your body is a weapon → brad simpson | ✓

sixty three

I cuddle up close to Brad as we sit on his bed, my head on his chest while we watch Bird Box on Netflix.

His hands were absentmindedly playing with some of my fingers while I concentrate on the movie. It was getting late and I know I'm going to have to leave soon and go back to Aiden, but I really don't want to.

"You okay?" Brad asks, looking down at me. I shift my head and look up at him, smiling slightly.

"I'm fine," I assure him. "Are you?"

"For the first time in a while, yeah," he says and my heart skips a beat or two. I hate how much of an affect he has on me sometimes. "I really don't want you to go back to him tonight."

"I wish I didn't have to, too," I say honestly, sitting up and running my hand through my hair. We let the film play in the background since neither of us were particularly interested.

He lets out a frustrated sigh. "This is so fucking stupid—all of it. He shouldn't be asking you to marry him when you don't even love each other because now we're stuck in this mess."

"I know," I agree. "But I'm marrying him for someone I love."

"I'm still annoyed that you did that," he scowls at me playfully before kissing my lips lightly. "We just need to find a way for this wedding to not happen without Aiden getting replaced as a gang leader."

I nod slowly. "Then the only way we can do that is to find someone for Aiden to marry."

"That's easy! Loads of people will want to marry him," Brad says.

"If it was that easy, then I don't think he'd have come and asked me to marry him," I frown. "I said that to him—that he could marry anyone—but he told me that he asked me because he wanted someone he could laugh about with, someone that knows him."

"You didn't see him for almost four fucking years," Brad scoffs. "He became a gang leader and became one of the richest people in bloody England—I don't think he's the same guy you knew when you were best friends."

"I guess," I shrug, letting out a sigh and leaning against Brad again in defeat.

"Hey, don't be so down," he says, holding me closer to him and resting his chin on the top of my head. "We'll figure things out. The universe will have our backs."

"I hope so," I sigh again, snuggling into Brad and he presses a kiss to the top of my head. "It's gonna be hard finding someone that Aiden knows and likes that could marry him instead of me."

"We will find someone," Brad promises me, squeezing me in reassurance. "And when we have this all sorted, I'll take you anywhere you like. We can go on a holiday for however long you like, we can get married if you want, we can—,"

He's cut off by the sound of my phone ringing and I get up quickly, grabbing it and answering it since I know it's Aiden.

"Where are you?"

I glance over to Brad. "I'm out at the moment."

"Where?" Aiden asks over the phone. "I'll come and pick you up. It's getting late and I don't want you running into trouble."

"It's fine," I assure him. "I'll make my own way back, you don't need to worry."

"Jamie," he warns me. "Where are you?"

I don't reply. I don't want to tell Aiden, I know he won't be happy about Brad and I talking again. He'll say it'll ruin the illusion we have, that we're happy in love.

"Jamie."

Brad frowns at me, taking ahold of my spare hand.

"I'm at Brad's alright?" I sigh, running a hand through my hair. "Like I said, I'll find my way back—,"