Be My Brayshaw (Brayshaw High #4)(32)

She eyes me a long moment before saying, “I said what a Brayshaw wants, a Brayshaw gets.”

I frown. “Victoria is no Brayshaw.”

Miss Maybell smirks, pats me on the cheek and walks away.

“Why does she do that?”

“You mean, make you think, force you to step back and consider what you haven’t?” He raises a dark brow. “It’s what mothers, or grandmothers do.”

I nod, looking away.

She’s the closest we’ve ever had to either.





Chapter 9





Captain



The knock on my door has my muscles stiffening, but Raven’s laugh floats from behind me in the next second, and my body relaxes the tiniest bit.

“Yikes.” She slides farther in.

I glance over my shoulder, my head following as she moves around me, sitting on the edge of my bed.

“Tense, Pacman?” she teases.

I scoff. “Let’s go with that.”

She smirks. “Zoey still sleeping?”

“Yeah.” I sigh. “Can’t decide if I should be waking her up to say bye before we leave or let her sleep in. She’s gotten used to having me every morning. Think she’ll be confused or something when she gets up and only my dad and Maybell are here?”

“Your guess is as good as mine, Cap.” She laughs, but there’s a nervousness to it.

I reach out, and she slips her hand in to grasp mine, tension surrounding her.

“Stop,” I reassure her. “We’re gonna figure this parenting shit out. Me and Zo, you, Maddoc, and the baby.”

“And Royce, and Rolland, and Maybell,” she ticks off each name.

I chuckle. “And them.”

“Pretty sure Royce thinks Zoey and the mini basketball I’m carrying around are as equally his.”

“Pretty sure that’s exactly what he thinks.”

She smiles, looking around my room. “I think it’s good for him, he’s been a little out of it ever since we got back from the cabins. Glued to his phone and shit.”

Agreed.

Out of the three of us, I’d say Royce is the hardest shell to crack, but Zoey slipped by his shield in an instant, and with his soft spot for Raven, hers and our brother’s baby earned his love by existing.

I think it’s the innocence of a kid he prefers. He can trust their little souls and doesn’t feel he has to be on high alert as he is with everyone else.

Raven pulls her hand away, leaning back on her elbows. “I say let her sleep. She’s little, can’t hurt, right? I’m sure Maybell knows what to do about naps and stuff. Wait, is she too big for naps?”

I laugh. “No, I have the full schedule Maria had her on, so I’ve been trying to stick to it, but she’s been sleeping longer than Maria said was her normal since the day she came home.”

“Maybe that’s because she is home when before she wasn’t.”

I nod and Raven looks off, the shadowed mood she found me in now creeping over us both.

Before, as in when Zoey was being cared for by Maria and kept from me while my family fought for its place against Graven and the assholes surrounding them.

I can’t fucking believe Victoria never even let on that she knew I had a kid, let alone that she’d met her. She hid it until she was forced to admit it, even after we put faith in her to stand with us.

That’s the shittiest part. She could have come clean along the way but chose not to.

Raven asks me the exact question I’ve been rolling around in my head since the decision was made to keep Victoria here ten days ago. “What are we doing, Pacman?”

I sigh, glancing around as Maddoc steps in, dropping beside her.

She leans her head on his shoulder, eyeing me.

“No fuckin’ clue,” I admit. “Maybe this was a bad idea.”

“Nope.” Royce bounds in next, flopping on the other side of the bed and reaching out to put his hand on Raven’s little belly.

Maddoc slaps him away while Raven smiles.

I pull my computer chair up and sit in front of them.

“Moving her ass in is how we keep an eye on her. She’s gotta be here,” Royce says.

“It’s past keeping an eye on her and we all know it.” Maddoc looks to me admitting what we’ve tried to ignore. “We’ve already let her in.”

I nod, sitting back against the cushion. “And now we know she’s lied to us.”

“About big shit,” Royce adds.

“Life-changing shit.”

“Broke our trust.” Maddoc stares.

I tip my head. “Her loyalty is questionable.”

“She’s Raven’s blood.” Maddoc looks to her.

Raven licks her lips, eyes moving between the three of us. “And family runs deeper than blood.”

“Based on that, she’s everything opposite of what it means to be Brayshaw,” Maddoc points out.

“Fuck me,” Royce sighs as he pushes to his feet, the three of us following. “Still feels like she belongs, don’t it?”

“She does,” Raven says with unmistakable certainty. “I can feel it. She’s stubborn, yeah, but she’s—” She cuts off with a heavy frown when I lift my hand.