Trouble at Brayshaw High

by Meagan Brandy

  With his elbow pushing against my sternum, I couldn’t break this if I tried. “This is a real fucking stupid move, Collins,” I rasp. “Let me go while you still have the chance.”

  Footsteps pound in the hall and his eyes darken, gone is the feebleness he just showed.

  His hand clenches tight while his jaw trembles. “Too late, huh?”

  I try to gasp for air but get nothing.

  And then the door bursts open and in they come – one, two, three.

  Collins is tackled by Maddoc while Captain and Royce drop beside me.

  Cap reaches out, pushing my hair from my face.

  I cry out when his hand scrapes across the glass matted in it, and he freezes a second before yanking it back. His eyes widen when he finds it covered in blood. “Oh, fuck!”

  “Oh shit...” Royce drags out, gripping my hand.

  “Royce.” My eyes start to roll, and things grow foggy. “I...”

  “Raven,” Cap calls, but I can’t see him anymore. “Maddoc ... shit, Raven!”

  Everything goes black.

  It’s crazy, how a drop of blood expands when it touches a cotton shirt. Even more when it’s a continuous flow. It spreads like a silent explosion until all surfaces are covered, then it starts to drip.

  I was covered. My brothers were covered, and still she bled.

  Through the towel we held while waiting for the ambulance. Through the bandage they temporarily wrapped around her head. Through the bedding on the stretcher.

  It didn’t stop.

  We’ve seen this shit before at the warehouses, we know the head bleeds more than anything and gauging the seriousness of the injury is not always as cut and dry as it appears.

  It’s never been the blood of someone we love before, though, so staring at the shit someone else made spill from her body to the point she lost consciousness, has me teetering on the edge of insanity.

  If Perkins and half the fucking school hadn’t followed us into that bathroom, pretty sure all the blood in Collins’ body would have been running across that tile floor.

  I wanted to keep beating him, but when Captain freaks out, I know it’s serious.

  I’ll never forget the look in his eyes when he lifted his hands, both smeared with her blood as she laid there, lifeless.

  We weren’t there in the seconds before, we had no fucking clue what had happened, so to us, she was fucking dying right then and there.

  I’d never felt so helpless in my life.

  My fists couldn’t fix it, my money couldn’t help her. My name meant jack shit. In that moment, I was nothing but a scared fucking boy who thought his girl was dying right before his eyes.

  She didn’t.

  She woke up on the drive to the hospital, told the nurse who stuck the IV in her to fuck off and passed back out.

  All three of us about fucking fell over in relief.

  She was busted up, bleeding out for all we knew, but she was still her – fire and sass.

  As soon as we got to the hospital, they had to put her under to remove the glass from her skull and run some test to make sure she didn’t have any swelling in her brain, but that was two hours ago and she’s still sleeping.

  I dart from my seat, and Royce yanks me right back down, growling in my face.

  “Do not fucking wake her up.” He glares, glancing at Raven in the hospital bed.

  “Fuck you!” I hiss. “She’s mine, I do what I want.”

  The nurse scoffs and cuts me a glance, before walking out.

  Fuck her, too.

  Maybell walks in the second the lady is gone. “All’s taken care of. Signed what needed signing.”

  “And her mom won’t find out?” I ask.

  “Her mama won’t care.” She shakes her head.

  “Will she find out?” I ask again.

  Maybell darts her eyes to where Victoria is sitting, pretending not to listen.

  “Call me when you leave,” she tells me. “Come on now, Tor.”

  Captain stops pacing long enough to plant his feet in front of Victoria who is lying across the little couch, tucked under a hospital blanket she snagged off Raven’s bed.

  “She stays.” He glares down at her and she doesn’t acknowledge anyone has even spoken.

  Maybell scoffs, mumbles something under her breath and walks out, but Cap makes no move to step away.

  As soon as Maybell’s gone, Captain’s stance widens, and Victoria’s eyes lift. “What?”

  “Tell us what the hell happened in there,” he demands.

  She rolls her eyes and drops them back to the stupid fucking magazine she’s acting like she’s reading.

  He slaps his hand over it, bending to get in her face. “I asked you a question.”

  She sighs and pushes up a bit, getting even closer. “I don’t know what you take me for, and I don’t care to hear it, but spare me your ‘holier than thou’ bullshit. Raven will wake up and she’ll tell you what she wants to tell you, be it the truth, or a lie. And you’ll be none the wiser because I’ll agree and go right along with it, just like I did the night she said she fought but was jumped.” She yanks the magazine from under his hand and he slips forward more, now even closer to her. “Because it’s her story to tell or lie to cover, and the answer she gives doesn’t affect me. But my answer? It could affect her now, couldn’t it?” She gives a bitchy grin. “And who am I to dictate the outcome of her mess?”

  “She’s kinda growing on me...”

  All eyes dart to Raven as she gives a weak grin toward Victoria.

  Victoria snorts. “Yeah well, you’re all right, I guess, when I’m not having to save your ass.”

  “Bitch please, you’re weak compared to me.”

  “Says the busted-up chick in the raggedy gown.”

  Raven grins, shifting her eyes around the room, pausing when they land on me. “Guess I’m in the hospital.”

  We rush to her side.

  She rolls her eyes, then winces. “Fuck, my head.”

  “Yeah, your fucking head,” I snap, waiting for her to come back at me, but her brows smooth out when she looks my way again.

  I have to use all my fucking concentration to force my body not to shake right now.

  “I’m good, Big Man,” she rasps and sits up.

  Good. Right. She got attacked on our grounds, again.

  “Doc said soon as you woke up you could go. You wanna?” Royce asks gently.

  She nods. “Why would they even put me in a room if they were letting me leave?”

  “Because the caveman demanded it, threw their name out there real big and loud like,” Victoria offers and Raven laughs, looking to her.

  Our eyes go with her, and now that Victoria is standing and the blankets fallen, we see her torn shirt and the dozens of scars across her stomach.

  Her eyes hit Raven’s, who pointedly looks down and Victoria’s eyes snap wide as she spins away, clearing her throat.

  “Well, you’re awake, so I’m gonna head back.” She rushes for the door, freezing when Captain’s bloody sweatshirt lands on her head.

  She stands there facing the door a minute, before pulling it off and over her head. She slowly steps from the room without a backward glance.

  Raven shrugs off our questioning glares while reaching out to touch Cap’s arm in thanks.

  “Raven,” I regain her attention. “The fuck happened today?”

  “What did you steal from the Graven cabin the night we broke in?” she asks, frowning when all three of us hesitate.

  She pulls her hands away from us, looking off to the side.

  “Why are you asking this now?” I eye her.

  A humorless laugh leaves her, and she tenses from the pain it causes.

  Her eyes slide back to mine, and she does nothing to hide her irritation.

  She opens her mouth to speak right as the nurse walks in with a smile. “Oh good, you’re awake!”

  “Get out,” she tells her.

  When the woman makes no m
ove and just fucking stands there like a damn statue, Raven slowly drags her glare from mine. “I said out.”

  The nurse rushes from the room and Raven looks back to me, eyes cold as fucking ice.

  “I’m only gonna do this once, so listen and understand what I’m really trying to say,” she forces past clenched teeth. “Stop whispering in my fucking ear how much I ‘belong’ if you’re gonna treat me like the outsider I already know I am when it’s convenient for you. I get it. You want answers and you expect them the second you demand and not a moment later.” Her eyes narrow and she leans forward. “But look at me, Maddoc. Look where I’m sitting, look at my face. Have I not earned them, like a good fucking girl” – she purposely makes a mockery of herself – “just as much, or should I drop to my knees and beg like the peasant would for her king?”

  My jaw ticks at her bullshit and I shoot from the seat to crowd her space, but I get no time to respond because Captain beats me to it.

  “It was Zoey’s birth certificate,” he rushes out, and while Raven’s eyes fly to his, I feel his glare burning into the side of my head. “And, no, you didn’t earn shit, and you’ll never have to beg. You fucking deserve to know. I don’t wanna hide anything from you.”

  I meet my brother’s eyes and finally, he pulls them off me to look to her.

  “Ask whatever you want,” he whispers ruefully.

  Royce drops his eyes to his lap, and I keep mine locked on Raven’s face.

  “Why would he have that?” she asks him. “Collins, I mean?”

  “We think he was the money behind the move,” he answers.

  She considers what he says a second, then her brows furrow. “Zoey’s mom. The transfer?”

  He nods. “Bet he was the one behind what Perkins offered you to leave, too.”

  “That little bitch is working with Perkins for some reason, but that’s all we know,” Royce adds, looking up at her. He moves to grip her hand and squeezes. “And for the record, I wanted to tell you that a long time ago.” His glare flies my way.

  “Uncle,” she says, and our frowns meet.

  “What?” I ask.

  “I heard them in the hall. That’s why he waited for me in the girl’s bathroom, he knew I was listening, saw me maybe, I don’t know. He called him Uncle.” Her eyes bounce between ours. “Said something about cleaning up his messes.”

  Captain darts to his feet while Royce scoots closer to Raven on the hospital bed.

  “What do you mean?” he prompts, but she ignores him and fires off a question of her own.

  “Who is Donley?” she asks.

  “Donley is the head Graven, Collins’ grandfather.”

  “He wants the birth certificate back, he’s afraid Donley will find it.” Her eyes fly to mine. “He has no fucking clue we broke in and stole it weeks ago.”

  “So, Perkins is making moves, and Collins is coming in to sweep them under the rug when he leaves loose ends?” I ask.

  “I’m not exactly sure. It sounded like Perkins was the one in charge, but then maybe needed help with something and Collins was who he went to for it. He didn’t seem like he trusted Collins much, though.”

  When she flicks her eyes away a moment, mine narrow.

  “Raven.”

  Her lips pinch together before she says. “He acted like I was the center of the problem, said I’d see things their way in the end.” Her eyes bounce between ours. “He mentioned your dad, and how he’d have to make it right.”

  “Make what right?” I push to my feet.

  She shrugs. “Don’t know. He said, ‘why do you think she’s here.’ Why am I here, you guys?”

  “This makes no fucking sense,” Royce grumbles, sliding his hands down his face.

  “Wait.” Cap freezes a minute, then speaks low, almost as if he’s talking to himself. “How could the birth certificate possibly make any noise in the Graven world? She’s my kid. Brayshaw.” He looks to me. “How could that affect them? Why would Perkins wanna hide this, hide her, from them?”

  “That’s not all,” Raven adds. “Collins said Perkins was washed from their hands, I assume he means Graven’s, years ago.”

  “Did he say why?” I ask.

  She licks her lips and looks to me. “When he went after the ‘trashes’ mom, aka Ravina.”

  “What the hell does all this mean?” Cap shakes his head.

  “Did he say when?”

  She nods. “Eighteen years ago.”

  “What ... not long before you were born.”

  She eyes me a minute before hers grow tight. “Oh my god...”

  “What?” Cap barks.

  “Your mom.” Royce slowly stands, eyes on her. “She’s from here.”

  I drop back on my ass, letting out a deep breath.

  Royce tosses the stack of papers he was going through and falls beside me. “There’s nothing fucking here about your mom.” His head hits the wall. “Shit’s useless.”

  “This is everything from the binder I stole from Maybell?”

  Cap nods, but the deep frown taking over his forehead as he stares at the papers in front of him, has me curious.

  “Cap.”

  He takes a second, then lifts his eyes to mine.

  “What is it?”

  “Huh? Oh.” He drops it between his legs, looking over the next. “Just an old hospital visit of my dad’s. My ... biological dad.” As he says it, his frown deepens even more, but he wipes it away and looks back to us.

  “What?”

  “Nothing,” he sighs. “It’s just this is everything. Staff records, bank accounts, contracts, deeds to the docks and Brayshaw blacklists. Affidavits, copy of the Brayshaw will, our adoption papers, even a list of all the other families’ names and locations.”

  “Okay...” I prompt him to continue.

  “What if everything around his arrest and trial aren’t the only things he hid?”

  “Perkins,” Royce guesses.

  Cap nods, looking to him. “He’s in the fucking picture in the yearbook, but his name is nowhere in it, and then nothing else. It’s odd. Why is he nowhere in any of this, but then in one forgotten and maybe accidental photo, and now the principal at our fucking school. That was decided by Dad. He knew he was in our business before then. He was a teacher at our elementary school. He’s always fucking around. Why has he not been sent away? Or at least, why is there no paper trail to him?”

  I bend forward picking up the yearbook and turning to the page they had folded over. A young Rolland stands there, right beside Perkins with both Cap and Royce’s dad and another man, all their arms tethered around each other’s necks.

  “We need to ask Dad about this,” Royce says before leaning over to point out their fathers, and I grin.

  “You look just like your dad.” I laugh, trailing my fingers over the man’s dark and daring eyes. He even has Royce’s playful smirk.

  “I’m way better looking than him,” he teases, winking when I glance his way.

  He tries to hide it, but there’s a tinge of dejection in his eyes.

  “And the last guy?” I ask, focusing back on the image. My eyes travel over the blond in the blue blazer and crisp white button-up.

  “Don’t know,” Royce says.

  I read the headline beneath it. “Says Brayshaw High’s Finest and Faculty. Could he be a teacher?”

  “He doesn’t look much older, RaeRae.”

  I nod, frowning. “Yeah.”

  Royce pushes to stand. “I’m going downstairs to see what’s up with dinner.”

  He offers me a hand, but I shake my head.

  “You avoiding him?” He raises a brow, but worry pulls at his eyes.

  It’s sad how stressed he gets when he thinks there’s an issue between any of us. It’s kind of like how he hated riding in the back, alone. He needs his family to be solid.

  “I’m not avoiding him. He just happens to be down there and I’m up here.”

  He eyes me. “Right.”

  After
he walks out and down the hall, I look back to the photo. There’s something familiar about the nameless man, but I can’t put my finger on it.

  “Raven, you know Maddoc didn’t purposefully hide shit from you, right?”

  I shrug, flipping through some more pages. “He has every right to, Cap. Nobody ever said you guys had to spill your secrets. It’s whatever.”

  Cap bends in front of me, pulling the yearbook from my hands, and I look up.

  “I’m serious, and it’s not whatever if it made you feel put out. When we broke in and took the birth certificate, you weren’t living with us yet, we were all still getting to know each other, so it wasn’t something we were ready to share. Maddoc’s not the type to stop and think later about filling you in on missing pieces.”

  “I know what type he is.” My eyes bounce between his. “You don’t need to level things out for him.”

  “I want to make sure he doesn’t fuck this up. You say this is new to you and you don’t know how to do this, well it’s new for him too, and neither does he. He’s not always gonna say the right thing, and he’ll probably forever make the wrong move first.” I laugh lightly and he grins, but his eyes hold a gentle seriousness. “You have to know he will always feel the kick in his gut when he disappoints you, even when he doesn’t show it.”

  My chest grows warm and I look away a second before meeting his gaze. “Yeah, and how do you know that?” I tease with an easy grin.

  He watches me. “Because I feel it, and you’re not mine.”

  Cap stands, and my eyes follow.

  I take the hand he offers and let him pull me up.

  “I told you,” he whispers, squeezing my palm. “You’re good for us.”

  The truth to his words stares back through those light eyes of his.

  “It’s real inconvenient, you know,” I tell him.

  “What is?”

  “Caring,” I whisper. “I’m not really a fan.”

  He laughs lightly, and I fight a smile.

  “Food’s ready.”

  I turn to find Maddoc standing in the hall just outside the door, hands in his jogger pockets.

  I nod, let go of Cap’s hand and we both slide past Maddoc, but he gently grips my elbow, holding me back.

  His eyes tighten as he searches mine, and he sighs, dropping back against the wall. He pulls me closer and I willingly lean into him.