“Right fucking now.”

Cap and Royce move for his SUV

I climb in mine, and Bass slides in the passenger seat.

My heartbeat hammers against my ribs – the fucking cabin.

Shit.

Captain leads down the road, but I hit the gas, swerving on to the wrong side of the street to pass.

Bass grips the handle above his head, his glare snapping my way briefly.

Captain shakes his head as I fly by him – I know that’s why he wanted to lead.

But this is my girl we’re going after.

“Where we going?” Bass asks.

“Shut the fuck up, Bishop.” I glance both ways, zooming through the red light before the cars have a chance to cross, looking in my rearview mirror when Captain honks his horn. He throws his hands up, letting them come down to smack against his wheel.

My phone rings in the next second, but I don’t fish it from my pocket. I already know he’s gonna ask me to pull over and wait.

He’s fucking trippin’, I couldn’t calm myself if I tried, and I’m not even gonna attempt to.

Raven is the most stubborn fucking girl I’ve ever known.

She’s venom in the water. Not the snake itself, but the fatal liquid that floats across the top. No matter where you step, if even twenty feet away, she’s finding her way inside.

She’s in me.

She’s in my brothers.

And she’s in the prick next to me. Why else would he feel the need to warn her, a girl he hardly fucking knows, when he’s been working for us the last year?

Our dad had his file sent over the second one of his men got word of what was going on in his home. Turned out his dad beat his ass, put him in the hospital for the last time, all for defending his little sister. Our dad always got wind of these situations before whatever county these kids come from did.

Pick of the fucked-up litter.

We caught up with him before they could.

He liked what we offered, but he didn’t want his sister involved in anything illegal now that she had a chance to be free of her parents.

They had an aunt that wanted her, but she couldn’t afford any after-school and summer programs for her and she worked for a living, so we took care of it. She was sent out of state for a better life and he moved into the Bray house. Worked for us since.

“What’s Collins got to do with this?” Bass asks, his voice a little tight when we’re finally racing across the bridge.

“You fucked up, Bishop. You’ll be lucky if we don’t ruin you for it.”

I blast the radio so I don’t have to hear his voice anymore.

Song’s pretty fucking fitting and I grow more antsy.

We’re getting close, so fucking close and my pulse starts to drum in my ears. My blood is pumping, flowing straight into my muscles and making me shake if my grip on the wheel tells me anything.

I can’t even feel my fucking body right now, I’m so amped. I feel nauseous but empty and ready to go.

I cut the corner sharp and the tires skid. I drive right up into the fucking grass, clipping his parked piece of shit Lexus. Throwing the door open with the engine still running, I barrel my way inside the fucking house in one fucking run.

Raven’s shriek hits my ears and I rush around the entryway, into the living room where she stands shocked as shit, and wide a-fucking-wake.

Her stare hits mine and instantly becomes overwhelmed with emotions, her body visibly sagging in the same second.

She knows I’m here for her.

I spin and quickly jump over the table before Collins even has a chance to run his fucking mouth.

The screech of tires sound behind me, but I don’t look away.

I grab him by the throat, lift and dip his ass back down on the glass top table beside him.

He groans and there’s blood coming from somewhere, but I don’t care.

I draw my fist back and smash him across his fucking face.

His arms shoot up, one pushing on my jaw, the other, coming across for a weak shot to my cheekbone.

My head doesn’t even move – I feel fucking nothing.

Collins tries to lift his legs, an attempt to wrap me up, but I sprawl across his body, so he can’t get a grip, and drop my elbow into his nose.

There’s blood everywhere now, his eyes hardly open, both almost swollen shut.

“Maddoc!” Raven shouts.

“Come on let’s get you—”

I grunt, pushing up quickly and slicing my eyes to Bishop. “Get the fuck away from her!”

I spin back around when Collins starts to roll, but I tuck my hand under his throat and flip him back on his back.

“You think you can put hands on her? And more than once?” I punch him in the ribs. “Corner her in a fucking bathroom?” Left side of his jaw. “Fucking blackmail?!” Right side and he spits, his chest bouncing beneath me.

“Fuck you,” he wheezes, and I head-butt him, sending his eyes rolling back

And I lay into him. Over and over and over again.

Until he can’t fight back.

Until he stops trying.

Even after his body grows limp.

I don’t remember stopping, but suddenly I blink and I’m being dragged across the grass, Raven pushing on my chest, Captain gripping my right arm, Royce at my left, and then I’m in the passenger seat of my own vehicle.

Bishop is driving, Raven is on my lap and my brother’s taillights are visible in front of us.

The low whine of an ambulance rings in the distance.

A soft, warm hand slides up my chest, and I look to the contact.

My shirt is ripped, my skin exposed, the imprint of her tiny fingers blended into the blood splattered across my chest.

I look up into her eyes.

Glossy grey.

She nods, her fingers spanning out against me and my eyes close in an adrenaline crash.

My girl.

With shaky hands, I move my freshly showered hair from my face and take the mug from Captain when he holds it out for me, his eyes focused on anything and everything ... but me.

I know what I did to him and I can’t take it back.

I had one of his most precious of secrets at my disposal, and for a minute there, I’m sure he thought I’d use it against him. I misused the trust I forced him to give me, that he had only recently relinquished on his own.

I did this to all of them.

For a few short days that felt like a lifetime in my own head, I placed fear and anger in the first people who ever seemed to care enough to look past my forever flaws and unbreakable stupidity.

I’m a perpetual fuck up. I know this.

I warned them of this.

My mother did a number on me and it seems I’m not the only one who will have to deal with the aftermath.

I go to cradle the drink in my lap, but Captain finally looks at me, but only for a second to deliver his glare. “Drink it, Raven, you’re shaking. I put some chamomile in there to calm your nerves.”

I nod and bring it to my lips, blowing lightly before taking a small sip.

Maddoc still hasn’t come down yet and we’re all waiting around not saying but thinking the same damn think – this is all my fucking fault.

He climbed out of the car and went straight for his room to rinse off, so I slipped into the hall shower quickly.

Royce tosses his phone onto the coffee table and it continues to vibrate against the wood.

Cap sighs. “One of us is going to need to answer.”