Page 124 of Keeping Score

“What?” His voice on the other side of the line was filled with betrayal. “No, no, no. Absolutely not. You’ve been working on this with me. You’re the only person I trust with this!”

“How can you still want to work with me after the mess I made at court?” I said, fighting the urge to cry. “I got emotional and—”

“That’s why I trust you. You care about me. My kids. I see it and I feel it when we work together. This is more than a job to you, isn’t it? Your work matters to you, and that’s something I can’t say the same for any of the other lawyers I’ve spoken to before.”

I sighed. He was right, I did care. But could it be that he was right? Was it something to be proud of, an asset, even—instead of something I had to shy away from?

My entire life I’d guarded myself from my feelings. I left before they got the better of me. If I cared about something too much, it meant I was already too invested and that’s when I knew I had to pull the trigger on it.

Caring too much could hurt you.

But running away might be even more detrimental than I’d ever realized.

“Please don’t give up on me, Ms. Brynn.” His voice was a desperate plea. “If anyone can help me, it’s you.”

I could do this, emotional entanglement and all. And if I could do this and succeed? Well, it might even prove that I was capable of more than I knew. It might prove that I didn’t have to suppress who I was and what I felt to be a good lawyer, or sister, or partner.

Because the thing about burying everything deep down is… it always finds a way to bleed through the cracks. Maybe it was time to stop patching the surface—and start rebuilding what was underneath instead.

“You’ve got yourself a lawyer, Mr. Reilly,” I confirmed to him, newly energized with a purpose to drive me forward. “And I’m not going anywhere until we get you what you need.”

It was strange that Brody had an entire life I’d never really seen before.

I mean, it made sense. Everyone had a past. But these guys, they weren’t just casual acquaintances or teammates he used to play with in high school years ago.

They treated him like a brother.

Brody was loved. Of course he was. He was brilliant and wonderful and made everyone who spoke to him feel like they were being bathed in sunlight. And even though he hadn’t seen these friends in probably years, they still embraced him as if no time at all had passed.

We were in the backseat of his friend Aiden’s car, with a guy named Sean riding shotgun. The entirety of the car ride had been spent half in tears over stories from high school.

“And then,” Aiden laughed, doubling over the steering wheel, face red and breathless from lack of oxygen, “the vice-principal chased us down the hallway with the bird flying out of his office after him.”

“Yeah, I remember.” Brody laughed, eyes locked with Aiden’s through the rearview mirror.

“Brody,” I gasped. “I had no idea you were such a little menace!”

“Retired menace,” he corrected, all the while reveling in the memories of his glory days.

I stared at him, appreciating the way his face lit up when he was happy. I hadn’t seen him laugh in a while and hated myself for how much I’d put him through lately.

Without thinking, he dropped a hand down to my knee and squeezed, my body freezing under a touch that used to be the most natural thing in the world to me.

I missed it. I wanted to lean into it. I wanted everything to go back to normal.

But then he remembered and ripped his hand away as if it had touched a stovetop rather than my thigh.

“Sorry,” he winced, barely looking at me as he said it.

“It’s okay,” I told him.

I watched as he shifted in his seat, pretending to fall back into the conversation, but I knew him well enough to see the tension locked in his jaw.

With his body angled away from mine, he felt farther away than ever as he sat right beside me.

The rest of the car ride passed in a blur, and when we pulled back up to Liam’s house, I was more than ready to get out of the stifling atmosphere of the tension-filled backseat.

“Don’t forget what we talked about,” Aiden said, giving him a dab handshake through the driver’s side window.