I take a few steps back, allowing her out of the doorway, but grip her upper arm before she’s fully free. “Don’t do anything stupid.”

“Like tempt you?” she throws back instantly.

“You could try.”

“Should I?”

Annoyance flares inside me, and she discreetly yanks free.

“I won’t play games, Captain. I did that for years because someone told me that was my purpose, and I’m not up for it anymore.”

My frown is instant. “What the fuck does that mean?”

She eyes me, but then shrugs and changes the subject. “I’m not going anywhere, so you’ll either come to understand who I am, or you won’t.”

“Who are you, Victoria Vega... Graven?”

Her lips smash together before a low chuckle leaves her. “Just a girl, capable of mistakes and living with regret like everyone else in the world, not that I regret all things I’d bet you want me to,” she says unapologetically, taking a small step away. “But I am human, no matter how much you try to convince yourself I’m a monster.”

“I don’t think you’re a monster,” I tell her. “But I know you’re a liar. I can’t trust you, and that is the issue.”

“Yet I’m sleeping down the hall, only feet away from the most precious thing in your world, and you’re allowing it. Demanded it even,” she calls me out, eyes bold and daring as she brings her body flush to mine. “Strange place for someone you can’t trust to be... don’t you think?”

My anger boils, a heavy tug stretching across my chest. “Don’t test me, Beauty.”

She steps back, flipping me off with both hands. “Wouldn’t dream of it, Beast.”

Raven’s light chuckle has my eyes flying over my shoulder and narrowing.

She gives a small smile, shrugging as Victoria walks away from me, and my eyes decide to follow.

This weekend was a bust.

Feelin’ out Jason was a waste, but that wasn’t the worst of it.

I tried to curb my appetite only to be forced to face what I was trying to deny—I only want her.

I could have at least fuckin’ hid it a little better, not let her in on my inner issues, but then a punk showed up and my possessiveness bared itself without permission.

If he thinks he can come in here and claim what he apparently believed to be his when he left, he’s wrong.

He can’t.

No one can.

Maybe not even me.

Chapter 10

Victoria

At the hood of the car, Raven scoots over, offering me a place beside her with a small, hard-fought grin.

This morning when I walked by during their little powwow, I had a moment of uncertainty—to run, quick and fast, or to pause, hide and listen.

In the end, I’m not dumb.

I’m more than aware eavesdropping doesn’t exist in a place like this.

If you’re standing back and trying to snoop, they know and say what they wish for you to hear. Between the four, there are no gaps to slip through, no holes left unfilled, and no way around.

I don’t want around.

I want inside.

It’s been ten days since Cap moved me in, caught me peeking on Zoey and caged me against the wall.

I kept myself locked away, hidden by some means as I could, but we all know my forced absence solved nothing.

The air surrounding us is more power charged than ever, the tension between us growing every day.

So far I’d say it’s in my favor, but that can change in an instant.

If Mike sticks around, it might.

I need to find him before he comes to find me, and I have no doubt he will.

I sigh, glancing around the parking lot, and back at the boys.

Today will be the most I’ve spent with them and Raven in months, and truth be told, I’ve been waiting for it.

Forming friendships I never meant to ended up being something I had no clue I was missing. Yes, lies were buried beneath the surface, but as a person, I was never fake.

The boys know and approve of all the stray teens they take into their group homes, and if you stay quiet they leave you alone, sometimes even offer jobs like helping out at the warehouses and things. That’s usually for the boys’ home, though, because the girls get catty, and let attention from them go to their heads.

For three years I was silent, invisible, nothing but one of the half dozen and ever-changing girls in the group home on the front edge of their property, and because they allowed me to be, but then winter came, and Raven showed up, and everything transformed overnight. Literally.

She gained their notice within minutes of her arrival, held it after hours, and only days later, couldn’t force them away no matter how hard she tried. And she tried like hell.

Like me, she didn’t want their attention, but it didn’t matter, and later everyone learned she was born to hold it.

Her arrival forced me to rethink everything, and that meant stepping from behind the shadows.

It was subtle, at first, but then she got jumped, and since I had been following her, I was the one there to stop it, which also meant I was the only one who could get her home, back to them... with the help of Mike.

I’ll never forget how Captain looked into my eyes with curiosity swimming in his own. Of course, there was anger there too, but still.

He saw me that night.

Demanded a response, and after it, he never stopped.

I’d catch him observing me, straight on or behind his shades.

He wasn’t shy about it, but the Brayshaws never are.

They see what they want, and they stop at nothing until they get it.

Raven told Chloe something not long after that and it had a positive effect on her. She later shared the conversation with me, and it’s been playing on repeat since they left me standing in the orchard the other day.

You don’t need a Brayshaw to become one. All you have to do is earn it.

That’s my goal.

I glance toward Captain standing not three feet away, eyes on me.

Before I had this group, I had nothing.

My time as part of their fold, while short-lived, was long enough for me to grow greedy and want more.

Becoming a Brayshaw isn’t enough, but it’s where I’ll start.

I’ll earn their trust, prove my loyalty, and earn my token of acceptance as they all have theirs.

After I’m one of them, truly and completely...

I’ll earn him, too.

Anyone who gets between me and what I want will be dealt with in true Bray fashion, because that’s who I am supposed to be. I feel it.

Captain Brayshaw is mine. Period.

He just doesn’t know it yet.

A slow, dangerous smirk crosses his lips right then, and the blue in his eyes flashes a deep, midnight ocean.

Or does he?

Suddenly, Royce is wrapping his arm around my neck, dragging me forward as our group begins to move.

“What—”

“Shut that pretty little mouth, VicVee. It’s all part of the process.”

I don’t think so.

I dig the heels of my combat boots into the pavement, and Royce jerks to a stop, his eyes slicing my way in warning, but I’m not backing down.

“I get it, you want me to fill the role of the new toy passed between the group, but that’s too bad.”