“Tell me your name,” I whisper, purposefully letting my heated breath waft over her skin.
Her chest inflates, and she leans in more. Every centimeter closer she gets, Raven’s eyes narrow to match.
I push it more by bringing my right hand up, letting my fingertips run the length of her arm.
I touch my lips to her ear and Raven’s hands grip the edge of her seat.
But suddenly her eyes snap left and mine follow to find Morgan, one of the JV cheerleaders, standing a few feet away.
Morgan senses Raven’s eyes on her and looks over, paling instantly before scrambling toward me and jerking the chick in my hands.
“Hey!” she shrieks, glaring at her friend, but when she catches Morgan’s blanched expression, she tenses. “What’s wrong?” she asks her.
Morgan gives a nervous half-grin, then leans over to whisper in her friend’s ear. The girl I’ve got my hands on eyes pop wide, panic struck in every inch of her.
“Shit.” She swallows, slowly pulling away from me and then the two quickly rush off, gather their friends from around the room, including the one Royce was fucking with, and all together rush out the door.
The fuck?
I glance at Captain right as Royce pushes forward glaring after them, then quickly turns back to us. “What just happened?”
“I’ll tell you what happened.”
We spin and glare at the chick behind me, but she doesn’t recoil.
She stands a little taller.
The group home chick, Vienna.
I look to Raven, but her seat’s now empty.
“That,” Vienna starts. “Was a taste of your own medicine, buddy.”
“Fuck you talkin’ about?” Royce bounds closer.
She smirks. “You wanted a queen, you made one. One like nobody here has ever known. Just as strong as you, just as brave. But there’s a clear difference between her and you guys.”
“Keep fucking talking,” I bark.
She laughs lightly, glancing between the three of us. “You’re calculated, she’s ... reckless.”
Her words hit me hard, because I know exactly where she’s going with this.
“They fear her now, just as you wanted. She has their respect, forced from the three of you from the beginning, but earned on her own. You thought the guys wouldn’t touch her?” She laughs. “Welcome to the other side of the spectrum, Brayshaws. Your very own queen might just dethrone you.” She looks across the room where Raven is exiting. “And with a Graven at her side, no less.”
My body starts to tremble in rage, but I stretch my neck to the side to force it away.
“Get the fuck out of here, group home girl,” Royce snaps. “And keep your little theory to your damn self.”
She laughs lightly, shrugs, and walks away.
Royce frowns after her. “She’s right, isn’t she?”
I look to Cap who nods lightly.
Damn it.
“She might be.”
“I can’t believe she’s fucking us like this,” he spits.
Yeah, I’m over this shit.
I don’t realize I’m moving until Captain wraps his arms around my shoulder and drags me into the closest room.
There are a few people inside, but Royce bounds through the door behind us and claps, signaling for them all to leave.
Once they’re out the door, he slams it closed and Cap steps back.
“What the fuck, man?” I shout.
“You can’t—”
“Can’t what?” I throw my hands out. “End this bull shit, beat his fucking ass until he can’t walk, force his ass back where he belongs and demand what’s mine stay that way? ‘Cause I sure as fuck feel like I can! I mean, what the fuck are we even doing? Fucking recon? Fuck this!”
“We don’t know she’s yours. For all we know, she planned this shit.”
“Do you really fucking think that, Cap?”
His lips form a flat line and he looks away. “I don’t know what the fuck to think, but we can’t push her. She knows things we can’t afford other people to find out about.”
Fuuuuck.
Zoey.
I drag my hands down my face, shaking my head. “Cap ... fuck, man I’m—”
He holds a palm up. “We’ll deal with it if it comes.”
“I think we need to get rid of her,” Royce interjects, and we look to him. He hesitates a minute, then shrugs his shoulders. “She’s with Collins. We can’t look past that.”
“There’s no way this shit is so cut and dry. Look how she’s acting? All the shit with Chloe and those girls out there? Vienna was right, they took off because they’re afraid of her. If they think she cares if they come near us, how the fuck can we not?”
“Maybe you’re seeing things you want to be there, Madman,” Royce mumbles, looking wretched.
He doesn’t believe what he’s saying either, but he doesn’t wanna feel the burn of losing her twice.
She reacted tonight, and in the hall at the school.
Or maybe I am trippin’ like he says.
“Why hasn’t Dad called again?” I ask them. “I texted and nothing. He said he was handling shit, and nothing. Why?”
Both frown, shaking their heads, at a loss.
“Fuck man,” I mumble. “I’m over this shit. Let’s leave.”
They both agree and within minutes we’re in the car, the party and Raven behind us.
Not a fucking word is spoken on the way home to the house that feels emptier than it should.
I shake my limbs out, rolling my shoulders around as I breathe in the cold December night air.
Fuck, I’m ready to explode.
I was ready to kill that girl. She’s lucky her friend spotted me sitting there in the dark corner I was lurking in and ripped her ass away before I did it with a grip to her hair.
That’s all I’d need right now. Collins was already on extra dickhead mode after everything at the school but fuck him. I gave his bitch ass thirty days max and then he’s on his own in a pool of Brayshaw people.
Really though, what the fuck is Maddoc doing? It’s irrational for me to be pissed, I left them – left him – high and dry with no word, but still. I can’t handle seeing his hands on anyone else, maybe he knows it and that’s why he did it, or maybe I was just another Bray Girl and in slides a new one.
All I know is I can’t watch it, so they’ll need to keep their fucking hands, feet and faces away until I allow more – which will be when I’m gone.
“What are you doing?”
I roll my eyes and spin around, holding my arms out. “Breathing, Collins. Just fucking breathing.”
He laughs lightly and walks over. “Good job tonight, you kept your cool. I’m impressed.”
“Gee, thanks. Goal fulfilled,” I deadpan.
He grins and looks out at the dark night as I was.
He nods, his brows pulling in. “We don’t have to fight, Rae. This could go a lot differently.”
I scoff. “So you won’t hold me in with blackmail?”
“No.” He tilts his head, still looking off. “Still need to keep you where you are, but it doesn’t have to be a miserable time for you, you know?” He looks my way.
I frown, and he shrugs.
“You and I would have been friends if it wasn’t for them. Things between us would be good and our own choice,” he says, his eyes bouncing between mine. “I’m not a bad guy, if you weren’t in the middle of our problem, you would have seen that on your own.”
“Maybe you’re right.” I consider his words and go for honest. “But I can’t say for sure. All I know now is you’re the asshole standing between where I am and where I wanna be.”
He shakes his head. “You only want to be there because they got to you first.”
My head pulls back. “Nobody got to me and we can’t go back in time, now can we? I made my bed and I know the drill that follows. This is a pointless conversation. I’ll be standing next to your car when you decide
you’re done sniffing around here.”
“What if I told you I knew you were coming before you got here?” he calls out and I freeze.
I spin around slowly. “Then I’d say I expected that. I’m sure you watch their every move. I bet you have a PI watching their PI. Anything to get a leg up, Collins, but eventually you’ll need to find your own moves and stop counting on the steps of others. An incapable man is a weak man, and I’ve seen nothing straight from your hands.”
“Is that a challenge?”
“Challenge, observation, solid fucking fact.” I shrug. “It’s whatever you want it to be, Graven, but none of that matters, because at the end of the day, you’re still you and they’re still them. Stronger by count and courage.”
I turn and walk away.
Fuck life.
I walk into third period, the first class of the day I have with Maddoc and now Collins to find that my chair is missing.
I look up, meeting Maddoc’s eyes and he tips his chin back, leaning lazily in his seat.
I glance to the teacher who purposely looks everywhere but at me – she knows who’s in charge and it sure as shit isn’t her.
I’m about to say fuck it and walk out when Collins gets a little braver than he should.
“Come here, baby,” he says, and the entire fucking room goes silent. The teacher even freezes, arm stuck in the air ready to write on the board.
Collins sits back in his seat, patting his lap with a devilish look in his eye. “I’ve got a seat you happen to love.”
I open my mouth to speak, not really sure what’s about to come out when suddenly the choice isn’t left to me and I’m drug from the room, literally, my feet sliding across the flooring as Maddoc yanks me by the arms from the class.
“Hello!” I shout at the teacher ... who turns away from the scene.
Mac rushes out after us, and for a half second, I think maybe he’s considering stopping Maddoc, but he spins, pulls the door closed and holds it there, right as Collins reaches it.
Collins bangs on the small window from the other side, fighting to pull it open.
Maddoc continues to drag me along until he can shove me into a small concave in the hallway. He gets in my face.
“The fuck is going on?!” he booms. “And don’t you fucking dare bullshit me, Raven. Talk. Now.”
“Nothing to talk about, Big Man—”
“Don’t. Call. Me. That—” he growls, stepping against me.
I think he expects me to fight him, or shove at him or to tell him the truth.
He definitely doesn’t expect me to melt against his erratically beating heart the second it blends with mine.
He also doesn’t expect it when I move to my tippy toes and yank his head down until my lips smash into his.
Maddoc snarls angrily at first, and then his growl morphs into a deep, territorial rumble, possessiveness pouring into me off of him. My lungs finally open, greedily pulling in all his scent, the burn left behind from not having him finally soothing.
His tongue swallows mine as his hands take control, and he pushes against me.
Yes. Mine.
My eyes pop open.
Shit!
Not mine.
I bite his bottom lip until he yanks back and quickly slink under his arms, but he catches me by the back of my shirt, and I slam onto my ass.
He pulls me back up, spins and pins me to the wall with his grip on my ribs, my feet dangling in the air, so I can’t gain any leverage and trip to slip past. His eyes are wild and crazy, the green almost gone as a blackness takes over.
He opens his mouth to speak, but Collins and Mac tumble down the hall, shoving and punching at each other and then there’s another crowd behind him.
Maddoc squeezes me, only letting go once Royce appears out of nowhere and places a hand on his shoulder.
He drops me to my feet, and I stand there frozen.
Why did I do that?
“Keep your hands off my students, Brayshaw,” Principal Perkins calls from the hall.
Maddoc moves right toward him, spitting in his face as he stalks by without a word.
The principal glares from him to me, and just like every other time when he’s around, there’s something extra hidden in his leery light eyes as he studies our movements.
I wink like a bitch, even though I don’t feel cocky right now.
I feel like the wishy-washy bitch I’m acting like.
It takes a few minutes for the area to clear, and as soon as it does, Collins gets in my face. “What did he want?”
“Oh, you mean after you provoked him?”
Collins glares. “I said what did he want?”
“Answers.” My eyes widen as my brows raise mockingly. “Asshole. He wants answers.”
“And?” he grates.
I shove away from him. “And he didn’t get any.”
I spin around the corner, freezing when I spot Captain leaning against the wall.
He frowns at me, frowns at the ground, and then walks away.
My shoulders fall and I look to the ceiling.
Fuck.
“I think we need a night of fun, not recon and defense,” Collins tells me as he drops down in the patio chair across from me.
“I think you’re an idiot.”
“I think,” he says, leaning forward. “You’d have a good time if you let yourself.”
“Doubtful.”
He sighs as if he actually hoped I’d be all for it. “Well, get up. We’re going anyway.”
I cut my eyes his way. “Where, exactly?”
“Just a pizzeria my buddy owns. Beer and bad music.”
“Will the people you had jump me be there?”
“Maybe.” He grins.
I can’t help it and I scoff out a laugh.
I eye him, not at all understanding how his brain works. “Why do you do this?”
“What?” he asks, and I’d say he looks honestly confused.
“Pretend you want to be friends, like it’s an option still on the table. Act like you’re giving me a choice when we both know you’ll make me go under some pretense that if I don’t, you’ll pull your extortion cards. You know you plan to make me, so say it upfront. You don’t need to fake nice with me. I’d prefer you be real, even if real you is a privileged asshole.”
His eyes tighten around the edges a moment as he stares at me. “Believe it or not, I’m asking because I’m hoping you’ll agree instead of being forced, as you call it, but while we’re on the subject? I see no ball and chain around your neck, sweetness.”
I push to my feet, staring down at him. “Ball and chain or not, don’t forget I’m here for three other guys, not one of them being you.”
“Yet, you’re sleeping in my house every night anyway, something, dare I say, you should really learn to get used to if we’re talking bigger picture.” He grins and moves to stand beside me. “Not seeing how I’m the loser here. Get in the car, Rae, I’ll even allow you to wear your ratted little hoodie.”
He walks past and like the pathetic bitch I’ve become, I follow.
It only takes fifteen minutes to get to the pizza place, already loaded with sweater vest douchebags and their scarf wearing women.
I choose the booth in the farthest back corner, and after a few minutes of balancing the salt shaker, Collins comes over with the waitress.
When I don’t order, he orders for us and suddenly a pitcher of beer is delivered. For a second, I wonder if he’d slip some Molly in it or not, but when he steps over to one of the dozen metal tubs full of ice and bottle beer, offering one to me, I decide it’s safe and go for the fresh draft instead.
Surprisingly, Collins doesn’t act like a dick to me in front of his buddies, probably because he knows I’d embarrass him should he attempt to. He actually makes an effort to get me to have a good time, offers me to join each new game of darts and makes sure I always have a fresh bottle of beer until I tell him I’m done for the night – I’m not stupid, I�
��d never get drunk and leave myself for him to handle. I thought maybe that was his plan, but he actually snapped at another blond dude when he set a beer on my table and asked the waitress to bring me a water.
I’m not sure what he’s playing at by acting like a decent human, and I don’t care enough to need to know why.
The others here tonight, though, they do.
They watch him discreetly as he returns to me for what must be the seventh or eighth time. I grin at how they’re no longer able to hold in their evil eyes and instead toss them my way.
The queen bee of Graven Prep – who I plucked from the pack within the first few minutes of being here – is equivalent to Chloe from Brayshaw and just as pretty. She’s also just as predictable in her territorial ways.
She glares and slides up next to Collins as if she expects me to give a damn, so I wink back with a grin.
He’s all yours, princess.
As if she can read my patronizing thoughts, she flips me off, scooting even closer, but Collins glances at me and puts distance between them as if I care.
But I have no time to even roll my eyes at him because the girl’s sudden move to the right leaves a gap, allowing me to see straight across the room where I couldn’t see before.
Tucked away in the opposite corner is a familiar blonde with long legs and clothes that don’t quite fit the crowd she’s trying to mold into.
A tautness finds my shoulders as I squint to see better.
The girl shifts in her seat, turning so the guy beside her can stick his tongue farther down her throat, and my teeth clench.
My feet work on their own, leading me straight across the room.
She can’t see me coming, not with her eyes closed the way they are, but everyone else in this place does.
I lift the glass of red wine – at a fucking pizza pub – at her side and pour it over her head.
She gasps, popping to her feet and spinning toward me.
In the same second, I shove her, sending her tumbling back into one of the ice tubs full of bottled beers. I lift my knee, jamming it into her abdomen as hard as I can, punching her clear across the jaw.
She whimpers and tries to shove me off, but when her frantic eyes pop up to meet mine, she freezes.
Yes, bitch. You recognize me.
Trouble at Brayshaw High Page 6
