Reign of Brayshaw (Brayshaw High 3)

I grind my teeth together, shaking my head. “What about Zoey, your visits?”

He swallows with a nod. “I can ask Maria to distract her, take her to Disneyland. We can FaceTime.”

“Miss her first Disney trip, Cap?” I drop my shoulders. “Come on now.”

His eyes hit mine, and the self-prejudiced flaring about knocks me on my ass. “I’m serious. And it’s okay, I can take her again. She’ll have way more fun with me anyway.”

“Where would we even go?” I ask.

He shrugs. “Mountains, city. Anywhere. We can pay someone to do our work from school, not lose credits. Please just... please.”

It’s been almost six weeks since we got married in secret.

Six weeks of lying to everyone around us, by omission, but still. One plus one is still two. And one secret from two Brayshaws is three lies told.

I look around this stupid fucking hotel room, our little jail cell, and then move onto the balcony.

I grip the edges, looking out.

Graven orchestrated everything so far. We deserve a say in some things.

I look over my shoulder at Cap who now stands off to the side behind me. “A honeymoon of our choice?”

It’s an awful joke, but a scoffed laugh leaves him and he nods.

I shift, leaning against the railing and reach for his hand, pulling him closer.

He wraps his arm around me, breathing into my hair.

We both know how much we hurt the boys today, and it’s a bitter bitch to swallow.

“I’ll never forget the look on his face today,” I whisper.

“I’m sorry, Raven. So fucking sor—”

A loud boom vibrates in my ears, causing me to tense as Captain’s body clenches around me, his arms tightening before slowly losing their grip.

I pull back slightly, looking up at him, and his eyes fill with water, his lips parting some. “Captain.”

He stumbles back, hits the patio table and falls to the ground.

I gasp, my eyes darting to the movement inside the room only to fly back to Captain and the blood spilling from his side.

“Holy shit!” I drop to my knees, touching his face, his side, his arms. Tears spill down my cheeks, clouding my vision and my eyes move back to the gun hanging at her side.

What the hell?!“What the fuck did you do?!” I scream, pushing to my feet and running for the hotel phone. “Why are you here?!” I cry. “What did you do?!”

She rips the phone from my grasp, yanking it from the wall. In the same second, I snatch the base from the stand, whip around and hit her over the head with it.

I grip her by the throat and rush her backward until she hits the wall.

“What the fuck are you doing?!” I scream, slamming her against the frame. It shatters behind her, crashing at our feet. I slam her again, but this time she pulls the gun up and hits me over the head with it, but only with enough force to push me back a few steps.

She rushes forward, gripping me by the neck, so I move my foot behind her, and shove, both of us falling to the floor.

“Stop!” I yell, elbowing her while trying to push her hands down, but she’s strong.

Her knee comes up and she kicks me between the legs, making me fall forward. She uses that to wrap her arms around me and rams the gun into my kidneys.

I groan, rolling off her and she climbs on top.

She hits me across the face with the butt of the pistol and my vision goes black a minute.

“I’m helping you, you ungrateful bitch!” she screams at me.

Her body is trembling against mine.

I blink several times and move my eyes back to her.

Now that I can get a good look, it’s clear she’s wrung the fuck out. Dark circles, streaked makeup, overgrown roots, and bruising across her cheeks and arms.

“I need to call for help.” I shift beneath her and she pushes the barrel of the gun into my sternum.

She opens her mouth to speak but suddenly is shoved off.

My eyes dart to the side, and I take Cap’s extended hand but don’t allow him to pull my weight.

He drops against the mattress, slipping and falling to his ass with a groan. He’s pale, blood covers his side and pours out more by the second. He holds a hand against himself but it’s fruitless.

“Captain,” I shriek when his eyes start to close.

His head bobs as he tries to focus on me.

“Your phone! Where is it?!”

He hits his pocket, so I try to fish it out, but he suddenly shoves me away not a second before a lamp comes around and slams against him.

It doesn’t shatter, but he’s already weak, so it causes him to slouch over even more.

I crawl across the floor, scrambling for the gun, but she spins, catching me off guard and kicks me in the head. I fall back, allowing her to grab it once again.