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“What the hell is—” Bryson started, entering the hallway from the front of the bar and stopping when he saw Mackenzie holding me up.
I continued to sob when he hurried to us. My lungs constricted. I gasped.
“She came in screaming for you,” Mackenzie explained. “I don’t know why.” She looked at me, still unwilling to let go of my arm even as Bryson scooped me into his.
My body shook while he carried me into his office, sitting me in the chair and brushing my hair off my face. Bryson’s eyes widened when he noticed the smudged makeup that no longer covered the deep purple bruises on my cheek and the mascara that was running down my face in streams of tears that made it look worse.
“Amanda, tell me what’s going on,” he said, his voice heavy with concern.
“They arrested him.” I only managed to get the three words before another sob broke from me.
Bryson and Mackenzie looked at each other and then back to me. “Arrested who?” he asked, but Mackenzie’s jaw dropped. She knew. I think Brys did too.
“Drake!” I clarified.
“What?” they both shouted at the same time.
I closed my eyes, folding my arms over my chest and trying to take a slow breath in through my nose and out through my mouth. “We were getting ready to go to dinner, and the police showed up and… they handcuffed him and took him!” I opened my eyes again and looked down at the dress I had picked out to wear tonight—the one Drake loved so much.
When I looked up, Bryson was glaring. Was he mad at me or worried about Drake? “You were with him when it happened?” he finally asked.
“Yes.” I knew my brother would be angry. He had told us not to get involved, and we hadn’t had a chance to tell him otherwise. “He was at my house.”
“Goddamn it!” he yelled, slamming his hand against the desk and causing me to recoil farther into the seat.
Mackenzie put her hand on his arm. “Brys.”
He took a deep breath, looking at her hand before pinching the bridge of his nose between his finger and thumb and grumbling. “I told you not to get involved with him for a reason,” he scolded.
“Seriously?” I asked, sitting forward in the chair. That was what he wanted to get hung up on? “You’re the one who told him to keep an eye on me!”
Bryson glared. “I told him to keep an eye on you, not to fuck you, put you in danger, and then almost have you thrown in jail!” His face burned red with his anger.
I gulped, lowering my voice. “He didn’t.”
“He didn’t what? He didn’t fuck you?” He clenched his jaw, already knowing the answer.
I sighed. I wasn’t going to deny it. “He didn’t put me in danger.”
“Are you kidding me, Amanda? Look at you!” He gestured to me as if I could see my reflection in his stare.
Helplessly, I stood up. “Drake didn’t do this to me!” I pointed at my face, satisfied when he winced. He hated to see me hurt; he always had. This would be no different. “He protected me, which is exactly what you told him to do! And now he’s in jail. So are you going to help me get him out?”
“No.”
Mackenzie gasped at his quick dismissal, and I looked at her, pleading with my eyes to say something. Anything. My brother would listen to her a lot easier than he would me, especially when he was so angry. She tightened her hand on his arm. “Brys, he’s your best friend.”
His face softened when he looked at her, the same way Drake’s softened when he looked at me. My stomach flipped, and fresh tears pricked my eyes. “Not anymore,” he said shortly.
“Seriously?” My shoulders sagged with defeat before my mind flashed to the look on Drake’s face when they shoved him in the back of the cop car. I’d do anything for you. “Whatever, Bryson. I’m going to help him.”
“The fuck you are.” He puffed out his chest, knowing normally I’d listen to him. I always had. He was my big brother, and I always did what he told me to do.
Until Drake.
I started to walk out of the room, but my brother grabbed my arm. “Amanda, stop. Listen to me.”
“No,” I snapped. “You listen to me. Drake needs me. Either you help me get him out, or I’ll do it by myself, but I’m not leaving him in there. He was protecting me!” I yanked my arm away from him, shaking my head.
