Brady Remington Landed Me in Jail(57)

"Are you okay?"

"I…I don't know."

Brady wasn't going to change his mind now.

Slowly, I turned and pushed open the library doors. They closed behind me with a soft swoosh, but I didn't hear them. I didn't hear anyone or notice anything. I slid numbly into a seat and sat there for the next hour, staring straight ahead.

When I heard the bell ring, I got up and went somewhere else. I sat there until the next bell rang. Sometime later I found myself in the hallway with books clutched against my chest. I stared blankly into an empty hallway. Some part of my brain knew the bell had rung again, but I wasn't sure how long ago it was. I didn't know what time it was.

"Rayna?"

Kid stood there in a black polo shirt over trendy sport shorts. He raked a hand through his brown locks. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Why?" I tried for normal. Maybe he'd buy it.

He frowned and scratched at his jaw. "Because you're standing in the middle of the hallway and school's done."

"Oh."

"Everyone's gone." He tilted his head to the side and studied me further. "And I mean everyone, like…I even think the janitor is gone. What's up with you?"

What was up with me? Wasn't that the question of my life? I lied with forced cheerfulness, "It's the last day of school. Can you believe it, Kid? I'm done here. I'm done…" with so much more.

Kid cursed and jerked me towards the parking lot. "What is wrong with you? You look like a zombie, like you're in a coma or something. What happened?"

I mumbled, "I don't remember you being so bossy."

After he pushed me into his car, Kid grumbled when he got in on his own side, "You're right. Brady's the a-hole of us. I'm the nice guy, but you're driving me crazy. You're both driving me crazy. I can't take this anymore!"

That's when I started crying.

"Oh god…," Kid groaned. "I don't know what to say now. Come on, Ray. Stop. Don't cry."

I cried harder and folded my head into my hands.

"Seriously." Kid cursed. "I'm screwing this up right now. I don't know what to say to you anymore. Is this about Brady? The school?"

"Not helping," I hiccupped between sobs.

Kid swore again as he fell back against his seat. "You're too much Brady's. I just…you were still Rayna from before. I knew you, but now there's too much Brady over you. I don't know what to say to you anymore. I used to know. What would he say?"

What would Brady say? He'd say screw whoever was the problem.

"Hell," Kid sighed as he held onto the steering wheel. "Brady would say something like 'forget them' or worse. I can't do that, Rayna. I don't know what the problem is. Should I call Brady?"

I started sobbing again.

"Stop crying! Please!"

I hiccupped and wiped the snot from my nose. Then I looked at Kid probably for the first real time since he brought me to his car. I saw some sort of struggle within him. And I was tired of the lies. I'd just started lying, but I was already done with it. So I asked, "If you knew you had a brother, what would you do?"

I listened with every part of my soul.

He drew a breath in. "I would…I don't know. Maybe that's my problem."

From the fear in his voice, I saw a Kid that I'd never seen before. He'd always been so larger than life before. Confident. Charming. Good looking. Smart. He'd been smooth when Brady had been rough. Kid had known what to say when Brady chose to fight, but then things changed. Brady became smart. He started to know what to say while Kid had started to flounder. Still, Kid always had his composure, but not now. This time I saw a little boy sitting beside me, uncertain.

Then I risked it. "I know that Brady is your brother."

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."