Break Me (Brayshaw High) - Meagan Brandy Page 0,146
gone, huh?”
Slowly, I pull to my feet, Bass right beside me.
My gut tightens.
Bass shakes his head, ready to say fuck it, and scale the fence. “We can’t get over before he reaches her. We can’t get over before he reaches for the gun either.”
I swallow, licking my lips. I know.
I thought of this already, and there’s only one answer.
“He can’t shoot us both, Bishop.”
In my peripheral, his head snaps my way, but I don’t look.
“He’s only got one shot left.” I force past my lips.
Me.
It has to be me.
If I jump, he’ll focus on me, use what I’m not sure he realizes is his last shot on me, and she can get to safety while Bass takes his ass out.
It has to be me.
This must be what I was meant for, why I never grew close to anyone else but her, because I was meant for this moment, born for it.
I was born to love Brielle Bishop, so in the end, I would be here to save her, to give her back what she lost—her family. Her life.
I was born to die for her, and that’s something I won’t hesitate to do.
Something I’ll do with pride, for her.
So, I take a deep breath and say a silent fucking prayer to anyone who might hear.
I wish for my dad and Maybell to step up, because my brothers will need them more than ever after tonight.
I wish for my beautiful niece and the nephew I’ll never get to know... that they never question my love for them.
For Raven and Victoria, not to cry for me, because it’ll tear their men in two.
I wish for my... for my brothers not to hate me for this, even if I know they might, at least for a while.
I hope that they forgive me and never forget me, that they know how much it hurts to leave them.
That my girl, she’ll one day understand the choice I made tonight and why I had to make it.
That none of them feel the ache of my loss, but remember the good, if there’s good to be left behind.
That I fucking love them all with all I am.
A sharp breath escapes, a nervous, fucking petrified laugh following, but I force it away.
Brayshaws, we don’t fear, we don’t back down, and we refuse to lose.
And if there is one thing this world can’t afford to lose, it’s a soul like Brielle Bishop’s.
It would be a darker fucking place without her.
But me?
Me it can.
They can.
They’ll be okay.
My vision clouds, my cheeks growing wet.
“Tell your sister I’ll love her. Always.”
I scale the fucking fence, dropping to my feet seconds later, and when my eyes lift, my right foot planting a single step ahead of my left, they lock on to Leo’s.
He smiles wide, proud, the gun already in his hand.
It’s up to Bass now.
Leo readies himself with a grin. “I always knew you were the fool of the three.”
He pulls the trigger, firing off his last and final shot.
And my body hits the ground.
Goodbye, baby girl.
Chapter 37
Brielle
A muffled shot rings above the water right as I clasp my hand around the pole. I flip over with a loud and sharp gasp.
Leo stands wide-eyed, gun hanging in his hands.
“Brielle!” Is shouted in the darkness, and I recognize my brother’s voice, it’s closer now, but I can’t look away.
“Surprised?” I croak, slowly gliding my other hand over the pole.
Leo frowns.
“You know, you fooled me with the August/Leo thing. You got me. But bringing me here? It doesn’t take much to realize why, now that I know my brother was left to handle you.” I tip my head to the side. “Tell me, do you know what Leos fear?” I try to stay calm so I don’t sink, so I don’t black out, how I haven’t already, I don’t know, but I know it’s coming, color is already gone. “They fear being ignored, overlooked... forgotten.”
“Shut the fuck up!” He stiffens, his nostrils flaring.
“Do you know what lions fear?” I slowly swim closer to him.
“I said shut up!”
“Come on, it’s an easy one.”
“Girl, I will—”
“Human beings.”
His jaw sets, and then the lights above us flick on. His head tips back, and he squints, unable to see beyond the square he locked us inside.
The blonde from my brother’s car catches my eye at the edge of the fence line, where the light board is located, and something in me settles, the hint of uncertainty fading completely when footsteps follow.