Reign of Brayshaw (Brayshaw High #3)(98)

“Get used to it.”

Her eyes find mine.

“It wasn’t only our lives that changed yesterday. Yours did too.”

She licks her lips, looking away in thought.

A moment later, Royce steps around the corner.

He points at me, slips his shades on, then gives me his back. Cap steps around next, pausing right beside him.

Royce holds a hand out.

It’s her fingers I see first, slipping into my brother’s. Then her wrist, but Cap slips to the left, blocking the rest of her.

I tilt my head, my eyes narrowing but it doesn’t help.

Right when I’m about to push forward, go get her my damn self, Cap moves aside, and there she fucking is.

My girl.

Black leather jacket unzipped, laying over a lacy, white dress that allows her skin tone to peep through, and cuts off at the knee. It’s tight, shaped to her hips and fucking perfect for her. Simple, easy, but damn if she doesn’t bring it to life.

Her hair is curled and down, laying all around her, a deep part in the center, and she’s got those red lips again, her black boots covering her feet.

Fucking perfect.

I force my eyes left, scanning across the three.

A solid, tight line. My brothers both hold a hand of hers, leading her right where she belongs.

Right to me.

My baby, or more, my babies.

We’re having a fucking baby.

If someone had asked me months ago if I wanted a kid, I’d have laughed in their face. My answer would have been a thoughtless, easy, never.

But now, knowing Raven has a part of me inside her, that the two of us will be linked on a deeper level, a level no one else will ever reach, no matter how hard they might try, I’m desperate for it.

Desperate for our little one.

And I’ll kill anyone who dares to threaten our future.

Our family.

My body grows warm, a calm spreading through me I haven’t felt in weeks, a purpose I’ve never known crawling up my muscles and settling into my bones.

My feet carry me to them, and the closer I get, the higher the corner of her lips rise.

I stop right in front of her, my hands landing on her hips, and I lower my forehead to hers.

Slowly, my brothers release her hands, patting my back as they walk by and Raven’s palms slide up my chest, fisting my jacket at the collar.

Her choppy breaths fan across my lips and I fight the urge to drop mine to hers.

Not yet.

“I don’t think this is how it’s supposed to go,” she whispers. “I’m pretty sure I was supposed to walk to you.”

“Yeah, well, we don’t do things the right way, baby. We do it our way.” My hands move up her ribs, under her jacket and squeeze. “And our way is how I like it.”

She nods against me. “Me, too.”

“You ready, baby?” I whisper. “Ready to belong to me?”

She pulls back, looking up at me. “Come on, Big Man,” she murmurs. “You know better than that.” She lets me go, stepping back and around me, so I slowly spin to keep facing her.

She walks backward, toward my brothers, toward her sister, and the reverend.

She smiles, holding her hands out, speaking for all of us to hear. “I’ve always belonged to you. Let’s make it official.”

I lick my lips, clenching my teeth together to keep myself in check when moisture threatens to surface in my eyes.

It’s been a helluva year, I’m ready for a helluva future.

I follow, stepping right beside her, pulling her into me as the reverend begins to speak, but I don’t catch a damn word.

I hear nothing but the pounding of my heart against hers.

Proving further we’re one in the same, Raven’s fingers plant themselves directly over my left pec, and she closes her eyes.

I hold her tighter.

Mine. Forever mine.





“Kinda morbid, isn’t it?”

I look to Collins. “What?”

“You got married ten feet from here less than two hours ago, and here we are pouring our mothers’ ashes in a creek.”

I glance from the fancy marble ern in his hand to the wooden box the morgue gave me that holds my mother’s remains. I open it, unseal the plastic bag on the inside and dump it all out in one shot. “Yeah, I guess it is.”

I sigh, staring at the small bubbles in the water as the steady flow creeps over the small rocks beneath the bridge.

Rolland told me she liked it here, that they would sit out on the balcony of the Bray cabin and listen to the water run.

There’s no comfort in the words he gives and bringing what was left of her here, pouring them into the water, it means little to me. I can’t forget eighteen years of what she was, but I could at least leave her in a place that wasn’t tainted. I can’t say if she deserves it, but I know all about getting things you don’t deserve.

“I’ve gotta admit.” I cut my eyes to him. “Out of all the things that surprised the hell out of me the last few months, this right here takes the cake.”

Collins gives a light laugh, looking out at the water as he slowly pours his mother’s ashes out.

“I tried to get her to live,” I admit after a minute. “Your mom wouldn’t hear me.”

He nods. “Yeah, she uh... she wasn’t really alive as it was.” He looks off. “I lost her to depression a long time ago. She had to be a cold statue around Donley so much, I think she forgot who she even was. Me following his orders later didn’t exactly help her heal either.”