Cap shoves Bass inside and slams the door before he has time to move and Bishop’s head smacks against the window.
Royce grins and sits back, eyeing him. “‘Sup, bitch.”
He gives us a careless look. “What do you need?”
“I need you to sit there, say not a fucking word and watch your mistake unfold,” I start, shifting to look back at him. “You can beg to keep the life we’ve given you after.”
“The fuck you talkin’ about?” he draws out.
“He said sit, Bishop. Not speak. You’re the dog, we’re the masters,” Royce adds with a malicious smirk.
I get us back on the road.
“If we’re leaving, I need to let—”
I cut him off. “Already let everyone know you won’t be back tonight.”
Bass moves his glare out the window.
We called our PI the minute we woke up sober enough to reprocess and regroup after last night’s shit.
He had what we needed in an hour, but Cap had a date with Zoey today, so we waited. It was the better choice anyway. This way we catch them good and fucked up, right before the end of the night when bravery and the sense of invincibility has come and gone.
“You didn’t wanna look like the rat, yet you went to Raven for a reason. Loyalty. That’s what we asked from you when we hired you. You fell short, Bishop.” I meet his eyes in the mirror. “We take a hit, you take a hit. That’s how this works.”
I pull over up the street to let Captain and Royce out and they slide into Captain’s SUV – always better to have a second escape if needed – and head for the edge of town.
He doesn’t say anything but his jaw clenches, a deep crease taking over his forehead.
Like Raven, he comes from nothing and holds only self-pride.
He keeps to himself, stays out of drama, can read people the best we’ve seen – it’s why we let him run our cash flow.
He gets respect because he handles business the way it should be handled, quick and quiet. Clean when he can, merciless when the situation calls for it.
Bishop’s no bitch. He’s a smart and solid motherfucker, we wouldn’t have him on our team if he wasn’t, but he sure as fuck is acting like one where Raven is concerned.
Thing is, the way this world is run, you keep your people tight and your lips tighter.
Your word and anonymity is everything. People won’t follow you if they think you’ll throw them under the bus when the heat’s on your neck.
He should have thought about that before he decided to hold back on us.
He’s hiding something, and that’s cool. At this point, we don’t need his ass to figure out what it is, but better believe he’ll be seen – the rat that led the way.
He can work himself out of that on his own.
We pull up behind a row of parked broken-down Hondas.
I spin in my seat to face him again. “You know who lives here, Bishop?”
“Nope,” he bites out.
I smirk. “Good. Now get the fuck out.”
The three of us step from our vehicles and rush for the door, an alert Bishop a few steps behind us.
We bust through the door and several around the room jump from their seats with slurred shouts.
Me and Cap pause in the center of the room while Royce moves for the sound system, yanking the cords from the wall and slamming it into the TV.
Captain tosses his bat in the air, catching it at the end and pointing it out at the few who attempt to step closer.
They pause once they realize who we are, then Bass steps through the door and his eyes widen as his gaze travels the room, spotting people who run in the outside circle.
“Fuck,” leaves him on a quiet note.
Yeah...fuck me, I fuck you, bitch.
“Benny Rodgers.” I lift my arms out, spinning slowly. “Where the fuck is he?”
When nobody speaks, Royce grabs the closest guy to him, forcing him to his feet.
He jerks the drunk’s head down as he lifts his knee, slamming him in the nose and watching him crash against the floor.
The girls scream, and a few more guys stand.
I look around the room again. “Who is going to tell me where Benny Rodgers is?”
“Upstairs, second door on the right,” a scrawny, younger guy mumbles under his breath.
I step in front of him and he looks up. “Show me.”
The guy swallows but does as I ask, and I follow him up the stairs.
I kick in the door he points to and charge right in.
The girl riding on the dick that must belong to Benny hops off with a yelp, but she doesn’t bother to cover herself.
“Get out!” she shouts.
“What the fuck?” He sits up quickly, reaching for something at his bedside.
I dart forward, grip his ankle and yank him off the bed, letting his head bang against the edge.
I drag his ass down the stairs.
He fights me every step of the way, but I quicken my pace until I’m tossing his naked body onto the lawn of what we’re told is his own damn house.
His partygoers rush out behind us, the girl he was fucking cussing up a storm and still buck ass naked.
“Get your ass in there and put something on!” Royce shouts at her.
But she ignores him, reaching into a pot by the door. She picks up a rock and chucks it at me.
I duck and it hits the car in the driveway.
Royce sighs and grabs her by the arms.
Benny stirs by my feet but freezes when I look to him.
The chick instantly goes off the fucking wall and starts screaming, so Cap rushes to the SUV, pulls out some duct tape, and tosses it to Royce.
He goes to rip off a piece, but she throws her hand up, clamping her mouth shut.
Cap points to some girl. “Go get her something to cover up with.”
The girl nods, running back inside the house and out just as fast with a blanket from the back of the couch.
Royce wraps it around her, and I look back to Benny.
“Benny Rogers, nomad in town who is supposed to lay fucking low or get the fuck out of our town, right? That was the deal you made when you moved here?”
“I do lay low!” he shouts, his embarrassment making him brave.
I laugh lightly, swiftly moving to push my shoe against his Adam’s apple.
He squirms under me, his eyes wide.
“I asked you a question,” I growl.
“He can’t answer you! He can’t even breathe!” the girl shouts, fighting against Royce.
“Quiet,” he shouts, and she clamps her mouth shut.
One of Benny’s buddies attempts a step forward, but Captain lifts his brass knuckle covered fist, spinning the bat in his other hand and the guy freezes.
I let up a little and he gasps for air. “I’m gonna ask you again, are you Benny Rogers?”
“Yes.”
“The same Benny who called Bass Bishop, the motherfucker standing in the background right now, about my girl?”
His brows snap together, and he opens his mouth to argue, but his eyes shoot wide in realization. Beads of sweat instantly form on his forehead and he frantically shakes his head. “I didn’t know, I thought it ... oh shit.”
“Yeah, Benny boy. Oh shit.” I bend down. “Tell me exactly what you told Bishop and I’ll leave your balls intact. Lie or hesitate, even for a second, and my brother is ready to smash your nuts with a Louisville Slugger.”
“Maddoc—” Bishop starts but cuts off.
I can only imagine Captain leveled him with a look that said not a fucking seed planting word.
“I didn’t know it was about her.” Tears fill the bastard’s eyes and he swallows. “I only told him I heard a video was being shopped around for those interested in a blackmail piece.”
“What fucking video?”
“Maddoc—”
Bishop tries again, but a slam is heard next. “You had your chance to speak. Open your mouth again and I’ll fill it with b
rass.”
I quirk a brow at Benny.
“You really want me to say it out loud?” He looks from me to the bat in Cap’s hands frantically.
I stand up and nod to Royce.
He shoves the girl in the house, ripping the blanket from her as he shuts the door.
He tosses it in the grass, and I nod my head toward it.
Benny quickly grabs it and covers himself, cutting a glance at the people around us.
“Leave,” Captain tells them, and they scatter in seconds.
Royce hops off the porch and the three of us crouch in front of Benny.
“Talk.”
“I called Bishop.” He sits up, glancing at the fool himself before looking back to us. “I told him I heard about a video being shopped around of his new girl.” When I growl, he throws his hands up. “I didn’t know she was your girl, man! I only knew she was one of his newest fighters.”
“Just keep talking,” Captain snaps, throwing a frown at me.
“I told him there was a video of the girl who had been fighting out there, and you three ... fucking. All I knew was it was being pushed as Brayshaw blackmail material, but it didn’t sit right with me because how would a video of you three getting with the baddest bit— ” He cuts himself off, clearing his throat. “The baddest chick we’ve seen out there be blackmail material? More like a good ass porno, you know?”
“Wait.” I shake my head.
“Video of us fucking...” Royce’s eyes hit mine and then widen.
I frown looking from him to Captain. “What?”
“The cabin.”
My muscles lock.
The fucking cabin.
Graven.
Fervor spreads through my body and a tremor follows.
Benny recoils in fear.
“Look, man,” he rushes out. “I called Bishop on purpose. I knew he was in charge of running shit at the warehouses for you guys. I thought he’d go to you.” His eyes bounce between the three of us. “I was doing a solid, I swear!”
I push to my feet and move for the truck, my brothers on my heels.
I grip Bishop by the neck and slam him against the door so hard his head snaps back against the glass, hard enough for it to bounce right off.
He doesn’t fight me, he knows he fucked up and takes it.
“You better fucking pray or grasp for some kind of straw, Bishop.”
I toss his ass to the ground, moving to the front of the vehicle to talk to my brothers quietly.
“Bishop is fucking dead,” Royce growls.
“Raven earned his trust like she earned ours. We can’t fuck him up for that,” Captain reasons. “We wanted that for her, but we can fuck him up for not telling us this the second she took off.”
“Fuck!” Royce folds his hands behind his head, looking to the sky. “She did it again. She fucking protected us.”
“But at what cost?” Captain says quietly. “This is Collins we’re talking about.”
“I’m going to get her.”
“Now?” Royce asks eagerly.
“Right fucking now.”
Cap and Royce move for his SUV
I climb in mine, and Bass slides in the passenger seat.
My heartbeat hammers against my ribs – the fucking cabin.
Shit.
Captain leads down the road, but I hit the gas, swerving on to the wrong side of the street to pass.
Bass grips the handle above his head, his glare snapping my way briefly.
Captain shakes his head as I fly by him – I know that’s why he wanted to lead.
But this is my girl we’re going after.
“Where we going?” Bass asks.
“Shut the fuck up, Bishop.” I glance both ways, zooming through the red light before the cars have a chance to cross, looking in my rearview mirror when Captain honks his horn. He throws his hands up, letting them come down to smack against his wheel.
My phone rings in the next second, but I don’t fish it from my pocket. I already know he’s gonna ask me to pull over and wait.
He’s fucking trippin’, I couldn’t calm myself if I tried, and I’m not even gonna attempt to.
Raven is the most stubborn fucking girl I’ve ever known.
She’s venom in the water. Not the snake itself, but the fatal liquid that floats across the top. No matter where you step, if even twenty feet away, she’s finding her way inside.
She’s in me.
She’s in my brothers.
And she’s in the prick next to me. Why else would he feel the need to warn her, a girl he hardly fucking knows, when he’s been working for us the last year?
Our dad had his file sent over the second one of his men got word of what was going on in his home. Turned out his dad beat his ass, put him in the hospital for the last time, all for defending his little sister. Our dad always got wind of these situations before whatever county these kids come from did.
Pick of the fucked-up litter.
We caught up with him before they could.
He liked what we offered, but he didn’t want his sister involved in anything illegal now that she had a chance to be free of her parents.
They had an aunt that wanted her, but she couldn’t afford any after-school and summer programs for her and she worked for a living, so we took care of it. She was sent out of state for a better life and he moved into the Bray house. Worked for us since.
“What’s Collins got to do with this?” Bass asks, his voice a little tight when we’re finally racing across the bridge.
“You fucked up, Bishop. You’ll be lucky if we don’t ruin you for it.”
I blast the radio so I don’t have to hear his voice anymore.
Song’s pretty fucking fitting and I grow more antsy.
We’re getting close, so fucking close and my pulse starts to drum in my ears. My blood is pumping, flowing straight into my muscles and making me shake if my grip on the wheel tells me anything.
I can’t even feel my fucking body right now, I’m so amped. I feel nauseous but empty and ready to go.
I cut the corner sharp and the tires skid. I drive right up into the fucking grass, clipping his parked piece of shit Lexus. Throwing the door open with the engine still running, I barrel my way inside the fucking house in one fucking run.
Raven’s shriek hits my ears and I rush around the entryway, into the living room where she stands shocked as shit, and wide a-fucking-wake.
Her stare hits mine and instantly becomes overwhelmed with emotions, her body visibly sagging in the same second.
She knows I’m here for her.
I spin and quickly jump over the table before Collins even has a chance to run his fucking mouth.
The screech of tires sound behind me, but I don’t look away.
I grab him by the throat, lift and dip his ass back down on the glass top table beside him.
He groans and there’s blood coming from somewhere, but I don’t care.
I draw my fist back and smash him across his fucking face.
His arms shoot up, one pushing on my jaw, the other, coming across for a weak shot to my cheekbone.
My head doesn’t even move – I feel fucking nothing.
Collins tries to lift his legs, an attempt to wrap me up, but I sprawl across his body, so he can’t get a grip, and drop my elbow into his nose.
There’s blood everywhere now, his eyes hardly open, both almost swollen shut.
“Maddoc!” Raven shouts.
“Come on let’s get you—”
I grunt, pushing up quickly and slicing my eyes to Bishop. “Get the fuck away from her!”
I spin back around when Collins starts to roll, but I tuck my hand under his throat and flip him back on his back.
“You think you can put hands on her? And more than once?” I punch him in the ribs. “Corner her in a fucking bathroom?” Left side of his jaw. “Fucking blackmail?!” Right side and he spits, his chest bouncing beneath me.
“Fuck you,”
he wheezes, and I head-butt him, sending his eyes rolling back
And I lay into him. Over and over and over again.
Until he can’t fight back.
Until he stops trying.
Even after his body grows limp.
I don’t remember stopping, but suddenly I blink and I’m being dragged across the grass, Raven pushing on my chest, Captain gripping my right arm, Royce at my left, and then I’m in the passenger seat of my own vehicle.
Bishop is driving, Raven is on my lap and my brother’s taillights are visible in front of us.
The low whine of an ambulance rings in the distance.
A soft, warm hand slides up my chest, and I look to the contact.
My shirt is ripped, my skin exposed, the imprint of her tiny fingers blended into the blood splattered across my chest.
I look up into her eyes.
Glossy grey.
She nods, her fingers spanning out against me and my eyes close in an adrenaline crash.
My girl.
With shaky hands, I move my freshly showered hair from my face and take the mug from Captain when he holds it out for me, his eyes focused on anything and everything ... but me.
I know what I did to him and I can’t take it back.
I had one of his most precious of secrets at my disposal, and for a minute there, I’m sure he thought I’d use it against him. I misused the trust I forced him to give me, that he had only recently relinquished on his own.
I did this to all of them.
For a few short days that felt like a lifetime in my own head, I placed fear and anger in the first people who ever seemed to care enough to look past my forever flaws and unbreakable stupidity.
I’m a perpetual fuck up. I know this.
I warned them of this.
My mother did a number on me and it seems I’m not the only one who will have to deal with the aftermath.
I go to cradle the drink in my lap, but Captain finally looks at me, but only for a second to deliver his glare. “Drink it, Raven, you’re shaking. I put some chamomile in there to calm your nerves.”
I nod and bring it to my lips, blowing lightly before taking a small sip.
Maddoc still hasn’t come down yet and we’re all waiting around not saying but thinking the same damn think – this is all my fucking fault.
He climbed out of the car and went straight for his room to rinse off, so I slipped into the hall shower quickly.
Trouble at Brayshaw High Page 9