Page 34 of Sinful as They Come
“Well, thank you for coming.” I forced a smile. My eyes scanned his board. “Are you going skating later?”
“Yeah,” he said quietly. “I’m going to the skatepark with Lucas.”
I nodded, forcing a smile on my face. “That sounds really fun. Don’t forget your helmet.”
“Why didn’t you tell me you didn’t like my article?” he asked. “If you hated it, you should have just said so.”
“Brodie…” I stood up and took very slow steps towards him.
For some reason I felt like Sawyer was going to suddenly appear and scream in my face again. I still hadn’t got over that argument we had earlier in the day. That one had been so intense. Not to mention that last comment he made to me. He had some nerve saying what he did back in the hallway.You ever need someone to fuck that frustration outta you, you know where tofind me. Ugh. Who else but Sawyer?
“It had nothing to do with your writing. I swear. It was just…”
“What?”
How would I tell him? He wouldn’t get it.
“It wasn’t you,” I said simply. “It was me.” It sounded like a bad break up. It was the worst excuse one could give, but there I was giving it.
“What happened?” he mumbled, his eyes on the floor.
My heart ached. From the first day I met him we had gotten along well. Despite his last name – despite who he was related to – I still thought Brodie was a good guy.
“Was it your boyfriend?” Brodie asked before I could come up with an explanation. He finally looked up at me. There wasn’t any malice in his voice. And his eyes… He was looking at me with such kind eyes that I felt guilt run me over like a truck.
“Brodie…”
“I didn’t mean to start anything between you two,” Brodie murmured. “I’m sorry if he was mad at you because of what I did.”
Washereally apologizing tome? Brodie was too nice for his own good.
“Brodie,” I sighed, closing the small gap between us. My hands landed on his shoulders, giving them a little squeeze. “You don’t have to apologize for a thing. You didn’t start anything with me and Carter.” That was a lie and he probably knew that. Brodie’s article had been the reason for me and Carter’s latest argument – but that wasn’t Brodie’s fault. “You did nothing wrong.”
“It feels like I did…”
My arms wrapped right around Brodie when he said that, pulling him into a hug. I shouldn’t have removed his article. That was an obvious fact, and my mistake felt like it would cloud over me for a long time. I should have done something else instead of hurting him, but we had to go to print. There hadn’t been any time to get Brodie to write something else. And Carter… Carter had been so mad.
“You did nothing wrong,” I insisted. “I promise. Thank you for writing your article and thank you for all the work you put into it. I appreciate thatso much. It was my fault. All of this. I promise. You don’t deserve any of the blame.”
“You mean that?” Brodie asked when we pulled away from one another. “It’s not ‘cause my writing sucked?”
“Your article was the best one,” I told him with a sad smile. “Really. And I wanna see what other stuff you’ll write for the newspaper too.”
“You’re happy with me to stay on the team?”
“Absolutely! This had nothing to do with your writing. It was a me problem. Trust me, I want you to keep writing for The Chronicle.”
“Thanks,” Brodie whispered. “I guess I’ll have to go to this week’s football game too, right?”
“Uh, how about I take over for sports?” I offered. “You’re big into music, right? You’re wearing a different band tee every time I see you. How do you feel about writing about some local bands and stuff? Principal Yorke can probably hook you up with free tickets.”
A wide smile quickly formed on Brodie’s face, his eyes twinkling a little. “We could do that?” he asked, his voice laced with curiosity. “I’d love that.”
I smiled right back at him. The look of elation on his face was so wholesome. How the hell was he Sawyer’s cousin? “We can definitely do that. I’ll organize a show for you to go to and get back to you. Maybe something on the weekend if you’re okay with that.”
“Oh, for sure.” Brodie gave me an eager nod. “I think this topic is more up my alley. Maybe it’s a good thing this whole sports thing didn’t work out… Honestly, I kinda hate football. I’m definitely more of a band guy.”
“You’ll have lots of fun with this. You should be able to go backstage and stuff,” I explained. “This town has a weird amount of up-and-coming musicians.”
