“You’ve got it all figured out, huh, Big Man.”
“Sorry you couldn’t hide it from me like your mother hid you from the brothers she destroyed. Like mother like daughter, huh?”
Her chocked laugh serves as a bullet to the heart. “Wow.”
Neither of us turn around, and not a word’s spoken after that.
She walks away, a car door opening and closing as soon as her footsteps stop.
The front door creaks, and my eyes move toward the porch.
Bass steps out, glaring at me as he passes, and not a minute later, the car peels out.
Right as my head hangs, another set of feet slide into view.
“You’re a fucking idiot, you know that.”
My head snaps up, eyes wide when I find Captain standing there, a hard glare etched across his face.
“Open your eyes, Maddoc.”
“My eyes are open, Cap.” I throw my hands out. “I’m accepting what is.”
“By forgetting who we are,” he growls.
“What does that even mean, brother?”
“If you have to ask, maybe this is for the best.” He steps toward me, Royce at his back. “I asked you to trust me. You said you did.”
“Guess I didn’t think you’d be so ready and willing, not to mention quick, but maybe I was blind, brother. Maybe I saw this coming all along. This why you wouldn’t kiss her at the cabin? Afraid you couldn’t let go once you had a taste?”
His right hook slams across my face, and my head snaps to the side, blood flying from my lip, but I don’t even wince.
I know that hurt him more than me, he wasn’t even supposed to leave the hospital yet.
He bumps past me, using the same shoulder he was shot in without so much as a grimace leaving him.
Royce stops in front of me in a flash. “I should knock your fucking teeth out,” he forces past clenched teeth, but then his eyes slope and he looks off.
“Go for it, brother.” I spit blood on the ground, but it lands on my shoes instead. “Bet they’re nice and loose for you now.”
His jaw ticks and he glares after Captain, but hisses to me, “Why agree to come back if you planned to forget everything we stand for?”
With that, he walks away, the roar of an engine and the dust from smoked tires engulfing me in the next second.
I hang my head in my hands and plant my ass on the porch steps.
“You know,” comes from behind me, and I hang my head. “I used to think you were the smart one.”
I groan, extending my legs and glance over my shoulder at her. “Why you still here?”
She shrugs, pushing off the frame. “Mac likes to pretend he’s not mine when the sun hits, so we do this little dance. He takes off when he thinks I’m sleeping, and I pretend I am so he gets his clean escape.”
My brows raise, doubting her. “You and Mac?”
She nods, dropping beside me. “Trust me. No one is more shocked than me. He’s so far from my type, or so I thought.”
I shake my head. “What do you want, Chloe? I’m not in the mood.”
“No, you’re just having a pity party for one.”
I glare at her but she only stares.
“You know Raven has never met my dad,” she says. “Weird right, him being head of security, you’d think she’d have been introduced to him long ago.”
“Chloe,” I grate, sliding my eyes to hers.
“Couple weeks ago, Daddy was dusting off his old black suit,” she says. “The one he wore at our first communion. Remember that?”
“That was a spectacle.”
She nods, wrapping her arms around her legs. “Yep. All to trap the bad guys, another day in the land of Brayshaw, right?”
“If you have a point, find it. I’m not in the fuckin’ mood.”
Her eyes shift between mine a moment and then she seems to ignore me. “He asked me to fix his tie, I asked him why he was wearing it and he said something interesting...” She trails off.
My eyes narrow.
“He said ‘almost, honey, almost.’”
I glare at her, pushing to my feet. “I don’t have time for this shit.”
“Know what he said when I asked him if he was aware Rolland was released from prison? ‘Almost, honey, almost.’”
I spin around to face her, and she pushes to her feet.
“And when Raven first got here, and I asked him why I couldn’t get rid of her, why you guys flocked to her?” Her brows lift as her lips purse. “‘Almost, honey, almost.’ Every time something revolves around Brayshaw and he doesn’t want to or can’t share it’s the same line.”
I step toward her. “Chloe...”
“He’s really holding on to the whole ‘not until I graduate’ thing.”
“Chloe.”
She eyes me. “The very next day, Collins Graven sneaks in the student body office, locks himself and Leo inside and does what? Rocks our Brayshaw High world.” She lifts a knowing brow and pushes past me. “Strange, right?”