Choosing Between The Two

CHAPTER 4

Leighton's POV

As I pulled up into my drive way, I heard Brady gasp. I pretended not to notice and unlocked the front door. He followed closely behind me while I lead him to the kitchen where my mom baked cookies.

"Mom I have a study date. This is Brady." I said catching her attention.

"Sure honey, want a cookie son?" she asked Brady who seemed out of place in the fancy kitchen.

He took two and walked towards the dinning area Mom directed him to. I was just about to follow when my mom stopped me by the hem of my dress.

"Make sure he doesn't steal anything." she said before laughing and swatting my butt with the oven mitt.

I chuckled and snatched some cookies before following Brady through the double doors.

*****2 Hours Later*****

"Ok so that's Calculus and English and History. We still have Science left." I said putting away the books that were listed.

"Ugh can't we take a brake?" Brady complained yawning and stretching in his seat.

I could see his muscles flexing under his thin shirt and tried not to gawk.

"We could take a movie break." I suggested getting up from the table.

"Sure that sounds great." Brady said before I grabbed his arm and led him to the viewing room.

We were watching a scary movie when I jumped for the fifth time and turned it off.

"Hey I was watching that!" Brady argued when the screen went black.

"Yea well its too scary for me. Can't we just talk or something." I pleaded with him.

"Sure let's play 21 questions." he suggested, a mischievous grin playing at his lips.

"Ok, you start." I said folding my legs under me and moving to face him.

"Why did you and that jerk brake up?" he asked once I was settled.

"Because...Well, he thinks that he can control me and didn't want me to tutor you. He said I wasn't allowed to be anywhere alone with you. Like I can't control myself. Like-like I'm some kind of hoe. I mean isn't a relationship supposed to have trust? If he can't trust me then maybe we shouldn't be together. And-and he didn't even stop me or come after me. He obviously thinks we shouldn't be together too." I ranted.

The more I spoke of it, the angrier I got. I couldn't stop myself until I ran out of things to say and my voice petered out.

The silence enveloped us.

"So you could control yourself around me?" Brady asked ripping through the silence.

The boyish grin on his face let me know it was more of a challenge than question.

"Of course I can." I spoke, feeling my face heat up, then crossed my arms over my chest to hide it.

He came closer to my side of the couch and ran his hand up and down the skin my dress exposed.

"Even when I do this?" he asked his eyes getting darker.

I gave one tiny nod.

He took this as permission to continue and slowly uncrossed my arms. His finger tips gently brushed my waist until having a firm hold on my hips. Still I didn't budge.

"You still controlling your self?" he asked his face inches from mine.

I thought back to the hallway.

"Yes." I said my breath sounding shallow and my voice barely above a whisper.

"How 'bout now?"

He slowly tilted my chin up and guided my lips to his. My body instantly reacted. My arms wrapped around his neck pulling him closer, and deepening the kiss. My hands ran over his muscles and chest before I fell backwards onto the couch pulling him with me. His hands were now under my dress caressing my sides and moving upward towards my breast. My hands interlocked in his hair as his head went down to the crook of my neck.He began kissing, nipping, and sucking on my neck. I let out a moan and he suddenly stopped, sitting up and leaving me wanting more.

I got up and bit my lip while he watched me.

"Still think you can control yourself?" He asked smirking at me.

"Yes." I said trying to sound confident.

"Then why didn't you stop yourself?"

"Because I didn't want to."

Brady stared at me for a long time before saying "Ok. Your go."

"So why did you move here?" I asked still recovering from the make out session.

"I um got assigned to a new foster family." He stuttered making a big transformation from the hot sexy bad boy he was a few moments ago.

He was clearly uncomfortable so I asked a different question.

"Why do you care about your grades all of a sudden? It really can't mean that much to you." I asked curiously.

"Because my parole officer will send me back to jail if my grades drop below an 80 average. He thinks that if my grades are bad that I'm doing bad things that prevent them from being good grades." He said taking a sudden interest in the blank flat screen t.v.

"Oh well what were you at jail for the first time?" I pushed.

He was quiet for a long moment and I thought that I might've went to far and he wouldn't answer. After a while he turned to me.

"I killed a guy. But it was by accident I swear." he added after my eyes widened from his first statement.

I compulsively moved away from him.

"How can you kill someone by accident?!" I asked fear clear in my voice as I tried not to raise it.

"I was.. h-he just..." he began each time letting his voice trail off like he couldn't find the right words.

Impulsively I moved further away.

"I'll start from the beginning. So me and my sister Anna-Maria used to live in a foster home together. One night I caught the foster dad trying to rape her. Turns out he had raped her three times before, and Anna was too afraid to tell anybody. So I beat him up. I took out all 16 years of my anger on his body until he wasn't breathing. I didn't mean to beat 'em up that bad... I just wanted to teach him a lesson and..and run away with my sister. So I let her run away and I stayed to face the consequences. I haven't seen Anna-Marie since. She said she would find me, but between jails and foster homes I doubt she will." He told the story looking down at his feet, unable to meet my eyes.

I got up and walked to the side of the couch he was sitting.

"Brady."

No response.

"Brady look at me."

He slowly forced himself to look up. I pulled him into a hug and rocked him.

"That's so horrible Brady. You poor thing." I said wishing I could take away some of his pain.

"It's okay. I'm fine you can let me out if your death grip now." he joked but the smile didn't reach his eyes or his dimples.

Still I released him and observed. He nervously checked his watch.

"It's almost seven. I should get going."he said walking to the dinning area.

I followed as he packed his bag and walked him to the door.

"Bye Leighton." he said.

"Bye Brady." I responded softly.

A minute passed before I swung the door open and raced down the drive way yelling his name. He stopped when he saw me coming.

I got on my tiptoes, grabbed his face, and kissed him before turning and running back into the house. I closed and locked the door behind me praying he wouldn't come back to ask about it. He didn't.