Brady Remington Landed Me in Jail(68)

"Why would they fight? Kid told me he knew. If Brady knew and Kid knew and Frank knew, why is everyone fighting?"

"I have no idea what any of this is about so you're in the dark with me," Clarissa snapped.

"Huh?" Why was she pissed?

"I'm pissed because it's the three of you in your little circle of secret trusts and I'm on the outside. I'm tired of it."

My mouth fell open. "Uh—?"

She continued her rant with her arms in the air, "I just, forget it. Forget it. I'm done. I'm done, okay?"

"Okay."

“Okay? You think it's okay?" Clarissa exploded and jerked forward in her seat to slam back against it. "It's not okay! This is not okay. I want to know what's going on."

When she pinned her beady eyes on me, I shrugged. "I have nothing. I'm worried about Brady."

"AHHHH!" Clarissa screamed and then started to mutter under her breath.

I didn't speak until we got closer to Highpoint Bridge. With Clarissa, I never knew what I was going to get. Her eyes took on a crazy look the closer we got, but I oly focused on Brady. I didn't know what had happened back there or if Frank was my father, but it didn't matter.

"There he is," Clarissa muttered. She peered straight ahead.

He was on the fence that separated the road from the steep incline. The dam was ahead. The sound of falling water was overwhelming when we got out of the car.

"Straight whiskey. Just what he likes when he's in a mood," Clarissa noted.

Brady glanced over his shoulder before he took a long drink from the bottle. "You better have a damn good reason for bringing her."

We stopped, frozen for a second. Then I opened my mouth. "Brady—"

"Not you," he interrupted. "Why'd you bring her, Clarissa? I don't want her here. I don't want either of you."

His rejection slammed me. My mouth closed with a snap.

Clarissa stumbled out, "Uh, she's, what's going on, Brady?"

"None of your business." He was so cold. "Just leave. There ain't anything here for either of you."

A third swallow.

Clarissa looked at me. I knew she wanted me to say something, do something, but I didn't know what. He was furious with me and I wasn't sure why. I'd never really seen him like this. I'd seen him livid, but never at me. It wasn't a good feeling. The fetal position in bed was starting to look tempting.

"Brady, I—" Clarissa stammered out.

"Leave!" he roared. Then he turned and threw his bottle at us.

Clarissa jumped and ducked out of the way and that's when my nervousness left. I knew that bottle wasn't going to hit us and it didn't. It sailed clear over our heads and shattered into pieces across the road. Brady would never hurt us, not physically.

A calm came over me. "I already know."

He flinched. That was enough for me. I stepped even further. "What happened at the hospital? Why'd you leave me at the jail?"

Clarissa said, "I just wanted, I came up here because I was worried. I brought her because you two are—"

"We are not anything!" he roared again and jumped off the fence to land in front of us. He moved like a cat, lean and fluid.

Clarissa stumbled backwards. "I was trying to help. I was worried and I wanted to help and she's usually the ticket. What's wrong with you?"

He wasn't going to listen to her. I moved between them. "What happened?"

Brady jerked as his hand tightened into a fist. Then he grabbed another bottle from his car.

"Brady," I murmured. "Please tell me. What happened?"

He shook his head and turned back to take a long drink. "Did you think I was going to jump? Is that why you guys came up here? I wanted to be alone."

"Kid was worried. I'm worried. Rayna's worried." Clarissa glanced at me.

"Rayna can't be worried!" Brady exploded. "She's the reason for all of this." Then he seethed at me, "You didn't think I wouldn't find out? How long did you know? Or a better question, how long did you know and not tell me? Has it been since we were together? The first time or the second? Obviously your grandmother knew. Did you think it was funny? Were you both laughing at me?"

"Ooh." Clarissa stepped back even further, almost to the other side of the road. "I should go. This is between you two. I should, yeah. I'm going to go."

Brady whipped his glare at her and taunted, "What, Clary? You don't want the gossip? You don't want all the sordid details? Can't handle the aftermath of what you do?"

She sent me a pleading look.

"You're just as bad. You've used me all my life. You like screwing the guy at the top. You like the power it gives you."

"Brady." Clarissa made soothing motions with her hands. "We're friends. We've been friends forever."

"Friends don't f**k each other." Brady looked at me.

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

"What are you saying?"

Brady looked at me like he could commit murder, but he didn't say anything more. He reminded me of his father at that moment.

I pressed again, "What are you saying?"