Bad Boy Brody(45)

“Brody.” Jen started to reach for my arm.

“Don’t fucking touch me, Jen. This isn’t your fight right now.”

“He’s my fiancé.” She began to reach for me again.

I twisted to her, letting her see how deadly serious I was. When her eyes met mine, reading my intent, she gulped.

Finn started fighting again, his arms and legs trying to hit me.

I relaxed my hold again and shifted my stance so his fists only grazed my arm. His legs couldn’t reach me.

“Are you going to cooperate?”

I waited.

His eyes were wild, the need for violence surging to the surface. He wouldn’t, but I relaxed my hold and stepped back.

He’d have to try, but if he did, I would teach him. Again.

He rushed me, but I ducked and stepped to the side. As he ran past me, he swung an arm wide to try to hit me. I moved back in, wrapped an arm around his arm, and shoved him against the wall. He went face forward, and instead of holding his throat captive, I had his arm. He was paralyzed. The only thing he could move was his mouth, and he grated out, “I’m going to sue your ass. You’re off this movie. My father will—”

I applied pressure on his arm, and he bit out a primal scream as the bone popped out of joint.

“Oh my God, Brody.” Jen was behind me again, beginning to cry. “Please stop. Please.”

“You won’t sue me.” My voice was calm. “You won’t fire me. If I go, so does Morgan.”

Panic flashed in his eyes.

“And you know it. So”—I leaned in again and lowered my voice, almost so I was soothing him—“are you going to talk this time? I can do this all night long if I have to, but trust me when I say I’ll learn how your brother found out about us. I’ll do it with or without you. You and I can be enemies, or I can just be your brother’s enemy.”

I held his arm until I saw some of his panic fading. He was starting to relax.

I stepped back. Another chance.

He pushed off the wall and swung wide. I hadn’t been expecting that, and his fist caught me on the cheek, but I scrambled. I wasn’t seeing stars, but it was a good solid hit. Acting on years of instinct, I went to the floor in a roll, getting right back to my feet when I was out of his reach. He was storming toward me, a vein sticking out from his neck.

Jen started to jump between us again. Both of us barked out, “Don’t!”

She went back to the sidelines.

I braced myself, saw his hand clench into a fist.

I had my arms up, blocking his punch, but he wasn’t stupid. I saw him feign, and his other hand came up in an upper cut. I moved my arms down instead, hitting his leg and using the momentum to bounce back and smack him in the face.

It disoriented him. It was a hard slap, but it gave me enough time to twist around and get him into a headlock. I just had to squeeze. My legs were tight. He could only beat at my forearm, but my muscles were tight. His hands weren’t doing much damage, and I looked around, making sure he couldn’t grab a knife or utensil to impale me with.

We were a little too close to a fork. I pulled him with me, closer to the front door, and applied pressure again. I wouldn’t kill him, but he’d go unconscious.

“Now, we can go this way. You can fall asleep, and I’ll search this house without your permission. I’ll start with your brother’s office, where I’m certain there’s other items in there you won’t want me to find.”

“There isn’t—”

“There’s always something you don’t want to be found. I don’t want that. I want to know how your brother knew about Morgan. That’s all.”

I already knew. We didn’t walk around the estate, only the land. Morgan was the one to slip in and out of my cabin. Abby could’ve said she overheard us, but that was a big fucking leap to go from one conversation to us being together.

There were only two ways. Either he had the cabin bugged or he had cameras on it.

My contract said privacy, so both were cause for a lawsuit.

I wanted Finn to admit it. I wanted one other person to say it, and I knew Jen would back it up. I glanced at her, gauging whether she would lie for her fiancé if he asked.

I wasn’t sure. Before tonight, I would’ve said no, but the terror on her face was genuine. She got a glimpse into the old Brody that I didn’t like to visit.

Our odd friendship was over. I saw that.

I squeezed tighter around his neck. “I mean it, Finn. This isn’t a pissing match between your brother and me. I’m protecting Morgan. If he has something on me from this week, he might have something on her. We were together, together.”

“Fine,” ripped from him.

He was still struggling.

“Stop fighting.”

He went slack, and I let him go. He fell to the floor, and I bounced back on my heels, ready for him to come at me again.

He didn’t. He only looked up at me from the floor, his chest heaving as he rubbed the red mark on his neck. “He said he installed videos to watch the outside of your cabin. That’s all.”

I was right. I knew I would be.

“I want to see the footage.”

He started to shake his head. I said again, “I’ll find it without you, if that’s what you want.” I took a step toward him, dropping my voice, “But I will find that footage.”