Page 43 of Defending Casey

The man looking at her, the man whose hands held her arms in a vicelike grip, was a complete stranger to her.

“Brian?”

He swore under his breath and the tone she heard was harsh and angry.

Casey drew in a breath to call out, but she never had the chance.

Brian pulled her in against him and kissed her hard.

She turned her head and tried to push her hands between them, but he pressed forward. Casey stumbled back and hit her head against the post and cried out in pain.

She wasn’t sure if he heard the noise, or felt it against his skin, but he tried to ease his hold on her arms and softened the kiss.

With a grunt, she pushed against his chest, and he wheeled back, losing his hold on her arms.

“What the hell, Brian?”

She rubbed her forearm across her lips and when her arm came away her shirt sleeve was red with blood.

That’s when her lip started to hurt, but not as much as her heart. Angry tears coursed down her cheeks.

“Why?”

“Because I love you, Casey! I. Love. You. I didn’t do all of those things to be a good guy! I was there for you because I wanted to be with you. Don’t you get it?”

Her stomach twisted up inside of her and she began to ache.

“I don’t, Brian. I don’t ‘get it.’” She crossed the barn floor and had the open doorway at her back while he got up from the ground. “If you had told me this… any of it… I would have told you that I love you because you’re family, Brian. But I love Hale. I’m in love with Hale. That’s not going to change.”

He was finally up on his feet, and she had her hands up to ward him off.

Brian stood there and didn’t make a move toward her. “You can say what you want, Casey, but you don’t know that for sure. You don’t know.”

“Brian,” she shook her head, “please.”

“No, Casey. Don’t ask me to give up on you. You’ll see. You’ll see who really loves you.”

“Bri-”

“You’ll see one day. You’ll understand what I’m saying.”

He took off, rushing past her in the open doorway.

Casey turned to watch him leave, running around the corner of the house toward the driveway.

She took a step toward the door, intending to follow him to his car and make sure he left, but her legs couldn’t hold her up. She fell to her knees just shy of the first rays of the morning sun coming through the door and cried.

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