Brady Remington Landed Me in Jail(59)

And then Kid answered quietly, "Florida."

My mom. His dad. Florida. She was back. At that moment, I was barely aware of anything. Then a door slammed and someone pounded on my window. Everything was spinning around me now.

It couldn't be. There was no way. She was back…

I blinked back the darkness. I was about to faint and I didn't want that. I couldn't go away when so much was within my grasp. Then my door opened and I started to fall backwards.

"Rayna!"

I was caught by someone.

"What the hell, Kid? Clary?"

"We didn't do it. She freaked out on her own."

"What'd you say to her?"

Kid's voice was far away. "Nothing. She just found out her mom's at my house."

"Are you kidding me?"

"Brady?" There he was. He was holding me and then he looked down. I felt him brush my hair back from my forehead. "Rayna, it's okay. Whatever's wrong, it's okay."

Was it? I had no idea, but I stayed there for a moment and relished the feel of his arms. It felt so right to be in them again. When I looked up again and saw the concern there, I knew he loved me. I saw it for real for the first time. It was there, underneath the surface he always shows to everyone. I saw how he loved me and I choked up. How could we have wasted so much time? Then again, we still didn't know…I took one more breath, closed my eyes as Brady swept a hand down the side of my face and then pushed away.

I reeled for a second. Everything felt right when I was in his arms.

"My mother is here."

Brady pulled me out of the car. As the others followed he wrapped his arms around my waist.

Clarissa explained, "I thought maybe that was why you and Rayna fought today."

"You saw her mother?"

"Brady." I didn't want him to say anything more. I didn't fully trust Clarissa.

"She hasn't seen her mother in six years, Clarissa! Goddamn it. Think sometimes," Brady snapped while he cradled me against his chest.

"I didn't know. I just wanted to help her."

"Brady, that's not fair. She doesn't know Rayna's history. No one really knows it."

"I do and you should've come to me before you cornered her." Then he turned his back to them and whispered in my ear, "You want to go there?"

My body had grown numb, but I needed to see her. I needed to know.

"Okay. Okay, we'll go there." With his hands on my hips, he steered me to his passenger door. I huddled against the door until he got in on the other side. Then he scooped an arm around my waist and pulled me over the divider, pressed against his side. He kissed my forehead. "I told 'em not to follow us. You need your time alone with her."

I rested my forehead against his shoulder as he pulled onto the highway.

"It'll be okay." Brady found my hand with his.

"I hope so." I hoped so much.

"I know that you haven't really talked much about your mom. You've said before that you didn't want to have a relationship with her, but she's here. That's something. If my mom was in town, even for a day, I'd be happy to get any time I could with her."

Brady had never talked about his parents. He'd always said he was happy with foster parents that didn't kick him out. But now, I heard something else.

"Do you think about your mom?"

"What kid doesn't?" He jerked a shoulder up.

"Do you think of her a lot?"

He shrugged again. "I mean…yeah. Obviously, you do. Your mom's in town. You can talk to her; maybe learn some things from her. I don't know. Yeah. I think about my mom."

"What do you think about? Do you like her? Do you want to like her?"

Brady studied me before he replied, "She's a part of me. She gave birth to me. I…" He hesitated.

Why was he hesitating? Why was he choosing his words so carefully?

"I know my mother's name, but I don't know her. I've talked to her only a few times and most of those was when she asked for Viola on the phone. She's never come around except once for Christmas." I felt something wet on my cheeks. Why was I always crying? "Do you ever feel like you're watching life and you're not actually in it?"

Brady laughed. "Only when some guy rushes me. I check out for a second and then I'm right in. I'm all in."

"No, I mean, I don't know what I mean."

He slowed the car and replied, "That just tells me that you can't feel what you're feeling because it's painful. Like it's almost too painful for you to handle right now, but it'll click off when you can handle it. I know it. And," he took a deep breath. "We're here."

I saw Kid's old house. It looked like the same mansion from when we were kids, but smaller. The two pillars in front of the door weren't as large, but still grand. They looked like massive guards, there to intimidate trespassers.

"You ready?" Brady asked.

No.

I nodded.

He got out first and then the front door opened to emit a business man. He was dressed in a three-piece suit with a briefcase. When he looked at us, I knew his blue eyes reeled in most women, but they weren't close to how beautiful Brady's were. No one's were.