Be My Brayshaw (Brayshaw High #4)(64)

“Tell me more.” His command is gentle.

I roll to my back, looking up at the giant chandelier above me. There’s no way Maddoc had that hanging in his room when this space was his. Captain must have had it put in for me.

It’s gorgeous, too expensive, I’m sure, but… gorgeous.

It’s a large glass circle, a line of silver at the tip-top, and encases several dozen stringed diamonds. The center point hangs the lowest, the others surrounding creating a perfect point as they grow smaller and disappear behind the glass around it.

“I never really understood what a birthday was. I saw them on shows and things, but I didn’t know when mine was or if I had one, and then Mero showed up. I’d never met him, never seen him before. Later that day he dropped to his knees and smiled.” I squish my lips to the side. “He said ‘Happy tenth Birthday, sweet girl,’” I whisper. “I left with him the day he came, left everything I’d ever had, ever known behind. The crazy part is I was happy to. In my mind, this handsome man with the greenest of eyes had saved me.

“I had a new room where the door wasn’t locked, a new yard that didn’t have a wall trapping me in, a swing and... a friend. Someone to talk to, and he loved to talk.” My eyes close, a frown forming. “For hours he’d sit and listen, ask questions. We’d play games and he taught me to cook—I’m really good at it by the way.”

Despite the mood, he gives a light chuckle, his head falling back on the mattress, and I wish I was allowed to reach over and brush the golden blond back. “Did he hurt you?”

I pause, following a glimmer from one of the long strands above me, shimmering color above me down the wall until it slowly begins to fade, as my innocence did.

A wilted flower.

“If I think about it, he was hurting me from the beginning, but I didn’t see it. I was groomed, a perfect slate to build from. I didn’t know about the world, all I knew was what he told me. There’s bad out there, sweet girl, and you’re the princess sent to make it right.” I frown. “That was one of his favorite lines. He taught me how to read body language, how to get a glimpse into a stranger’s soul.”

Never cower, sweet girl. Your eyes are your power.

“It started small, get the kid at the ice cream shop to admit he stole from the tip jar, convince the guy at the park to steal his mom’s car, but I was really good, and suddenly I was twelve, but passed for seventeen… and I learned there really was a lot of bad in the world. Mero said my ‘job’ was to find it, and making him proud became the most important thing in my world. So I did what he asked, always. I found new ways to get smart, powerful, people to give up their secrets, and in return, they gave Mero money.”

“Blackmail.”

“Yep.”

“Did you have to sleep with these men?”

I run my tongue along the backs of my teeth. “Did someone force me to a bed and take what I didn’t give?” Shame weighs on my chest, and I inhale, the ache only growing. “No, never. Sex wasn’t always necessary, but when it was, when I had no other way to get the answer I was sent for, it was.”

I was disgusting, craved the approval of a man who I thought was my savior, even mourned his death as I made my way back to this place, and then it was like a switch went off in my mind. All at once, everything clicked and I realized what I never saw... I wasn’t his princess, I was his prisoner.

“When I got to the Bray house, I studied everything around me, and it didn’t take me long to realize where good met the evil, but your family had no reason to trust me, so I found another way.”

Finally, Captain shifts his head, meeting my eyes in the dark. “You found us.”

My stomach muscles tighten, and I nod. “Yeah, Cap.” I found you.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he whispers.

“I was a stranger who knew what she shouldn’t.” I shrug. “I was basically a stalker.”

Captain chuckles, but it quickly dies on his lips.

His hand comes up, pushing the hair from my cheek and he holds it there a moment.

His eyes fall to my mouth, his tongue peeking out to wet his own, but then they swing back to mine and a look I can’t decipher flashes across them.

He stands, gazing down at me.

“Sleep, Beauty.” He trails his fingertips as they skim along the expensive comforter. “And when you wake up... show me who you are, so I can forget the rest.”

A spark of expectation fires within his eyes as they meet mine, a glint of impatience just behind it.

He’s ready for me.

And then he’s gone, a heavy twist takes over my stomach in his wake, and I close my eyes, pulling in a full, deep breath.

Please.

Whoever listens to the desperate whispers of a lonely girl in the dark...

Please.

Let him be my Brayshaw.





Chapter 20





Captain



“The hell you doin’, brother?” Royce comes around the corner, joint in one hand, water bottle in the other.

I look to the hose in mine and take another step left. “Soil looked a little dry.”

The joint freezes at his lips, his eyes narrowing. “Soil looked dry.” He laughs, taking a long drag. “Fuck you know about soil?”