Break Me (Brayshaw High #5)(39)

The sweet with a bite that follows.

I put my hands on Katie’s outer thighs, ready to move her ass and stand, but then Mac is there.

He slaps a hard hand down on the back of Enoch’s neck in a good old friendly gesture that says ‘get back motherfucker’ and uses the move to turn his body sideways. Away from Brielle. The potential—and very likely—fuckup, and Mac now facing each other.

Mac smiles spewing something and Enoch grins back, lifting his fist to give him props.

There you go, my man. Play him right, get him where we need him tonight.

Mac slowly eases between the two, and then dismisses Enoch altogether, turning toward Brielle.

She’s got her shades on now, but smiles up at him with ease.

He says something, and she laughs, her hands slipping into her hair.

“And here comes Chloe,” Victoria singsongs.

At the mention of her friend, Katie pulls her face from her phone, seeking out the former queen bee and Mac’s honey.

Chloe struts up like a runway ruler, confident and flawless as always, and a fucking giant compared to Brielle. She’s got a foot on her easy, and that’s not including the six inches added by her Valentinos either.

Raven and Victoria laugh when Chloe plants her ass at her man’s side, her opening move being her slipping a shoulder in front of Mac, her little show of territory over her man.

Brielle doesn’t cower away, grow nervous, or get mad.

The girl smiles at her.

I cut quick glances at Raven and Victoria, who both sit back with curious, questioning eyes.

Told them.

Off.

Brielle sticks her hand out, and just like that, Chloe grins bright. Like Victoria said, she puts off no threat. She’s kind.

“Have you met her yet?” Katie reminds us she’s still here, like her bony ass isn’t stabbing into my thigh muscle more and more by the second.

All eyes turn to her.

She squirms, unable to handle all of our attention at once. She attempts to cover the nervousness in her tone but fails. “She’s the newest girl from the group home, right?”

“Those are the only new students we take.”

She knows this. Everyone does.

There are only two scenarios for students who go to Brayshaw High—the legacy kids, the ones whose mother or father or some other family member went here and held up the town with pride, and the ones we allow in on a trial basis. Those are the neglected or abused or downright fucked teenage boys and girls who never had a chance but deserve one.

Like the chance Brielle was supposed to get after she was freed from her fucked-up family but never got.

A nasty sense of guilt seeps in, pulling at my ribs and forcing me to stretch my torso.

She lost a lot of time.

“She’s in my AP calculus class.” Katie tries to cover up her pointless question. “Smart as hell, I guess.”

“Why you say that?”

“Well for one, she’s a junior and in calculus.” She sips her smoothie. “That and I heard Coach Von tell her she could help grade papers after school anytime she wanted.”

I force myself not to react, play bored and flick my eyes past my brothers.

Now that’s some interesting shit.

Invite the new girl after class so quickly, freshly fucked-up face and all?

“Maybe she’ll do my homework.” Raven plays it cool, shifting the conversation to safer zones.

Katie’s full of starry eyes as she stares at her queen. “I don’t think there’s anyone here who wouldn’t do whatever you asked them to.”

Raven looks away. She wouldn’t ask a soul to do shit for her. Anyone who knows a thing about her, knows that much.

My phone vibrates in my pocket, and I dig it out.



MacMoney: Micah’s about to grab her.



I lock eyes with him from across the room, and when I give no signal for him to intervene, he grabs his girl, the two disappearing as Micah steps up.

His arm slips over her shoulder and she leaves it there, allowing him to lead her across the cafeteria, right to where most of the guys from the home kick back along with a few others who don’t live on our property, but work out at the warehouses.

She smiles and waves along with the group, laughing at something as she pushes Micah’s arm off her. One of them shoves out a chair and she doesn’t hesitate to sit.

She puts her elbows on the table and joins their conversation with ease.

Captain’s eyes narrow. “They’re never that friendly that quick.”

“They’re afraid of her brother,” Raven teases.

So not just a group home chick. One protected by her brother’s name.

“Wait, who is her brother?” Katie leans forward, a gleam for gossip in her gaze.

Maddoc looks to me and I nod, sliding my eyes to Katie.

I tap on her ass and her leg muscles clench.

She pauses but knows better and removes herself from my lap. She walks away and I lean forward, dropping my forearms on the table.

“If she’s in her class, her last name would have stuck and she’d know who her brother was,” Raven says.

My features smooth, and I lean back in my chair. This can only mean one thing.

“They don’t know.”

Cap’s eyes narrow and he guesses, “Maybell.”