Boys of Brayshaw High (Brayshaw High 1)

Confusion has my forehead wrinkling in thought. The sound of the crowd going wild pulls my attention and I glance to the center of the makeshift ring. My guy’s dominating.

“Rae.”

I shake my head and look up at Bass. “A sex tape?”

“Yup.”

“How do you know it’s me?”

“Said it was my new girl, long black hair, fucked shit up out here and disappeared.” He lifts his hands as if to say, ‘who the fuck else what they mean.’

Fuck.

A video of me is coming ... is in almost here and ... coming.

“Okay...” I trail off. “If there was one, why would anyone care to wait to show it off?”

“You’re not the only one in the video. This isn’t some random fucking scene of you handling yourself. I asked if you were with Maddoc. Supposedly, this video tells a different story. It’s you with the Brayshaws, all three of them.”

Fuuuuck.

I bury my face in my hands and Bass lets out a low whistle.

“So it could exist?”

“It’s not what it sounds like ... exactly.” That’s when it hits.

Shit!

I rush down and right when I do the crowd freaks out, my bet’s hand is raised as he’s announced winner.

I turn back to Bishop and hold out my hand.

Concern lines his brows as he slaps a grand in my palm.

“Look,” I start. “If the video’s real, it’s more than what you’re hearing. It can’t be seen.”

“Why not?” He narrows his eyes, way too fucking smart to even consider this is about embarrassment.

“There’s more to it than the obvious.”

Bass doesn’t like that answer, but he knows it’s as good as he’ll get.

“I gotta get people paid, but I’ll talk to my boy some more tonight, find out what all he knows. You gonna tell them?”

“Tell them what, Bass?” I pocket my money. “That I heard a rumor?”

“They don’t need your protection, Rae.” He eyes me a minute, and I’m surprised he’s in favor of me telling them. “If anything, maybe you need theirs.”

I brush his words off. “Thanks for telling me about this. Talk to you at school.”

He nods and walks off while I go back the way I came, stressing out on what to do.

So there’s a video of me and the guys that night at the cabins. Which means we were caught on tape breaking and entering into the fucking Graven cabin. If this gets out, it’ll cause major problems for the boys. This could ruin everything.

They’d get arrested and their dad would flip his shit. The Graven cop could maybe fuck with them in there. Captain’s visitation with Zoey will be taken away and they’ll lose their fucking season, Maddoc won’t be picked up to play in college like I have a feeling he wants to.

“Raven Carver.”

I jolt at the call of my name, spinning around to find a fist already flying.

My face hits the dirt in the next second, then a boot connects with my ribs, but it’s the blow to my head that has my eyes rolling back and darkness taking over.

There’s shouting coming from somewhere, but I can’t focus, my head’s fucking spinning.

Footsteps hit the ground in the distance, growing closer and closer as the screaming gets louder, but before they reach me, a rushed hiss hits my ear, “You don’t belong with them.”

And then they’re gone.

I’m lifted into someone’s arms in the next second.

“Shit, do we take her to the hospital?” a male asks.

“No! She’s in the system, we have to keep her off the books.” I recognize the female voice.

“Well, what do we do with her?” the guy asks, and my eyes fight to open as I’m lowered onto the seat of a car.

“I know where to take her. Just ... drive before those dudes come back.”

I squeeze my eyes closed a few times, and finally, they open a bit, but everything is a little blurry.

“Stop trying to open your eyes, Raven. You probably have a concussion.”

My forehead wrinkles. “Victoria?” I rasp and she scoffs.

“Yeah. I know, not sure why I’m helping you either.”

A laugh fights its way out, but I hiss from the pain, my head or ribs, not sure what’s worse. “Where we going?”

“You know.”

I start shaking my head, but her hands grab the sides of my face to hold me still.

“Stop fucking moving. And as if I would take you anywhere else and deal with the aftermath of that. No thanks.”

“Fuck,” I groan and it has nothing to do with the pain of my body.

A few minutes pass, and I’m jolted when the car is thrown into park.

“We’re here—” She starts but cuts herself off and yells, “Shit, they’re running!”

I blink several times to see all three guys flying down the porch, each going to a different door. Mine’s thrown open, while the others are yanked out of the car.

“What the fuck!” Maddoc growls loudly, his eyes horrified as they travel over my face. He goes to grab the hem of my shirt, where a huge muddy shoe mark sits, but I smack his hand away and he starts shaking in rage. His nostrils flare and he reaches for me, but I force myself to sit and push against his chest so I can slowly stand from the car. I use the door as support to steady myself when everything blurs. That earns me another glare from Maddoc.