She storms off, and he meets my stare a moment, unable to hide the way his lip curls just the slightest.

The twitch of Maddoc’s muscles has me thinking he caught it too. But I’m not looking to cause problems between friends. He’ll either get his shit straight or cause his own fall.

I don’t need Leo’s respect ... but I don’t want the Brayshaws at the expense of their boy. He was here before me, and he’ll be here after.

It’s only a matter of time before I’m sent back to my slums, it’s how the story always goes.

Girls from the gutter don’t belong at privileged cabins in the woods with ruling rich boys and pissy princesses.

I’ve got enough problems of my own, the last thing I need is to inherit theirs.

Yet here I sit, comfortable on the lap of the king, confident with his palm spread across my abdomen, and strong with his princes at our sides.

This is their world, and it seems I’m in the middle of it.

“We just gonna pretend we didn’t rock her world last night?”

Oh my God.

“Shut the fuck up, Royce.” Captain throws a chip at him and Maddoc shakes his head.

“What?” He shifts in the front seat to look at me.

I lift my hands, peeking at him through my fingers and he grins.

“I’m playing. But I did have to go fluff my ego last night after it took you ten fucking years to—”

“Bro, shut up.” Captain shakes his head.

“Fine, but for real, afraid of the dark, RaeRae?” His dark eyes widen. “Never saw that shit coming.”

“Anywaaaaay...” I playfully frown at him and he winks, turning back in his seat.

“Right. Yeah, we got what we were looking for, so thanks for that,” he says and then ... silence.

He offers no more, none of them do, so I sure as hell don’t ask.

I settle in my seat, trying not to let a sour taste take over. It’s dumb, because I have no right to feel left out. I’d have to be “in” for that to happen and right now I’m just ... hell, I have no clue what I am.

Fresh? Foreign? A toy? A—

Wait.

I swiftly cut my eyes to Maddoc, who lazily meets my gaze.

“What?” His stare bounces between mine and after a few seconds, his lips smash together.

I scoff, tipping my head back as a bitter laugh leaves me.

Ugh, stupid girl. You should have known.

“Raven—”

“Fuck you, big man.”

Royce’s head swivels around. I make sure my glare meets his questioning stare, then Captain’s in the mirror.

“Fuck all of you.”

The distraction.

That’s what this was. That’s why I was here, why they played friendly lately. The rides to school, the light share of information, a tiny glimpse into their world to make me comfortable.

I always knew comfort was for fools, the man who slipped under my covers after slipping out of my mom’s when I was twelve taught me that hard lesson.

They knew I’d roam, it’s who I am and what I do. They bet on my stumbling upon the Graven guys at some point. It’s why they didn’t give me the pre-warning or order or what the fuck ever, to stay away – like they did before.

Because this time, they needed me to be the pawn so they themselves had a reason to survey the setup. Bet they even counted on them moving their party into the designated bullshit Brayshaw zone so they could make their way to the cabin without being seen.

No fucking way could they have gotten in there if they were all partying right outside.

No fucking way would they have gotten in the house if I hadn’t made it happen.

“Raven.” Maddoc’s tone is demanding – a command to look his way.

I close my eyes and tip my head back on the seat.

His light growl and jerky movements have me wanting to scream, but I don’t.

I hold it in.

Tonight, when we get back, I’ll let it all out.

We don’t bother getting our bags out but head right into the house after we drop Raven off.

“She thinks we used her to get to Graven,” Royce states the obvious.

I nod, looking from him to Captain.

“Why didn’t you tell her that wasn’t true?” he barks.

“Why didn’t you?” I counter and his eyes narrow.

“Man, cut the shit. We all know she’s under your skin. That means you run the Raven show. All we can do is sit back and watch.”

“Fuck was I supposed to say?” I throw my arms out and he shakes his head.

“Tell her she was wrong, tell her we like her, tell her to cut the shit and admit she likes us too.”

“This won’t turn into some fucking four-way, brother,” I ease, and he scoffs.

“Not what the fuck I meant, and you know it!”

I sigh, dragging my hands down my face. “Fuck, man. I know. She makes me fucking crazy. She’s not gonna believe it just because I say it. She’s even more untrusting than we are.”

“Yeah well, she won’t even get to consider believing it if she doesn’t get to fuckin’ hear it.”

“We really sitting here pretending? We knew having her around would help with the Graven shit,” Captain spits. “Just because we started to like having her around don’t mean there wasn’t purpose behind it in the beginning.”

“Yeah, but—”

“There is no ‘but’ as far as she’s concerned. We did what she expected. She’s not mad at us. She’s mad at herself for thinking we wanted her there instead of needing her there.”

“What should we have done then?”

“Ask for her help instead of being sneaky about it.”

“She had no reason to say yes.”

“No reason to say no either.” Captain shrugs. “She’d have done it and you know it.”

Fuck if he isn’t right.

Royce drops onto the couch. “Go fix it, Madman.”

I nod, heading upstairs for a shower, knowing damn well what Royce said a minute ago is true, she’s under my fucking skin. Problem is I haven’t decided if I’m going to let her stay there or not. Or, if she even belongs. Either way, I wanna play with Raven Carver while I decide.

I take my time showering, then get my shit from the car and put it away. By the time I’m done, it’s finally past lights out at the home, so I head down the stairs, deciding to walk down the dirt road to the Bray house.

I’m almost at the edge of the trees when the smell of weed hits my nostrils.

I clench my teeth together, knowing what I’ll fucking find when I step past the trees. And sure as fuck, there she is with a dude who must not have gotten his ass lit up good enough, Bass Bishop. They’re leaning against the shed at the edge of the guys’ home.

He’s saying some shit that has her covering her hand to muffle that husky laugh of hers and I’m ready to throat punch him.

I told her ass what would happen if I saw her with him again. I wasn’t fucking playing.

A car pulls up at the curb and they head for it, but something has her glancing back.

She scans the trees so I take the two steps forward into the light.

Her eyes shoot wide and my chin lifts.