“What the fuck is going on?” he demanded.

“Now is not a good time,” she hissed.

“You’re shaking like a fucking leaf. Why is your friend saying that bullshit about you?” He crowded her against the door, using his body to absorb her tremors. “Talk to me.”

He believed her. He believed her over Camille, over what everyone else would be saying, the rumors that would be flying. He believed her. For some reason, that faith made her want to cry.

“I can’t.”

“Can’t or won’t?”

“Both. She has her reasons. You need to leave me alone, Brick. We’ve done this dance before.” She hated that the weight of his body against hers instantly made her feel calmer, safer.

“Why? So you can date my brother?” Now he didn’t look furious. He looked miserable as pain bloomed in those sharp blue eyes.

“For Pete’s sake, Brick. Spence is like a brother to me. And not in the way you keep pretending to think of me as a sister. But you don’t get to tell me you don’t want to be with me and then throw a fit when I end up with someone else.”

He bared his teeth at her, and she half expected him to take a bite out of her. Instead he shifted gears. “Are you just going to let everyone believe you were the one driving that night?”

She shrugged. “Maybe.”

He shook his head slowly. “The Remi I know would have that woman by the lady balls and crying for a teddy bear for lying. So I repeat. What the fuck is going on? Why aren’t you burning down her world right now?”

The laugh she tried to force came out as a half sob. “This doesn’t concern you. Leave it the fuck alone.”

He muttered something under his breath about murder, and Remi looked at him. Really looked at him.

“You really do believe me, don’t you?”

He looked annoyed. “I know when you’re lying.”

“Yeah. When I was eighteen. But I could have gotten better at it. I could be a different person. One you don’t know,” she pushed.

“I know that if you fucked up like that, you’d move heaven and earth to make it right. You’d have confessed on the scene, demanded a breathalyzer, and put yourself in the back of a squad car if you thought you put your friend in the hospital.”

She slumped against him, anger mixing with something more primal. “I did put her in the hospital,” she hissed. “Just because I wasn’t behind the wheel doesn’t mean I wasn’t responsible.”

“Your so-called friend is trying to ruin you, and you’re still worried about protecting her. What would happen if I talked to her?”

Remi felt the color drain from her face. She grabbed him by the front of his shirt and held on. He went hard against her, his erection swelling behind his jeans. “Don’t you dare try to get involved in any way. Do you hear me?”