Reign of Brayshaw (Brayshaw High 3)

“You better watch yourself, Graven.”

“Watch myself...” He trails off. “The boy attacked me. Or, he tried, to.” He smirks.

I clench my teeth. “I don’t care if he rams a pipe up your ass. Touch him and I will fuck you over in every way.”

His eyes narrow and he hesitates a minute. “Should I be concerned over your loyalty?”

“You should be concerned if you expected anything different.”

His frown tightens, hardening before me and he nods. “I’ll assume you’re here to gather some things, perhaps what I had prepared for you wasn’t enough. I will note this as your one and only trip home needed.”

My hands ball into fists at my sides, and I stand there, unwavering, until he finally gets in the car. The second his taillights are gone, I spin, rushing for the porch only for Royce to block my way.

“Move.”

His brows crease. “You don’t wanna go in there.”

“I don’t want to kick you in the nuts, either, but I will, Royce. Move.”

He doesn’t, but allows me to push past him, following closely behind.

Captain stands off to the side, his entire fucking face crestfallen, at a damn loss.

Maddoc, drunk and sloppy as hell, bleeding, has Rolland by the throat and shoved against the wall.

Rolland stands still as a statue, allowing it, his expression just as tragic as Cap’s.

Maddoc continues to pull him close, only to slam him back, over and over again.

“Stop,” Royce shouts, hard put as ever.

“You,” Maddoc growls at his dad, ignoring his brother. “This is on you,” he tells him, going in for a headbutt that has me wincing.

Rolland blinks but still, he doesn’t fight his son.

“Does it hurt?” Maddoc screams in his face. “Does it?” He punches his ribs. “Do you even know what hurt feels like? Have you ever cared about a damn thing enough to feel pain from inside your fucking body?” He headbutts him a second time, stumbling a little from his own force. “From under your skin?!” he shouts.

Turmoil blankets Rolland’s face, low groans leaving him, but I have a feeling it has nothing to do with the power of Maddoc’s hits.

“Maddoc, fucking stop, man,” Royce tries again, but he doesn’t.

He lifts his fist, but before he can swing, I take a mini step forward.

“Maddoc,” I call him quietly, and he freezes.

Every muscle in his body locks, his arms slowly falling to his sides as his dad’s body slumps against the wall.

Everyone stays quiet.

Sluggishly, he turns to me and his face falls with his shoulder. Murky green eyes, lost and desperate, give up right before me.

Baby...

He stumbles toward me, so I take a quick step forward, ready to hold any of the weight he needs me to.

The pads of his fingers come up to skim across my cheek and I pull my lips between my teeth, my nostrils flaring.

Slowly, his eyes slide between mine and he nods almost imperceptibly.

He shifts closer. “I tried, baby,” he whispers, and a silent sob shakes my chest. “I tried.”

He jerks away suddenly, rushing down the hall with my heart in his hands, leaving his to bleed out at my feet.

Hopeless, that’s what we are.I’ve been standing on the balcony for hours, looking over what was supposed to be their city, fully and completely in just a few short months when graduation rolls around – the day they were supposed to take unlimited control.

I can’t help but think they’ll look at this place and hate it now. Hate the power hidden in the ground, hate the air that suffocates them, the hands that force them. The rules they lived to enforce and the future they couldn’t wait to start.

Everything changed.

Now Maddoc and Royce will be the second to Captain. Captain who won’t be Brayshaw but Graven.

And then there’s me, the reason for it all.

Cap steps up beside me, folding his hands and looking out just the same.

I take a deep breath. “I never wanted to love or trust anyone. Never.” I frown at the sun. “I knew only bad would come from both those things and I knew it would be at my own hand.” I look to Captain. “I warned him, Cap. I told him it would be me fucking him over later. Why didn’t he listen? Why didn’t he just... leave me alone?”

“It wasn’t an option. He never wanted to love or trust outside us either, Raven. You took that choice from him.”

“And now I’ve taken more. His future, his town, his brother.”

“His heart.”

I swallow. “How do I live with that?”

“You don’t have to.”

A sad laugh leaves me, and I give him a side-eye.

Captain turns serious and shifts his body toward me. “Today was tough, Raven. For all of us, but I need you to know I’m not forcing you into something you don’t want.”

“That is not what this is, Cap.”

He steps toward me, tips my chin up, eyes tight and full of sorrow. “Raven.” His voice is a low whisper as his stare slides between mine, deep creases forming between his brows. “Ask me to take you somewhere, anywhere you want, right now and I will. I won’t question you, I won’t be mad at you. I won’t even tell my brothers where I took you. You can walk away from all of this, we’ll get your money from the bank and you can start over without this weight. They’ll look for you, our family and the Gravens, but I won’t let them find you.” His thumb strokes my chin and my head starts to pound. “Your life, your choice, but I have to ask you to make it right now, before this goes any further.”