I can’t hide it, my eyes widen. Her best friend? “You’re from here.”
She scoffs. “You’d never know it. My existence was erased a long time ago.” Her eyes move to mine. “I was never strong enough for this world. I wasn’t like you. I was too weak, emotionally and physically. Too naïve. I didn’t see the knife, only felt it in my back.”
I eye her, finding no reason for her to talk out her ass.
She gives a small smile. “I knew you didn’t know yet.”
I glare.
“There is no way you’d be sitting here if you had.” She looks to the four Brayshaws, so I finally give in and do the same. “I may not know you well, but there is a freedom that surrounds you that the people here aren’t used to. You can’t be controlled, you rebel, you push, you question. Your mind works a little different than those we know. I think it’s why Rolland fears your influence.”
“Rolland has bigger issues than me.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure,” she breathes.
The boys pretend to guard Zoey and she widens her little legs, lifting one and then the next as she leans from side to side, an adorable effort at juking before running completely around Royce, tossing it into the little hoop that is just slightly taller than her reach. She gets so excited when she makes it and almost falls over, but Maddoc is right there to catch her before she can.
“She’ll never have a scraped knee again if those three have anything to say about it...” Her voice trails off and I look to her.
She stares at Maddoc and Zoey, and her lips smash together, a deep crease forming on her forehead.
Wait.
She knows I’m watching, and slowly her eyes come back to mine. She holds back nothing, showing her pain and loss and... longing.
Something hits my foot and my eyes snap down to find the little basketball at my feet.
Steps echo across the cement and I freeze, unable to look up for some reason, but then tattooed knuckles come down on the ball and my eyes lift.
Cap reaches up, touching my cheek, his blue-green eyes on me. “Stop,” he whispers, then moves his mouth to my ear so Maria can’t hear. “It’s okay. I was scared at first, too. There will be a next time, Raven.”
I squeeze his wrist only letting go when I have to, and he walks back to his family.
My eyes slide right, and I spot Zoey, her big eyes are locked on me. She pushes her blonde hair from her face as she stares at me. Her little hand lifts, and she almost looks shy as she waves her tiny fingers at me.
My stomach muscles tighten and my teeth clench as pressure begins to knock behind my eyes. Somehow through that, I manage to raise my hand and wave back.
Her smile is instant and huge and I bite my tongue.
She spins around and throws herself in Royce’s arms.
“That way!” She points down the back of the house, where I can’t see, and they disappear.
“She has a little train back there, it’s tiny, goes in a circle around a tree, but she loves it.”
Me too, kid.
I push to my feet and head back for the truck.
“Raven,” Maria calls.
I don’t turn back but stop walking.
“Just because you didn’t know love as a child doesn’t mean you won’t know how to love one.”
Doesn’t it?It’s not until the sun has started to go down that footsteps float through the cracked window. I sit up to find Maria has made her way back to the front door, and it’s only Captain who walks Zoey up.
She hesitates a moment but then offers him inside.
The three disappear, closing the door behind them.
Maddoc and Royce move over to the security guards, likely grilling them on processes.
I look from them to the house, to the basketball court and anger fills my veins.
Maria’s words were clear, the boys hint without hinting about protecting Zoey at all cost was crystal.
Me or Zoey.
I pull my knife from my waistband, glaring at the inscription.
Family runs deeper than blood, but Zoey is their blood. They love her with all they have. I’m the outsider. How dare they leave me in this position.
How dare they let their feelings for me cloud their judgment.
There is no risk, no fucking sacrifice too big in this instance.
They’re delaying the inevitable.
It’s become clear, this place is bigger than a power ran high school and its rival, though that’s been their world the last four years. This is bigger than the team they built there, and the plans they have for once they graduate.
This town and its secrets had the power to make a man of power, Rolland Brayshaw, choose to stay in prison instead of running free. It kept a money-hungry whore away, living in a rundown trailer with the kid she didn’t want instead of living lavishly in a mansion. It kept me hidden, kept Zoey hidden, ran Maria away. The reasoning may be unclear, but the result the same. If this place can do all those things, taking me is kid’s work.