Break Me (Brayshaw High 5)

Rage, but not the kind I like or am used to.

The kind that pisses me off and makes me want to spin on my fuckin’ bare ass feet—that are somehow now buried beneath the water’s surface when a second ago they were on dry land—and get the fuck out. Get fucked. Lost, preferably in a warm ass cunt, if I’m honest. That usually does the trick, erasing everything around me for a solid hour fifteen.

That’s what sex is, right? Mind control, a thought eraser.

Yeah, I could use that right now.

Jonah steps up behind Brielle, and he’s not a tall fucker, so he doesn’t have to bend far for his lips to meet her ear.

Whatever he says has her laughing and looking over her shoulder.

His hands find her shoulders, latching on, and she fuckin’ lets him.

A shoulder slips in front of mine and I’m knocked slightly, my eyes flying right to find Maddoc.

He wears a blank expression. “Brother. Not here, it’s too dangerous. Water. Cliffs. Can’t happen.”

“You think I care?”

He says nothing ‘cause he knows I don’t.

I open my mouth to speak, but quickly close it.

Laughter, calm and kind, penetrates my ears, stabbing at my eardrums and making me fucking crazy.

It’s hers and it’s getting closer.

Water splashes, voices growing near, and I know she’s on her way back to this side and not alone.

She should be alone.

She’s been alone, my brain screams, but my psyche doesn’t care and wants to keep her that way.

Lonely.

Lost.

Friendless.

A forever open calendar for only me to fill.

There’s a jolt in my chest, a flare of panic.

Fill with what?

Hate?

Ugly?

Darkness?

“Royce.” Worry, alarm, that’s what’s woven in Raven’s tone when she calls my name.

I don’t answer.

My feet carry me backward, and when I reach the top plane of the hill, she does too, Jonah at her side.

Jonah motions toward the large rock, the one I helped her up, held her on, and carried her off of.

My pulse pounds against my temples and only grows wilder, harder when she doesn’t simply nod and stick her hand out for him to lead the way. Jonah walks for the rock, but Brielle, she stops, and looks from it... to me.

She stares, waiting.

And that’s how I leave her.

Her hesitation, it speaks volumes, and my ears are already ringing, I can’t take much more.

Not of this.

Not of her.

Something’s wrong with me, and I need to find out what it is. I need to stop these weird jolts, the unwelcome thoughts, and random aches that keep coming.

Yeah, I need to figure this shit out, and right this fuckin’ instant, ‘cause I can’t take it.

Instead, I find a bottle, and the second the engine’s off and I’m parked in front of my house, I drown in that bitch.Chapter 20RoyceWe gave Enoch long enough to breathe, and from what we could tell, he walked around without a fucking worry. He has no clue we suspect him, which is dumb as shit on his part.

Right this minute, the asshole is at scout’s camp, so we’re about to grab Micah a throwaway ride and have him run him off the road on his way back. When he does, we’ll be there waiting.

Cap takes the driver’s seat, Maddoc forces Raven into the passenger’s, and the rest of us load up in back, waving to Zoey when she and my dad roll out of the driveway ahead of us.

Off we fuckin’ go.

Andre pulls into the dirt parking lot the same time we do, and we all climb out at the same time.

“I can pull the gate back, let you roll in?” he calls over his hood.

“We’re good, my man. Let’s get it open so we can slip through when Micah gets here.”

He nods, and jogs for the gate right as a third set of tires hit the gravel.

Andre looks over and frowns. “Hey, boss.” He looks to me specifically. “Imma need you to tell me who walks through and who doesn’t.”

I glance over my shoulder as Micah parks, my eyes instantly pulled to the passenger seat.

The fuck?

I’m at his door the second his shoe hits the ground, and I shove him back.

His arms fly up, but he waits for me to speak.

“We gonna have a problem, Micah?”

“What? No.” He shakes his head, but quickly realizes what I’m talking about, or more, who. “She just jumped in, man. I told her I had to cancel, and she wouldn’t get out.”

Cancel.

Cancel what?

I pull him in only to slam him back.

“She weighs fifty fuckin’ pounds,” I growl. “If she don’t listen, you lift and throw her ass out.”

Brielle climbs from the car and stomps her way around it.

“To be fair,” he draws out, his eyes flicking from where my family stands watching me. “I was going to... and then I thought better of it.”

My family dares to fucking laugh, but cuts off when I hit them with a glare.