“Good timing,” she said, coming with me.
I pulled the cart toward the elevator.
We got to the bottom floor of the library just as Brody burst in. He was still in his training stuff, his face flushed and hair wet.
He glanced around frantically for a second before seeing me, then quickly closed the distance between us.
“What the fuck happened?” he demanded.
I took a moment to process the fact that I’d called him and he’d actually rushed over.
“Nothing, I’m okay,” I managed to get out.
He narrowed his eyes at me. “You weren’t okay on the phone.”
I thought furiously. If I told Brody, wouldn’t he blame Nick? What if he went after him again and beat him up? Wouldn’t he get in trouble this time? Surely there were only so many times you could attack someone before their cop brother decided to make problems for you.
“Aisha was sneaking up on me on the top floor. It was creepy and dark up there, and I got flustered.”
Brody stared at me for a beat. “Why does it feel like you’re lying to me?”
I turned to Aisha, my desperate eyes signaling that I needed her to play along.
“She’s right. I grabbed her out of nowhere. It’s my fault. I didn’t realize it was so scary,” she said quickly.
Brody looked between us, clearly not believing a single word we said.
“I shouldn’t have bothered you?—”
“Don’t do that. Bother me. I want you to bother me every time,” he interrupted and sighed. “Maybe our training needs to change to self-defense.”
I snorted softly. “Yeah, right. Isn’t it useless to ‘fight like a girl’? Don’t all the instructors tell women to run if they can?”
Brody shrugged. “Sure, run, if you can. If you can’t, then you fight like a girl.” He stepped closer to me.
Something in his tone made me think the phrase wasn’t an insult coming from him.
“Meaning?” I wondered.
He tapped his fingers on my temple. “Smarter. That’s your girl superpower. Your brains.”
His phone vibrated in his pocket, lighting up even through his shorts. He sighed at seeing Cal’s name on the display.
“Come on, I’ll take you home,” he said to us both.
We followed him outside, just in time to see a parking attendant writing a ticket for Brody’s car. The expensive sports car had been abandoned on the sidewalk outside the library.
“Hey!” I called to the parking attendant.
I chased after him, and he speed-walked away after finishing writing the ticket.
“We’re here!”
“Forget it. Who cares?” Brody sighed and snagged the ticket. He tossed it on his dashboard. “Aisha, are you going back to your dorm?”
“Actually, I came here to ask Selena to come to a party with me,” she said.
I wrinkled my nose. “I’m tired, a party sounds awful.”
