Page 19 of Off Limits
“I think I decide if I’m off limits.”
“Your brother took me in as part of your family. He’s treated me as nothing less than a brother. He made one request. I owe it to him.” He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.
“You don’t owe Rex for treating you like a brother. That’s what best friends do—treat each other like family.”
“I don’t have family.” His voice cracked, raw and low. “And now I’ve gone and slept with you after he explicitly told me to stay away.”
“But I asked you to.” Her voice was steady, pleading. “I want to be with you, Brady.”
He stood abruptly, pacing a short circle before turning back to her. “It doesn’t matter. He’s not going to care who started it.” He raked a hand through his hair again. “I’ve dropped myself straight into the center of hell. And before all this,” he gestured between them, “all I had was my imagination. That was safer.”
A heartbeat. His voice dropped.
“But now I know. I know what you taste like. What you feel like. And every time I look at you now, I’m...” His voice trailed off, broken.
She stood. “Why are you talking like this?” Her voice raised. “Rex may be mad but he loves us both. He’ll eventually get over it.”
“Will he?” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I’ve gone and done the one thing he asked me not to do. He won’t trust me ever again.”
“I think you’re being a little dramatic.” She tucked a few loose strands of hair behind her ear.
“He made me promise I wouldn’t sleep with you. That I’d never do anything with you that would hurt you and jeopardize my friendship with him.”
“You haven’t hurt me.Yet.” Heat entered her tone. “Everything that has happened between us has been with my full consent. I knew what I was doing when I came on to you New Year’s Eve.”
He pursed his lips. New Year’s Eve—the end of it all. He wanted to scream. To throw something. “I’ve fucked things up royally just like my father always did.”
“Brady.” She moved toward him again.
He put his hands up to keep her at bay. If she touched him again, he’d cave. “Please don’t. Or I will give in again.”
“So the wall goes back up?” She shook her head and flailed her hands in the air.
“It has to.”
“I can’t keep doing this, Brady.” Her voice trembled, thick with unshed tears. “Yes, I started this. I wanted this—want this. I want us. I want to see what this could be if we actually gave it a chance.” A tear slid down her cheek. She didn’t brush it away. “I think we could be something great. But not like this. Not if you’re always one foot out the door, waiting for the sky to fall or my brother to kill you.”
“You say that now, but I’ll destroy you. I’m no good.” His stomach hardened. He knew he was destroying everything, but he had to.
“Stop saying that.”
“It’s true.”
“You told me we couldn’t do it and yet, you keep coming back, having sex with me then leaving.Thatwill hurt me. It is hurting me.”
“I know.” He marched toward the door and grabbed the handle. “That’s why I have to walk away. I will hurt you even if it’s the last thing I want to do.” He yanked the door open and stormed out. She’d be wounded but he’d be devastated.
