She gives me a side-eye before shifting her frown to the basketball courts where the guys are jacking around, shooting hoops before the bell rings. Why we all woke up at the asscrack of dawn today, I don’t even know. Guess we had too much on our minds to sleep.
“Maybell tossed out all of Vienna’s shit last night. Straight into the dumpster, carried it out herself even. Guess she heard what she did?” She looks back to me.
“That woman knows more than any of us could guess, I’m sure. You’d have to being around this family as long as she has. Secrets on secrets on... secrets.”
My brows pull in.
Maybell.
“Uh-oh.”
I look to Victoria. “What?”
“You have your ‘I just figured some shit out’ face on.”
I slide my eyes to her. “Since when do you want to know things, I thought your MO was the less you know the better?”
“It is.” She glares. “Did I ask you what you figured out? No. I didn’t. I just recognized your I’m gonna make a sneaky move that will piss them off face.”
“I thought it was my I figured some shit out face?”
“Yeah. Which means the same damn thing in Raven language.” She laughs.
I can’t help but laugh with her. “You know, you should rethink your position on the not wanting to know front.”
Her smile is suddenly washed away, her frown now focused on nothing. “It’s more complicated than that, Rae. Honestly, I shouldn’t even be sitting here talking to you, and I sure as hell shouldn’t have been with you guys these last several days. The fact that I want to chill with you kind of annoys me.”
“You’re making me think I shouldn’t trust you.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t.” She stares at me dead on. “I’m not gonna lie, there are things you won’t like about me, maybe even hate me for. I can also swear I’m not malicious, even though I have things to hide.”
“What the fuck am I supposed to do with that, Victoria?”
She gives an unapologetic shrug. “Do what you want with it, but I’m being as honest as I can. I can stay away, no problem, but at the risk of sounding like a weak bitch, I don’t hate having someone around who gives fewer fucks than me.”
“You do sound like a weak bitch,” I joke, still a little on edge from her confession, but damn, I mean, she volunteered that, right? That has to count for something. “But I could use another vagina around sometimes to balance out the dicks a little better.”
“What RaeRae means is, to balance on the dicks,” Royce teases as the guys grow closer. “As in...” He trails off wiggling his eyebrows. “Ain’t that right?” He looks to me, a big ass, innocent grin on his far from innocent face.
I glance at Victoria who blinks up at him, her head tilted the slightest bit, and a laugh bubbles out of me. I reach for Maddoc’s hand when he extends it, letting him pull me up.
“Nope.” I chuckle. “Not at all what I meant, ponyboy.”
“Ah, come on.” He wraps his arm around my shoulder. “Don’t lie. ‘Ponyboy’ proves you were thinking about the ride, even though it should be more like massive steed.” He grins. “Tell her how good we are, RaeRae. I’m thinking Cap wants to bone her down. Me and him could keep her up through the night, I’d bet.”
Victoria smashes her lips to the side as she pushes to her feet and turns to walk away, but not before I spot the slight blush creeping up her neck.
“You do know we’re not blood brothers, right?!” he calls out, teasing her further. “We can play with our toys at the same time and it not be weird, just sayin’!”
Cap’s glare prompts me to step out of Royce’s hold and then he gives him a solid shove.
“You’re such a dumbass,” Cap grumbles. “I’m going to class. I’ll come get you for second period, Raven.”
I nod, leaning against Maddoc when he steps against me.
Royce just laughs at his own idiocy and bends to snag my uneaten donut with his mouth. He heads for class.
“Thought you were dying for that thing?” Maddoc kisses my wrist as we follow the other two back into the building.
“I was, but after all the shit last night, Cap earlier and then the bomb from your dad, it’s not hittin’ the spot.”
As soon as we walk in the door, Maddoc stops me, slowly pushing me against the wall, hands on my hips, and glares down at me.
I lift my arms, lazily draping them around his neck and he turns his head, running his lips across my skin, smirking when I shiver.
“You’ve switched it up on your people, Big Man. They’re not used to seeing their king get so openly handsy,” I tease.
He steps closer, his hands sliding up my sides, under my sweater, completely ignoring everyone around who has paused to watch with side-eyes. “Don’t care,” he rasps. “They need to see anyway.”
“See what?” I meet his lips with my own.
“What’s mine. I want them jealous and understanding that they can’t have you and I can. Whenever I want.”
I hum against his mouth and he grins but turns serious a second later.
He pulls back a little. “Tell me you know we’re not keeping shit from you because you’re not a part of us.”
“Tell me you understand why I have to try to figure it out on my own.”
His glare intensifies. “I won’t allow you to try and protect me again.”
I let my arms fall from around him and he steps back.
“I told you before, I do what I want.”
“So do I. I will lock you in the fucking house if I feel the need to, Raven.”
“I don’t doubt it for a second, Big Man.”
With that, I walk toward Royce who waits for me with tight eyes outside our classroom door.
I glance back at Maddoc, and the stiffness lining his forehead works as a weight on my shoulders.
Thankfully, Royce senses it and snakes his hand around me. Maddoc tips his head at his brother.
“Chin up, RaeRae,” he whispers. “Don’t let these assholes read you.”
With that, he leads me into the room where we hide our inner issues and pretend we’re as solid as they think. Physically, we are, but mentally we’re becoming a fucking freak show.
We take our seats and not ten minutes in I’m already getting antsy as fuck.
I look at the clock.
It would take me about five minutes to run to the Bray house to try and catch Maybell. That’s ten minutes there and back. Doable.
I was vomiting all day yesterday, so I could get away with playing the upset stomach card. The only issue is getting Maybell to talk and how long it would take to do so.
The boys are like her kids, so her loyalty is to them, but the other day on the porch she was about to tell me something before Maddoc burst outside to make sure I was still there. She must have something she feels the need to say.
I have to try.
I shift in my seat, gripping the edge of the desk when a paper hits my head. I look to Royce.
He glares and shakes his head, knowing damn well what I’m thinking – not even a bathroom break alone is “allowed” at this point.
To further prove my point, the door flies open and Captain ushers a puffed-up Victoria into the room.
She jerks in his hold, her glare flying over her shoulder but he doesn’t even spare her a glance.
He looks to Royce, nods his chin, meets my eyes and walks out.
Victoria slams her paper on the teacher’s desk and then makes her way to me.
Royce chuckles quietly in his seat and looks past me, motioning for the kid on the other side to slide back a few desks, which he does without question, and Victoria drops into it.
She scowls at me. “You are starting to dictate my world without even speaking.”
“Fuck you,” I throw back. “What are you talking about?”
“Seems I’m now in all your classes, you know, as an extra set of eyes. Grown ass girl and you need a babysitter?” she bitches.
She scoffs, but it comes out as a laugh and she digs out her notebook, instantly cutting me off and focusing on the teacher.
I glance back at Royce who lifts his hands.
“Precaution, RaeRae.”
Precaution, right.
They know by now she won’t snitch me out, even if they asked her to. It’s not in her nature, like sitting on trouble isn’t in mine. I guess they want to be sure I have some sort of backup at all times in case they aren’t around, someone to run to them if needed like she did when Collins attacked me in the bathroom.
“Are you my piss partner?” I whisper to her and she cuts an annoyed look my way.
“Apparently, yeah, but not my first day in this class. I can’t afford to fail. Hold your fucking fists in for twenty more minutes, and we can worry about whatever shit you’re wanting to pull during PE or Study Hall or... something.”
I sit back, satisfied, winking at Royce when he glares at our whispering.
She gets me.
Raven is covered, by either Royce or Victoria, and Cap just now went to class. This gives me a solid thirty minutes to try and get ahead, make some fucking sense of what’s to come.
I slide inside, slamming the door, and his head snaps up.
He jumps to his feet with a glare. “What the hell are you doing?”
His words are strong, but his eyes fly over my shoulder, making sure only one of us stepped through – like one isn’t fucking enough – before cutting back to me.
He can’t go anywhere. He’s trapped in here, with me, until I decide to let him out.
“So, you were on track to be Brayshaw, huh?” I study him. “Yet your brother became a Graven.”
“I am no Graven,” he draws out slowly.
I’d almost swear he says it with conviction, as if the thought disgusts him.
“But Felix Graven is your brother—”
“Was.”
“Were you jealous of how easily he got to the top?”
He bares his teeth. “I was offered a place beside him, I declined.”
“Because you were hoping to be a part of my dad’s team.”
It works, Perkins’ jaw sets tight, his hands making fists against his desk.
“You know nothing,” he hisses.
“As soon as she fell for him, and he asked you to protect her, you jumped at the chance, didn’t you?” His eyes widen slightly. “Tell me, were you stupid enough to ask for her, his power?”
His jaw clenches. “I never wanted his power.”
“No, you wanted his ticket. Donley offered Felix the top, of course he could only have it if the heiress was at his side.” I widen my stance. “And she was... until she wasn’t.”
He knows what I’m getting at.
“Ask what you came to ask.”
“Are you Raven’s father?”
His eyes grow taut, unmistakable anger and regret. “No. I’m not.”
I dart forward, yanking him by his tie until his face is near mine. “Don’t fucking lie to me.”
“I’m not her—”
I yank tighter and he groans, his hands coming up to pull at the satin material. “She disappeared just over eighteen years ago, Raven will be eighteen soon. The math is fucking simple. You knew your brother was promised her pure, so you made sure she wasn’t! And then what, threw her out when you found out she was pregnant? Just wanted to ruin her, but the kid was worth nothing to you, right?!”
He jerks, so I shove him away and his ass slams into the seat.
He jumps right back to his feet. “You know nothing, and you’re wrong! I loved her! I wouldn’t have fucking cared if she was pregnant with someone else’s kid, had I known for sure, because I fucking wanted her! Not the title that came with her, the money or the Graven empire, not anything else. Just. Her,” he growls.
“You trusted her.”
I whip around to find Captain standing there.
I hadn’t even heard him pull open the door.
He keeps talking. “You begged her to leave, to be with you and walk away from it all, and she agreed, didn’t she?”
My eyes slice back to Perkins who glares at Captain, and Royce catches my attention just outside the door. He nods his chin, shifting his stare back to the other two.
“But she betrayed you, in the end,” Cap keeps going. “Left your sorry ass behind.”
“Don’t,” Perkins hisses, his eyes begging.
“So you got revenge the only way you felt you could. Slept with someone else, hoping she’d come back and hear all about it, but she never did, did she?” he goads him.
It works.
Perkins’ entire body turns to stone, his face paling.
Captain stands to his full height. “Every puzzle has pieces. I found yours. And as for the document Collins hid at his cabin, you know the one you flipped out over the thought of Donley finding – my daughter’s birth certificate,” Captain hisses and Perkins’ face tightens. “We stole it weeks ago. How do you think he blackmailed Raven to being by his side?”
“Captain, you can’t bring her—”
Cap punches him in the face before anyone sees it coming and he stumbles back, hitting the wall.
“You will never dictate what happens with my daughter again, do you understand me?!”
“I was only trying to protect—”
“Nobody fucking asked you to!”
“I had no choice!” Perkins snaps. “As soon as I realized Mallory was pregnant, I knew I had to get her out of here, hide her until the baby was born. Donley is aware of your relationships, he watches, so when you showed the first sign of possibly caring for a girl, he waited for the slipup. Had he found out about the baby, Mallory would have been pulled under his thumb, and then Zoey taken the second she was born. I couldn’t allow that. I’ve seen what those people create, how they can take an innocent girl and turn her into...”
Ravina.
“You had no fucking right to step in where you weren’t wanted,” Captain spits.
“That girl would have milked you dry.” Perkins glares. “Look what she gave up for money and a secure lifestyle, both of which she knows damn well she could have gotten from you if she just stayed, if she had wanted to stay.”
“None of that concerns you!” Captain shouts. “It was my problem to worry about!”
“The risk was too high to leave it in your hands! Even though you act like you’re not, you’re still only a kid!”
“Why do you fucking care?!”
“You know why!” Perkins snaps.
Captain shoots up straight, all three of us freezing at Perkins’ words. Perkins himself even seems struck that he’s said it.
Captain swallows, looks to me, then Royce, and back to Perkins.
“So it’s true,” Cap says after a few minutes. “And the paternity test results that I get back today will prove it.”
Every move has a purpose.
The lab. That’s why he had to make Perkins bleed yesterday.
“Yes,” Perkins confirms on a whisper. “Don’t bring her home, not yet. Soon she’ll be safe, but not—”
“You think we don’t know it’s her or Raven?” Captain glares.
“You know,” Perkins’ voice is nothing but a whisper, his desperate fucking eyes coming my way. “Then why’s the girl still here?”
“You thought we’d give up one of our own, just like that?” I ask.
Perkins steps back.
“Stay away from Zoey. Stay away from all of us,” Captain demands of him.
Perkins stiffens, his tone almost pleading. “She is my blood.”
Cap leans in, his voice a deep rumble from within his chest. “Family runs deeper than blood.”
“No...” Royce finally speaks. “He’s ...” He looks to Perkins. “You’re Zoey’s dad?”
“No.” Captain glares at the man in front of him. “He’s mine.”
We’re
sitting in the truck during what is supposed to be our PE hour. Not one of us has spoken since we left Perkins’ office, but I know all our minds our spinning.
“I was going to tell you yesterday,” Cap offers.
“When did you suspect, man? Or fuck, how?” Royce asks.
“Only the last week. I found an old hospital record in the paperwork from the shit Raven gave us, one we pushed aside as nothing. The man who we were always told was my biological dad got sick his junior year at Brayshaw, missed half the year.”
“Sick?”
“Testicular cancer.” He looks to me. “The paper was his op report. Which meant—”
“He couldn’t have fucking kids.”
Cap nods. “Then everything Raven said about Perkins telling Collins he was protecting his own. It made no sense. The only answer was in the beginning he was trying to hide her not only from us but from them too.” Cap looks out the window. “Hiding Zoey didn’t protect Graven from anything, it only protected her.”
“He was protecting her... for you,” Royce says, his confusion obvious.
“All this shit over the years, being in our business, stopping us from pulling stupid shit, Dad letting him stay around.” Cap looks back at us.
“Dad has known this entire time.”
“Yep.”
“And he lied to us.”
“Why?” Royce hedges.
“Because, at the end of the day, my sperm donor or not, Connor Perkins wasn’t Brayshaw.” He brings his eyes back to ours. “The second he agreed to protect Ravina for Felix, he became Graven.”
Family runs deeper than blood.
Perkins chose his blood, that’s who had his loyalty.
Fuck.
“Yo,” Royce drags out, sitting forward in his seat. “I know we’re talkin’ serious shit right now, but uh... we got a couple fugitive females ahead.”
Both mine and Cap’s eyes flash to the windshield finding Raven and Victoria crouched down, sneaking past the trunks of the cars not two rows up from where we’re parked.
Raven’s head snaps over her shoulder and she says something to Victoria. Victoria, who flips her off in response, but keeps after her.
Despite the fucked hour we’ve had, we laugh.
Reign of Brayshaw (Brayshaw High #3) Page 5