Saving Brad (The Kennedy Boys Book 5)

by Siobhan Davis

  They all nod. Now that’s decided, I turn and face the door, hammering on it with my fists. “Open up, Brady. I know you’re in there, hiding like the sniveling coward you are.”

  The door swings open. Grant and Fisher block the doorway, shielding the douche from sight. “Think this through, man,” Fisher says, eyeing my clenched fists. “He didn’t know she was yours, and it didn’t go very far. He’ll apologize to your girl tomorrow.”

  I don’t bother correcting him. Whether she is or isn’t my girl is beside the point. He has no right to treat any girl like that. If she was wasted, he should’ve known she was incapable of making a rational decision.

  “I never fucking agreed to that!” Brady exclaims from behind.

  Grant turns around. “Shut the fuck up, you idiot.”

  “I don’t want to fight you,” I tell Fisher, “but I will if you don’t let me in that room. You know this isn’t the first time he’s pulled something like this, and it won’t be the last unless we do something about it.”

  “Stop spouting crap, McConaughey,” Brady says, elbowing his way in between the two guys. “We all know what this is about. You’re just sore ’cause I had my hands and my tongue all over Irish. And she was fucking loving it too. You’re clearly not satisfying her if she has to go elsewhere to get her kicks.”

  I lunge for the asshole, but Fisher holds me back. “You motherfucking asshole! I will kill you if you touch her again.”

  “Take a fucking chill pill, jerkoff,” he sneers. “As if I’d go there again. If I’d known she was a drunken whore, I would have chosen more wisely. She was so wasted I could have stuck my dick anywhere and she wouldn’t have complained. Would have too if that douche Kennedy hadn’t butted in.”

  Grant curses, shaking his head as he steps out of the room. “That’s it. You’re on your own with this.”

  Fisher silently agrees, stepping aside and giving me free rein.

  I crack my knuckles and launch myself at him.

  I stagger up the steps to our apartment, cradling my sore ribs and biting back a moan. My hand throbs like a bitch, and I’ve a headache to end all headaches, but it was worth every ache. The guys held back, while Brady and I went head to head. Even with his superior bulk and height, he was no match for my vengeful aggression. He got a good few punches in too, but I managed to overpower him, pummeling my fists in his face as my rage spiraled out of control. The guys had to drag me off him, and I left him bloody and well-beaten. Hopefully, he’ll think twice before pulling a stunt like that again.

  I dump a ton of ice in the tub and climb in, packing it against my ribs and my hands.

  After, I shower, washing away the last vestiges of blood, and crawl into my bed, aching and utterly exhausted. I pop a couple of pain pills, send a quick text to Ky, and promptly conk out.

  It still hurts like a bitch the next morning when I finally wake. I’ve a couple of missed calls on my phone. I call Mom back first. “Sweetheart, is everything okay? You left so suddenly last night, and I’ve been worried.”

  Shit. I’m unaccustomed to having to account for my whereabouts with anyone, and I bolted out of the house the second I hung up on Ryan last night. All I’d said was that Rachel needed me, and I’d fled.

  “Everything’s fine, Mom.” I try to disguise the wince as I pull myself upright in the bed. “Nothing for you to worry about, and I’m sorry I didn’t text you last night. Guess I’m out of practice.” Before, I never would have stayed out all night without texting Mom to confirm my whereabouts.

  “Is Rachel okay?”

  “She’s fine.” I hope. Swinging my legs out of bed, I stifle a groan as I clutch my throbbing ribcage.

  There’s a pregnant pause. “Well, I was calling to let you know that the meeting with the police chief has been brought forward to this morning. I’m getting ready to leave now.”

  Dammit. I really want to check on Rachel, and I want to be by Mom’s side for this meeting too. How to be in two places at once? Before I make a call, Mom makes it for me. “I’d prefer if you weren’t here, Brad. It’s better that you’re in the city.”

  “I want to support you, Mom.”

  “And you are, son, trust me, you are. But I’m not going to disrupt your life any more than is necessary. I want to keep you as far away from this as possible. If the media get hold of this, you need to be nowhere near it. James and Dan will both be with me, and it’s not that big of a deal. I’m only giving a formal statement.”

  “What are you going to tell them?”

  “The truth.”

  “All of it?”

  “As much as I can without putting your father at risk.”

  I grind my teeth to the molars. She’s still protecting him, even after everything he put her through. “He doesn’t deserve your protection, and you don’t owe him anything, Mom. He should have protected you.” All week, I’ve bitten my tongue, but I can’t hold back now. She needs to put herself first for a change. And if not for her, for my sisters. I don’t see how any of us can put this behind us while Dad is still at large.

  “When you love someone with every fiber of your being, you go to the ends of the earth to protect that person. Even if they’ve messed up. I won’t abandon your father or throw him to the wolves. Please don’t ask that of me.”

  I don’t agree, but this isn’t the kind of conversation one has over the phone. “Okay, Mom. Good luck with the meeting, and I’ll be back later. You can fill me in then.”

  “Of course, honey. Love you.”

  “Love you, too,” I croak out. Mom always ended her phone calls like that, but it’s been years since I’ve been on the receiving end of it, and it fills me with happiness to hear those words again.

  An hour later, I pull up in front of Faye and Rachel’s apartment building and park on the side of the street.

  Faye opens the door to me, gasping when she sees the state of my face. Overnight, bruises have developed across my skin, complimenting the large cut on my lip. My face looks like something from a horror movie. She steps aside to let me in. Ky is in the kitchen drinking coffee. His eyes roam my face. “It’s dealt with?” I nod.

  “Are you going to get in trouble for this?” Faye asks in a hushed tone, pouring a mug of coffee and handing it to me.

  “Thanks, and I don’t know. Nor do I care. Someone had to deal with that asshole.” Her look is contemplative, and then a slow smile graces her lips. I frown. “What?”

  “Nothing.” She sips her coffee, the secretive smile still intact.

  “Is she here? Can I see her?” I ask.

  Faye’s smile fades. “I’ll go ask her. Stay here.” She puts her mug down and leaves the room.

  “Rachel’s not in a good place, Brad. She has barely eaten all week, and she’s been throwing up most of the night. She was like a zombie this morning, and she’s not even talking to Faye, so I wouldn’t get your hopes up.”

  “This is my fault.” I sigh.

  “I honestly don’t think it is. There’s something else going on with her. Has been for years, but she refuses to talk about it, although Faye is even more stubborn than she is, and now she’s decided she’s not backing down until she opens up. She’s considering calling her parents.”

  “That would not be a good idea,” a burly voice says, startling us. Keven Kennedy removes his jacket and flings it over the back of a chair.

  “How the fuck did you get in here?” Ky asks.

  “The door wasn’t properly closed.” He stalks to the counter, pouring himself a coffee.

  His words regurgitate in my mind. “Why would calling her parents be a bad idea?”

  He leans back against the counter, surveying me as he sips his coffee. “That’s not for me to say.”

  I bite the inside of my cheek in aggravation. “If you know what has her so terrified you need to tell me.” He arches a brow,
crossing his feet at the ankles, and his unruffled demeanor is having the opposite effect on me. I’m strung tight like a bow.

  “And why is that, Brad? Or is there something I don’t know about the status of your relationship with Rachel?” He looks to his brother.

  Ky straightens up. “We’re all worried about her, Kev.”

  “I know, but I’m on it.”

  I push the stool away, and it scrapes noisily across the tiled floor. I stand to my full height. “What exactly does that mean?”

  “I’m keeping her safe.”

  My fists ball at my sides. His calm, impassive expression and vague comments are rubbing me up the wrong way. “What’s going on with you two?” I blurt, unable to stand it any longer.

  “None of your business.” Kev’s throat works overtime as he drains the rest of his coffee.

  The guy might be built like a tank, with biceps bigger than my head, but I could take him. “Screw you, Kev.”

  “Quit with the pissing contest,” Faye says, marching into the kitchen. “Rachel doesn’t need this grief.” Her features soften as she looks at me. “I’m sorry, Brad, but she doesn’t want to see you.” A horrible crushing feeling presses down on my chest. She cringes a little as she turns to Keven. “She’s been waiting for you. You can go straight in.”

  To be fair to Kev, he doesn’t look smug or milk it in any way, merely nodding and walking out of the kitchen. Faye looks apologetic, and a messy ball of emotion churns in my gut. I need to get some distance, and there’s nothing keeping me here now anyway. “I’ve got to go. Catch you guys later.”

  I don’t wait for a reply, striding out of the apartment and slamming the door shut behind me. I’ve no right to my anger or my hurt, but I can’t help how I feel. In the elevator, I bury my head in my hands, hating how fucking confused I am.

  My phone pings as I step foot outside the building. It’s a message from Coach asking to meet him in an hour. Dammit. Guess the cat’s out of the bag. I sprint to my car, and power up the engine.

  Time to face the music.

  I took one look at Coach’s face and knew I was in deep shit. He’s just chewed me out for the last ten minutes without pausing for a breath. “You’ve got huge potential, McConaughey, but you’re pissing it away. I don’t want to do this, but I have no choice. You put Brady in the hospital with a concussion. The doctors are keeping him in for a few days, and he’s unavailable to the team for at least a couple weeks. The last thing I want is to lose another key player, but I have to set an example. The administrative board takes a very dim view of violence in any form, especially where it’s a teammate.”

  “If I can say something,” I butt in when I find a gap in his tirade. “I’m not excusing my behavior or condoning it, and I’ll take whatever punishment is deemed appropriate, but I didn’t lash out for no reason.” I update him on what went down last night and the other few incidents I was privy to where Brady overstepped the mark with girls. His face is stoic and unreadable as he listens.

  He sighs, leaning back in his chair. “You boys are turning me old before my time,” he mutters. “If what you say is true”— he raises his palm in warning when I open my mouth to speak. I clamp it shut again—“I’m not doubting you, but Brady needs a chance to respond to your allegations, and I’d like to talk to the others. If it’s true, then Brady will be subject to disciplinary action, but I can do jack shit about that until he’s released from the hospital. Until then, I’m sorry, son, but you’re suspended for a month.”

  I hang my head, nodding, even though I’m pissed to be missing four crucial games.

  “Keep your nose clean, kid. Steer clear of parties and trouble.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  He eyeballs me, and I squirm a little. “Okay. Now get the hell out of my sight.”

  I walk around campus like the aimless idiot that I am. Plonking down under a tree, I pull out my earphones and listen to music, blanking everything out as the melodic tunes waft through my eardrums. Whenever I take two steps forward in my life, something always seems to happen to drag me ten steps back. I used to pride myself on not letting anything get to me, but each curveball knocks my confidence back a notch until it’s pretty much in the ground by now.

  Sometimes I just want to get off this merry-go-round that is my so-called life.

  Football has been my sanctuary, but I’m even messing that up now.

  After a while, I get over my pity party for one and jump up, wiping bits of grass from the back of my jeans. I stroll through campus grounds, bypassing the parking lot and heading for my favorite coffee place. I need a quadruple espresso. Preferably injected directly into my bloodstream, but I’ll settle for a black coffee through the mouth. Less effective, but it’ll have to do.

  I’m not sorry I did what I did. I knew the consequences, and it could be a hell of a lot worse.

  No. My current melancholy comes mainly from the mess with Rachel. I’ve never been good with rejection, and her choosing to talk to Keven over me has left a really nasty taste in my mouth. Add that to my lingering feelings for her best friend, and you have the worst kind of emotional clusterfuck.

  I snatch up my takeout coffee and exit the coffee place. I lean against the wall outside, resting my head back and staring at the sky above me. As if it contains the answers to my problems. The heat from the coffee warms my chilled hands, and I take a healthy glug, relishing the hot, pungent, bitter taste as it slides down my throat.

  “There you are!” Faye is panting and out of breath as she lands in front of me. Crouching over, she rests her hands on her knees, struggling to recalibrate her breathing.

  “What’s up?”

  “We’ve been calling you nonstop for the last hour. Ky would’ve come, but Kev said he wasn’t to leave Rach unprotected.”

  “Sorry. Coach called me to a meeting, and I had my cell off.”

  “Crap. He knows?” I nod. “Well?”

  I shrug. “The douche has a concussion and he’s in the hospital. I’m suspended for a month.”

  “Oh no, Brad. I’m so sorry.”

  I kick at imaginary dirt on the sidewalk. “It doesn’t matter. I’d still do it again.”

  Without warning, her arms wrap around me. I’m rigidly still at first. Consequence of always being on my guard around her, but gradually I relax, and it’s nice. There’s nothing sexual about it at all. It’s a pure comforting gesture, as if she knew how much I needed this right now. “Thank you for looking out for my friend, and I’m sorry if you were hurt earlier.” She eases back, her hands hanging loosely at her sides. There is barely an inch between us, but it’s not uncomfortable. “She wasn’t choosing Keven over you.”

  I try to hide my despondency, but I’ve exhausted all my reserves, and I can’t do anything to disguise my true feelings. “Oh, Brad.” She gently cups my face. “You care much more than you’ve let on, right?”

  I shrug. It’s all I have the energy for.

  She bites on her lower lip, shuffling anxiously on her feet.

  I bridge the gap between us, tilting her chin up with my finger. “What?”

  She noticeably gulps. “This is all my fault. We never should ha—”

  I put my finger to her lips, silencing her. “None of this is your fault. You did nothing wrong.” She looks up at me with those big baby blues of hers, and I’m a goner. Her pouty lips part gently, and I melt. All logic escapes my mind, and my head is tilting downward before I even realize what I’m doing.

  Her hands slam into my chest, and she shoves me back. “What the hell are you doing?”

  I clamp a hand over my mouth, retreating to the edge of the sidewalk. My heart is pounding at an alarming rate. Fuck. What the hell was I thinking?

  I wasn’t. I think that’s the point.

  “Shit. I’m sorry, Faye.” I rub the back of my neck. “I don’t know why I did that.”r />
  She holds her head in her hands, and I feel like a piece of shit.

  Time passes while we stand there in silence, not even looking at one another. I’m trying to find the right words to fix this, but they don’t appear to exist.

  She lifts her head, piercing me with a grave stare. “We don’t speak of this ever. To anyone. Okay?”

  I know how much it must be costing her to suggest this. “Are you sure?”

  “No, but you’ve a lot on your plate, and your head isn’t in the right place. There’s no need to cause trouble when it was only a momentary lapse in judgment.” She eyeballs me. “That’s all it was, right?”

  “Yeah.” I don’t actually know one way or the other so that doesn’t really make it a lie.

  Relief floods her face. “Okay. It’s forgotten. We’re good.”

  “Thanks.” I shove my hands in my pockets. “What’s so urgent that you came out looking for me anyway, and how did you know where I was?” I ask, remembering there was a purpose to this. Her look is apologetic, and I figure it out. “Keven.” Even saying his name is starting to piss me off.

  “Shit, Brad. I hate to land this on you when you’ve already had a crappy day, but there’s no way of sugarcoating it.”

  Everything goes on high alert inside me. A whole avalanche of horrifying thoughts flit through my mind. “Give it to me straight.”

  “Your mom’s been arrested, and it’s all over the news.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Rachel

  I venture out of my bedroom when Faye returns, knowing I can’t ignore Brad forever. Besides, Ky filled me in on what’s happened with his mom, and I feel for the guy. No matter how weird things are between us, I want him to know I’m here if he needs me. My jaw hangs open when I cop a load of his face. “What happened to your face?”

  “Nothing you need to worry about,” he says in an uncharacteristic tender tone. “Are you doing okay?”

  I nod, not wishing to articulate the lie. I’m disgusted with myself. Disgusted for losing control and letting him affect me so badly. Disgusted for letting myself down. For embarrassing my friends.