“No. I didn’t fight that – I merely passed him on to you.” I grin.
“Talking about me again, girls?” The topic of our conversation strolls into the room wearing just a pair of sweatpants. He tosses his shirt at me as he passes. “I would have thought you’d be doing something productive. Isn’t that usually what you two do?”
“Ew. Put that on!” I chuck his shirt back at him. “I don’t want to see you half-naked this early in the morning. In fact, I’m pretty sure I don’t ever want to see you half-naked.”
Braden grins and pulls his shirt over his head. “You’re just jealous because you don’t have a kickass body like mine.” He wraps his arms around Maddie and pokes his tongue out at me.
I poke back. “I don’t want a body like yours. I’m happy with the girls, thanks very much. You can keep your show-off muscles. And by keep, I mean keep them under your shirt, Bray.”
Maddie rolls her eyes and wriggles out of his hold. “I don’t know how I cope with you two. I’d say you’re like brother and sister, but that’s true. You bitch like it.”
“It’s because despite DNA differences, we are brother and sister,” Braden protests.
“And thank God for those DNA differences!” I take the cup of coffee Maddie offers.
“I agree. Fuck knows what I would have done had I ended up anything like you.”
I purse my lips. “Watch it, Carter. I know all your dirty little secrets, remember?”
“And I know yours.” He waggles his eyebrows.
No you don’t.
“I don’t have any dirty little secrets. You made sure of that.”
“Damn right I did. But you think I don’t know about Sam Carlton in senior year. I do.”
I tilt my head to the side. “So that’s where his black eye came from.”
“Damn right.”
“Are you for real?” Maddie looks at Braden. “You gave him a black eye because Megan had sex with him?”
“No. I gave him a black eye because he had sex with Megan,” Braden explains. “There is a difference.”
I sip my coffee, and Maddie blinks at him. “You really have been reincarnated from the Stone Age, haven’t you? Did you get your big club and swing it at him? Maybe you rode up on the back of a sabre tooth tiger, growling at him?”
I snort, covering my mouth with my hand so I don’t spray coffee everywhere.
“There’s only one club that gets swung around here-”
“Uh-uh.” She holds her hand up. “Don’t get sexual on me, Braden Carter. No wonder Megan is so uptight. She’s not getting any because you’re still scaring everyone away!”
“I am not uptight!” I squeak. And I am getting some. So there.
“I don’t scare them off!” Braden argues. “I merely warn them that they could end up meeting my fist should they get her to scratch their itch …” he finishes in a mumble against his cup.
“You’ve been saying that since the beginning of college?” I jump up and touch my forehead. “Oh my God, Bray!”
“Just a warning,” he mumbles.
“Just a warning?” Maddie shrieks. “No wonder why out of the four of us girls she’s the only one not in a relationship!”
“Hey! Kay isn’t in a relationship,” I point out.
“She’s in a relationship with sex.” Maddie shrugs. “Same difference.”
“I haven’t warned anyone since …” Braden pauses.
“Since we went to your parent’s and you told every guy in this house if they touched her, you’d personally castrate them,” Maddie offers.
“Well, yeah. Then.” He lowers his mug and nibbles at his thumbnail. “It’s the thought that counts, right?”
I narrow my eyes at him and lower myself back to the seat. I can’t believe he’s actually done that. I knew he was protective of me, but holy shit! This is a whole new level.
This is cementing that what happened with Aston and I has to stay a secret for as long as possible. However uncertain “we” might be. I can feel the heaviness of the thought solidifying in my mind, getting stronger and stronger until it’s a certainty.
“You do realize I can take care of myself, right?” I question him. “You do realize I’m not nine years old on the monkey bars anymore?”
“I know,” he replies in a slightly softer tone, turning to look at me. “I just don’t want anyone to hurt you, Meggy. You’re my best friend. I want you to find the perfect person to fall in love with.”
“What if I have to have a few imperfections on the way?”
He shrugs a shoulder. “That’s what I’m stopping. None of the guys here are good enough for you.”
“You always said you weren’t good enough for me,” Maddie mutters.
“I wasn’t, Angel, and I’m probably still not. Difference is, I knew I was slowly falling in love with you every day. I can’t guarantee that for the asshats in this place. I want someone to love Megan as much as I love you. Hell, I want someone to love Megan as much as I do, and if that means I have to fight off every guy that comes calling for her until he comes along, then I will. If there’s two people I’ll always protect, it’s you two.”
Yep. I hate it and it’s tearing my insides apart, but Braden can’t find out.
~
“No, Mom, I’m not falling behind.”
“Well, it sounds like a lot of partying goes on at that college.”
“Mom. My grades are fine.”
She exhales, the phone crackling. “I believe you, Megan, I just don’t like the idea of my baby girl getting herself pregnant by a horny teenage boy.”
“You’ve been watching too much TV.”
“Well, that ‘16 and Pregnant’ is on just about everywhere these days. It worries me.”
My lips curve. “No getting pregnant, Mom.”
“Well, at least you’re using protection.”
“I never said I was having sex.”
“That will please your father,” she says in a chirpier voice. “Talking of your father, we’re off to dinner tonight so I need to go.”
“Okay. Have fun, and give Dad a kiss from me.”
“I will, Megs. You behave yourself.”
“I always do,” I reply dryly. “Bye, Mom.” I hang up and drop my phone on the bed, shaking my head. Honestly. It’s times like this I remember why I came to Berkeley in the first place.