school grounds and park again.” He stuffs it back in his pocket. “No Raven.”
Fuck. Fuck it.
I jump to my feet, glancing from Captain to Royce. “I’m going to look again.”
Royce has his keys in his hand in seconds, but Captain’s features tighten.
“What?” Royce drags out suspiciously.
“We’ve got a game to play tomorrow, or fuck, today now.” Cap licks his lips, glancing back our way. “We have to be ready for it.”
Royce’s brows snap together. “Cap. No.” He shakes his head. “Maddoc, tell him.”
Shit. The game.
When I don’t say anything, Royce slices his eyes to Captain. “We’re not fucking going if she’s not back!”
Cap is cautious with him. “Royce—”
“Don’t fucking Royce me, man,” he cuts him off. “The fuck you actin’ like you’re calm, when I know you’re not?!”
Captain glances from him to me. “We watched on the surveillance cameras, we know nobody took her. She ran. And you know if it weren’t for the game, I’d be in the damn driver’s seat already, but we need to be there, and we need to play well.”
“And if she shows up, packs her shit or something while we’re gone?!” Royce shouts, a frenzied look in his eye. “I’m not fucking leavin’!”
Fuck.
I rub at my temples. Cap’s right, we have to play well, but damn, this is Raven we’re talking about.
When we brought her here, we never expected her to fit. We sure as fuck never imagined wanting to keep her or to be unaccepting of her leaving.
We were told to make sure she fell in line the way the others my dad accepted into the houses did, but she fought us at every turn from the first fucking day.
She was different, and I knew it instantly.
It was in the way she didn’t peek up at us but stared full-on, her chin held as high as ours if not higher. She gave lip when we demanded silence. When we pushed, she pushed harder, stepped in closer and lit our asses on fire in a way nobody ever had. She tested us more than we have her and without even trying, maybe even completely unaware.
At the thought, the pulse in my neck throbs harder against my skin as my anger boils higher with each passing second.
The fucked up part is I know Cap is on the same level we are right now, but he has more to lose, so he’s in a fucked up position.
I know my brother, he’ll be kicking his own ass later over even suggesting we stop looking for the night.
Still, with his inner struggles now in our face, Captain nods, looking between us. He’s ready to ride even though he wishes we’d listen. “If we play like shit, we lose.”
“Yeah,” Royce mocks, not allowing himself to feel the guilt that’ll hit later for our being selfish right now. “We lose, we jeopardize the season and Graven Preps stats raise, and piece of shit Principal Perkins will cause problems, and Dad will get on our fucking cases from a five by nine cement cell, and it’ll all fall harder on your shoulders because of Zoey, man, but— ” His mouth clamps shut when a click sounds.
Our heads jerk when the front door slowly creeps open and Raven steps inside.
She’s measured in her motions, taking her sweet ass time to close and lock the door, prolonging what she’s expecting to come at her – the fucking firing squad.
I quickly meet my brothers’ frowns with my own before shifting it back to her.
I clench my jaw, forcing myself to wait until she turns around and looks at me, but Royce jumps in before she even can.
“What the fuck, Raven?!” He rushes forward.
Captain grips his shoulder to try and calm him, but he jerks free waiting for her to meet is glare. When she refuses, a sour laugh leaves him and he kicks over the coffee table, sending shit flying before storming up the stairs.
“Raven,” I call her eyes to mine, but she only blows out a deep breath and looks to the left.
“I needed to clear my head,” she rasps. “And in case you forgot, I don’t have to ask anyone’s permission to do it.”
“Are you for real right now?” I growl and push toward her. “After all the shit from the last few days, you wanna play this fucking game?”
“I’m not playing games.”
“Then fucking talk!” I shout, moving even closer. “You can’t just run off whenever—”
“I can, and I will!” she yells back, trying for her usual defiant self, but her voice