Break Me (Brayshaw High) - Meagan Brandy Page 0,117
but end it quick, and when she smiles against my mouth, I lose my damn breath.
My stomach sucks in, tightening.
Baby girl, you’re mine.
A low laugh leaves her and my eyes flick open to meet hers.
She leans into me, then holds the ball up at our sides. “What do you say, Playboy? Teach me?”
“I’ve got a better idea. Let the little master show you how it’s done.” I juke around her, grab Zoey by the hip, and spin her in the air.
Without a second thought, Zo bends her little knees, ready to push off for a high jump and twists her little hips, folds her arms behind her head, and dunks the ball straight in, gripping on to the plastic rim with a smile. I hold her there until she lets go, and then pull her into me.
Zoey laughs, and comes in for a high five, smiling bright at Brielle. Her hands come out for a sassy little. “Boom!”
Everyone laughs and Brielle bows.
Zo kicks to be let down and rushes right over to Brielle. “Um, my daddy said Rora needs to move in his room ‘cause you’re gonna need hers soon.”
My eyes fly to Captain’s when he starts busting up laughing, and a low cursed ‘Jesus’ leaves Victoria.
Captain grins, grabbing his daughter. “Zo, we talked about this. We don’t blurt out everything we hear when we’re pretending to be asleep, remember?”
“But I like her, and Rora said no.” Zoey pouts.
I grin at Victoria. “You sleep in there every night. Why keep a room?”
“See, he wants it free for his girl.” Cap holds a hand out.
“Whoa, hey—”
“Don’t even start,” Victoria warns.
“Why not, maybe we should hear their thoughts?” Captain raises a brow.
“You, for sure, should hear my thoughts.” Raven laughs.
Victoria whips around. “You back off miss I’ll punch someone in the face to avoid talking.”
“I said I was sorry.” Raven grins. “And why are we bringing up old news?”
I cut a look at Brielle and her lips are pulled in, fighting a smile.
“Oh, I know!” Zoey shouts, bouncing on the trampoline and drawing our eyes back to her. She looks from me to Brielle. “You can share with Uncle Bro and when he sneaks me out of my room to watch movies at bedtime, you can come with us!”
Captain’s glare flies to mine and I widen my eyes. “Zo, you’re droppin’ secrets, girl.”
Zoey’s eyes widen, but instead of backtracking or pretending to be kidding, the girl who is too smart for her own damn good and fully incapable of telling a lie, slips from the netting and makes a run for the pool house, shouting for her papa all the way.
Brielle clears her throat with a small smile. “I should go.” She hooks a finger over her shoulder, walking backward toward the opening in the net. “Maybell is probably curious where I disappeared to.”
When all three of these assholes laugh, Brielle glances from them to me.
It’s Cap who puts his hands on her shoulder for a gentle pat and teasing ‘good luck with that’.
Dickhead.
But for real, she’s funny.
And going nowhere, which she realizes real damn quick.
It’s a couple hours later when Mac is racing up the driveway and charging right toward us.
My brothers and I stand.
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s Taylor Simms.” He glances between us. “She tried to kill herself.”
Holy shit.
Chapter 30
Royce
It’s after eight in the morning when Taylor is finally awake and coherent, according to the doc. Mac, Brielle, and I waited down here most of the night, but the others are just strolling into the waiting room.
“Zoey’s with dad?”
Cap nods. “And Raven. We wanted to have breakfast with her before we came down here, not knowing how long we’d be gone.”
“That’s good.” I look to Maddoc.
“Her and Phoenix are fine, man. I’m not going anywhere,” he answers my unasked question and refuses the order he knew I’d drop after it. “Run through it for us again.”
Mac rubs his hand down his face, exhausted. “She took some pills, washed ‘em down with a pint of her daddy’s best scotch. She called Enoch, and he knew something was off. He called 911 and headed over there.”
I pass him the note and he reads it aloud.
“I have tried to forgive myself for what I have done, but how can I do that when I don’t even remember what I did in the first place? He says I killed his dream, but why would I do that when we share the same one?” He sighs, looking up. “Why is this crumpled up?”