On the Record (Record #2)(109)

Clay opened his mouth to respond when the bedroom door swung open again. “Clay, Mom just asked me to . . .” Savannah trailed off as she took in what she saw. “What is this? What’s going on?”

Brady growled under his breath and then dropped his arm. He wasn’t going to do this shit in front of Savannah. He had gotten his point across to Clay. That was going to have to do. Clay wasn’t stupid. He had been trying to do all of this shit behind Brady’s back. He wasn’t going to blatantly go against Brady once it went public. Clay didn’t like to be in the papers. He had to stay out of them if he wanted to be the attorney general one day.

“Nothing, Savi,” Brady said, dusting off his hands on his pants and striding across the room. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Don’t tell me not to worry about it. You had him against the wall. Why are you guys fighting? Why are you always fighting?” Savannah asked. “And where have you been?”

“I had to get away. I’ll tell you about it later,” Brady said. He walked toward the door and was almost out of the room before Clay spoke up.

“That’s it! You’re just going to leave it at that. Not even going to tell your precious little sister what a terrible guy you really are?” Clay spat.

Brady sighed and stopped in the doorway. Great. He had riled Clay up. He should have just beaten the shit out of him. Then his brother wouldn’t have had any comebacks.

“Clay, don’t be an ass,” Savannah said, rolling her eyes.

“Me? He’s the one who was banging a UNC student ten years younger than him, and thought he would get away with it. Everyone thinks he’s so innocent.”

“What?” Savannah breathed.

“You have no idea what you’re talking about, Clay.”

“Play innocent. Prodigal son and all that. You f**ked up. Now own it!”

“Brady, what is he talking about? All of that stuff about the UNC student was made up. You’d never . . . You’re not that kind of guy.” She tried to laugh but cut it off. “Wrong brother. Right?”

“Oh Jesus Christ, you too?” Clay cried, throwing his hands up.

Brady sighed and faced Savannah. “It’s true. I was with a UNC student two summers ago before you were even there. She’s not ten years younger. She’s seven. It wasn’t an affair. We weren’t with other people. It’s not all the media is making it out to be.”

“Wow.” Savannah’s mouth hung open. “Is she still at UNC?”

“I was going to wait to talk about it with everyone,” Brady said simply.

Clay started laughing. “You believe he’s actually going to tell everyone everything, Savi?”

“Leave him alone. He’s had a rough week!” Savannah said.

“Defend him like normal. She’s a reporter,” Clay announced. “Got your attention now?”

“What?” Savannah reached out and smacked Brady’s arm. “Are you stupid? Don’t you know that’s rule one in bad politics? It’s like . . . fraternizing with the enemy!”

“Savi, you’re going to be a reporter,” Brady reminded her.

“I’m different. Who is it? What reporter could possibly interest you?” Savannah demanded.

God, this was not how he had wanted this conversation to go. He knew Liz and Savannah were friends. Good enough friends that she brought her along to dinner with their parents. He could only imagine how this was going to go down. He kind of felt obligated to be the one to tell Savannah, since she was his little sister, but Liz was her friend. He wished Liz were with him.

“Before you punch me, please remember this was before you knew her,” Brady warned.

Savannah planted her hands on her sides. “Brady Jefferson,” she said, narrowing her eyes. “Do I even want to know?”

“It’s Liz,” he blurted out.

Savannah’s mouth dropped open and her hands dropped to her sides. “Liz? Like Liz Dougherty, the editor-in-chief at the UNC newspaper? Like the Liz I brought to dinner that one time? My Liz?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, what, you’re not going to beat her up because she claims your girlfriend?” Clay grumbled across the room.

“She didn’t try to sleep with her!” Brady shot back.

“Girlfriend? Liz is your girlfriend?” Savannah’s eyes were wide as if she couldn’t seem to process what he was saying.

“Well, yeah.” Brady shrugged. What else was he going to say? He was going to have to have this conversation one way or another. He just hoped Savannah would understand. No way around it. He wasn’t giving Liz up just because Savi was uncomfortable.

Savannah wrinkled her nose. “Gross. One of my best friends slept with my brother. I am so going to have words with her! She was the first person I talked to when I found out, and she didn’t even tell me that you were sleeping together. And,” Savannah gasped, “Hayden . . . were you together when . . . ?”

Brady’s eyes turned molten at that name. He couldn’t even think about Hayden without wanting to put his fist through Hayden’s face and tear him apart limb from limb.

“No. He is so far out of the picture. He didn’t find out any of it happened—no one did, until the week before the article released.”