“Who?” His dark eyes flash.

I shrug. “She didn’t know. All she said was he was asking questions and brought chocolate cake—” I freeze. “Holy shit.” I step toward Royce and his hands find my hips, bringing me into him. My brother glares and looks away from us.

“Coach Von. Royce, he used chocolate brownie as his way to get me and Taylor to take the Valium. The person who went to my house brought chocolate cake, and my aunt ended up in the hospital. It had to be this Leo guy.”

Captain looks from me to Royce. “The shit with Enoch, it didn’t start until you got to her, and doubled once she was here. Coach Von said he wasn’t the only one watching her, someone else wanted her. Maybe he was led to her.”

Bass whips around, his hands folding over his head. “Fuck!”

“What’d you do, Bishop?” Royce growls, releasing me and pushing me to the side.

“What’d I do? What the fuck did you do?! Look at my sister’s face!”

The arguing starts again, accusations flying around, and they get in each other’s faces again.

Captain slips between them, and now they’re all shoving.

“You guys!” They ignore me.

Nobody, however, can ignore the screech of brakes, a large cloud of dusk that flies up in the driveway as Mac whips around it.

His door is thrown open, and he jumps up on the side. “The courts at the school are on fire, alarm didn’t go off.”

“Fuck,” Royce snaps, cutting a warning glance at my brother before he runs forward.

I run with him and he whips around.

“No.” He stops me short.

I glare. “If you don’t let me in with you, I’ll get in my brother’s.”

Royce growls, wraps his arms around me and yanks me to him. “That’s low, baby. Real low.” He kisses me hard and quick. “Get in.”

Cap runs inside while we jam out of the parking lot and toward the school.

As we pull in, the smoke is easily spotted.

Royce jumps out, Mac with him, and then my brother whips in and hops out, too.

“Call the fire department.”

Both Bass and Mac shake their heads, and all at once, they move forward.

Royce pauses a few feet away. “Stay in the car.”

My brother throws a look over his shoulder that says the same damn thing, but it’s not for me.

It’s for the blonde in his front seat.

As soon as they’re out of sight, we both push our doors open and step out, staring up at the dark cloud of smoke coming from the back of the school.

She walks up beside me, turning to me with a smile.

“Brielle Bishop, in the flesh.” She flicks her eyes over me. “You don’t look like the helpless little lamb he’s made you out to be.”

I frown, my heart pounding, but I take deep breaths to settle it. “Not to be rude, but I don’t want to talk to you right now. I don’t even know who you are.”

The corner of her eyes crease slightly. “Really?”

That surprises her?

She faces forward. “Huh.” She nods, walks back to the car, and slips inside.

She puts her earbuds in and closes her eyes.

Well, okay then.

I run my hands through my hair, and walk to the side of Mac’s truck she can’t see, lean against it and take a breath.

What a day it’s been.

What a month it’s been.

I never intended for anything that has happened since I got here to happen, but I can’t say I’m upset over any of it, because it led me to something I couldn’t imagine if I tried.

With that said, I hate that I yelled at my brother like I did. I made him feel like shit and that’s not what I wanted, but I need him to understand what I found here—more than I ever dreamed of.

Friends, a life, a lover.

Purpose.

I had none of those things before this place and I couldn’t leave it behind, even if Royce wasn’t part of the equation. He is, thank god, but if he wasn’t, I’d still want to stay for me.

I need my brother to be happy for me because his support means so much to me. I love him and I know all his backlash is coming from the same place, his love for me.

A car rolls up behind Mac’s, the front red bumper showing itself first. Slowly, I step out to look inside it.

I breathe a sigh of relief when August pushes the door open and stands at the edge of it. “August, hey.”

He grins. “How’s it going, Bishop?”

I smile, but it freezes.

Bishop?

I never told him my last name.

Now that I think about it, this isn’t the first time he called me that. Last time I saw him, when he was suddenly at the curb while I was walking, he said it too.

When he offered me a ride and I...

Holy shit.

The ‘chocolate treats’ from his front seat, he had said they were for a friend.

A certain coach, I’m betting?

I take a step backward and he steps with me.

The sun catches the light of something golden, and I look to the necklace around his neck.

A lion.

I force my voice calm. “Let me guess, your zodiac sign?”

He smirks, his eyes tightening. “King of the jungle.”

Flashes of the blood in my brother’s smashed-up car fly through my brain.

August is the longest month of the lion. Of fire.

Of the Leo.

Our eyes meet, and for the first time, I see the malicious hint behind his, one I’m not supposed to notice and pretend I don’t.

I grin and he chuckles, dark and deviously.

Shit.

Chapter 35

Royce

Mac tosses the fire extinguisher to the side, and we step back, eyeing the pile of half-burnt trash in the middle of the asphalt, each net still up in flames around the rims, not a hint of fucking sparks anywhere near the buildings or anything else that could possibly catch on fire.

“This is almost worse than if the school was on fire,” Mac says after a moment.

“It’s a slap in the fucking face.” I sigh, looking to Bass.

Mac clasps his hand on my shoulder as he walks by. “I’m gonna go check the back fence, just in case.”

I nod, not looking away from Bishop.

He’s moved a few feet down, the panic offset once we got here and shit was still standing—he was always a solid one to ride regardless of where we were going. Regardless of his urge to bury me alive, he was still all the fuck in.

The bastard’s Brayshaw at heart, even if he is out after his own empire now.

He stands there, rubbing at the back of his neck while staring up at the stars. He’s thinking of Brielle, I’d bet, and he’s fucked in the head, not knowing what to do. Wanting to do what’s right, no doubt, but the answer ain’t as clear as he expected it to be.

“Talk to the man, brother. Lay it out. Let him see.”

My ribs constrict, my features pulling. “See what, brother?”

Cap grips my arm, whips me around and locks his hands on my shoulders. “You think Phoenix won’t need proof of what’s inside someone when Zoey gives her heart away? You think he won’t burn the house down to find it?”

My stomach heats, my pulse kicking and a small grin forms. “Come on, Cap. He’s a Brayshaw. He’ll have the world up in flames.”