Brady Remington Landed Me in Jail (14 page)

He narrowed his piercing eyes and considered me a moment before he replied, monotone, "Trust me. You having a baby is the last thing on my mind."

"But then…why did you bring it up?"

He shrugged. "I only mention it because I know you're worried about it. I'm not really. I should be, but I'm not."

I opened my mouth, flabbergasted, and then shut it again. He was such a boy; of course he's not worried. He won't be having the nine-month sabbatical.

"And if anything happens, I won't leave you high and dry. You could shoot me and I'd still be knocking on the door with flowers." He stared at me, long and hard. "You're stuck with me, Rayray."

My knees melted and I almost slipped from the tube. Brady shot a hand out and steadied me. Then he leaned closer, an intimate look in his eyes. I held my breath and my eyes widened when he grew even closer till I felt his breath against my cheeks.

Then we heard Clarissa shriek from behind us, "Kid! You made it!"

Brady stiffened before he jerked his head up.

I almost fell forward, but caught myself this time. When I looked, Kid was frowning down at a drunken Clarissa. Josh stood behind him and both wore black swim trunks with a whiskey bottle in hand. Neither of them had towels or inner tubes. Josh stood an inch taller, but the familial genes were unmistakable with their dark brown eyes and soft pretty boy features. The only difference was Kid's jet black spiky hair.

"What the…?" Brady stopped short as he caught the look between Kid and Clarissa.

I scooted forward and grasped Brady's arm. Then I jumped on his back. The inner tube be damned. "She likes him. Let them be."

He grasped my arm, but didn't push me off. He just cradled my arm and stared back at them.

"Brady," I urged and clung tighter. "He's not here for me. She wants him."

"He wants you," he wrung out and dipped back down into the river. As the water swirled around my shoulders I wrapped both my legs around Brady's very chiseled waist. Then I placed my mouth near his ear. "I might be carrying your baby so focus on me. Leave them alone."

I felt the air leave Brady as he turned in my arms and legs. We were now face to face and he pulled me forward to tighten my legs around his waist. His hands found my own waist and he squeezed both sides. "Fine," he growled as his eyes lingered on my lips. "But don't expect me to be nice to him."

"He used to be your best friend."

"No, he never was. He's not you."

My eyes clung to his as I held onto him with every bit of strength in my body. When he stood in the air, two things exploded within me. One, I was pretty sure I was in love with Brady. And two…I'd just gotten my period.

It was an awful feeling when something other than water dripped between my legs. I pushed away from him and clasped my legs together. The water erased the feeling and I was tempted to ignore what had just happened.

"Rayna, what are you doing?"

"I—" I couldn't say it, but I had no idea what my plan was. I just needed to get away because I was going to die from embarrassment. If everyone else saw, but could they see? We were in a river.

"Hey, hey." Brady caught up and grabbed my shoulder. He stood closer, intimately close. "What's wrong? What just happened?"

I pressed my forehead to his chest. "I'm not pregnant."

"What?" Brady pulled my forehead away and looked down at me. "What did you just say?"

I couldn't look at him. "I'm not pregnant."

"Wh—huh? But you just said—"

"I got my period, Brady!" I whispered and then groaned as I pressed my forehead to his chest again. I wished to be anywhere except there, anywhere with tampons, no string bikinis, and no water. "I want to die."

When I felt his chest jerk, I thought it was from revulsion. Then when he choked back a snort, I jerked my eyes upwards. He wasn't disgusted. He was hysterical.

"This isn't funny!" I cried out. "Hey, stop it."

He shook his head and covered his mouth. Then he pressed it against my shoulder and tried to muffle his laughter. To no avail. "I'm sorry, Rayna. I am, but you got your period? You shouldn't be embarrassed. You should be relieved. You're not pregnant."

I grumbled, "That really tickles, you know. People are starting to look."

Brady swept me higher for a tighter hug.

"I thought you weren't too concerned about it."

"Are you delusional? Of course I was worried about it. I can't afford a kid. I just said that stuff to relax you. You looked like you could pop a champagne bottle open, you were wound so tight."

"Hey, lovebirds. I don't mean to interrupt the cozy twosome, but we might have something more pressing going on," Matt interrupted. When we looked up, he gestured behind.

Brady cursed when he saw Clarissa between Derek and Josh. She stood with a hand against both of their chests. Each looked fierce, but Josh was taller than Derek by an inch. Both boys were bristling and Kid was behind his cousin. He looked dazed and slightly embarrassed.

Then Clarissa glared at us. "Liddle helb, please?"

"Who the hell is that?"

"That's Kid's cousin." I frowned. "Josh. He was at the police station and he kissed me at that party. He's the one who called you a gorilla."

Brady cursed again. "Not him."

Matt waded beside us. "Derek Stout. He moved here two months ago."

"He's a douche.
That’s
why I don't know him."

"What do you want to do?" Matt crossed his arms over his Vikings chest.

"Why are they fighting?" Brady scratched at his jaw. His tribal tattoo seemed to jump out at me as his shoulders bunched in concentration.

"My guess, Clarissa."

"Remy! Brady!" Clarissa called out clearly this time. She fumed, "You're going to let them fight?"

Derek and Josh strained towards each other, but Clarissa seemed to have a firm hold on both.

"She's pretty strong," I noted. Her bicep muscles were showcased. They might've had an inch of fat on them. Barely.

Brady grumbled, "Why should we get in there and duke it out? That poser needs a beat down."

"Derek or Kid's cousin?" Matt asked.

"Both. I don't care."

Matt studied Brady's reserved face for a moment and remarked, "You're awfully upbeat and helpful."

Brady jerked a shrug. "I don't care. Why are you asking me?"

"Because you have beef with Kid and that's Kid's cousin. Plus, it's Clarissa. She's our friend. What do you want us to do? The guys want to wade in, but they don't want to piss you off."

Brady sighed and then yelled, "Clarissa, just let 'em go at it. Get out of the way."

Matt murmured, “ it’s Clarissa."

"That's her problem." Brady gave them a dismissing gesture. "What does she expect when she flirts with every guy around? Some guys don't know her game."

Matt repeated, “it’s Clarissa."

This time Brady groaned and jerked forward through the water. At his sudden approach, the guys jumped into action. Derek and Josh were quickly held back and Clarissa lost her balance. As she fell in the water, Derek yelled at Josh, "What do you care? She ain't yours."

"She ain't yours either!" Josh surged forward, but was held back. I had no idea who held them, but I knew they were Brady's friends as all of them looked at him when he stopped by the group.

Josh strained against his holders, but Derek stopped and watched Brady with a quizzical look. Kid had stepped around Josh so he was beside Clarissa, but while she watched him with a hopeful look, Kid watched Brady. When I saw a sudden jaw clench, I knew that Brady was extremely aware of Kid's focus. He didn't like it.

"Okay. What the hell happened?" Matt asked as he stepped around Brady.

Derek opened his mouth, but Josh cried out, "He's spineless. That's what he is. You don't disrespect women like that."

Derek asked, "Huh? What are you talking about?"

"You swiped her boob, man. You don't do that." Josh strained forward, but I caught the slight relief in his eyes. That's when I harrumphed. The fight was fake. Josh didn't want to fight Derek.

Brady opened his mouth.

The group fell silent.

And he pointed out, "You kissed Rayna at Barthal's. Did you respect her?"

Josh choked and Derek looked even more confused. One of the guys hooted under his breath, "Oh man. He's dead."

"Okay." Clarissa decided to intervene as she stood up. Water glistened down her toned body when she held out her arms again. "Derek did not disrespect me, Josh. He was hitting on me. I don't need you to come to my rescue, especially when it's not even real. You've wanted to fight someone since you came to town, but you're too scared to take on the real person you want to fight."

All eyes went to Brady and the air shifted. It went from entertaining to alarming.

I stood; my period could also be damned.

"Is that what you want?" Brady moved forward a step. "Do you want to fight me?"

Josh held his breath.

Kid froze too, but he waited.

Derek casted dumbfounded looks between the guys.

Clarissa shifted. "Okay, guys. I did not mean for you two to fight. We all know Remy's down for a fight, but since the law can't afford booking him one more time; I'm going to settle this. Brady, I like Kid. You got a problem with that?" As she said this, her eyes skirted towards mine.

"I don't care." Brady moved back a step.

"Wha—huh?"

"Why would I care if you have the hots for him?" Brady further clarified. "I just don't want him to have the hots for Rayna. She's my best friend."

Clarissa twisted her mouth into an ugly smile. "She's a bit more than that, don't you think?"

Brady narrowed his eyes. "Wanna say that again?"

I saw no hesitation when Clarissa narrowed her eyes back, crossed her arms, and stood firmly in her skimpy black bikini. "I know she's a bit more than your best friend. I'm not stupid."

"It doesn't matter what's between her and I. You should be grateful that you're still a friend of mine." Brady was tense as he moved forward again, one slow step. "Now, I'm going to be the friend I need to be for Rayna and I'm going to ask Kid for a ride out of here."

"What?" Clarissa's mouth dropped.

Everyone seemed startled.

I squirmed and clenched my legs tighter.

Brady ignored Kid's incredulous look and asked him, "You drove here, right?"

Kid jerked a nod.

"Can we get a ride? Rayna's place ain't far." Brady was polite and controlled…too much so.

"But…what? What about what I said?" Clarissa cried out.

Brady jerked a shrug. "I could care less. I don't have any idea what that stupid fight was about. I don't care. You have some notion that I'm supposed to care what you do with who. I don't. I don't think I need to spell it out anymore."

"What happened to us before? It's always been you and me on the party scene. I'm your girl those nights and now you start bringing her around?"

"Rayna's always been my best friend. This isn't new, Clarissa. We don't live in a big city. You've gone to school with her since first grade. I don't think I need to explain anything. And right now, she needs a ride out of here. We're leaving."

Clarissa jumped forward and clasped a hand on Kid's rigid arm. "I'm going too."

"What?"

"Hey now…" Derek said and moved forward. "I thought we could hang out? I thought you were into it?"

Josh announced, "She was using you to make my cousin jealous. She was doing
that
to make the King Gorilla jealous and now she's all huffy because it didn't work."

Derek turned towards him. "Why'd you care then?"

"I'm tired of everyone trying to play my cousin! And I'm starting to hate this town," Josh exploded. Then he stepped backwards and grabbed an inner tube. A second later, he sat down and pushed off with the current. "Give 'em a ride, Kid. I came to have fun and that's what I'm going to do from now on."

Kid watched as his cousin sailed away, but moved towards the bank. Resigned.

Brady watched him and stood very still.

I relaxed slightly when I saw the determination in Brady's eyes. I knew he was doing it for me and I hoped that he'd do his best not to start anything in the car. "Are you sure about this?"

Brady jerked a shoulder again. "It'll be fine."

I knew he wasn't sure, but I sighed when I felt another burst between my legs. When Brady touched my arm, I waded where Kid had already climbed up the bank and disappeared in the direction of his car. Clarissa darted ahead of us, but not before shooting a glare over her shoulder.

"I thought she liked me."

"Clary's not real good with girls, but she don't mean everything she just said. I think she actually does like you. She's just hurting right now."

Matt hurried over and asked, "Are you sure about this, Brady?"