Brady Remington Landed Me in Jail

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

Kid stared at me and then his body slumped down. "Finally."

"Finally?" I croaked.

"Finally someone else knows."

"You knew?" Now so much made sense. I sat up straight. "Is that why you came back? Is this what you two were fighting about before?" And much more importantly, did Brady already know?

Dazed, Kid shook his head. "No. I mean, yes. I came back because I found out Brady was my brother, but no, Brady doesn't know. I don't know what he'd do if he did."

"I'm confused."

Kid faced me. "Brady thinks I came back to be with you. It's why we fought that first time. It's mostly my fault. I always knew he was in love with you. I meant to come back here to tell him about our dad, but when I saw him that night, I got so angry. He's like my father in some ways and I wanted to hurt him."

"Why would you do that? It's not Brady's fault that your dad is a whore," I snapped.

Kid commented, "I am aware of that. Thank you, Rayna. I went to that party, but I didn't know if I'd see Brady or not. I had every intention of finding him the next day, but there he was. When he saw me, I knew he was pissed. He was threatened because the last time he saw me, I told him that I wanted to take you out on a date. Brady doesn't forget anything. He's like a woman that way. I wanted to hurt my father, but my dad wasn't in front of me. Brady was. So…" He took a deep breath. "I might have said some things to push him over the edge."

"What did you say?" I was on the edge of my seat. Literally.

"I'm stupid."

"Kid!"

"I asked him if you were still single because you were pretty easy on the eyes before. Then I might've said something about how easy you could be in bed."

My hand flew up and I slapped him. Then I thought about it some more and slapped him again.

Kid cupped his cheek. "I deserved that and I realize Brady would've pounded me even if he wasn't in love with you."

"You're the ass**le. Not Brady," I seethed and folded my arms over my chest. "I thought you were the good guy. I thought you were always so nice. You disappointed me. You just reminded me that you're male."

Kid chuckled. "You make that sound like an insult."

"It is," I snapped. "I cannot believe you. You were always the smart one. You were the one who did the right thing even when you didn't want to. Then you said those awful things about me? I don't even care that they're not true. I don't care that you said them about me because they don't hurt me. They hurt Brady. They hurt him."

"That's what I wanted."

"Congratulations. Your father hurt you, so you hurt someone else. Way to think only about yourself. I am so tired of everyone thinking about themselves. No one thinks about the rest of us, the ones who are the secrets. Don't you think that our lives are going to be affected too? That we're going to be hurt just as much, probably more so? No. No one thinks of us."

He relented, "I didn't think about Brady. You're right. My dad kept this other kid a secret from me. Do you know what that's like? To find out that you have a brother? Or that your own father had been lying to you all your life?"

"No," I replied dryly. "I have no idea what that's like."

He continued without pausing, "I knew my dad was a liar and a cheat, but I didn't think he treated me like them. I was his son. I thought he loved me. And he's probably got more kids out there."

"Newsflash: your dad isn't nice."

He stiffened next to me. "I get you're mad, but back off a little. He's still my father. And he hasn't had it so easy lately. He just got back from a funeral."

"So you can gripe and complain about him, but I can't? Another newsflash: his other son is my best friend. I can say whatever I want. I don't know who died. He seems to only care about himself and be damned with everyone else, including his children…" My heart was thundering so loud, it was deafening. I knew I had to calm down. Kid had no idea about my situation. Then I realized that I was doing what he had done. I was hurting so I wanted to hurt someone else. "I am so sorry, Kid. You're right. I can't say anything. Your father is still your father. I apologize."

Kid scooted over a little. "Sometimes, you're odd. This is one of those days. And it was my dad's old business partner died. It sounds weird, but he respected the guy."

It had been an odd day, an odd week. And I was suddenly exhausted. As I wiped a tear away, I asked, "Can you give me a ride home? My grandfather gave me a ride in today."

Kid nodded. "Is this really about me hurting Brady? Is that why you're kinda off today or is there something else wrong? You're not you, not completely."

"It's the last day of school. I didn't get much sleep last night." I knew I was becoming a good liar when Kid didn't question me anymore. He patted my hand this time.