“Mac, I don’t need another fight on my hands. I’d rather not tell you what was said.”
I flung an arm in the direction Connor had gone. I was pretty sure I could see the taillights of his Mercedes bumping over every gopher hole in the field as he fled the scene. “Connor is gone. He hightailed it out of here. I’m not going to kill him.”
This was the first time I’d seen the guy since we were teenagers. I’d avoided him tonight on purpose. I didn’t want to end up in jail, either.
Back at Kirby Falls High, Connor Pritchard had been one of the popular crowd. At sixteen, I’d been shocked that he’d wanted anything to do with me. But I’d learned pretty quickly that he only wanted to get in my pants. When I’d asked him to slow down one night, he’d told the whole school I was a tease. The guy had made an enemy of me for life. And he’d made me feel like there wassomething wrong with me for not wanting to lose my virginity in his parents’ basement with a neon Coors Light sign hanging over my head.
So, yeah, there was no love lost between us. I sure as hell wasn’t pining for the idiot. I just wanted to know what had gone down on the other side of the bonfire. I was nosy, and I didn’t like other people in my business if what had happened did, in fact, involve me somehow.
“And Brady’s gone too,” I said. “I won’t be causing any trouble tonight. Come on, Abby. Tell me what happened.”
Abby released a breath, clouding the air between us, before wincing and repeating what Connor said about my tits. I mean, he wasn’t lying. I did have great boobs, but they hadn’t joined the puberty party until I was almost eighteen. Connor was still a pig, though.
“And Brady reacted how Brady does. We told Connor to shut his mouth and grow up. He slunk away in embarrassment rather than face any sort of consequences or facilitate personal growth.” Abby shrugged likewhat can you do?
I felt my brows narrow as I pieced the altercation together. “So Brady ... like ...”
“Defended your honor,” Jase supplied helpfully without glancing up from his cell phone.
“Defended my honor,” I repeated dumbly before meeting Abby’s gaze. “But why?”
“I don’t know, Mac. WhywouldBrady do that?” He raised his eyebrows expectantly, like the answer was obvious.
I swallowed awkwardly. Maybe it was because of last Friday. Maybe he felt sorry for me. That could explain why he’d been acting so weird when he first got here. I could tell he was waiting for me to bring up my drunken escapades from last weekend. But I wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction.
There was also the fact that I couldn’t really remember whathadhappened. That knowledge burned. I knew he’d found me out by the barn and that I’d nearly fallen over, but he’d helped me to the ground. Being on the receiving end of Brady’s assistance chafed a little around the edges. Humiliation threatened, but I wasn’t going to let him see that.
In my fuzzy memories, I thought he might have sat with me for a while until I fell asleep. I couldn’t recall what our conversation had been about or if we’d even talked at all. Knowing Brady, there had been plenty of talking. I could vaguely remember the scent of Axe body spray. That was probably why I’d been so nauseous, not the six-pack I’d put away on my own in a relatively short amount of time.
Damn Larry for trying to parent me. At the time, it had seemed important to prove a point.
And I’d proven it all right. I was almost thirty years old, and I could not hang. My hangover had lasted two days. Hence, the water I’d been drinking tonight and for the foreseeable future.
I’d been fine abstaining. I’d actually been having a good time until that almost fight had broken out and made everything weird.
Because, apparently, Brady had stood up for me.
Stranger things had happened, but I sure as hell couldn’t think of one right this minute.
My attention drifted to all the vehicles parked in the distance. I hadn’t heard two leave. Maybe Brady was still here.
He needed to know that Mac Clark could take care of herself. I didn’t need him, of all people, rushing to my aid. The idiot who thought I’d vandalized his property. The man who goaded me every chance he got. My nemesis since diapers.
I shook my head, fully intent on giving Brady Judd a piece of my mind.
“I don’t know,” I said, finally answering Abby’s question about why Brady had done what he’d done.
Abby hung his head in response.
“But I’m going to find out.”
His gaze snapped up. “That is a great idea.”
I gave him a nod and a wave and headed in the direction of the field, but then I spun back around, remembering my manners. “Oh, and, Abby? Thanks for carrying me out of here last week. Sorry for getting so wasted.”
He gave me a look that my grandmother pulled out sometimes. It very clearly said,Bless your heart, you sweet little idiot.
I scowled. “What?”
