ll hate me.

  They all will.

  “Come on.” He steps back, while I remain frozen in place. “I was only supposed to be grabbing her ball from the car. Let’s not make her come looking for me.”

  “Too. Fucking. late.” Raven’s chuckled words float from behind me and the tension in my body doubles. “We found you.”

  We? Oh no.

  “Daddy!”

  No, no, no.

  Not like this.

  Captain’s eyes instantly cut over my shoulder and he moves away, beaming at the little girl I can now sense behind me.

  He bends down, and as he does, two new sets of footsteps shuffle closer.

  His brothers.

  They’re all here now.

  “Come here, Zo.” Captain crooks his finger. “Come meet our friend.”

  My chest begins to ache as I try for a deep breath.

  I catch Raven’s stare, and her frown is instant, query blanketing her features as she attempts to understand the panic etched across mine.

  This isn’t how this was supposed to happen.

  I needed a chance to talk to them, to say the words out loud rather than spit it in their faces as I imagine this is about to feel.

  In a world led by loyalty and trust, a heated blade to the gut burns less than learning of a liar.

  Raven takes a half step toward me, but then Zoey bursts past her and her eyes follow the little blonde who throws herself against her father’s chest.

  “Find you, find you!” Her laughter lightens the air, allowing me a small breath, but only for a moment as my lungs run dry once again.

  Cap’s smile bounces to me, his eyes tightening at the sight. He keeps his grin on for Zoey, reluctantly pulling his gaze back to her.

  “Zoey.” He spins her around, and her little head lifts. “This is—”

  “Rora!” Zoey shouts in excitement, a sound that both settles and stirs everything inside me all at once.

  Her eyes shoot wide with her smile as she jerks from Captain, running right for me.

  I drop to my knees just in time for her to wrap her arms around my neck in the tightest grip she can manage.

  I can’t help the tender laugh that escapes.

  It’s been too long, baby girl.

  I hug her back.

  My eyes close on their own, but I quickly force them open and it’s Captain’s they collide with.

  I hold his stare as he pushes to his feet in slow, methodical movements.

  The air surrounding us shifts, growing heavy, threatening, as Royce and Maddoc step closer. Raven, though, she remains frozen, frown stuck on me as she attempts to work her brain over what she’s seeing.

  Zoey finally pulls back enough to gaze up at me, but she doesn’t let go. “I miss you, Rora!”

  I swallow, forcing my smile to match hers, while tension threatens to knock me on my ass. “I miss you, too, ZoZo.”

  She laughs, eyes the exact shade of Captain’s and focused solely on me.

  “Hey, uh, Zoey Bear,” Royce calls, clearing his throat. “Let’s go get some ice cream, huh?”

  “Ice cream!” she shouts and starts to rush off, but not before pausing and running right back to rub her nose across mine. “Eskimo kisses!”

  I force the moisture threatening to creep into my eyes away and respond as I would any other day. “And butterfly hugs.”

  She giggles as she follows her uncle. “So much, Rora!”

  So much, ZoZo.

  A deafening silence follows Zoey and Royce’s retreat, and I know they’re waiting for whatever my next move will be, but their guess is as good as mine.

  This is the last way I ever wanted this to go.

  It takes me a second, but I meet the impenetrable eyes not four feet in front of me.

  Captain’s jaw clenches and he takes a measured step back, away from me.

  My hands lift as his stature does and slowly, I push to stand, my gaze bouncing between the three.

  Maddoc’s glare is locked on me while Raven continues to glance in the direction Zoey headed and back.

  Cap though, he doesn’t look away for a second.

  His eyes turn to glaciers, the harsh edges of his jaw growing more profound as his chin lowers closer to his chest.

  “There was no right time to tell.”

  “My daughter knows who you are,” Captain rumbles as if I hadn’t even spoken. “How?”

  I cut another quick look to Raven.

  “Maria,” I say the name of the woman who posed as a social worker and cared for Zoey while it was too dangerous for her to come home. “She’s my mother.”

  Raven’s brows snap together. “You knew?”

  “I told you before.” My face twists. “Discovering secrets was my purpose, remember?”

  “How long,” Captain barks as more of a demand rather than a question.

  My eyes fly his way.

  When I don’t respond, he pushes closer, driving words past clenched teeth, “How. Long. Have you known about her?”

  I admit, “Long before you.”

  You’d think I slapped him. I’d even go as far as to say he was hoping for a different answer, that maybe there was one that wouldn’t cement a wall between us, not that an us existed.

  “What does so much mean?” he asks, now completely detached, no emotion to be found, not even anger which is somehow even worse.

  “Exactly what you think,” I tell him. “It’s how she tells me she...” I trail off, unable to say it out loud with his focus on me.

  It’s how she tells me she loves me.

  She’s the only person who ever truly has.

  “I’m sorry.” My shoulders fall. “I don’t know what else to say.” I turn to Raven. “Don’t hate me. I’ll go, won’t bother you guys...” I trail off, my eyes cut to Captain and back to her. There is so much I should say, none that will make it any better in this moment, so I don’t bother to try.

  “Go,” Raven speaks through a locked jaw, her glare slicing to Captain. The two, already connected on a deeper level than I have had the chance to earn, share a silent, unspoken but understood message before she looks to me. “And make it quick, Victoria.”

  With a slight nod and a heavy dose of self-hate, I back away. “I expected this, my bags are already packed,” I admit. “I’ll only be minutes.”

  I get a few feet before Captain says, “Well in that case, we’ll have Maybell send someone with your things.”

  My eyes cut over my shoulder, and I frown.

  “You’ll be moved in in less than an hour,” Raven tells me as she reaches for Maddoc’s hand, a sharp scowl covering her true thoughts.

  I spin to face them once more. “You’re asking me to stay?”

  She scoffs, glancing from Cap t
o me. “I’m telling you to.”

  Maddoc and Captain share a look, and then he and Raven walk away, leaving me and Captain behind. Alone.

  I wait until they’re out of earshot and attempt another apology. “Cap—”

  “Don’t,” he cuts me off, stepping into my face, but I don’t cower.

  I can’t show weakness, he’d hate that just as much.

  He looks ready to say something, but I couldn’t guess as to what. His eyes give nothing. The second the ice within them begins to thaw, he jerks away, stepping from the trees before turning to me once more.

  “Welcome home, Beauty.” His words are delivered in a cold and unfitting manner.

  Maybe I pushed the rational brother too far?

  Captain spreads his arms out wide, the Brayshaw mansion taunting me in the distance behind him. “Might wanna sleep with one eye open.”

  My forehead tightens as my pulse spikes.

  Does this make me the enemy?

  The tension written across his face screams no, that he doesn’t want me to be, but he’s gone before I can be sure.

  In the next moment, I consider running, disappearing, only the thought is gone as soon as it hits, because the cost of leaving this place is too high.

  If I run, I lose everything I never had and always wanted, risk having the only people who’d ever made me feel as if being myself was enough, in turn hating me forever.

  Allow them to push me away when I’ve only just grown closer?

  I don’t fucking think so.

  They pulled me from my hiding places, and I’m glad.

  I’m tired of dark corners, tired of the background.

  Tired of losing before I’ve gotten to compete.

  It won’t be easy, and I’ll have to claw my way in when he—when they—try to force me out, but I know them enough to understand if there was a chance to gain their trust, that that’s the way they’d want it.

  They’d never respect someone who would roll over and take it, change who they are and allow the broken parts inside to win.

  They want the challenge, proof I want it.

  They want the strong, proof I can handle it.

  They want the truth, confirmation I belong.

  I do belong.

  They’ll see.

  Raven is my sister, this is my new home.

  It won’t be easy, but I’m ready to fight for everything that comes with it.

  If I’m lucky, a blond Brayshaw included.

  Chapter 1

  Captain

  I should have known.

  My last name is Brayshaw, and while those on the outside looking in may believe being a member of this family means all things come easy, the reality doesn’t come close.

  More than anything in our lives, we fight.

  Me, my brothers, Raven. Shit, anyone who is tied to our name, really.

  We fight for our people, what we believe in and what we want, what we feel we’re deserved. Outside of the love and loyalty for them, not a damn thing has ever even come close to easy.

  That right there is exactly why, when a long-legged, strong-willed, stubborn ass blonde with pouty lips, and bratty little blink slid into our world I should have taken four steps back for every one she drew me forward.

  And fuck me, did she draw me forward.

  I resisted.

  I fought against her.

  I caved.

  I took her mouth like I’d wanted to for months, tasting what became my newfound favorite flavor.

  But our town is a twisted place and no move is as simple as making it, so I shouldn’t have been surprised when not two minutes after, I learned of a lie.

  A lie too big to forgive.

  Two and a half years ago I found out I had a daughter who was already born and hidden from me, she was two months old by the time I discovered her.

  Today, I learned the blonde I planned to keep for myself knew of my little girl before I did and never said a word.

  This blonde, she was a stranger to me then, so did she owe me any loyalty? Not even a little bit and I want nothing I haven’t earned.

  That’s the solid truth.

  So why the fuck does her betrayal sting like a cut to the chest as if she already holds a place there?

  She doesn’t.

  She won’t.

  Because while she might not have owed me then, she sure as fuck does now.

  I slam my notebook shut and toss it to the floor with a huff, my glare flying to the dark, empty hallway. The hallway that now leads to her new bedroom.

  At first, she was afraid to move in—only a fool would lay where the wolves sleep, especially when one has been left starved and angry, right?

  At least, that’s what common sense would tell you.

  So why did the little liar take the stairs two at a time, and how, after being warned to keep one eye open, did she fall asleep with ease?

  Running my hands down my face, I let my head fall to the headboard, blindly reaching over for my Brayshaw item—heavy brass knuckles given to me by my father at the age of seven.

  I pull them close to my face, inspecting the anchor symbol etched along the curves, a perfect match to the ones tattooed across my knuckles, and read the words scrolled beside them.

  Family runs deeper than blood.

  Words all Brayshaws live and breathe by, another way of saying never trust blind or give loyalty to those who haven’t earned it. You don’t have to come from the same line to form a solid and strong one.

  If only the treacherous blonde understood such a thing.

  I close my eyes, pulling in a deep breath to try and relax, but not two seconds later the quiet click of a knob turning has them flying open. I focus, listening to the silence stretching across this wing of the mansion, and for a moment I think I imagined it—three a.m. will do that to you—but then soft thumps sound.

  Footsteps.

  I bring my eyelids as low as I can without shutting them completely and not a moment later, she tips her head around the corner, only one of her eyes showing as she hides as much of herself as possible.

  She was expecting me to be lying down, sleeping, or absent altogether, so the sight of my body sitting up against the headboard has her freezing in place.

  I hold as still as a hunter while she searches for a sign of lucidness.

  She finds none, and tiptoes a foot farther, peeking into the open room across from mine.

  Peeking in on my daughter as if she has any right to go near her.

  Brave or stupid?

  She leans forward, her hand resting loosely on Zoey’s doorframe.

  I jump up as swiftly and silently as possible, and right before she tries to take a step inside, I cage her in, my body forcing hers flat against the wall.

  Her gasp is quiet and quickly swallowed.

  She knows who’s behind her, which is why she doesn’t bother looking to confirm.

  Her grip on the white molding tightens, even more so when I place my right hand beneath hers, my left planting on the opposite side.

  I don’t say anything and neither does she.

  Tension builds around us, thickening the air as heat and hatred meet.

  She as aware as I am.

  Her shoulders rise higher, fall faster, her quick breaths fanning across my hand and causing my jaw to clench.

  I shift closer, not missing the curl of her toes against the floor.

  Is she scared? Nervous?

  Turned on?

  My dick twitches without permission.

  She should be uneasy at the very least.

  We opened the door for her, something we don’t normally do, and she stepped right through, hard lies buried beneath a baggy hoodie.

  She was a master of hiding—herself, her thoughts, her truths.

  I bring my lips close to her ear.

  She’s maybe five-five to my six-two, so I have to dip my head to get where I want.

  I let out a slow exhale, a sick satisfaction flaring in my groin wh
en her fingers twitch.

  Every little thing from me stirs a reaction inside her.

  I wait a long moment before speaking.

  “What do you think you’re doing?”

  “I woke up and couldn’t go back to sleep,” she whispers. “Thought I’d check on her.”

  Anger boils beneath my skin, from her words, from the way they fuck with my head, but I hold it back, moving my hands to her hips and reminding myself they don’t belong there.

  She tenses, but doesn’t resist, allowing me to spin her around, still blocking her in with my chest.

  It takes her a second, but then her eyes, a brown, almost golden color, the same shade of brown sugar, lift to mine.

  I grind my teeth together as I bring a hand up, running my knuckle against the edge of her curved jaw, flexing mine when her pupils dilate before me. For me.

  She’d be so easy to please, I can nearly fucking taste it.

  Her lips, perfectly pouty, forever rusty red in color, part.

  I swallow a growl and allow my fingers to trail lower.

  Victoria gives a subconscious tilt of her head, granting me easier access to her neck as she stares, a little unsure and a lot hopeful.

  Once I reach her collarbone, I slip a piece of her silky blonde hair between my fingers and force my gaze to soften as much as I can control.

  Every inch of her settles.

  Just like I wanted.

  “I want to fuck you, Beauty,” I whisper, anger causing my pulse to jump, because damn if it’s as true as it is a lie. “So bad.”

  Her eyes widen, completely caught off guard.

  “I’ve been thinking about it for weeks, can’t stop,” I admit, tugging on the smooth strand a little. “I wanna lay you on my bed, run my hands through your hair, and pull your body close.” I slide my arms behind her back and do just that.

  She melts into me as I drop my face in the crook of her neck, and her grip flies to my biceps.

  “I wanna kiss your throat, like this.” I run my lips across her skin, and she shivers.

  The hold she has on me tightens as I glide my mouth higher, back to her earlobe, and I have to bite into my tongue to keep it from sneaking a taste.

  “I wanna strip you bare,” I rasp. “Have you... bare.”

  Her hard swallow brings a smirk to my lips.

  She tugs on my arms, trying to bring me in more, but I’m already flush against her.