your body is a weapon → brad simpson | ✓

sixty eight

Brad looked enraged. With his fists clenched and his jaw locked, he looked as though he was going to actually murder Aiden and I didn't doubt him for a second.

There were several reasons why I couldn't let that happen, and right now, my main priority was to make sure he didn't.

Aiden had left pretty much as soon as he dropped the wedding date and it took me a couple of moments to register why it was such a big deal to Brad.

July the twenty eighth is Brad's birthday.

This must be Aiden's sly way of getting back at Brad, for teaching me a lesson that I must stop hanging out with him, and it made me want to despise the man I'm supposed to marry.

Currently, Brad was storming over to his car. It's not a surprise that what Aiden said had triggered his ADHD. He was thinking irrationally.

"Brad, slow down!" I yell after him, my little legs barely keeping up with his large strides.

"I'm gonna fucking kill him, Jamie," he growls as he unlocks it with his keys, his other hand on the door handle.

"You can't do that," I say, following close behind him. He opens his car door as I get there and I place my hand gently on his arm in hope to get him to look at me.

It works. He turns to face me, his eyes dark and burning with rage. "Yes I am. He knows full-fucking-well that the twenty eighth is my fucking birthday and he's just going to ruin it like that?"

"Brad—,"

"No, Jamie," he shakes his head. "It's bad enough he's took you away from me, he ripped away the one fucking person that keeps me going. Now he's going to ruin my birthday by marrying you. I've had enough of him!"

"Remember what we were talking about? About finding someone for Aiden to marry instead?" I say, my eyes hopeful that he won't get into his car and drive off to find Aiden. "We can still do that, we have three months to figure something out."

His fists were clenching and unclenching. He was trying to calm himself down. He was struggling, and the vein in his neck was prominent as he closes his eyes tightly.

"I just want to kill him," Brad shakes his head, keeping his eyes shut. "I want to rip his throat out and feed it to the fucking dogs, I swear. He's such a provoking bastard."

"You're not going to kill him," I say affirmably. "Because if you do that, then you'd go to jail and I'd be all by myself, okay? I'd be at home, alone. Or I actually would end up marrying Aiden. So you're going to stay here and cool down and then we can go to your house or something."

He doesn't say anything, his eyes still clenched shut. I hold back a sigh, I know he's trying to keep calm.

"Hey," I say, grabbing his full attention as I place my hand lightly on his cheek. "It's okay, trust me. We'll figure this out."

"I know," he sighs in defeat, reaching his hand up to rest over mine and I hold back a small smile. "I just can't think of anything except how I'm gonna murder Aiden."

I step around the car door that was still between us so that I'm stood in front of him. I press a firm kiss to his lips, not caring in this moment if I get caught or not.

"What can I do to take your mind off of it?"

"I have a few ideas," he says, his hand slowly dropping from mine and I let my hand fall from his cheek and down to my side again.

"Yeah?"

He smiles. "I wanna take you to the beach. The waves are meant to be calming, right?" I nod. "I'd buy us some donuts and we could sit on the sand, just talking."

He closes his eyes, probably to get the image in his head clearly. I couldn't help but bite back a smile.

"We can do that," I say. "Not now, but we can do it soon. When everything is sorted out."

"This is so shit," he mutters. "It's just not fucking fair anymore."

"I know," I agree, a small sigh escaping my lips.

"He keeps using you to get to me," Brad rests his forehead against mine. "It's his way of telling me to back off. He's using you like you're a weapon."

I stay silent, considering his words. Maybe he's not wrong.

He purses his lips for a moment, finding the right words. "Your body is a weapon, and it rips me up inside."

"What do you mean?"

"Every time he wants to teach me a lesson, for hanging out with you," Brad explains. "He'll find a way to use you against me. When he found out we were hanging out again, he drags you away knowing full-well that's going to piss me off. Just now, when he saw us together, he drops that fucking bombshell on us without a care."

I nod. He's not wrong.

"Even this stupid fucking wedding is a way of getting back to me, even though it's not the only reason it's happening," Brad mutters and I scrunch up my eyebrows in confusion. "If you found out your best friend from ages ago has moved on and found another new best friend, would you be happy?"

"No," I reply.

"Exactly," Brad says. "You'd find a way to get them back, and maybe the wedding was his way. He could've asked anyone from his childhood, but he asks you when you're obviously fucking happy with someone else."

I move my forehead from his, looking into his upset brown eyes.

"It's whatever," he shrugs, taking ahold of my hands gently. "I should get you home before he finds another way to bite my head off."

I nod. "Can you take me to my home?"

"What do you mean?"

"Back to my dad's place," I explain. "I don't know if he's in, but I need a proper break from Aiden after earlier. I need some space to just think."

"Okay, babe," he nods, giving me a small smile before I rub our noses together gently—I shouldn't really kiss him again, so I settle for that instead.

I walk around to the passenger seat and sit down, fastening my seat belt and soon enough we're on the road to my home. My real home, not the mansion I've been accustomed to with Aiden.

When we arrive, Brad walks me to the door even though I'm capable of going alone. I don't mind, not at all.

"I'll see you at school tomorrow?" He asks once I've found the keys for my house. My dad's car wasn't in, he's definitely at work.

"Of course," I smile, engulfing him in a tight hug. I feel comfortable and safe in his arms, and he's like the glue keeping me together from having a breakdown because of this messy situation Aiden has put me in.

"Text me if you need anything," he says, his head resting the top of my head as I rest my head on his chest. "Okay?"

"You too," I say back. "Try not to get angry again tonight, don't break anything. Talk to me instead."

I know what he's like, I know that anything could trigger his ADHD again and he could start thinking irrationally. The last thing I want is for him to do something he'll regret.

He doesn't reply and instead, his hands run through my hair lightly. I'm not sure how long we're stood there for but eventually his phone starts ringing and he reluctantly pulls away.

He glances at his phone screen, rolling his eyes. "It's Connor, I should probably go back to my house."

"Okay," I smile briefly up at him. I'm so exhausted just from today's events: going back to school, Frankie's confrontation, Aiden's release drop date and Brad's outburst because of that. I just want to go to sleep.

He presses a soft kiss to my forehead, and my skin still tingles at the sensations he gives me.

"I'll see you later, Jamie."

"You too, Brad."

edited.