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?”

“It gets worse—”

“Worse?!” he cuts me off with a shout.

“He had a doctor with him.” She pauses a moment before saying, “He needed to know if I was a virgin.”

“The fuck—”

The door flies open, interrupting us, and a wide-eyed Royce pops his head in before she has a chance to respond. “Cap’s ‘bout to wail on Perkins!”

“Shit!”

We both rush from the vehicle, running behind Royce until we spot them.

Mac and Jason, another teammate of ours, are blocking the halls, making sure nobody gets through, nodding as we rush into the student body office where Captain has Perkins against the wall.

Raven darts forward, but I grip her by the hood and hold her back.

“You think you’re so fucking smart, but you flipped your cards one by one without even knowing it, you piece of fucking shit.”

“Get your hands off me,” Perkins growls.

Captain slams him against the pegboard and it smacks them both in the head as it falls to the floor.

They’re about the same build, same height, but Cap is stronger, not that Perkins is fighting back.

“What are you gonna do if I don’t, huh? Threaten my baby girl again?” he spits in his face and Perkins’ jaw ticks. “Because I’m done with it. One more fucking thing and I’ll break your jaw, then every rib, one by fucking one.” Captain starts shaking.

“I’m helping you!” Perkins insists, and my eyes slice to meet Royce’s.

“By hiding my fucking kid?!” Cap bellows in his face. “By working with Graven? And I found your fucking card last night, motherfucker. Did you send Donley after her?”

“Captain,” I snap, needing to know what the fuck is going on, but he only grows angrier, no sign of letting up to be found.

I let Raven go, and knowing what to do, like she always does, she steps closer. “Cap,” she says softly, and just the sound of her voice is enough for him.

He freezes, his eyes cutting over his shoulder and zooming right in on her.

Perkins frowns, his stare bouncing between Raven and Captain before flying to me.

My eyes tighten at the concern in his.

He’s troubled to see the effect she has on Cap? Why?

Captain drops his chin to his neck and jerks away from Perkins, but just as quick he spins, nailing him clear across the jaw, sending him flying to the floor. He follows and gets in a few more solid punches before we pull him off, and not once does Perkins try and fight back.

Captain yanks free, his hand dripping with Perkins’ blood. He walks from the office and we follow him to the empty locker room.