Break Me (Brayshaw High #5)(133)

We’re brothers. Best friends.

Our girls may be our other, better, more than necessary halves to our souls, but in order to be completely whole, this is what we need.

Each other, if for no other reason than to simply stand here, like this.

The three of us by each other’s sides.

The kings to our queens.

The boys of Brayshaw.

I look to Brielle, standing on Raven’s left, Victoria smiling up at them from her seat in the sand.

My girl lifts my nephew in her arms and hugs him tight to her chest, her eyes finding mine from across the water.

It’s then I make a silent promise, one she understands if her smile tells me anything.

She knows and trusts that if her sight grows dark, I’ll light her fucking soul on fire.

The flame will grow so wide, so bright, everything inside her will burn brighter than the sun could ever glow, then the stars could ever guide.

I will be her light.

And she will be my everything.

She doesn’t know it yet, but her cousin, Ciara, is on her way to town.

Come to find out, when Brielle left, her aunt went a bit wild as her paydays stopped coming, and Ciara was forced to deal with the fallout.

She didn’t call me, but I could sense my baby girl loved her cousin, even if she was an asshole to her most of the time, so I made sure someone was looking out for her.

Sensing my thoughts, Captain asks, “Maybell get the room ready for the cousin?”

I nod, not taking my eyes off our girls. “Yeah, she’ll share with the crazy, Valine, chick. Maybe they’ll both learn to chill the fuck out.”

We laugh, knowing it’s not likely.

Brielle says something to the girls, and then she lowers herself into a seat as Raven and Victoria make their way to us, warm smiles on their faces.

They felt the same loss my brothers did without me here, without us here, and they’re happy we’re whole once again.

I see everything so much clearer now, our purpose. And not just the three of us, but all of us as a unit.

Our girls and their roles alongside us, the power they hold on their own, it’s unmatched.

And Brielle, she was the missing link.

She is the pull, the venom others can’t wait to drown in.

Victoria, she’s the preface, the discoverer. She sees what others can’t.

Raven, she’s the endgame. The heavy push to the edge.

Together they can stand as a team with unbreakable strengths and equal roles, and that’s without us.

With us?

Now that’s an entirely different story.

Our family has never been stronger.

And that strength will only grow with time.

Speaking of growing...

“So.” I clap my hands and turn toward Maddoc and Captain, to Raven and Victoria. “How many times I gotta come inside her to put a mini-me in there?”

They gape at me, and all at once, the three of us start laughing and my body eases.

This is it.

This is where it’s at.





Brielle





Phoenix and Zoey have been sleeping for the last hour, his little bassinet set up directly beside her bed—she wouldn’t lay down without him by her side—and Rolland’s just announced he’s done for the day as well, so it’s just the six of us. The boys are sitting around the mini bonfire at the end of the deck, waiting for us to return with drinks and snacks in hand.

I spin, snagging a box from my bag on the counter, and when I turn back around, I meet Raven’s outstretched hand.

I look from hers to mine and we both laugh.

With a heavyhearted sigh, she sets down the box she was about to give me, looking to the same exact hot chocolate as in my grasp.

She smirks, turns and goes back to grabbing whatever it was Maddoc asked for.

Only after I’ve got the hot water poured into two mugs, and I’m tearing into the cocoa packets does my gaze snap to hers. “You knew we’d come.”

Victoria smiles into her mug, looking between the two of us and Raven laughs, turning to face me with a shrug.

She sighs with a smile. “Yeah, I did.”

“How?”

She comes closer, takes the cups from my hands and shocks me when she hugs me, her words hitting my ear. “’Cause you’re absolutely fucking perfect for him, Brielle. For us and this place.” She pulls back. “Thank you for... loving him like no one else could. For pushing back when he pushed good and hard.”

“You don’t have to thank me for any of that.”

She smiles, grabs her cups, and walks ahead of me. “I know, now come on. Our boys are waiting.”

She leaves and Victoria steps in front of me, but her mouth freezes open when a sweet, sleepy, little voice sounds from the bedroom.

“Mommy, I’m thirsty,” Zoey calls.

Every muscle in Victoria’s body goes limp and she shoots a hand out, allowing me to steady her, to hold her up.

Her eyes are wide and on mine, instant tears pouring down her cheeks.

“Did I... did you hear that?” she dares to whisper, swallowing hard and afraid to look away.

“Mommy...” her daughter calls again.

She squeezes tighter, and my eyes cloud. “Yeah,” I whisper. “I did.”

She gasps through a laugh, spins around to grab a bottle of water and looks back to me.