"I was. We were going to talk..." That was the truth. That was what they had agreed on. To talk. But anyone who was bright at all knew better. They knew way better that things wouldn't turn out as civil as that. His brows furrowed again with concentratation as he listened to her words very carefully, now. If he didn't, he might not have paid enough attention to respond. Not because he didn't want to hear what she had to say, but because he had so many thoughts and things going on in his head that he couldn't quite put his thumb down on just one. True, Rodeo had threatened his family. He had also threatened Leah and her family. That wasn't okay with O'brien. It was one thing to threaten him, but when the bastard dragged Leah into it? And then her family? And then, his family? He could have killed the guy for that, alone.
And of course, then there was the whole thing about it being too soon to have given him a chance. Leah's words were kind of on repeat in his head. He didn't have a very good history with women. He'd been a jerk on duty, and a workaholic the rest of the time. The Apocalypse had changed him, yeah. But maybe not enough. He still had to be on Rodeo's case. He still had to tell Charlie because it was eating away at his conscience. And now Charlie was pissed at him and didn't want to see him again, Rodeo wanted to kill him and everything that he loved, Brandon was in trouble, and Leah was what? breaking up with him? Whatever it was, she was regretting giving him a chance. And maybe she hadn't meant to give him one in the first place, who knew? She'd been pretty emotional, that night, on the roof. But he was losing her because he couldn't just drop a fucking case. He couldn't just let Rodeo fucking go, and mind his own damn business.
So many thoughts and worries.
He needed to go, if he was going to help Brandon.
That's when Leah spoke up again-- or he caught what she was saying again. LIfting his eyes back up to her, he nodded a bit hesitantly. It was true. Brandon was probably already there. Even if he could sprint, he wouldn't make it there in time before anything happened. And as it was, he could definitely not sprint. Or run. All he could do was limp.
O'Brien's brows pushed together again; Did Leah truly believe that Brandon could take care of himself? Or was she just saying that so she wouldn't worry as much? And okay, it wasn't his fault, she said. It was Rodeo's. It took two people to fight. It took two people to cause this kind of trouble. Tonight was just as much of his fault as it was Rodeo's. O'Brien was the one that had agreed to meet him. If he'd just ignored it, they wouldn't be in this situation. None of this would have happened.