Reign of Brayshaw (Brayshaw High) - Meagan Brandy Page 0,17
for me with tight eyes outside our classroom door.
I glance back at Maddoc, and the stiffness lining his forehead works as a weight on my shoulders.
Thankfully, Royce senses it and snakes his hand around me. Maddoc tips his head at his brother.
“Chin up, RaeRae,” he whispers. “Don’t let these assholes read you.”
With that, he leads me into the room where we hide our inner issues and pretend we’re as solid as they think. Physically, we are, but mentally we’re becoming a fucking freak show.
We take our seats and not ten minutes in I’m already getting antsy as fuck.
I look at the clock.
It would take me about five minutes to run to the Bray house to try and catch Maybell. That’s ten minutes there and back. Doable.
I was vomiting all day yesterday, so I could get away with playing the upset stomach card. The only issue is getting Maybell to talk and how long it would take to do so.
The boys are like her kids, so her loyalty is to them, but the other day on the porch she was about to tell me something before Maddoc burst outside to make sure I was still there. She must have something she feels the need to say.
I have to try.
I shift in my seat, gripping the edge of the desk when a paper hits my head. I look to Royce.
He glares and shakes his head, knowing damn well what I’m thinking – not even a bathroom break alone is “allowed” at this point.
To further prove my point, the door flies open and Captain ushers a puffed-up Victoria into the room.
She jerks in his hold, her glare flying over her shoulder but he doesn’t even spare her a glance.
He looks to Royce, nods his chin, meets my eyes and walks out.
Victoria slams her paper on the teacher’s desk and then makes her way to me.
Royce chuckles quietly in his seat and looks past me, motioning for the kid on the other side to slide back a few desks, which he does without question, and Victoria drops into it.
She scowls at me. “You are starting to dictate my world without even speaking.”
“Fuck you,” I throw back. “What are you talking about?”
“Seems I’m now in all your classes, you know, as an extra set of eyes. Grown ass girl and you need a babysitter?” she bitches.
I can’t help but smile at that. “I’ve always been a problem child.”
She scoffs, but it comes out as a laugh and she digs out her notebook, instantly cutting me off and focusing on the teacher.
I glance back at Royce who lifts his hands.
“Precaution, RaeRae.”
Precaution, right.
They know by now she won’t snitch me out, even if they asked her to. It’s not in her nature, like sitting on trouble isn’t in mine. I guess they want to be sure I have some sort of backup at all times in case they aren’t around, someone to run to them if needed like she did when Collins attacked me in the bathroom.
“Are you my piss partner?” I whisper to her and she cuts an annoyed look my way.
“Apparently, yeah, but not my first day in this class. I can’t afford to fail. Hold your fucking fists in for twenty more minutes, and we can worry about whatever shit you’re wanting to pull during PE or Study Hall or... something.”
I sit back, satisfied, winking at Royce when he glares at our whispering.
She gets me.
Raven is covered, by either Royce or Victoria, and Cap just now went to class. This gives me a solid thirty minutes to try and get ahead, make some fucking sense of what’s to come.
I slide inside, slamming the door, and his head snaps up.
He jumps to his feet with a glare. “What the hell are you doing?”
His words are strong, but his eyes fly over my shoulder, making sure only one of us stepped through – like one isn’t fucking enough – before cutting back to me.
He can’t go anywhere. He’s trapped in here, with me, until I decide to let him out.
“So, you were on track to be Brayshaw, huh?” I study him. “Yet your brother became a Graven.”
“I am no Graven,” he draws out slowly.
I’d almost swear he says it with conviction, as if the thought disgusts him.
“But Felix Graven is your brother—”
“Was.”
“Were you jealous of how easily he got to the top?”
He bares his teeth. “I was offered a place beside him, I declined.”
“Because you were hoping to be a part of my dad’s team.”