“Yes, ma’am.”
She tears up, taps his cheek and moves to hug each of the boys.
Maybell takes a deep breath before she turns to me.
I can’t help it, I know I’m wearing a frown of some sort, but I no longer trust the woman in front of me, not that I ever did. I guess what I mean is I wanted to, but now I know I shouldn’t.
I can’t trust her just because they do. There can be no free pass.
The weight of the boys’ stares has me wanting to look to them, but I won’t make this easy on her by breaking contact.
“I’d like to talk to, Raven. Alone,” she says.
The wrinkles framing her eyes become more profound when all three hesitate a moment before walking in the house.
I waste no time. “You knew and you let me get ambushed.”
“I learned along the way,” she admits. “Suspected a bit when I saw where you were coming from, and then I pieced it all together. Once I opened my eyes, it was clear.”
“You’re being real careful with your words right now, Maybell. You’re afraid to speak openly because you’re not so sure what all we figured out.”
She doesn’t deny it. “Everything I do or don’t do is for those boys.”
Right. Because that is where her loyalty lays, as it should. I’m just the outsider, something I need to be sure to remember when others are involved.
“You can’t ask me not to tell them you hid this.”
She nods earnestly. “I know, and I won’t.” She steps closer with sad eyes. “Just like you won’t tell them because you know I had no vicious intent. I love them and you see that.”
“No good will come of lies.”
“I know. And tell them if you need to, but I think it’s irrelevant at this point. I know it hurt you in the end, but it helped my boys, and that’s what I needed to happen. I’m sorry, child.” Her eyelids slope. “It won’t be fun being caught in the middle of this.”
Won’t be fun, as in there’s still more to come?
“He bought me from her and fed me to his sons.”
“And you don’t exactly hate the outcome, do you?”
“I—” My mouth clamps shut.
Well, shit. No. I don’t. Much prefer it, in fact.
But who the hell knows what Rolland Brayshaw has planned for me.
I look back to Maybell, who reaches up and gently palms my cheek. “Don’t let that woman’s words play tricks in your mind, child, you’re smarter than that. I told you once before, you belonged. I asked you to start believing it and you have. Keep pushing back at the nagging inside telling you it’s not right. It is. But, Raven. It’s also not over. There’s a long road ahead, more to learn, more challenges to face.”
“Like what?”
“In time, child.” She steps back. “Go on inside, they’ve been waiting to have you home, but then everything happened with Maddoc and still it wasn’t right. You’re all here, now. Your man, and his brothers. Go, and try to love them like they love you.”
With that, she walks away, and I can’t help but wonder what the hell I’ve gotten myself into.
Or more, what the hell did my mom get me into?
The holidays passed in a blur. I was thankful when Christmas morning came and went without mention – seems the boys aren’t ones for celebrating either.
I did, however, find a brand new iPod and wireless earbuds sitting under my pillow that night. By the way Maddoc frowned at the items, I knew he wasn’t the one who left it. Then, when I pushed play and the first song that hit my ears was “Bad Bitch” by Bebe Rexha, I knew it was Royce.
I should have figured as much right away.
Maddoc would have tossed it at me and told me not to argue but accept, while Cap would have walked in and sat down, placing it in my hands, but Royce? He’s the silent little lover type who hides his underlying sweetness with dirty innuendoes and flat out raunchiness. And somehow it totally works for him.
Captain pulls his SUV into the parking lot at Weston High, not one of us moving to step out when he puts it in park.
Both boys shift in the front seats so they can meet Maddoc’s eyes.
“If he steps on the court tonight, freeze him out. He doesn’t touch our ball, I don’t give a fuck what the situation is or who tries to force otherwise. Collins Graven is no Wolf, he won’t be treated like one.”
They agree and the four of us step out right as a few other cars pull in, parking beside us.
Mac steps out of one with a couple other guys from their team, and Leo steps from the other.
He doesn’t spare me a glance, not even a glare, in fact, but moves to the guys for some bullshit bro-shake. He purposely positions himself between me and Captain.
“You missed a couple bangers, man,” Leo laughs, shifting a little more right so I’m at his back, now blocked from both Cap and Maddoc’s view. “Bunch of gymnasts and shit were in town for some showcase. Helluva time.”
Only Mac laughs, entertaining his fake news.
In the same second, Maddoc reaches around him and drags me forward, my shoulder knocking into the dickhead beside me as he does. He spins me around, pulling my ass against him, so I’m face to face with Leo with him now at my back.
Leo falters a second when he sees Maddoc’s possessive hands on my abdomen, frowning at his feet a moment when I lean into him even more, but he catches himself quick and takes a half step back.
“Anyway, yeah, man. It was a good time.” He quickly looks to them. “You guys ready to go in yet?”
Maddoc drops against the bumper of the SUV. “We’ve got some business first.”
Maddoc gives a sharp tone I wasn’t expecting, and I force a straight face when really I’m on the edge of a smirk.
Leo can’t hold it in, though, and his scowl is caught.
“You can go inside,” Maddoc adds, officially coloring me curious in the shift between boy and master.
Leo licks his lips, glancing from one Brayshaw to the next, and I doubt he realizes it, but there’s a hardness tethered in fear staring back.
He’s angry, but more, he’s a scared little bitch.
“Yeah, all right.” He looks to Mac.