Rage is just about to bubble over when Jesse grabs Harrison’s arm. “Shut the fuck up, Harrison,” Jesse tells him. Jesse knows Harrison can bring my world crashing down right now if he chooses to open his big mouth.
“Fuck you, Jesse!” Harrison yells and then grips Tori’s arm. She looks at her arm and then up at him. “He’ll cheat on you, Tori, and he’ll never love you.”
That’s all it takes for me to do something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. Harrison’s eyebrows shoot up right before my fist lands squarely on his loud fucking mouth. My knuckles scream on impact, and adrenaline leads me into a blind fury.
He stumbles back and then lunges at me, tackling me to the ground. Sand flies everywhere – the granules scratching my eyes and crunching between my teeth.
Harrison lands a few punches to my side before I get the upper hand, flip him over, and climb on top of him. Harrison tries to cover his face, but I immediately began landing blow after blow, ignoring the blood spatter and the voices yelling at me to stop.
Finally, I hear one voice, and the red haze in front of my eyes changes to Tori’s face. She’s terrified.
She’s yelling, “Brady, stop!”
I get off Harrison and stand up, fisting my hands into my hair and holding them above my head to catch my breath.
A few guys help Harrison up, and he’s glaring at me like he didn’t deserve the ass kicking I just gave him. “What the fuck, Brady? You’re insane.”
I take a step his way and then stop. “Stay the hell away from Tori. You’re only using her to get back at me anyway.”
His eyes narrow, and he shoots me a smug grin. One that makes me want to pound him again. “How’s it feel?”
I turn my head toward Tori.
Her surprised eyes glare at me and then at him. “What is he talking about, Harrison? Is that true?”
Harrison holds his nose and pinches off a stream of blood. He hangs his head, guilty as hell, and then looks up at Tori. “It was at first, but after we went out, I started to like you.”
Stepping close, I grab a handful of his T-shirt and push him into the sand. “You fucking psycho. You could have killed her!”
He scrambles to his feet and starts to come at me again, but Jesse stops him.
Harrison shouts at me, “I never intended for her to get hurt. You’re the murderer here, Brady, not me.”
“What?” Tori yells instantly. As she spins to face me, her eyes are wide, begging me to tell her. “What is he talking about, Brady?”
I turn away from her, ready to kill Harrison.
“What do mean, Harrison?” I hear her ask.
“You heard me, Tori. Why don’t you ask Brady here to tell you the truth about what happened to Vanessa?” Harrison’s words are laced with satisfaction. He’s been dying to tell someone.
She digs her nails into my arm, urging me to turn around. I do, but I refuse to look at her.
“What is he talking about, Brady?”
Harrison is gloating, the fucking asshole. I ignore Tori’s imploring gaze and nod his way. “You just breached the contract.” I keep my voice stern, never taking my eyes off him. I want to look at Tori, but I don’t. I’m afraid of what she's thinking. This isn’t how I wanted her to find out. The sudden fear of her seeing me for who I am eats away at my gut like a rotting apple. Getting the fuck out of here is the only way to escape the putrid feeling.
Harrison spits blood and then looks at me. “I don’t give a shit about the contract. I care about you killing Vanessa and trying to pretend it never happened. Take your money and shove it up your ass.”
Chapter 24
Tori
I can’t breathe. My feet cemented in the sand prevent me from moving. Brady killed Vanessa? Suddenly little things Brady said to me make sense. When I asked him to call and talk to her, and he said he couldn’t. This explains why he thinks about her every day, and of course the tattoo on his back I never asked him to explain. My heart breaks for Brady as I remember that she was his best friend. He’s not pretending it never happened, though. Harrison is wrong about that. Brady is ruthlessly punishing himself every day of his life for it.
Brady kicks sand and turns from the crowd. He marches towards his truck without looking back, fists clenched to his side. As I watch him walk away, I realize if he leaves now, I’ll never get him back.
“Brady!” I pull my feet out of the sand and chase after him.