Brady Remington Landed Me in Jail

When my phone rang at three thirty in the morning, I croaked, "Brady?"

A husky laugh was on the other end. Not Brady.

"I was calling you, sweetcheeks, to see if he was there."

I sat up and rubbed my eyes. I must've still been asleep because I could've sworn that Clarissa had called me. Clarissa Cumberly had never called me in my life.

"What?" I rested against the headboard behind me. It felt cool to the touch and I looked to my side. My window had been left open and a breeze wafted through the curtains. That's when I realized that I was still in my clothes; I had collapsed in bed after breakfast.

That'd been in the morning. It wasn't morning anymore. Moonlight filtered into my room. It sent a soft glow into my room. I looked in the mirror and my eyes popped out at the nest on top of my head. As I patted at it, my eyes shifted to the left and my bed moved at the same time. Gasping, I dropped the phone and started to lurch out of bed. Before I could, Brady flipped on his stomach and threw an arm to land on my lap…Brady was still in bed with me.

When my heart rate slowed again, I looked at the clock and saw it was four minutes after midnight. I must've assumed it was three in the morning. Which still begged the question—why was Clarissa calling me? More importantly, why was Brady still in bed with me? I poked at him and then jumped when I heard a voice in the covers. I fumbled through the blankets and grabbed my phone again.

"…Rayna!"

"Uh…?" Brady grunted and rolled onto his back. He raked a hand through his hair before he opened his eyes and stared at me. A glaze of drowsiness was evident.

"Rayna…Rayna…" Clarissa's voice was muffled against my hand.

I stared, frozen, as he squinted and then looked at the phone before he took it from me. "Cumberly?"

"Brady!"

She sounded sexy. I had a nest on my head.

Brady pushed up from the bed and scooted next to me.

When I heard him laugh in return, I couldn't take it. I scrambled from the bed, grabbed a robe, and ducked into the hallway. Turning into the bathroom, I saw my grandparent's door was closed and their sounds of snoring blasted through it. Relieved, I stepped underneath the shower spray.

When I got out of the shower, I saw that the bathroom fan hadn't worked well. The mirror was still steamed, so my reflection was fuzzy, but after I wiped a small patch away, I saw that I didn't look that ridiculous, not as bad as I had in my room. My hair was normally a blondish brown, but it looked really dark when it was wet. The ends just teased the tops of my shoulders. As I tucked my hair behind my ears, I leaned closer and inspected the rest of my face.

Viola always talked about how pretty my eyes were. They were dark brown, but I knew it was my eyelashes she praised. They were long and naturally curved to frame my eyes. I got my eyelashes from my mother…wherever she was. Then there were my big lips. I got those from my dad. I must've because my mother had thin lips.

Once I overheard Brady talking about a girl's lips. He said they were "come screw me lips." The other guy had laughed, but when I rounded the corner both of them had stared in horror. I never figured out who they'd been talking about, but as I leaned closer I wondered if I had those lips. Maybe. Was that why IT had happened? Or was Brady just hurting and needed comfort? Did he choose me because I was there, convenient?

For whatever his reason was, we had sex. I wasn't a virgin anymore. My reason…I sucked in my breath. I didn't want to think about that.

I touched my throat and wondered…did I look different? Had my grandmother noticed and chosen not to say anything? Did Brady think of me differently?

I didn't really feel different, though a little sore.

Knock, knock.

I jumped, but managed to stifle a quick scream. I should've figured that Brady would get impatient, or maybe I woke up my grandparents.

I took one last breath, raked my fingers through my hair, and pulled my robe tight before I opened the door. Brady straightened from the doorframe and whispered, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Why?" I whispered back.

He shrugged and went into my bedroom. I followed, but not before I heard two different sets of snores.

"What'd Clarissa want?" When I went in I pretended to look through my closet. I had no idea what I was looking for; I just needed something to do with my back to him. I couldn't look, but I felt his gaze on my back. Then the bed dipped under his weight as he sat down. I peeked over my shoulder and saw he was glaring at me. He had placed his hands back and was resting on his arms, but he was staring right at me.

"What?" I held something against my body, but I had no idea what it was.

"You're freaking out."

"I'm not freaking out."

"You are. You totally are." He nodded again, as if it made perfect sense to him.

"Don't do that! Stop!" But I felt my arms start to shake and then my entire body. I was suddenly cold, really cold.