Fallen Crest Public(112)

“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because my brother really wants to hurt you.” He downed his shot and filled it again. “No, he wants to hurt whoever Mason Kade cares about. Good thing that bitch has been all over him this weekend. Budd thinks it’s her that he cares about, but it’s not. Is it? It’s you. He almost drove over my brother when he found out you were hurt. I was too stunned. I almost let it happen. Shit.”
Mason almost drove over Budd? I couldn’t think about that. Grabbing my shot glass, I pushed it to him. “One more.”
He grinned, but his eyes were hungry. They were angry.
I didn’t care. I was starting to relax. He wasn’t going to hurt me. He said it and I was beginning to trust him. “You’re not going to tell your brother?”
“No.” He set the bottle down. It landed with a thud and he held onto it for a second. His head hung down.
I waited.
The moment grew tense suddenly.
Then he lifted his head again; his eyes were so haunted. “I’m going to let my brother do what he wants to. I know what Kade’s doing with that whore that hurt you. It’s f*cking genius. It’s cold, too.”
He pinned me down with his gaze. I glanced away. For some reason, I didn’t want to see what he was thinking.
“You don’t know, do you?” He tone softened. “Or you don’t want to know.”
I swallowed over a knot. It felt like glue, and it wouldn’t go away.
“That’s it. You don’t want to know.”
“Why do you care?” I snapped at him. I was stretched too thin. My need to keep control was beginning to unravel. “Why do you even give a damn?”
“Because of you.”
I stopped. There was that raw honesty again, and I felt ashamed. “Why?”
“Because you don’t deserve what Budd’s going to do to that girl. That’s why.”
“You’re lying to your brother. You’re lying about Mason. I’m supposed to believe you’re doing it for me? You asked me out once. You don’t know me.”
He let out a deep breath. His hand gripped the bottle tighter, and he shrugged, but he wouldn’t look me in the eyes anymore. His went back down. “I know two things. I can’t stop my brother. He’s obsessed with hurting Kade’s girlfriend, and he won’t stop until he does. The other thing I know is that it can’t be you. You’re a good person. There aren’t many around anymore.”
Then I damned us both. “Thanks.”
He looked up now and our gazes locked.
“But you’re wrong,” I said. “I’m starting to figure it out.”
“Don’t,” he rushed out. “Stop thinking and go back home. You’ll be safer, and the regret won’t eat at you then.”
I shook my head. “You’re too late.” It was rising in me, and it was going to eat at my soul. I felt the darkness closing in.
“Brett!” someone called from the hallway. “They’re here.”
“Yeah.”
The door opened. I expected more of his friends, and I waited. They’d come in, or he would tell them to leave. I wasn’t expecting to hear my name in a gasp. “Sam!”
I whipped around. Heather was frozen in place. Her mouth hung open, and her eyes were wide, but they darted past my shoulder and grew in size. Channing came around her. He was less surprised and waved at me. Then he nodded to Brett. “Thanks, man.”
“Sam,” Heather choked out again. She jerked out of her frozen state. “You’re okay?”
Brett was behind me so I couldn’t see him, but I heard a small growl come from him.
Channing laughed and urged Heather back out the door. “Thanks for letting us know. We’ll take it from here.”