“Honestly?” I ask, my face scrunching. “Probably not but try me.”

He chuckles and looks my way. With a deep sigh, he shifts on the bed to face me.

“Why did Perkins call you into his office?”

“That’s what you wanna know?”

“Come on ...”

“Easy.” I shrug. “He wants me to leave Brayshaw.”

“He say that?”

“Painted a real pretty picture for me.”

Captain nods with a frown, but it’s not for me. “Yet here you are.”

“I’ve got my own crayons, packman.”

He studies me. “You don’t trust him.”

“You don’t trust him. Neither does Royce, Maddoc. How am I supposed to?”

His eyes soften the longer he stares and then he looks away. But something’s plaguing him.

“Pretty sure he thinks the longer I’m here, the tighter we’ll get and he doesn’t want that,” I tell him.

“He thinks you’ll make us stronger.” His eyes bounce between mine. “He’s right. You will. You are.”

I look away. “I’m just ... the girl living across the hall, Cap. And who knows how long that’ll last.”

He scoots closer. “That’s not true and you know it. You fit. And Maddoc—”

“Is like a puzzle missing key pieces.”

“Yeah.” He nods. “Think there’s a perfect five six, hourglass cut out that needs filling.”

“Ha! Funny guy.”

Cap laughs lightly, dropping back on his bed, so I move to lay my head near his.

“You want the exact details, Cap?”

He’s quiet a moment and then his head shakes against his comforter. “Is it a one-time offer?”

“No. When you’re ready, we’ll talk.”

“And you’ll still be here?”

I nod for his sake, knowing it could be a lie.

“Why aren’t you asking me questions, Raven? Why you willing to tell me what I wanna know without answers?”

“I don’t play eye for an eye.”

He takes a deep breath, and his hand finds mine on the comforter. He gives me a light squeeze before pulling away and sadness fills me.

For him and whatever he’s going through.

These boys are ... more than I was ready for.

We both look to the door when the rattle of a doorknob catches our attention, but it is open, so we stifle our laughter as we watch Maddoc at mine. When he opens it and walks in to find it empty, he frowns and glances off ... right inside Cap’s room.

He freezes when he spots us, and we start cracking up.

He gets a look at his brother. “You good, man?”

Cap nods and Maddoc looks to me, concern lining his brow.

I glance at Cap and he winks. He’ll tell him all about it later if he doesn’t already know, so I smooth it over for the time being. “We ... decided to watch a movie and veg tonight. Anything we can maybe pop in the microwave?”

Maddoc runs a hand over his mouth, nodding. “Lemme go figure something out. We’ll meet you guys in the media room.” He looks to his brother again before walking off.

Maddoc ends up frying some burgers quickly and we pair it with chips and salsa, also homemade – another thing to thank Maybell for, I’m sure.

Once everyone’s done, I offer to collect the plates and run downstairs for snacks to give the three a few minutes to talk in case they need to.

With everyone's shit in hand, I snag the blanket off my bed on the way back.

I pass everyone their stuff, then drop beside Maddoc.

“Ew, get your nasty ass feet off me,” I laugh, shoving Royce away.

“I have socks on!” he defends.

“So, feet nasty.”

“Not mine, look at these babies?” He wiggles his toes and I cringe.

“You’ve got some big ass feet.”

“And a big ass dick.”

I laugh, rolling my eyes and Maddoc throws a pillow at him.

He reaches in his bowl, then cuts me a glance my way.

I wink, turning back to the screen. I sneak my hand into his bowl and stuff my mouth.

Cheese on popcorn isn’t half bad.

Everyone is standing, biting at their fingernails as the final seconds on the clock tick by. The boys are up by one, but the other team has the ball and there’s still seven seconds on the clock – seven seconds is a lifetime in basketball.

The play gets down the court and Maddoc goes on the attack, but the one with the ball throws an elbow and he’s jarred to the side, an angry growl leaving him, but he starts running after the guy in the next second.

The guy rounds the court, hopping up to attempt a shot, but Royce flies up behind him, his vertical jump a little better, his reach a little longer, and he smacks the ball away. The final buzzer sounds and the crowd grows wild, celebrating yet another win for the Wolves.

But I keep my eyes locked on Maddoc who shoves his face in the guy who fouled him and didn’t get called on it. Their foreheads are touching and Maddoc drives him back with his.

The guy doesn’t want none. He takes it.

Maddoc gives him a hard shove and he flies back into his teammates. They don’t dare step closer.

In fact, they hold their hands out to shake his in apology, but he gives them his back.

Some might call it bad sportsmanship, but they did him dirty first.

They don’t deserve his hand.

With a grin, I make my way out of the gym to wait for them to get cleaned up.

Fifteen minutes or so pass and almost all the cars are out of the lot when a blue Jeep pulls up in front of me. The window rolls down revealing Collins and a few of his Graven buddies.

“Rae. How you doin’?”

“What are you doing here?”

“Like that now, huh?” He attempts a grin but his tone is laced with malice.

I scoff. “What, you thought different?”

“Still mad about that little incident?” He smirks like a dick.

I ignore him.

“That’s a damn shame, Raven. Damn shame.” The window rolls up slowly and they take off.

Not a minute later Royce’s loud ass is yelling behind me.

I spin around with a grin.

Running full speed at me, he swiftly dips down and lifts me up. “How’d you like that ending, RaeRae?” He drops me to my feet just as quick, planting a sweaty kiss to my cheek.

I laugh and look to Captain who has his phone to his ear, he smiles my way then goes back to his conversation.

Maddoc steps right in front of me.

“Good game.” When he doesn’t say anything, I tease, “You waiting for a reward for all your hard work, big man?”

He pushes against me now, so my head has to fall back on the hood in order to look him in the eye. His hands find my hips and slowly slide up the curve of my waist to my ribs – something he seems to love doing. Those full lips of his tip up in satisfaction when a shiver runs through me. He knew it was coming. He was waiting for it. “That all it takes to get those lips on mine, a good game on the court?”

“Hmm.” I try to grin, but my body’s so heated it only holds for a few seconds. He knows it, senses it, and his tongue runs along his bottom lip. “Only one way to find out.”