Break Me (Brayshaw High #5)(115)

I fight off a cough, grinning as I blow out a long line of smoke, trailing it until it disappears into the air. “Yeah, I could use a brush.”

“And maybe some eyeliner.”

I laugh, bumping my shoulder into hers. “Here, take your pinner back.”

“Bitch, you think I can afford to roll more than a half gram at once? Negative.”

I cut my eyes her way. “Can I ask how you make money?”

“Can I ask why you wear an ice mask to bed?” She pops a perfectly shaped brow. “Pre-punch by your man, that it?” she jokes to lighten the mood.

A scoffed laugh leaves me and I look away.

Touché.

My muscles have finally calmed enough to allow for a long exhale.

“Nice, right? Letting this shit chill you out?” She blows out a cloud of smoke, pulling in another and holding it. “My mom used to say it’s a street girl’s Xanax.” She nods, looking over the town. “Makes sense, I guess.”

I don’t push on the mom comment, I know it will only have her jumping up and flipping me off on her way out, so I go with something totally different.

“You know I hadn’t smoked in a year before the other night?”

“I haven’t smoked in nine months.”

Our heads cut over our shoulders to find Raven walking up.

Her eyes are on Valine. “I need to steal your friend.”

Valine leans forward, tilting her head. “I don’t know, I’m kinda not hating her right now.”

“I kinda don’t care.” Raven pulls a baggy from her pocket and holds it between two fingers.

Valine grins and pushes to her feet. “I kinda like you.” She walks away.

Raven watches her go, and then her eyes slide back to mine. “That’s been in the glovebox since before I got pregnant. It’s dry as shit, but she won’t figure it out until we’re done talking.”

A low chuckle leaves me. “I don’t think she’ll care.”

Raven nods and walks closer. “Broke girls never do. Weed is weed. An escape is an escape.” She speaks from experience.

Raven stands near the bench and looks out over the planter boxes. “I’d sit if it didn’t sting like a bitch to get up.”

“How are you feeling?” I pull my lips to the side.

She scoffs a laugh. “Like I did after I got stabbed.”

My head jerks toward her.

“Long story.” She chuckles.

One my brother likely knows.

“And the baby, how is he?”

She smiles wide this time, looking away. “With a dad and uncles like his? Guaranteed to be one of a fucking kind.” She laughs. “I’m almost terrified, but for now? He’s tiny and perfect.”

I meet her eyes and her lip twitches. “He has a beautiful and fitting name.” I haven’t had a chance to tell her that. “The raven and the phoenix.”

“And the wolf.” She grins. “I’m just waiting for that first person to clown so I can knock their teeth in,” she teases. “No more baby in here, even if it still kind of looks like it.”

Both of us laugh, but hers dries up quickly and she grows somber.

A heavy dose of tension begins to encase us, growing thicker and thicker the longer we stare at each other.



She squints. “I heard what happened.”

“I figured you would have.”

She nods and then shifts her entire body toward me. “You’ve thought about leaving.”

It’s not a question, so I don’t answer.

“Don’t do it, Brielle.” She’s not commanding but pleading cautiously, the ache in her tone clear as day. “If you go, he’ll find you and bring you back anyway. So just don’t do it.”

“Then maybe I should.” I sit back.

Her frown is instant. “Are you serious? You’d for real walk away from him?”

“Oh, that would be me doing the walking?” My eyes widen.

“Don’t act so blind like you don’t see why he’s doing this.”

Her choice of words is triggering and I jump off the bench, glaring at her. “Screw you, Raven.”

The click of a door sounds behind me, but I don’t look, not even when Raven holds up a hand to halt the watcher’s advance. Not once does she take her sturdy gaze from mine.

Questions rise in her eyes, but she doesn’t ask them, instead lowering her hand to her side.

I know she’s not angry with me, that she’s simply worried about Royce, and the last thing I want to do is pick a fight with her when I’m already fighting with enough people.

Her defenses fall. “I need your help, Brielle.”

A mix of emotions stir low inside me, and I swallow.

Pain blankets her features, the reason obvious.

Royce.

“He’s fucked-up,” she confirms my heart’s whispers with a broken one of her own. “And for the first fucking time, we can’t help him.”

Of course.

An ugly sense of self-pity creeps in before I can block it out. “So you come to me as a last resort.”

“Not last, Brielle. First. Only.” She steps toward me. “I’ve never seen him like this, and we’ve been through some shit. It doesn’t take much to recognize heartache from a Brayshaw.” She looks behind me, and I cut a quick glance over my shoulder to find Maddoc standing at the back door of the idling black Denali. “These boys, they self-destruct. Fuckin’ crash from the inside and by the time it’s on the out?” Her eyes come back to mine, and she shakes her head. “We need your help.”