Trouble at Brayshaw High (Brayshaw, #2)(18)

Damn it.

“She might be.”

“I can’t believe she’s fucking us like this,” he spits.

Yeah, I’m over this shit.

I don’t realize I’m moving until Captain wraps his arms around my shoulder and drags me into the closest room.

There are a few people inside, but Royce bounds through the door behind us and claps, signaling for them all to leave.

Once they’re out the door, he slams it closed and Cap steps back.

“What the fuck, man?” I shout.

“You can’t—”

“Can’t what?” I throw my hands out. “End this bull shit, beat his fucking ass until he can’t walk, force his ass back where he belongs and demand what’s mine stay that way? ‘Cause I sure as fuck feel like I can! I mean, what the fuck are we even doing? Fucking recon? Fuck this!”

“We don’t know she’s yours. For all we know, she planned this shit.”

“Do you really fucking think that, Cap?”

His lips form a flat line and he looks away. “I don’t know what the fuck to think, but we can’t push her. She knows things we can’t afford other people to find out about.”

Fuuuuck.

Zoey.

I drag my hands down my face, shaking my head. “Cap ... fuck, man I’m—”

He holds a palm up. “We’ll deal with it if it comes.”

“I think we need to get rid of her,” Royce interjects, and we look to him. He hesitates a minute, then shrugs his shoulders. “She’s with Collins. We can’t look past that.”

“There’s no way this shit is so cut and dry. Look how she’s acting? All the shit with Chloe and those girls out there? Vienna was right, they took off because they’re afraid of her. If they think she cares if they come near us, how the fuck can we not?”

“Maybe you’re seeing things you want to be there, Madman,” Royce mumbles, looking wretched.

He doesn’t believe what he’s saying either, but he doesn’t wanna feel the burn of losing her twice.

She reacted tonight, and in the hall at the school.

Or maybe I am trippin’ like he says.

“Why hasn’t Dad called again?” I ask them. “I texted and nothing. He said he was handling shit, and nothing. Why?”

Both frown, shaking their heads, at a loss.

“Fuck man,” I mumble. “I’m over this shit. Let’s leave.”

They both agree and within minutes we’re in the car, the party and Raven behind us.

Not a fucking word is spoken on the way home to the house that feels emptier than it should.



I shake my limbs out, rolling my shoulders around as I breathe in the cold December night air.

Fuck, I’m ready to explode.

I was ready to kill that girl. She’s lucky her friend spotted me sitting there in the dark corner I was lurking in and ripped her ass away before I did it with a grip to her hair.

That’s all I’d need right now. Collins was already on extra dickhead mode after everything at the school but fuck him. I gave his bitch ass thirty days max and then he’s on his own in a pool of Brayshaw people.

Really though, what the fuck is Maddoc doing? It’s irrational for me to be pissed, I left them – left him – high and dry with no word, but still. I can’t handle seeing his hands on anyone else, maybe he knows it and that’s why he did it, or maybe I was just another Bray Girl and in slides a new one.

All I know is I can’t watch it, so they’ll need to keep their fucking hands, feet and faces away until I allow more – which will be when I’m gone.

“What are you doing?”

I roll my eyes and spin around, holding my arms out. “Breathing, Collins. Just fucking breathing.”

He laughs lightly and walks over. “Good job tonight, you kept your cool. I’m impressed.”

“Gee, thanks. Goal fulfilled,” I deadpan.

He grins and looks out at the dark night as I was.

He nods, his brows pulling in. “We don’t have to fight, Rae. This could go a lot differently.”

I scoff. “So you won’t hold me in with blackmail?”

“No.” He tilts his head, still looking off. “Still need to keep you where you are, but it doesn’t have to be a miserable time for you, you know?” He looks my way.

I frown, and he shrugs.

“You and I would have been friends if it wasn’t for them. Things between us would be good and our own choice,” he says, his eyes bouncing between mine. “I’m not a bad guy, if you weren’t in the middle of our problem, you would have seen that on your own.”

“Maybe you’re right.” I consider his words and go for honest. “But I can’t say for sure. All I know now is you’re the asshole standing between where I am and where I wanna be.”

He shakes his head. “You only want to be there because they got to you first.”

My head pulls back. “Nobody got to me and we can’t go back in time, now can we? I made my bed and I know the drill that follows. This is a pointless conversation. I’ll be standing next to your car when you decide you’re done sniffing around here.”

“What if I told you I knew you were coming before you got here?” he calls out and I freeze.