“It gets crazier.” I stand and grab my jeans off the floor, digging into the pocket.
I toss the crunched-up paper at her.
She eyes it, then slowly starts to shake her head.
“Just open it.”
“Tell me what it is, I don’t need to see it.”
“Stop being such a pussy,” I snap. “You won’t believe it unless you see it.”
Her eyes narrow. “Try me.”
“Apparently my mom is Brayshaw by blood.”
Her jaw drops but nothing comes out.
My brows lift. “Told you.”
She opens the envelope.
“We should go up there.” I look between my brothers.
“We should not go up there.” Cap frowns.
“We should go up there ... naked.” Royce grins drunkenly.
The three of us laugh, falling back against our seats.
The second we do, Victoria comes down the stairs, slowing when she spots the three of us laid out on the furniture, eyes on her.
“What’s she doing?” Royce asks.
“Waiting for me,” she tells him, walking straight over to where we are.
She picks up our half-empty bottle and moves back for the stairs.
“That’s it, we get no love?” Royce laughs, and Cap smacks him. “You at least want the shot glasses?”
“Nope!” she shouts just before she’s out of view.
“We just got jacked?” I look to my brothers. “We really gonna let that happen?”
Cap and Royce both give goofy ass grins then we’re stumbling to our feet and charging up the steps. Once at the landing, we pause, and Cap reaches back so Royce doesn’t fall back down.
Victoria laughs at us and rolls her hand out with a smirk. “She knew you’d be right behind.”
I glare and step past her, finding Raven sitting up against her headboard, pajamas, wet hair, and all.
“Come, take your spot, Big Man.” She pats the seat beside her.
Royce rushes past me jumping on the bed first and she laughs, shoving him away.
He smiles and kisses her temple, then moves to sit against the wall.
Victoria takes Raven’s left side while I take the right, and Cap sits in the chair near the window.
Raven pulls out the iPod Royce bought her and sets it on the little doc I moved in here for her, letting music blare through the speaker.
We pass the bottle around until it’s gone, no shot glasses needed.
Fuck of a Monday.
Raven’s alarm goes off and my eyes peel open, spotting everyone still sitting in the same positions as last night.
One by one, they groan and stretch, their eyes slowly opening.
Raven grunts, dropping her head to my shoulder. “For the first time, I wish I’d listened to you and shut the damn curtains,” she whines. “Fuck the sun.”
I grin, pulling her tighter against me and she peeks up, smiling.
“Hey, Big Man.”
“Hey, baby.” I lower to kiss her, but Victoria’s fake gag has my glare jumping up.
Royce and Cap chuckle lightly and I look to them, moving Raven off me.
“Come on, we have to leave in thirty.”
“Thirty,” Royce whines. “What? It takes longer than that to look this good.”
Cap rolls his eyes. “You know Raven sets her alarm for the latest time possible.”
“Just enough time to wash my face, brush my teeth, and get dressed,” she mumbles into her pillow, pulling the blanket over her head. “No need for anything else.”
Cap winks at me, nodding his head. “Well, we could stop for coffee—”
“I’m up!” She throws the comforter back, throwing herself up.
“That’s what I thought,” he teases, walking from the room.
I wait, looking to Victoria who stands and slips her shoes on.
“I’m leaving right now,” she says, not looking up, but sensing eyes on her.
Raven kicks me, and I glare.
No.
She lifts a brow.
I give her a look that says you owe me, baby and she winks.
“Victoria, you can ride—”
“I said I’m leaving.” She stands, grabs her jacket and nods at Raven, before slipping past me. I follow her to the front and lock the door behind her.
It takes us twenty minutes of throwing ourselves together to get out the door.
Raven’s hair is dripping wet and I’m pretty sure she’s wearing Royce’s sweats and my hoodie, but she doesn’t give a fuck.
She steals Cap’s glasses off his head and slips them on, dropping against the seat.
Cap stops on the way, and everyone gets their usual, but Raven hardly touches her maple bar, instead passing it up to Royce, and we head for school.
Not until the engine is killed and we’re sitting in the parking lot does Raven starts talking, acknowledging what we learned for the first time. “Some people will know. They’ll have heard from the warehouses.”
“They’ll be too afraid to spread the word too loud,” Royce tells her.
“Who told you?” I ask Raven. “Was it our dad?”
The corner of her lip tips up slightly, and she shakes her head no. “Same person who told you, I’m betting.”
“Oh shit,” Royce whispers, while Cap spins in his seat.
“Donley came to you.” I glare, growling, “When?”
“After the game.”
I pull the glasses from her head and she hesitates before lifting her eyes to mine. Her stare hardens, but she keeps them locked firmly on mine, and my nerves are triggered.
She wigged the fuck out last night, went off the wall...
“Raven, what the fuck happened?”
“I feel like shit and this conversation won’t be a quick one.”
“Baby.”
One of her hands slips into mine while she uses the other to guide my face closer.
“Be right back,” Cap suddenly announces, and so Royce follows him out.
Raven keeps her stare on me and her eyes gloss over, but she blinks it away just as quick.
Was she about to fucking cry?
“I’m good, Big Man. We’ll talk tonight, I promise.”
“No. And stop fucking telling me you’re good. I need to know now.” I glare, unable to hold it in. “Did he hurt you? Did he fucking touch you?”
She gives a sad smile. “There was nothing sexual about his visit,” she says and my head snaps back.
“The fuck does that mean?”
“Vienna helped him. She tricked me, got me outside and drugged me.”
“You fucking kidding me?” He pushes forward in his seat, shifting to look at me. “And you didn’t fill us in on this shit last night?”