Brady Remington Landed Me in Jail

"I said no, Brady. It's my problem. I can handle it."

"You just slapped the guy." Brady glared at Joshua.

Joshua rubbed at his jaw, but his eyes darted between us.

"Contrary to what you're thinking, I meant all of that as a compliment." Joshua stood straighter, but he scanned him up and down.

Brady stepped closer. "You got a problem with me?"

Joshua smirked, waited, and then chuckled. "Yeah, I do."

Brady's hand jerked within mine, but I held tight and pulled him back. When he didn't move, I threw my entire body backwards. It hurt, but it worked. Brady jerked with me. I stumbled and was about to fall, but Brady wrapped an arm around my waist and held me against his chest. Then he glared at Joshua again. "You don't need to talk to her again."

"I don't think you have the right to tell me that I can't talk to her. In fact, I don't even know why you're over here. Our conversation had nothing to do with you."

Brady was quiet for a moment. My head fell forward on his bare chest and I watched his taunt stomach muscles breathe in and out, but then I heard, "I have all the right I need. She's my girlfriend."

"What?" I pushed myself away.

Brady ignored me.

His hands reached out to encircle my wrists and I closed my mouth. His fingers slid down and entwined with my own and twirled me around. He wrapped our arms around my front, with my back to his chest, then propped his chin on my shoulder and smiled. "You can leave without a beating. I don't give this opportunity to the other guys who hit on my girlfriend. You're only getting it once."

I bit back a groan, but waited as Joshua took in the sight of us. Brady was the only person who felt comfortable touching me—or I should say that he was the only one I wanted to touch me.

His eyes jerked to mine before he headed towards the cars.

"Can I be the first to congratulate the happy couple?" Clarissa had sauntered up to us.

Brady laughed and kept me in place when I tried to step out of his arms. He moved his chin to my other shoulder and smiled widely. "You could. I don't think that guy was too happy to hear that I was off the market."

Just like that. It was a flip of a switch and broiling Brady had reverted to his old joking self.

I shook my head and sighed.

"What's the matter, Ray?" Brady asked in my ear. His voice tickled me and I couldn't stop a shiver. "Are you cold?" He wrapped our arms tighter, bringing me closer against him. "I was being cool about it, wasn't I?"

Clarissa watched the two of us.

"What do you mean?" I turned my head to the side and tilted my eyes to meet his.

"You know, what I said before—I didn't actually mean it."

Wait—he didn't want me to loosen up and sleep with guys? Really? I rolled my eyes. "What do you expect of me? I'm supposed to read your mind?"

"Yeah." It made perfect sense to him. "That's what best friends do."

I shook my head. "Come off it, Brady. You told me to loosen up. Now you're saying that you didn't mean it."

"Well, I just said that because—" He sputtered to a halt, remembering Clarissa's presence. "We can talk about that later."

"I'm sure we will."

"So…" Clarissa's eyes lingered on our enjoined hands. "It looked like you were enjoying yourself, Rayna. Until you slapped him, I mean. What's up with that?"

"Nothing," I said primly. "He just said some stuff that I didn't like hearing."

"About what? Or who?" Her eyes sparked at the 'who'. Something told me that Clarissa knew exactly who we had been talking about. And when her eyes snapped to measure Brady for a moment, I knew I was right.

"About me." I was different. I didn't fit in with this crowd, but what infuriated me was that he had put Brady in one group and me in another. He said I didn't belong with him. Maybe he was right. Maybe I wasn't experienced or sophisticated like Clarissa, but I had something going for me that Joshua or Clarissa couldn't take away.

Brady was my best friend.

I repeated that statement to myself. It was true. He was my best friend, not Clarissa's. Joshua was wrong. I did belong; at least I belonged with Brady.

Brady might've sensed my inner turmoil, or maybe he did that 'best friend mind reading' thing, because he turned me around and started to move us beyond the trees. "What's wrong, Ray?"

"Nothing." I gritted my teeth and hoped he'd let it go.

He didn't when he turned me in his arms, gripped my shoulders, and forced me against a tree trunk. The bark bit into my skin, but I didn't feel it. My eyes were entranced with his as his bore down on me. "Don't lie to me, Ray. What's wrong?"

"Nothing." I slapped his hands away.

Brady grinned as he caught my wrists with his, but I wrenched them free. When he tried to capture them again, I slapped away his hands—and Brady slapped mine away instead. Before long, his deep laugh came out and I was grinning when I dodged one of his playful slaps. It wasn't long before he wrapped his arms around me, squashed my hands between our chests, and rocked back and forth in a soothing motion.