Remind Me

Chapter Thirty-One

"Brinley, so good to see you!" Joey stops when he sees me face. "Whoa, what's the matter with you?"

"Everything," I walk over to the chairs by the bed and fall into one, crossing my arms.

"Wow," Joey raises his eyebrows. He clears his throat. "Uh... You wanna talk about it?"

"You wanna listen?" I ask with a quirk of an eyebrow.

"Mm... Probably not, but go for it," Joey says, looking pretty worried.

"Just because I was kidnapped doesn't mean I'm going to run into danger everywhere I go. Do you think I'm going to walk into a restaurant or a hospital or out of my own house and some shady looking man is going to steal me away? Every time? Jonathan's dead! What do I have to fear anymore? Nothing! And I really don't want to spend the rest of my life hidden away in my house because I'm scared to take that chance," I say loudly, all my anger coming out at once.

"Your mom's treating you like a child?" Joey asks feebly, looking a little nervous seeing me like this.

"Oh, not just her," I laugh dryly.

"Your sister?" He asks.

"Not only her," I reply, shaking my head.

Joey seems to understand who I'm meaning. He lets out a sigh, looking at my sadly. "Owen's very protective of you, Brinley. He thinks everything is his fault, and he doesn't want it to happen again."

"But he practically told me that I'm helpless and he's tired of saving me time and time again," I reply, agitated.

Joey looks at me for a long time. "What do you mean 'practically'?"

I frown. "He told me I can never save myself."

"And you drew every other conclusion," he says pointedly.

I gape at him. "Are you saying you wouldn't? He sure sounded pretty annoyed!"

"Look, I don't like fighting with you," Joey says. "But-"

"Then don't fight with me," I cross my arms again. "Agree with me."

"But," he interrupts me, "I think you should give the guy a break. He came in here earlier. He's having a rough day. He's probably very irritable."

"Oh, he is," I assure him.

"And obviously so are you," Joey points out. "You both ran into each other at the wrong time."

I let out a huff, looking down instead of at him. Maybe because I know what he's saying has some truth in it. I just don't want to admit that.

"Look, it's not very often he blows up at someone. He's already stressed out enough as it is. Having you ranting to him probably added a lot to it," Joey says cautiously.

"Oh, so you're saying that I blow up at people a lot? That I'm just an explosion waiting to happen," I ask, temper rising quickly.

"I'm saying," Joey says calmly, "that you are far more emotional than most people know how to handle. It's not a bad thing, and Owen can handle it almost always. But like I said, today isn't the day to cross him."

"Why do you keep saying that? What's today?" I demand, feeling frustrated with literally everything and everybody.

"Owen will explain," Joey says.

"No, he won't!" I say, frowning. "He won't talk to me."

"Maybe he already did try," Joey says over me. "You've got to cool down. Now. If you can't do it here, go for a walk."