Be My Brayshaw (Brayshaw High 4)

If he expected me to respond, he’d have asked it as a question.

He knows what I know, how powerful people find pleasure in taking what you cherish. To give a piece of you is to place a shock collar around your own neck and give the controls to another.

Maddoc comes to stand directly beside me, his eyes trailing the direction I know the others are but can’t bring myself to look.

“This game on Saturday,” he eases. “It’s the wrong fuckin’ place for her, yeah, but more than that, it’d mean revealing her to the town when he’s not ready to share her yet.” Maddoc’s head snaps my way, his frown meeting mine. “You should have realized that on your own.”

“I only meant she’d love to watch him play—”

“Changes nothin’.” He shifts his body to face mine. “Don’t talk without thinking, don’t move without understanding. You should know this shit already. Don’t make us ruin you.”

“Is that not what you want?”

“Here you go again, playin’ dumb.” He gets in my face, an angry irritation written across his. “You think it didn’t tear at his insides to walk away from you today, knowing you were out there alone after the shit that went down? No protection, no one to have your back?” He shakes his head. “You know we’re stubborn, hardheaded and untrusting. Shit don’t come easy for us, and it might not be fair, but that means the females in our lives have to work twice as hard to break through, be twice as fuckin’ strong. There is no other way.”

“I’m not looking for a pass.”

“Then sink your claws in deeper,” he growls. “And don’t flinch when the blood pours out.”

Fight harder.

That’s what he’s saying.

That’s what he wants from me.

His eyes narrow, and he pauses a moment before speaking again. “I can be everything Raven needs, give her anything and every-fucking-thing she’d ever want, but that’s not good enough. I want her to have more. She decided a long time ago, before she knew you shared her blood, before she knew you hid things from us, that it was you. She’s never had a friend. We were her first. Be her next, be what my brother needs and wants, be here for my family in full, or get. The fuck. Out.”

Maddoc takes several steps backward, and my eyes slide over his shoulder, landing on the others who play around in the cool night air. Tension hardens his jaw as he looks to me. “He has to see what you mean to her... we all do.”

My brows pull in in question as he shifts in my line of sight once more, before quickly turning around. He shouts across the long driveway, gaining the attention of every single one of them.

Three smiles fall in an instant, but the fourth… it spread wider and wider with each passing second, and my heart sighs.

Hi baby girl.

Maddoc covers his mouth, giving a hushed, “I didn’t do this for you, and I won’t do it again.”

He walks toward the rest of his family, each standing frozen and wide-eyed, but the shock quickly morphs into rage when Zoey drops the ball they’d been playing with, her feet carrying her right for me.

She breaks into a run, a blinding smile on her pretty little face, blonde curls bounce all around, and she doesn’t slow her pace.

Captain demanded I deny her, but I don’t, can’t.

I quickly step from the shadows and onto the grass, holding my arms out so she can jump right into them.

“Rora! Rora! Rora!” She laughs, rubbing her nose against mine excitedly. “You see me? I did it!”

Tears threaten to fill my eyes, so I nod, pressing my tongue hard against the backs of my teeth to try and hold everything in. “I didn’t, ZoZo, but good job,” I whisper.

“Daddy said ‘way to go, Zoey!’” she says, a beautiful shine in her voice.

I laugh lightly, she still can’t say her name quite right.

“I bet he was so happy,” I manage to croak.

“Uh-huh!” She smiles, kicking to be let down.

The second her feet hit the grass, she grips my finger, and I try not to tense.

“Hu-mon, Rora!” She attempts to drag me along.

Having no choice, I force my eyes to Captain’s.

If it were humanly possible, steam would be rolling off of him—he’s fuming.

It takes everything in me to grab a hold of her little hand and steady her.

She looks up, confusion swimming in her blue-green eyes.

I swallow, lowering to my knees in front of her, breathing through the ache in my ribs.

“I don’t feel so good, ZoZo.” Lie, lie, lie to the one person I was always able to be honest with. “I have to go so I can feel better.”

“Oh no.” Zoey tugs her hands free, placing her palms on my cheeks. “You got owies?”

“Yeah,” I admit, quietly, my hands coming up to cover hers. “I do.”