Page 21 of Obligation
He was such a dick. Forcing the idea from his mind, he tilted his head and contemplated his next question carefully. “He didn’t hurt you, did he?”
“No.” She shifted on her feet and did a good job of avoiding Bradley’s gaze. “Not physically, anyway,” she mumbled.
Bradley’s eyebrows shot up at her admission. He was relieved to know Danny hadn’t put his hands on her, but he’d clearly caused her other types of pain, and that didn’t sit well with Bradley. No woman, least of all Carissa, deserved to be treated poorly.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about Danny,” she said after a moment.
“I can kinda see why you didn’t.” He let out a nervous laugh, but she didn’t so much as crack a smile.
“I never should’ve kissed you.”
His ears rang with her words. “Do you regret it?”
“No.” She exhaled loudly and hung her head. “I liked it. A lot.” She slowly lifted her head and met his gaze.
Her tears had stopped, but she was still visibly upset, so he tried to temper his delight at her confession.
“You’re not mad, are you?” She shifted on her feet. “That I didn’t tell you?”
“I was at first,” he admitted, “but not anymore. And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry if this whole thing caused problems for you and Danny. I promise I won’t say anything.”
She let out a dry, humorless laugh. “Trust me, you’re the least of mine and Danny’s problems. And as far as I know, he has no idea what happened last night.”
Bradley nodded and rocked back on his heels, unsure what else to say. He was saved from having to say anything when Tiffany emerged from the house. A moment later, a car pulled into the driveway.
“That must be our ride,” Carissa said.
Once again, he hated that he couldn’t be the one to take them home. His upbringing—and the southern hospitality he’d had drilled into him—had guilt pooling in his gut. The idea of letting them get into a car with a stranger had him on edge.
“If I give you my number, will you text me to let me know you made it home safely?” he asked.
“Sure,” Carissa said. She retrieved her phone and handed it to him. “Here. Put your number in.”
He quickly saved his name and number in her contacts and held the phone back out to her. She took it and slid it into her pocket. Then, with a small smile, she climbed into the backseat of the Uber. Bradley stood outside until the car’s taillights disappeared from his view.
With a heavy breath, he headed inside, which probably wasn’t a smart thing to do when Danny was still in the house. Bradley wouldn’t hesitate to knock Danny on his ass if he so much as uttered Carissa name in front of him.
He opened the door and stepped inside just as Danny rounded the corner into the kitchen. Fully dressed, jacket and shoes on, Danny didn’t say a word to anyone as he strode toward the door.
“Hey, where are you going?” Garrett asked.
“Out.” Danny yanked open the door.
“Do you really think that’s a good idea?” Garrett stood in the middle of the living room, arms crossed.
“Yeah. I need to go blow off some steam.” And then Danny left, slamming the door shut behind him.
“Well, tonight’s been fun,” Bradley said. Exhaustion and worry were weights around his neck.
“It’s usually not like this.” Garrett sighed, raked his fingers through his already messy hair, and sank down onto the couch. “I don’t know what’s going on with those two, but things have been off for a while now.”
Bradley wanted nothing more than to pry every last bit of information he could from Garrett—after all, he was one of Carissa’s best friends—but he wouldn’t invade Carissa’s privacy like that. If she wanted Bradley to know what was going on, she’d be the one to tell him.
“On that note… good night.” Bradley shut himself in his room, set his cell phone on the nightstand, and flopped down onto his bed.
He really wished he knew what was going on, what had caused such a huge fight between Carissa and Danny. Maybe if he knew, he could offer some helpful words of wisdom. Who was he kidding? If he knew, he’d try to exploit the situation to his benefit. Carissa had gotten under his skin, made him want to be the kind of guy he swore he’d never be. Right then and there, he resolved to be her friend and nothing more.
Just as he drifted off to sleep, his phone clucked like a chicken to indicate he had a new text. His brother had changed the notification sound and hadn’t told Bradley. At first, the noise had annoyed the crap out of him, but now he thought it was kind of funny.
