Boys of Brayshaw High

by Meagan Brandy

  “It’s true, RaeRae. It’s all about you.” Royce steals my water, downing it in seconds, so I move to grab another. “You’re new, sure, but you’re feisty and free-spirited, fine as fuck with this sexy ass edge to you.”

  I scoff. “Okay.”

  “For real, you’re like a biker princess or rock goddess, wrapped in a fat ass, shiny Do Not Touch tape that only makes everyone wanna touch it more. You’re a little hood but still a Cali girl. They want to be you, imitate you, but they don’t know how. They have fancy clothes and cars and Daddy’s plastic, but no matter what they do or buy or who they pay, they can’t reach your level, and they know it. You’re this lethal ass combination of girl they never knew they wanted to be until now but couldn’t match if they tried.”

  “Okay, no more.” I pull my sleeves over my hands, and look over the boys, finding goofy little boy grins on each of their faces. Even Maddoc’s.

  It looks good on him. Little foreign but ... good.

  “Holy shit, she gets embarrassed!” Royce hops to his feet, looking like he’s seriously surprised.

  “Dude. You’re over here saying all this ... jazz while you three flawless fuckheads stare at me. Stop it.”

  They laugh lightly.

  “For real, though.” Captain tips his chin. “Want us to make her leave?”

  “Nah.” I shrug. “She’s harmless. Your people just need to stop thinking they can control what I do by talking shit.”

  “They’re not our people,” Maddoc snaps and I roll my eyes.

  “You know what I mean. They expect me to back off or keep quiet simply because they come from money or titles and I don’t, but that’s not the way I work.”

  “People act like that to you at your old schools, too?” Royce asks, bouncing his shoulder into mine.

  “All the time. Eventually I started acting in spite, doing the opposite, or least expected, even if what someone assumed was right. I like to make sure they don’t know it.”

  “Why?” Captain asks.

  “If they don’t know how to read me, they stay away. People don’t like what they don’t get, and if they don’t get you they can’t get to you.”

  “That’s ... kind of fucked up,” Royce says, a little too gently for my liking.

  I stand, not wanting to talk about me anymore. “Anyway, Cap. You’re free to make your move on the brunette. I think this lovely ten minutes was enough for them all to think ... who the hell knows what they think now that you all came in.”

  “Aye,” Royce teases, doing a little dance from his sitting position and I roll my eyes.

  “Walked in,” I laugh and Royce smiles.

  “You really going to bed?” Maddoc’s question comes out a little hoarse.

  I don’t look his way, I have a feeling his eyes hold a little more than I want to see after I ran my mouth just now. “I am.”

  “Look, RaeRae, lock your door. When the crowd dies down, some of the party will move up here. They’ll have to come up the back, but still,” Royce tells me.

  “Sounds good.”

  I head down the stairs, but before I can shut myself inside, a foot is shoved between the door and the jamb.

  Maddoc licks his lips and stands there quietly a moment.

  “Big man...” I prompt with a grin.

  “Check under the bed and in the bathroom before you lock yourself in here.”

  When I don’t move, his gaze narrows.

  “Do it, Raven.”

  I do as he says and then turn to him. “All clear.”

  He nods and turns to walk away.

  “Wait, really?” I question. “That was what you wanted?”

  “What else would I want?”

  “I don’t know, in?”

  “In what?” His brow lifts and I tilt my head, narrowing my eyes.

  “You wanna come in my room and chill with me, big man?”

  “You asking me because you think that’s what I was trying to do ... or because you want me to?”

  “I wouldn’t mind if you did.”

  “Not good enough.” He shakes his head and walks a few feet back, so I pop a shoulder and shut the door.

  When I start changing, I hear his room door open and then close and I smirk to myself.

  I knew he didn’t want to go back to the party.

  My legs keep bouncing and I start drumming my fingers across my thighs. I close my eyes and lightly bob around to the music that flows from upstairs, but after a good four hours, it’s no use.

  I can’t do it, especially not here with all these people around.

  It’s as quiet as it’s been all night and the music as dropped to a lower level, slower more ‘I’m fucked up and swaying” music comes on versus the “let’s get wasted” party shit from before, so I stand up, pull my hoodie over my head and open my door.

  I get a foot past the threshold, when Maddoc’s door is yanked open.

  I jump, my hand flying to my chest. “Shit, don’t do that.”

  “Where you going?” His tone is accusatory.

  “Upstairs.”

  “Why?”

  Shit. Uh... “Water?”

  “That a question?”

  “No.” I cross my arms. “I’m going to get water.”

  “I filled your mini fridge with sodas and waters.” He crosses his arms now.

  He did?

  “Well ... I want a snack.”

  “There’s a bag of snacks on your dresser.”

  “Really?” comes out before I can stop it and he grows suspicious.

  Oh, fuck this.

  I shake my head, standing tall. “How about because I want to?”

  I go to walk away, but he grabs my elbow pulling me back.

  “Do you hear that?” he growls.

  “What, the music?”

  “Yeah, the music and zero talking.”

  “I don’t care, I’ll be quick.”

  “You are not going up there.”

  “I have to!”

  “No, you don’t.”

  “Why do you care?!”

  “It’s an orgy up there. Literally.” His jaw clenches. “Every motherfucker up there is fucking with the person next to them, to the right, to the left, guy, girl, don’t matter. It’s a free for all, any and every person that’s near.” His brows jump mockingly. “You want in on that?”

  “I ... fuck.” My lips squeeze sideways.

  “What?”

  When I start pacing while biting on my fingernail, he sighs.

  “What, Raven?”

  Fuck it.

  I turn to him. “I forgot my knife.”

  “Your knife.” His eyes narrow as he searches my face. “The one you cut me with?”

  “Oh, please.” My foot bounce against the carpet. “I barely grazed you.”

  “You forgot your knife. So, what.”

  I groan internally. “I need one. I ... can’t sleep without it.”

  He freezes a second before gripping my wrist and pulling me into his room. He quickly shuts the door.

  “What—”

  “You’re not going up there. You’ll sleep in here.”

  “Oh, hell no!”

  He crowds my space, his chest heaving against mine. “You will sleep in here with me, or in your room alone, with no knife.”

  “Fuck, okay. Fine.”

  I drop onto the bed and he moves to turn off the light, but when my features tighten he pauses.

  He doesn’t say anything or ask questions, but he pulls out his cell phone and lights up the screen, setting it on the dresser before turning off the light.

  The phone acts as a nightlight.

  Maddoc climbs in the bed beside me but stays on his side.

  After a few minutes, I flip over to face him, finding his eyes open and on me.

  “Why didn’t you go back to the party?”

  “I thought you were tired?” he complains.

  “I don’t sleep without my knife.”

  “And the music and fl
ashlight.”

  I shrug against the pillow, not acknowledging he remembered those little details from when he snuck in my room.

  “If Maybell finds the knife, she’ll take it.”

  “And if she takes it, I’ll find it, take it back and leave.”

  His eyes shift between mine. “Just like that, huh?”

  “Just like that. I’m already somewhere I didn’t choose to be. If I feel like my ability to protect myself is gone, I will be too.”

  “You act like where you come from is better.”

  “You act like you know what my life was like when you have no clue. You may have read my files, big man, but those are the words of others put together by an educated man in the fanciest way possible to make it look like someone somewhere was doing their job. Reality can’t be typed on a letterhead and sealed with a stamp.”

  “So it was worse than—”

  “Dirty trailer with an even dirtier mother, filthy men and fighting so I could eat or blow off steam when needed. Sleeping on the bleachers so I didn’t have to listen to grown men accidentally moan my name instead of my mother’s, then get my ass kicked because, you know, I shouldn’t be so appealing.”

  Maddoc jerks to a sitting position, so I push up onto my elbow to mirror him. “Keep going.”

  “Waking up to men hovering over me, their hands in their pants as my mother made them coffee with yesterday’s grinds.”

  “Your knife.”

  “That’s a story for another day, big man.”

  “Tell me now,” he demands.

  “Nah.” I lay back down, and he glares. “It’s your turn to share, but something tells me you’re not the sharing type, so let’s end this little therapy session.”

  He runs his hands through his hair and drops back on the pillow, staring up at the ceiling.

  Not sure how much time passes, and I assume he fell asleep but then he talks.

  “All that and you’d still go back.”

  “I don’t have other options like you, so yeah. For now. Until I don’t have to.”

  “You don’t have to.”

  “I’m seventeen. I’m not gonna turn tricks to live and I don’t have an ID to get a real job. I’ll wait until I can hit the DMV on my own, and then I’ll leave everything behind and start over. On my own. And I’ll do it with nobody else’s influence or help or opinion.”

  “So, that’s your plan. Float until you can run.”

  “It’s not running.” My voice lowers to a whisper on its own accord. “It’s survival.”

  “It’s stupid.”

  “Maybe.” I yawn. “But it’s the best option I have.”

  He licks his lips. “Go to sleep, Raven. You’re safe in here.”

  A tired chuckle escapes me. “No such thing, big man.”

  His green eyes bounce between mine, and a flicker of something I can’t name passes quickly before it’s gone. “Close your eyes.”

  I do as he says, not necessarily believing him, but I’m already in here now so fuck it. I’ve made stupider decisions than lying in bed with a half-stranger.

  A warm palm running up my thigh has my eyes popping open and my muscles lock, but only for a second before I realize I’m in Maddoc’s bed – not a dirty couch in a trailer park.

  His hand stops at the apex of my thigh, his fingers pressing into my skin firmly, and then he sighs. Heat spreads through my abdomen as his warm breath fans across my cheek and throat.

  Without so much as moving a muscle, I peek up at him.

  He’s fucking sleeping. Shit.

  I squeeze my eyes closed as I try to work out the right move.

  Everything I know tells me to run, that a man is touching me without permission, but my heart rate is stable and my breathing calm. I don’t have that inner inkling telling me to get the hell out of dodge.

  Which is the exact reason I decide it’s necessary – no need in it getting comfortable, that’s when the wool falls over your eyes.

  I shift on the mattress, attempting to crawl from the bed and back to my own but his eyes pop open and find mine.

  “What are you doing?”

  “What are you doing?” I widen my eyes and his tighten in confusion.

  I squeeze my thigh muscle and he drop his gaze to the contact.

  But he doesn’t move his hand.

  He closes his damn eyes and tells me, “Go back to sleep.”

  “I wasn’t sleeping,” I lie.

  “Yeah, Raven, you were.”

  Without moving the hand on my thigh, he uses his other to help flip me over, so my back is to him and he scoots forward. He’s not against me but makes sure his large presence is felt.

  It’s felt all right.

  But—

  “Sleep, Raven.”

  My eyes pop open the second the bed shifts and I jolt upward.

  Maddoc glances back at me with a frown, running a hand through his dark hair as he yawns. “I gotta take a piss, be right back.”

  I don’t say anything, but I sure as hell watch the way his back muscles shift as he walks away. At first glance, I’d call it a cocky, intentional gait, but I’m learning that’s not the case. He simply can’t help himself, it’s a natural swagger he couldn’t dim down if he tried – not that he’d try. He likes it.

  And it suits him.

  With a groan, I glance around. I can’t believe I slept in bed with Maddoc. And I mean I actually slept in his bed, as in without my knife, completely comfortable.

  I groan.

  So not good.

  When the sound of a toilet flushing is heard down the hall, I jump up and hustle for my designated room.

  I go to shut the door, but before I can, Royce pushes it open, effectively throwing himself in the center of the mattress.

  “’Sup, RaeRae.” He tucks his hands behind his head, and I move to drop beside him.

  I pull the covers over my exposed legs, folding my hands under my pillow.

  “Nothing—”

  “Yo,” Captain shuffles in wearing sweatpants and a T-shirt, rubbing at his eyes.

  He drops on the foot of the bed, laying his head across my feet, his legs hanging halfway off the other side.

  I look out the doorway when Maddoc’s footsteps draw him closer.

  When he glances inside he pauses, glowering at me. He looks away a moment before he too walks in.

  “We going for breakfast?”

  “I’m too hungover for those twisty ass roads.” Royce slides down the pillows and tucks himself beneath my blankets.

  For some stupid reason, my eyes slice to Maddoc.

  He stares but still gives expressive reaction.

  “Well, I’m starving,” Captain whines.

  “I could always eat,” Royce adds and they both look to Maddoc.

  He scoffs. “Fine. I’ll fucking cook, but if there’s still people upstairs, I’m kicking them all out.”

  “Please do. That Bride of Chuckie, as RaeRae called her, is trying to stick around. Probably waiting to see Cap.”

  “Wait.” I push to a sitting position and Royce reaches out with a grin, pretending to smooth my rat’s nest from my face. I smack his hand away, leaving my crazy hair crazy. “You and that chick?”

  “She was pissed off. Makes for some good hard head.”

  “She’s still up there?” I grin and Royce laughs, looking to Captain.

  Captain raises a brow and I smile.

  With a laugh, he pushes to his feet and squeezes past Maddoc to get to me. He holds his hands out.

  “Let’s finish this, girl.”

  He spins around, so I latch on.

  When his hands wrap my thighs to help hold me up, Maddoc storms out.

  Captain and Royce both chuckle but nobody says a thing.

  The second Maddoc’s feet hit the top floor, he barks, “Get out.”

  And the handful of people scramble for their shit and go.

  Of course, the chick takes her time slipping on her shoes.

  Her
eyes hit mine first, then move to Captain, who doesn’t even acknowledge her but continues for the kitchen, where he bends until my ass hits the table and I let go.

  He spins around, gripping my chin in his fingers and I stare, waiting for his next move, laughing on the inside at the anger flying my way from the girl.

  Captain leans forward, asking with his stare if he can go for it, but before I can give him a sign, Maddoc grips his shoulder and Cap pauses.

  He chuckles and steps back.

  I glance over my shoulder right as she stomps out the door, and Royce is quick to lock it behind her.

  He pulls the sheets from the futons and rolls them up, tossing them in the garbage by the door. “Good as new, RaeRae, come sit with me.” He plops his ass down.

  I hop off the table, run down the stairs to grab the blanket off the bed and then back up. I drop beside Royce, tucking the blanket around me.

  Royce flips through the channels, deciding on Red Riding Hood.

  A few minutes pass and then Maddoc is standing in front of me, a hot cup of coffee in his hands.

  I eye him as I slowly reach for it. “Thanks, big man.”

  He doesn't say a word, turning around to head back for the kitchen.

  “Yo, where’s my hot chocolate?!” Royce teases, jabbing me with his elbow.

  Maddoc simply flips him off as he heads back into the kitchen, and not fifteen minutes later he’s announcing breakfast is ready.

  Royce doesn’t hesitate to pop up and drags me with him. I move to sit at the cheap wooden table now topped with the fixings for chorizo and egg burritos as he joins them in the tiny kitchen.

  I can’t help but track their movements.

  One gets the condiments, a different for each, one the drinks, again, different for each and the last has the plates and silverware. It’s like they’ve done this a thousand times over.

  So routine. Normal.

  It makes me wonder if it’s always been like this, just the three of them looking out for each other. Victoria said they’ve been together since babies but observing the three function as one is more than I expected. They come across as punks on a power high, but they’re more than that.

  I need to give them the journal I took from Maybell. It shouldn't be hidden in a house it doesn’t belong in.

  “You don’t like it?”