Page 85 of Toxic Obsession

“What is it? Tell me?”

Brody slowly turned toward me, and rage tore through my body. His eye was black and his nostrils were crusted with blood.

“Don’t worry, Adam looks worse,” Brody said with a smug smirk on his lips, but the look on his face told me a different story.

“Like that makes me feel better. What the fuck happened? I’ve left you alone with him before and he didn’t pull anything. I’m going to bury the motherfucker when I see his punk ass.”

“He left. I figured since you had a lock on your room that it would be the safest place to wait for you. Otherwise, after I see him again, we’ll be planning his funeral and you’ll be bringing me fucking cookies in prison.”

“Won’t happen.” I winced. “How did it start?” I walked over to my desk and sat down, propping my elbows on my knees. A thick, heavy tension snaked between my shoulder blades, and I was ready to pounce if my bedroom door opened. Recalling that I hadn’t locked it behind me, I fixed that situation.

Brody massaged his forehead and looked at the ceiling. “Q, you’ve been a good brother to me, and I appreciate it, but I need to know the truth.”

The tiny hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. “Okay.” I sounded calmer than my churning gut made me think I could.

“Dad said that you’re responsible for Bell’s death. You and Wynter.”

“That motherfucker.” I leaned back, my pissed-off gaze landing on my brother. “Tell me what he said.” It was one thing for Adam to mess with my head, but another to screw with Brody’s. He would pay for what he did to my brother.

“Dad said that Wynter, your new girlfriend, is Kyler’s sister.TheKyler, the one who killed all those people at the high school, including our Bell.”

“I’m aware who Wynter and Kyler are. Remember I asked if you would give someone a chance if a person in their family had killed people?”

Brody nodded, eyeing me. “Yeah, but you didn’t say killed our sister. You fucking left that important detail out. And you’re fucking her?” Brody’s face turned beet red and he pinned me with a venomous glare.

I stood, slowly. “Asshole, you’re about to cross a line with me, so I highly recommend that you simmer down and keep talking. Tell me what he said, then I’ll fill you in about what’s been happening. I’ve not told you because I didn’t want to upset you until I knew what was going on myself. There are two versions—Adam’s and then the truth.”

Brody shot me a skeptical look and remained standing. “He said that you were fucking some chick in the janitor’s closet instead of meeting Bell at the library like you two had agreed on. When I asked him how he knew that, he said you texted him and bragged about it before we found out about Bell.”

I detected vulnerability in Brody’s tone. Somewhere inside of himself, he was questioning what Adam had told him, which was a good thing. “First, I would never tell Adam about who I fucked. Plus, I had no idea there was a janitor’s closet.” I blew out a sigh. “Brody, I wasn’t fucking anyone. Bell didn’t show up at the library, so I went looking for her. If Bell and I had a test, we always met there and reviewed our notes together. It wasn’t like her to skip out on study time. I waited for ten minutes and was on my way to the cafeteria to look for her when I heard gunshots. Adam’s filling your head with bullshit just like he’s been doing mine.” I clenched my fingers into a ball, imagining I was driving them into Adam’s nose.

“Why would he do that? He’s our father. Dad has no reason to lie.” His voice bounced, indicating his anxiety.

I barked out a laugh. “Have you met Adam? The guy that picked a fight with you while I was gone. The same bastard that beat my ass until I was fourteen and could hold my own? Why would you ever trust a man …”

I held up my hand to stop myself. I had trusted Adam when he shoveled shit down my throat about Wynter, the last thing I could do was blame Brody for wanting to see the best in his father. I was guilty of the same, but those days were over. I sat down, not wanting to fight with my little brother. Enough of that had already happened in our house.

“I don’t know why. Yet. When Wynter arrived at Whitmore, Adam pulled me aside and told me to ruin her. He handed me a file with the police report, background check, and other information on Wynter. I tried to verify the info, thinking he was lying to me, but it all matched up.”

“Then you’re fucking Wynter as a way to get revenge?”

When I heard it from his mouth, I felt like a fucking douchebag. “At first, but then I hired my own PI to dig into Wynter. Some of the truth was hidden and covered up by the police and the media, and it put her in a bad light. Wynter tried to stop Kyler.”

“She tried to stop him?” Brody’s tone softened and he sank onto the edge of my bed.

“There’s a lot you don’t know. When I have more information and can share it with you, I will. Wynter and I are working together to learn more. But yeah, I’m in love with her. I won’t bring her here, though. I respect that you might not be willing to give her a chance after what her brother did.”

Brody’s eyes misted over. “Goddammit, I miss Bell every fucking day.”

“Me too.”

Brody focused on me. “Has it been hard looking into the shooting?” His shoulders tensed beneath the weight of his words.

“You have no idea.” I pondered if I should tell Brody about my trip to Wynter’s house and meeting Janine, but I decided to keep my mouth shut. All I’d told him was I was heading to Washington with some friends.

I rubbed my jaw. “Here’s the deal. You’ll be eighteen in a few months, and you can choose to live here or elsewhere. Go to college, play ball, and live on campus. Get the fuck out of here.”

“I want to apply at Whitmore University. Coach reached out to me about playing there already.”

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