His dribble slows, but then his eyes tighten some and he starts crossing the ball between his legs.
Royce crouches the slightest bit, his fingers drumming the air at his sides, and then the two both move.
Jason darts forward as Royce shoots right, anticipating his exact motion, and steals the ball from him with ease. He continues down the court, jumping up and dunking before Jason can attempt to catch up.
Royce grabs the ball, chucking it hard against Jason’s chest.
He catches it easily, a light chuckle escaping him as he attempts a three-pointer, but Royce hops and is in the air, slapping the ball away.
Jason laughs and comes forward with his hand out, so Royce gives him props.
His eyes slide our way but don’t hold.
No aggression from him toward one of us.
Maybe the little blue car’s got nothing to do with him?
“Fuck’s next?” Maddoc says behind his towel before swiping it across his head and draping it around his neck.
Royce makes his way over when someone else jumps up, ready to go one on one next.
“Let’s see how things look at school, go from there?”
He and Royce nod in agreement.
“Aye, Raven loved that shit at the warehouses, huh?” Royce grins at Maddoc.
“Fuck, man. She did, but now she keeps talking about it.”
“She miss the fighting?”
A strain pulls at his forehead as he watches her shift from foot to foot in an attempt to get comfortable. “She’s feelin’ useless. I think our fight the other day made it worse, that shit was hard on her, having to sit back like that.” His eyes swing our way. “She’s getting fuckin’ restless, gotta help her find something she actually likes, not some shit she came to crave out of survival. She’s never been able to chill enough to know what she’d even want to try outside of what she had to do to get by or clear her head. She wants to fight still, after, so I’m looking at some trainers that I won’t have to kill along the way. Legit boxing, not the savage shit like out there.” He frowns. “Gotta keep her outta that ring.”
“Concert?” Royce throws out. “Still has those earbuds in more than not.”
Maddoc nods. “I’d fuck up anyone who came within four feet of her.”
“We’ll get floor seats or a box suite.”
He licks his lips. “Yeah, let’s find somethin’ quick.”
Royce’s head draws back. “Gettin’ blue balls?”
Maddoc’s glare flies his way. “Fuck you, yeah right. My Snow’s real good to me. I’m the only thing she can put all her pent-up energy into.” His smirk is slow. “I’m not mad about it.”
Royce laughs. “Aye, that’s what I like to hear. The real Snow White took on seven men. Keep her ridin’, baby on board or not.”
Maddoc wraps him in a quick headlock, one Royce escapes just as fast and the two mock box for a second before laughing.
“I’m out,” I announce. “Mac giving you guys a ride home?”
“Yup,” Maddoc says.
I nod and start toward my SUV as Royce moves over to Mac and Chloe’s group of friends, and Maddoc drops on the blanket behind Raven, pulling her to his chest so she can relax against him.
I head to the zoo to spend the rest of my Saturday with my daughter.
Zoey passed out the second we got on the freeway, like I knew she would.
Once I confirmed I was on my way, my dad gave his driver the rest of the night off, so it’s the four of us in my SUV for the hour ride home.
Maybell being Maybell, uses the time to her advantage.
“She reminds me of you, you know,” she says from the back seat as she runs a hand across Zoey’s head. “So lively, always smiling and the first to share.”
I scoff a small laugh and my dad chuckles beside me.
“Now don’t you go thinkin’ nasty with me in this car, boy.”
I laugh a little louder and my dad shifts his smile to Maybell.
“I’m pretty sure none of my boys are the sharing kind nowadays,” he teases.
This time it’s Maybell who scoffs. “Go on and ask your other son.”
I grin, switching lanes. “Yeah. Royce is all for shares.”
“Ain’t nothin’ wrong with that, for now anyway. Give him time, he’ll find someone he won’t...” Maybell trails off, making sure to catch my eyes in the mirror. “Takes a lot for a Brayshaw to get to that point.”
“You sure about that?” I frown at the road.
“I’m not saying it’s easy, I’m saying the second it clicks, it’s over, instant and eternal. Endless.”
“Real reassuring, Miss Maybell,” I grumble.
My dad laughs and while I glare at him, Maybell reaches forward to smack his arm.
“Now none of that. You know the story of the raven and the wolf,” she says.
Of course I do, we all do.
One mate, one mission: love and honor and protect your home. The raven will lead the wolf, the wolf will destroy all who threaten. A solid, everlasting team.
I thought it was fate for my brother and Raven, but clearly, she thinks more.
“We Brayshaws,” Maybell begins again. “We’re wolves. When we decide we want something, that makes it ours. There is no going back, no changing our minds. It’s sealed in the heavens and etched along the walls of hell.”
“I’ve made no decision,” I tell her.
She nods, but nothing is said the remainder of the drive, and thirty minutes later, I’m pulling up at the Bray house.
My dad climbs out, opens Maybell’s door, and helps her to her feet.
She comes around, stepping up to my window, and levels me with a stern expression. “You might not have made a decision, but that girl has.”
“Why’s that matter to me?”
She eyes me a long moment before saying, “I said what a Brayshaw wants, a Brayshaw gets.”
I frown. “Victoria is no Brayshaw.”
Miss Maybell smirks, pats me on the cheek and walks away.
“Why does she do that?”
“You mean, make you think, force you to step back and consider what you haven’t?” He raises a dark brow. “It’s what mothers, or grandmothers do.”
I nod, looking away.
She’s the closest we’ve ever had to either.
Chapter 9
Captain
The knock on my door has my muscles stiffening, but Raven’s laugh floats from behind me in the next second, and my body relaxes the tiniest bit.
“Yikes.” She slides farther in.
I glance over my shoulder, my head following as she moves around me, sitting on the edge of my bed.
“Tense, Pacman?” she teases.
I scoff. “Let’s go with that.”
She smirks. “Zoey still sleeping?”
“Yeah.” I sigh. “Can’t decide if I should be waking her up to say bye before we leave or let her sleep in. She’s gotten used to having me every morning. Think she’ll be confused or something when she gets up and only my dad and Maybell are here?”
“Your guess is as good as mine, Cap.” She laughs, but there’s a nervousness to it.
I reach out, and she slips her hand in to grasp mine, tension surrounding her.
“Stop,” I reassure her. “We’re gonna figure this parenting shit out. Me and Zo, you, Maddoc, and the baby.”
“And Royce, and Rolland, and Maybell,” she ticks off each name.
I chuckle. “And them.”
“Pretty sure Royce thinks Zoey and the mini basketball I’m carrying around are as equally his.”
“Pretty sure that’s exactly what he thinks.”
She smiles, looking around my room. “I think it’s good for him, he’s been a little out of it ever since we got back from the cabins. Glued to his phone and shit.”
Agreed.
Out of the three of us, I’d say Royce is the hardest shell to crack, but Zoey slipped by his shield in an instant, and with his soft spot
for Raven, hers and our brother’s baby earned his love by existing.
I think it’s the innocence of a kid he prefers. He can trust their little souls and doesn’t feel he has to be on high alert as he is with everyone else.
Raven pulls her hand away, leaning back on her elbows. “I say let her sleep. She’s little, can’t hurt, right? I’m sure Maybell knows what to do about naps and stuff. Wait, is she too big for naps?”
I laugh. “No, I have the full schedule Maria had her on, so I’ve been trying to stick to it, but she’s been sleeping longer than Maria said was her normal since the day she came home.”
“Maybe that’s because she is home when before she wasn’t.”
I nod and Raven looks off, the shadowed mood she found me in now creeping over us both.
Before, as in when Zoey was being cared for by Maria and kept from me while my family fought for its place against Graven and the assholes surrounding them.
I can’t fucking believe Victoria never even let on that she knew I had a kid, let alone that she’d met her. She hid it until she was forced to admit it, even after we put faith in her to stand with us.
That’s the shittiest part. She could have come clean along the way but chose not to.
Raven asks me the exact question I’ve been rolling around in my head since the decision was made to keep Victoria here ten days ago. “What are we doing, Pacman?”
I sigh, glancing around as Maddoc steps in, dropping beside her.
She leans her head on his shoulder, eyeing me.
“No fuckin’ clue,” I admit. “Maybe this was a bad idea.”
“Nope.” Royce bounds in next, flopping on the other side of the bed and reaching out to put his hand on Raven’s little belly.
Maddoc slaps him away while Raven smiles.
I pull my computer chair up and sit in front of them.
“Moving her ass in is how we keep an eye on her. She’s gotta be here,” Royce says.
“It’s past keeping an eye on her and we all know it.” Maddoc looks to me admitting what we’ve tried to ignore. “We’ve already let her in.”
I nod, sitting back against the cushion. “And now we know she’s lied to us.”
“About big shit,” Royce adds.
“Life-changing shit.”
“Broke our trust.” Maddoc stares.
I tip my head. “Her loyalty is questionable.”
“She’s Raven’s blood.” Maddoc looks to her.
Raven licks her lips, eyes moving between the three of us. “And family runs deeper than blood.”
“Based on that, she’s everything opposite of what it means to be Brayshaw,” Maddoc points out.
“Fuck me,” Royce sighs as he pushes to his feet, the three of us following. “Still feels like she belongs, don’t it?”
“She does,” Raven says with unmistakable certainty. “I can feel it. She’s stubborn, yeah, but she’s—” She cuts off with a heavy frown when I lift my hand.
Movement in the hall confirms what I somehow knew—she’s stepped out of her room.
Victoria walks by, pausing in my doorway when she spots the four of us. She hesitates, and then her footsteps carry her down the stairs.
I look back to my family.
Maddoc smirks, subconsciously tugging Raven closer to him.
Nobody speaks, but the consensus is there.
We believe she does, but belief is not enough, there’s an order to be followed, and no one gets a pass. She’ll need to prove beyond reason she deserves her place.
She’ll be gone if she doesn’t.
“Gotta remember we have no clue what she’s capable of.” Royce looks across the three of us.
“Then we need eyes on her, always,” Maddoc adds.
Raven chuckles. “Did we just deem her the newest Bray Girl?”
We smirk.
Raven shakes her head, fighting a smile. “This could backfire on you so hard.”
“So how do we play this?” Royce asks, the question directed at me since she’s mine to handle.
Fuck, not mine, but mine to decide what to do with.
“In public, she’s ours, protected. Untouched. In private—”
“Still ours, aye, Cap?” He rubs his hands together, the corner of his lip tipped up.
Raven laughs, glancing between us both.
My chest thumps at the thought, and I start to tell him to fuck off, but the words don’t come and my frown smooths out.
Maddoc narrows his eyes but doesn’t say anything while Royce’s grin grows.
“By the way, douchebag Mike is handled,” he tells me.
I frown. “That easy?”
Maddoc frowns. “You sound surprised.”
“She was acting odd, edgy. Told me to send him away.”
“Prolly didn’t want him putting her on blast, shit from when they dated or whatever.”
I shake my head. “I don’t know. I don’t like him.”
They both laugh, and my frown deepens.
“‘Course you don’t, bro, he’s had what you want.” Royce grins. “But for real, he said he thought she was waiting on him, understands now she wasn’t, won’t be, ain’t his.” Royce bounces his brows. “Painted a real pretty, flesh-colored, picture for him, drove the point home a bit.”
I scoff, shaking my head and Raven grips Royce by the elbow, laughing as she tugs him out the door, but Maddoc holds back.
“You can want to kill her and keep her at the same time, you know.” He levels me with a glare. “You saw it with me and Raven in the beginning. Don’t share what’s meant to be yours.”
“I don’t trust her,” I say what he already knows. “And if I don’t trust her, I can’t keep her.”
He lifts his chin, tipping it to the side a bit. “So send her on her way.”
Now it’s me who glares.
A hint of a grin edges Maddoc’s mouth. “That’s what I thought, brother. You don’t trust her, but you want to. You don’t think she’s worth it, but you need her to be. Ain’t nothin’ wrong with that.” He steps closer. “Only thing to do is wait her ass out.”
“Brayshaw lockdown.”
“Nice and tight.”
“If she fucks up?”
My eyes move between his as he slaps me on the back and walks toward the door.
“Then we throw away the key, my man.” He meets my stare. “With the chain still bound around her ankles.”
He walks out and down the stairs, giving me the minute I need to shake the tension wrapped around my shoulders, and I then step into the hall.
Quietly, I move into Zoey’s room, kissing her on the forehead, and then make my way downstairs.
Victoria’s eyes lock onto mine the second I’m in view.
She’s propped against the wall by the door, her long blonde hair laying over her shoulder in the messy way it always does, not quite curly, more a windblown wave. Brown eyes blinding and bare, she stares at me with what I’m betting she thinks is a show of indifference.
It’s not.
Small creases frame her eyes, lips are pinched tight, and her thumb repeatedly flicks at the black nail polish on her ring finger.
She’s anxious, as she should be, as most liars are.
Whatever the hell that was Friday night, my body’s reaction to her, I have to fight it.
I can’t afford to ignore the risk she brings, not when I have Zoey to think about.
What I didn’t say to my brothers, but they understand all the same, is it’s more than wanting to trust Victoria, I get the sick sense I’m supposed to.
I’ve always been a good judge of character, able to see what others couldn’t, it’s part of my role in this family, but my vision of her is blurred, and I’m not sure what to make of it.
Royce hits me on the shoulder as he walks by, swinging the front door open. “Back to Brayshaw High today, assholes and assettes. Three months ‘til graduation and shit’s about to get even more interesting.”
Victoria pushes o
ff the wall. “Too bad none of you will be graduating without summer school,” she says before disappearing onto the porch.
“Ah shit,” Royce says, loud and mocking. “She is capable of speaking some truth.” He follows after her. “Hey, VicVee, you’re ridin’ bitch.”
My dad and Maybell step inside right as the others disappear from sight.
Maybell nods. “You ready, boy?”
The three of us quickly go over everything for Zoey even though we’ve done this a solid dozen times in the last week, and then I’m sliding into the driver’s seat of my SUV.
We stop at the donut shop on our way to school, getting right back to our regular routine.
“Two chocolate sprinkle donuts for me, large hot choc,” Royce says, his face in his phone.
“Coffee, lots of creamer,” Raven tells me.
I look to Maddoc who eyes me.
He told me last night to swap her out for decaf if she asked—she’ll kick his ass if she finds out, and he’ll gladly take it.
“Black,” Maddoc says. “And grab her a maple bar.”
“I don’t want one today.” Raven shakes her head.
“You will the second you smell Royce’s.”
“No, I won’t—”
“Get the damn donut, Cap.”
I fight a grin, and turn to Victoria, but she doesn’t bother looking my way, keeping her head dropped against the seat, eyes pointed out the window, so I slam my door and head inside to get everyone’s orders.
Not ten minutes later we’re turning into the parking lot of the school, and just like that, head after head snaps our way, conversations dying on people’s lips as they turn, unable to control their stares as they normally would when they spot the familiar SUV.
It’s been almost two months since we’ve been here and a lot of shit’s changed.
Thankfully our boy, Mac, helped keep things in line best he could in our absence, still though, people pulled their shit.
Perfect example, were the assholes at the promenade, the Graven Prep dicks who are looking for an in they won’t get. We would never trust someone who flip-flopped so fast, and all because the head of their little world will never be allowed back here. That’s not how loyalty works.
Mac did good, held down what he could and well, but no matter how you look at it, the perfect little world the students of Brayshaw High felt they lived in has been shaken and stirred and they have no clue what to do with that.
BE MY BRAYSHAW Page 10
