Brady Remington Landed Me in Jail(69)

Still nothing.

I couldn't look away from him. He was about to say something neither of us could take back. I wasn't going to let that happen. No matter how angry, for whatever reason, he wasn't going to throw us away. No chance in hell so I demanded this time, "What. Are. You. Saying?"

He opened his mouth, but again no sound came out.

"Say it!" I screamed this time. "You're not going to do this to us, to me. You're not going to make me go away, so stop it. I'm never going to want to not see you again so stop trying to make me."

I forgot about Clarissa. I didn't care what she overheard.

"Brady, tell me what happened. You're going to have to. At the end of the day, it's you and me. Always you and me and you know it."

"Always you and me?" He gave me a crooked, mocking smile as he drank from the bottle again. One swallow. Two. Three. He didn't stop until half the bottle was gone. "Is that what you thought when you f**ked me? Or when you thought I was your brother?"

Clarissa gasped.

"How's that for irony, Rayna? Do you get off on incest?"

"I'm…going to leave…," Clarissa muttered.

A second later her car was gone.

A shiver crossed my skin. My heart was racing, but that was normal now. "You knew Frank Stephens was your dad?"

"So did you!" Brady accused.

His words hurt me, but I pushed past it. This wasn't about who was right, who hurt worse. "How long have you known?"

"How long have you known?" he countered.

"For two days. They've been the worst two days I've ever experienced."

Brady looked away.

"It wasn't until Viola threw that fit when she found out about us. I realized more was going on. It didn't make sense to me why she was acting how she was unless, god forbid, we couldn't be together. Once I had that thought, things clicked in place. She always hated Frank Stephens. I didn't know who my dad was, we didn't know who your parents were and I guessed that Viola knew more than she admitted so I asked her whose father was Frank Stephens, yours or mine. It was a long shot, but I was right."

"And?"

My arm twitched. As I felt a softening from Brady, my entire body wanted to launch myself in his arms. "She doesn't know who my father is, but she knew he was yours. She's known since you were a baby."

He took another two swigs from the bottle. "She's known all my life? She's been lying to me all my life?"

"Brady," I started, but did he really want to hear this? It was so painful.

"I have to know all of it, Rayna. I'm tired of these secrets."

If the tables were turned, I'd want to know. So I told him everything. I didn't stop until I got to the part where Kid had confided in me.

Brady nodded. "Kid told me he knew at the hospital. I went there to ask Frank about your mom. You said at the jail that he and your mom knew each other. It makes sense. Your mom doesn't have the best reputation and he's a manwhore. I couldn't handle not knowing if you were my sister. I didn't care what hornet's nest I was going to stir up. I didn't care."

He did what I was too scared to.

"I couldn't handle the other option."

Some tears fell down my cheek. "I'm pretty sure he's not my dad. He was talking about someone else. A lot of it was gibberish, but that was the gist of it."

Brady sighed. "He's not your dad. Your dad is his old partner, Domitri Charisteaus. I think he just died or something. Frank was spewing a lot of crazy, but he said something about a funeral.'"

"He hates my mom now."

Brady nodded. "My dad's a psychopath."

Agreed. "Why are you mad at me?"

Brady ran a brisk hand through his wet hair and shook his head. "Because I thought you knew this whole time. I was hurt. I thought you weren't ever going to tell me and you were just going to let me look like a fool, running after you. That's how I felt today at your school. I felt like an idiot, coming after you, and you didn't have the time of day for me."

"I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to deal." I felt less of a person. All I wanted to do was run away and I had hurt Brady because of it. "I'm sorry for not saying anything."

"You needed time to figure things out. I see that now. I should've figured that out when Frank told me you knew. I was so furious. I felt like you didn't care about me."

"God, no. The opposite." I wiped at some more tears.

"I get that now. I do." He looked at his bottle and sighed. "The thought of you playing me like a fool messed me up."

I bit my lip.

He finished the bottle and went to sit on the fence once more. This time I wasn't scared to sit beside him. I was a little fearful to take his hand, though my own was itching for it. Brady added, "I know I just flipped out thinking you were keeping a secret from me, but this is where I grovel for your forgiveness. I've known about my dad for three years."

The tattoo.

I traced it with my fingertips. "Is that when you got this?"

He flexed his bicep and the tattoo moved under my touch. "I was hurt and pissed. I wanted something permanent to show that I didn't care. I'm sorry for never telling you."