Break Me (Brayshaw, #5)

by Meagan Brandy

“Help me fly, ‘cause this lost boy is on his way down, baby girl...” He quiets, his hold tightening.

Those tingles, they turn into fireworks. He’s on his way down... He’s falling.

Royce Brayshaw has the ability to feed my soul... or feast on it. And me? I must be as sick as my mother was... because I’m pretty sure I’d let him do both.

I step back, smiling at the girl in the mirror, and unexpected moisture fills my eyes, because for the first time, the girl who smiles back? I believe her.

I grin, nodding. “She calls you Uncle Bro?” His smile grows wide at that, a softness in his eyes that’s new to me. It’s calm and gentle. I’d like to see it more often. “Maddoc’s Uncle D, I’m Uncle Bro, RaeRae is... well, RaeRae.” He chuckles. “She picked up on my nickname for Raven and it stuck.”

“That girl right there.” He speaks of Victoria. “She’s the reason Zoey was born.” I expect him to stop there, but Captain opens himself up a little more. “It doesn’t matter what she calls her, what that little girl feels is the love of a mother. Victoria is her mother, in every way that counts, and more.” Captain looks my way.

“These boys, they’re so much the same, but Royce...” She trails off. “You love him.” She nods. “I love all three, but I love them differently. My relationship with each one is spades away from the other, but at the end of the day I would die for them the same. And then they’d hate me for it.”

All at once, the boys come out of their state of shock, each shouting the same exact thing at the same exact moment. “Holy shit! The fuckin’ baby!” And then Maddoc passes out.

He whips around and Raven lifts a brow, reaching for him. He rushes to her, his knuckles finding her chin. “Snow?” “You ready for this, Big Man?” she rasps, and fuck me, my brother’s grin. I’ve never seen a thing like it.

Captain walks closer to Raven, placing a hand on her belly. She looks up at him with a smile. “You okay, Cap?” He nods, staring at her stomach. “You don’t have to stay inside if it’s too much,” she tells him what he already knows, and likely knowing his response before it even comes. He shakes his head, not once moving his focus from her belly. “I didn’t get to be a part of all this with Zo, I’m not missing any of this.”

This is the last time it will ever be just the two of them. Raven and Maddoc. What a fucking feeling that must be. A legit part of him is coming to change our world once again.

“Wait.” Victoria comes out of nowhere. “You’re leaving?” Brielle’s lips tip up slightly and she nods. “I think I should, yeah.” “You should stay. I could use your help.” She steps closer, a low laugh leaving her. “Who knows what will happen here when Raven gets farther into this and the unkillable pain kicks in. I’ll need all hands on deck. Zoey likes you. Royce trusts you.” She nods. “Stay.” Royce trusts you.

The baby’s heart rate is dropping, and Raven needs an emergency C-section, one that Maddoc can’t be in for because there was no time to prep. To say I was surprised when he didn’t scream and yell and get his way is an understatement, but he let her go like a man, forced to trust the doctors to do right by his entire fucking world. The nurse realized we planned to stand right outside the doors she was wheeled through the entire time, so it didn’t take long for her to have three chairs moved in front of it. So here we sit, together, silently screaming as fear begins to tug at our hearts and minds.

A bed is pushed through, Raven sitting up inside of it, a little cocoon-like blanket gently tucked tight in her arms, a pillow beneath it, Maddoc at her side. Something comes over me, settles into me. Never in my life have I seen that look on my brother’s face and I can’t even explain it. It’s as if for the first time, he’s whole. Complete.

Raven’s eyes come to mine. “So, tell us, Uncle Bro. Was the sonogram right?” I step closer, staring down at the perfect little baby in her arms, and choke back the emotion threatening to escape. I pull a second stuffed wolf from the box and lay it against her arm. She inhales a choppy breath and I lean down, kissing her temple. I breathe through a smile. “Yeah, it was right,” I whisper, holding her eyes. “You did good, RaeRae. He’s perfect.”

Zoey leans over, officially making each and every one of us lose our damn cool when she whispers to her baby cousin for the very first time, “I love you, best friend. So, so much.”