Bad Impressions (Revive Me #1) (23 page)

She took my words in. “Yeah, that’s true. It’s just...I…” She looked away, hiding her face.

I brushed her cheek lightly. “Just what, darlin’?”

“I’m so sorry. This is all my fault. He hurt you, because of me.”

“Hey! No, Soph. Look at me.”

She reluctantly did as I asked, her gaze meeting mine. Tears filled her eyes.

“It’s over now. Everything’s fine. This is not your fault.
I
made the decision to use my fists. The consequences are mine to deal with, not yours.”

In all honesty, I’d been so fucking reckless.

Sure, I’d managed to come out on top, but that was mostly due to the fact that I’d been fighting a bunch of untrained pussies.

I’d had no strategy whatsoever. I’d been running purely on my fucking anger at what that sick bastard had said about my girl. Every move I’d made, every punch I’d thrown, had been completely reactive and in the moment.

“When I saw that knife in his hand, Brad. You don’t even know…I was…I swear, my heart actually stopped beating. If something had happened…if the knife had—”

“Stop,” I said, squeezing her waist. “It’s over now. Okay?”

She blew out a breath and wriggled out of my hold.

She spun around to face me and right away I could see how pissed she was.
Uh oh. Here it comes.

She threw her hands up in the air and yelled, “I
love
you!”

“Darlin’, I know,” I responded uneasily, not sure where she was going with her outburst. All I
did
know was that it wasn’t somewhere good. No, I was definitely in for it.

“Do you? Do you really, Brad?”

What the fuck?

Before I could get a word in, she continued ranting, “Because you put yourself in a hell of a lot of danger tonight! You didn’t even discuss it with me! You just went right ahead and threw yourself headlong into a fight with
three
guys! We’re together now! What you do affects both of us, Brad! But what
you
did tonight didn’t take that into account at all! You acted like you were still single or something!”

“Soph, can we table this until tomorrow?” I asked.

I was exhausted and in enough pain for it to be uncomfortable. It meant my temper was very short and I really didn’t want to risk getting into an argument with my girlfriend when I wasn’t in the best mood. I didn’t have the energy to summon enough patience to take whatever she was about to throw at me without losing my cool and saying some shit I could end up regretting.

“No!” she thundered. “We’re talking about this now. I know you. You’ll just keep putting it off otherwise and we’ll never get to have this discussion.”

I sighed heavily. “Look, I hear what you’re saying.”

“You were reckless!”

“I agree.”

Her brow furrowed. “You do?”

“Yeah,” I said, leaning my head back against the wall.

“Then why did you do it?”

I shrugged my shoulders.

I didn’t want to get into all the shit that Jake had been saying about her that had driven me over the edge and resulted in my fist smashing into his pretty boy face.

“That’s not an answer, Brad!”

I lost my cool then and jerked forward in the chair, yelling, “Why do you think? I was defending your fucking honor!” She just kept pushing and pushing.
Fuck!

“You were being a caveman again!” she accused.

“Fuck that, Soph! The shit he was saying—no one talks about my girl like that! No one!” I struggled to my feet, gripping the chair arm for support, because my ribs were killing me. “And let me tell you something else: I’d do it again. Any guy disrespects you like that and he’s gonna hear about from me.”

“You’re being ridiculous. Where is your whole no-fight policy now, huh?”

“Tonight was different.”

“Was it now? Please enlighten me. What was so different about it to make you lose your temper after working so hard to control it for the last year, ever since that crap with your dad?”

I slammed my fist into the chair arm and roared, “Because that fucker was hell-bent on laying his hands on you! He’d come to get you, to bring you home with him, so he could beat on you and exert his dominant bullshit over you!”

“What?” she choked.

“No one lays a hand on the woman I love. You got me?
No
one, Soph. No matter what I have to do, I will fucking protect you. You think I wanted to use my fists tonight? I was fucking scared, okay? Scared that I’d go too far; that I wouldn’t be able to stop. But I risked it, because it was the only thing that asshole would understand. The only thing that’d make damn sure he’d
never
come sniffing around after you again.”

She was so stunned by
my
outburst, that she didn’t say anything. She just stared at me, her hands on her hips, as she tried to absorb what I’d just told her.

Someone cleared their throat loudly.

Soph spun around in surprise and I glanced at the door.

I groaned inwardly as I saw Ollie standing there, leaning against the door frame, his arms crossed over his chest.
Lovely.
He’d just heard our heated argument.

Expecting him to give me shit for yelling at his sister, I was surprised when he asked Soph calmly, “Can you give us a moment, sis?”

Her eyes flashed with irritation. “We’re in the middle of something here, Ollie.”

“I heard. Probably best that you go get a coffee, have a smoke and take a breather.”

She blew out a breath. “Fine.” She stomped to the door and stopped just in front of him. “You’re both the same. Cavemen!” she fumed, before storming out of the examination room.

I ran my fingers through my hair in an effort to come down from our argument.
Fuck.
When the two of us fought, we really fucking went for it. We really knew how to push one another’s buttons.

Ollie chuckled. “I gotta admit, when she gets like that,
I’m
fucking scared of her.”

“She was just worried.”

“Yeah, she saw you fighting.”

“I know. I was there, Ollie,” I snapped, not in the mood for having a conversation with him.

I was in pain and it was approaching four in the damn morning. And after my argument with Soph, my patience was completely spent.

“No, not at the end. She was standing at the door when I showed up.”

“What?”

“Yeah. She was the one who called me. When I arrived, she was striding towards you and Jake, about to interfere. I stopped her.”

“Fucking hell.”

He leaned against the exam table. “She’s changed. A few months back she would never have risked any shit like that. So shy. So withdrawn. So
fragile
. She
needed
my protection, you know?” He crossed his ankles and looked at me. “But tonight, hell, there was no fear there at all. She was fucking ballsy. Confident.” He smiled. “Because of
you
.”

“What?” Had I heard him right? Was he actually…complimenting me?

“Instead of just doing as
I
always have and fighting her battles for her—tonight excluded—you
taught
her. Showed her how to protect herself. You gave her the tools, Brad. And she’s much better for it.”

I shook my head. “I may have taught her how to fight, but the rest was all her. It was always in her. She’s always been a tough little thing.
You
just never saw it.”

I didn’t want his compliments. He didn’t get it. He was still underestimating Soph. He wasn’t giving her the credit she deserved. He just couldn’t seem to see her for the strong woman she truly was. It always had to come down to others’ influence on her. It was the only way he could see it. And that pissed me the fuck off. She deserved better than that. She deserved everyone seeing the real her.

I watched him mull over my words. “Yeah, maybe you’re right.”

“I am.” I made no attempt to hide my irritation.

“Look, man. I didn’t come here to pick up where Soph left off and get into an argument with you.”

“Then why did you come here, Ollie?”

“I was worried.”

“She’s fine, just a little freaked out.”

“I meant
you
.”

I started in surprise. “Me?”

“Yeah, you took a beating tonight from three guys.”

I scoffed. “Come on.”

“Right, yeah. They were pussies, but there were still three of them.”

“I was too angry to give a fuck, Ollie.”

“Thank you, all right?”

“For what?”

He looked me right in the eye then, for the first time since he’d walked into the room. “For defending my sister the way you did. Cassandra showed me the video and I heard what that fucker said about her. I…appreciate it.”

Hell, no.
His half-assed attempt at some sort of apology was not flying with me. Too little, too fucking late. “I did it for her. I don’t give a fuck what
you
think.”

He sighed and headed over to the door. “We’ll talk about this when you’re not so tired and in pain.”

Before I could tell him that wasn’t gonna fucking happen, he walked out.

I slumped back into the chair and pinched the bridge of my nose.
What a hellish night.

Chapter 29

~Sophie~

It had been a few days since the Jake incident and Ollie had done a complete turnaround. For one thing, he was talking to me again and he’d dropped his whole standoffish attitude towards me. And the most surprising thing was that he was no longer bad mouthing Brad. In fact, whenever the subject of the two of us came up, he was almost praising him.

As far as I was concerned it was a typical male caveman reaction. He’d watched Brad throw his fists around
defending my honor
and it’d impressed him enough to transcend his distaste for our relationship. It was so ridiculously primitive. They couldn’t work it out like civilized human beings. No, instead, a physical battle had to be the cure.
Argh!

Brad hadn’t backed down since our fight at the hospital. In fact, he was not only adamant that he’d done the right thing, he also planned to do it again if anyone ever
disrespected his girl.

While I did appreciate my boyfriend having my back, he’d gone
too
far.

The actual fighting didn’t bother me as much as the rationale behind it did.

It was a possessive action on his part. And possessiveness meant control. I didn’t want to be controlled.

After Jake, I’d learned my lesson and I didn’t want
anyone
attempting to control me again. And Brad was no exception to that. But more and more, that was what I was feeling from him.

The first time I’d noticed it had been his comment about not wanting me to walk into town alone. I’d called him on it then and he’d assured me that he had no intention of controlling me. But then there was his comment about me pacing myself at the fair when he’d seen the beer cup in my hand. And the night of the fight where he’d actually
ordered
me to stay in his bedroom while he dealt with Jake.

I wasn’t some weak little woman who needed to be told what to do, where to go and when to stay. And I absolutely hated feeling that from him, no matter whether there were good intentions behind it or not. That was how all that bullshit started, just like it had with Jake. I’d let things go too far with that bastard and I wasn’t about to make the same mistake with Brad.

But we were both incredibly stubborn and so, while I’d refused to back down on my end, so had he.

I’d been back at home for the last few days. I’d stayed at Brad’s for that first night, playing nursemaid and making sure he was okay with the injuries he’d sustained. But then I’d taken my stuff and moved back into mine and Ollie’s house.

“You ready, Soph?” Ollie called up the stairs.

“Yeah. One sec,” I called back as I stood in front of the mirror, pulling my hair into a ponytail. I glanced down at myself, checking my appearance. I was wearing black boot-cut pants and my favorite off-the-shoulder gray sweater. Yeah, I was good to go.

I hurried down the stairs to the shoe rack beside the front door. I slipped my feet into my furry black winter boots and tied the laces quickly.

“Here,” Ollie said from beside me suddenly.

I looked to see him holding up my coat and scarf. Smiling, I said, “Thanks.”

He zipped up his puffy winter coat as I sorted myself out.

I snatched my bag off the coat hook and slipped it onto my shoulder. “Ready.”

I opened the front door and stepped out onto the porch steps.