Brooke
“Brooke, are you sure you don’t want me to wait around? In case Brody’s not here.”
“I’m good. He leaves a spare key hidden under a mat. Even if he’s not here, I can let myself in.”
“Okay. Call me if you need me to come pick you up. Jake said that he’d arrive in an hour or so, his plane was just about to land.”
“Oh poor baby, he has to drive the hour to get here after his private plane journey. The joys of being mega rich, huh?” I roll my eyes.
“I’ll tell him you said that.”
“Make sure you do.”
“Later.”
I watch her drive off, her taillights disappearing over the brow of the hill, leaving me alone. I never understood why the main office for McAllister Construction was in the middle of nowhere. Looking around, I can see all the machinery and trucks with the McAllister logo. When did it get this successful?
As I pick my way through the overgrown patch of land that is attached to the side of the building, I can see Brody’s truck in the lot. I’m surprised to see another car there as well. It’s Saturday evening, most of Brody’s crew would be at home. Maybe it’s just one of the guys here to talk to Brody or something.
It’s so cold that as I exhale, I can see my breath in the air. After the unseasonal sunshine of earlier, the temperature dropped again, reminding me that we are, indeed, in the middle of winter. Stupidly, I didn’t bother to wear my warm coat, just a light jacket, my reasoning was that I wouldn’t be outside for too long. Besides, Brody’s office has heating.
As I approach the door of his office, a sudden gust of cold wind swirls around me, making me pull my jacket as tight around my body as possible in the vain hope that it will give me some warmth. It doesn’t. The violent shudder that rips through my body tells me that I need to get inside, quick. So, I start to walk faster.
When Brody and I were together, I would walk right in, not bothering to knock. Today, though, something makes me pause before throwing the door open. Call it a sixth sense or whatever, but something doesn’t feel quite right.
On the other side of the door I can hear Brody’s deep voice. I expect to hear an equally gruff voice of one of the construction guys as well, but instead it’s the shrill high-pitched laughter of a woman.
What in the hell?
Cautiously, I press the handle down and creep into the outer office area. The familiarity hits me as soon as I walk in. Not much has changed in the year I was away. The layout seems to be the same—divided into an outer office, a small kitchenette, bathroom, and then Brody’s office at the end of a short corridor. It’s not a big space by any means but it’s functional, suiting Brody’s needs.
There’s no one in the outer office area. As I walk through it, I notice that both of the empty desks are strewn with paperwork that has probably been there since last year. Brody told me that he hadn’t gotten around to hiring another secretary. It makes me smile to see that the kitten calendar I bought as a joke a few years back is still on the wall.
As I get nearer to his office, I hear the female voice let out a long, loud moan.
No.
My blood turns to ice as the room begins to spin.
“You can’t do this,” Brody warns.
“Yes, we can,” Joely answers. “Your girlfriend will never find out,” she says quietly before letting out another moan.
No!
Before I know what I’m doing, I shove the door open, slamming it loudly against the wall. Time slows as I take in the scene before me. Brody’s and Joely’s bodies are pressed together, lips locked, his hands on her hips as she runs hers through his hair.
Oh God. I think I’m going to be sick.
Brody breaks the kiss at the sound of the door connecting to the wall. The look of confusion on his face slowly turns to horror as he realizes who is standing there.
“Brooke,” he pleads as he pushes Joely away. “Brooke, baby. It’s not what it looks like.” Brody starts walking toward me, his arms outstretched.
“Stop.”
“Brooke. Please let me explain.”
“You were kissing that…” My hand trembles as I point my finger at the smirking bitch.
“It’s not…that’s not…” he cuts in.
“So, you weren’t kissing her?” I struggle to get the words out.
“Yes…no. She kissed me, baby. I swear.”
“Brody,” Joely whines. “Get rid of the bitch so we can carry on what you started.”
“Get the fuck out of my office, Joely,” Brody growls, not taking his eyes off me.
“But, baby!” she protests, running her finger up his chest.
“I’m not your baby,” he spits as he grabs her arm, roughly pushing her toward the door.
“What are you doing?” she screeches.
“What I should have done the moment you walked into my office. Now get the fuck out of here.” He snatches up her bag and coat as he drags her out of the door, leaving me alone.
Tears start to trickle down my cheeks as I hunt for my cell. I can barely see the screen as I type out a quick text to Hope, asking her to come get me.
I can’t believe how stupid I was to think that Brody and I would get our happy ending.
Stupid.
Stupid.
Stupid, foolish woman.
I should never have followed my heart; I should have paid attention to the warning signs. He’s done it once. He promised me that it would never happen again.
Liar.
Did I ever know him? The man I’ve loved all my life?
I thought he loved me, but how can you love someone if you keep hurting them over and over? That’s not love. I need to get out of here…get out of Emmerton. I need to go back to Scottsdale and try to forget about Brody…again.
“Brooke.” I look up at the sound of his voice. He scrubs a hand over his face, tears forming in his eyes. “I promise…it wasn’t what it looked like.” He watches me cautiously, not daring to move from the doorway. I know that he’s trying to stop me from bolting.
“Don’t.” I cut in. “It was exactly what it looked like. You kissed Joely.”
“She kissed me!”
“You expect me to believe you? Because that’s not what I saw…what I saw was you and her with your tongues shoved down each other’s throats.”
“That’s not what happened…please let me explain—”
“Explain! I know what I saw.”
“No, you don’t. I swear, Brooke...”
“Like that means anything.” I have to look to the ceiling to try to calm down. “You’ve done it before.”
“And I learned my lesson.” Desperation creeps into his tone. “I promised that I would never hurt you like that again.”
“But you just did.”
“Let me explain,” he says, walking toward me.
“I think it’s best I go.”
“Baby,” he pleads.
“Please don’t call me that anymore,” I say, shaking my head as I back away from him.
“I love you.”
“No, you don’t,” I whisper.
“Don’t go. If you want me to beg, I will,” he says, dropping to his knees. “Please believe me. I didn’t kiss Joely. I swear. She kissed me.”
“Why was she here?” I demand.
“She just turned up.”
“Goodbye, Brody.” I start walking toward the door.
“I swear on my mother’s life that I didn’t ask her to come here. I was doing paperwork, then she showed up. I told her to get lost. Please, you have to believe me.”
“Why did you kiss her?”
“I didn’t. She kissed me,” he says, looking at the floor before looking back at me. His eyes full of despair.
“What if I hadn’t walked in on the two of you? How far would you have gone?”
“Nowhere, Brooke. I was pushing her off when you came in.”
“Don’t lie to me,” I bite out. “Because from where I was standing, you weren’t making that much of an effort to get her off you.”
“I swear.”
“You keep saying that, Brody.”
“But it’s true! Baby, please.”
“Even if I believed you, even if you were innocent, I can’t trust you, Brody. I would forever be looking over my shoulder, wondering if that day was the day you got bored again and left me. Tonight has shown me that I can’t live like that.”
“We can, you know we can. We’re perfect together. It’s always been you and me, Brody and Brooke. I’m sorry that you saw what you did, but I promise you I’m innocent.”
“I can’t do this anymore.”
“I love you,” he whispers.
“And I love you, but you’ve made me realize that it’s not enough for me anymore.”
“Then we can work this out…don’t do this. I will do anything to make this right, to prove to you that I’m innocent.”
“As soon as I can, I’m going back to Arizona,” I say numbly. “I won’t come back.” Brody remains on his knees, his head bowed. I watch as tears drip off his cheeks onto the floor. “Have a nice life, Brody,” I say quietly as I walk past him and out of the office.
The frigid air hits my face as I stumble out of the McAllister Construction office. Sobs wrack my body. The simple act of putting one foot in front of another seems impossible right now, my pain too great.
When Brody and I broke up the first time, it had felt as though the world had ended. I never thought that I would be happy again. Now, I just want to die. I don’t think I have the strength to go on this time.
“Brooke?” Jake’s deep voice cuts through the dark night. “Brooke, what happened? Why are you crying?”
“Jake,” I sob, throwing myself into his arms.
“What’s going on?” Hope demands loudly.
“I don’t know,” Jake says as he strokes the back of my head, leading me toward the car. “I found her like this.”
“Get her in the car for Christ’s sake, she’ll freeze to death out here.”
Jake gently puts me in the back of the car, strapping me in. I don’t say anything, remaining mute as he fusses over me.
“Brooke…Brooke. What happened, honey?”
I open my mouth to speak but a loud bang draws my attention to the door of the office.
“BROOKE!” Brody cries, running full speed toward the car. “PLEASE, I CAN’T LOSE YOU AGAIN!”
“Drive.” Hope doesn’t do anything, just sits there openmouthed as Brody heads toward us. “Just get me the fuck out of here, Hope. Now,” I beg.
Brody has reached us by now and is hammering on the window.
“Brooke. Brooke. Baby, please talk to me. I didn’t kiss her. Brooke...”
This seems to spur Hope into action as she guns the engine, peeling off with a squeal of the tires. Out of the rear window, I watch as Brody runs after us, not giving up until Hope puts her foot down, disappearing over the crest of the hill.
“You wanna tell me what that’s all about?” Jake murmurs, pulling me to him and resting my head on his shoulder.
“No,” I say, wiping away my tears with the back of my hand. “I don’t want to talk about it. I just want to go home.”
“What did he do, Brooke? Tell me so I can fuck that bastard right up.”
“Leave it, Jake. I want to forget this place; I want to go back to Arizona, and before you say anything, I know you have contacts. I know that you can hide me from the police.”
“Woah, woah, woah. Hold up. Why are we talking about hiding from the cops?”
“Because I want to leave this godforsaken town tonight, but I can’t as I’ve been charged with battery.”
“You’re not making much sense.” His tone is gentle. “Why don’t I just beat the fucker up for you?”
“I need to leave, scram, split this joint…whatever you want to call it, I want to do it…tonight. But if I go, they’ll probably have a manhunt for me.” From the driver’s seat, there is a bark of laughter from Hope. “I’m being serious.”
“Right,” Jake says, kissing the top of my head. “First of all, you need to tell us what happened between you and dickhead back there. Why did we find you in a sobbing mess?”
I take a deep, shuddering breath. “I walked in on him kissing Joely. There. You happy?”
“Are you sure?” Hope says over her shoulder.
“No. I made it up. What do you think?”
“You guys seemed so happy.”
“I thought we were.” Another little splinter of my broken heart falls and shatters on the ground as I think back to the past few weeks. Did Brody use me?
“What did asshat have to say for himself?” Hope asks.
“He said that he was innocent. That Joely kissed him.”
“Could he be telling you the truth?” Jake asks as we pull into Brody’s driveway.
“I walked in on him kissing someone else, Jake, what do you think?”
“I think that, maybe, you should talk to him.”
“I know what I saw!”
“Did he say why she was there?” Jake continues, helping me out of the car.
A long sigh passes my lips as I look up at the sky for some form of divine intervention. If there was a God, then right about now I’d appreciate it if he could start smiting people, starting with Joely Baxter, and then Brody.
“Let me get packed so I can leave.”
“Why did he say she was there, Brooke?” Jake’s using his boss voice, the one that normally makes people cower with fear. Not me though.
“That tone doesn’t work with me, asshole. You have no power over me.”
“I mean it, Brooke.”
“For Christ’s sake, Jake.” Hope interjects. “If she doesn’t want to talk about it, then you can’t force her to. Be that awesome millionaire BFF that I know you are and put your plane on standby. We’ll get packed and then we can go home.”
“Please, Jake,” I plead. “Brody will be here soon. I can’t face him. I just can’t.”
Jake rubs his hand over his chin, seemingly lost in thought. “I think you should talk to him. Properly. Something doesn’t feel quite right.”
“You’re taking his side!” My jaw drops open with disbelief.
“No. I’m saying that I think he might be telling the truth.”
“I don’t believe this.” I storm toward the porch.
“Hold up,” Jake yells, jogging after me. “Look, I think the guy’s a tool for the way he treated you in the past…”
“Don’t tell me this is some kind of bros before hos guy code thing going on.”
“This is not a guy code thing,” he says, rolling his eyes at me in frustration. “It’s a doing my job and investigating thing. If you must know.”
“You pimp out men to desperate women, Jake.” I sigh and turn on the spot, just in time to see Jake sporting a pout on his face that would make any self-respecting toddler proud.
“You know that’s a front, right?” He sounds annoyed.
“Yeah, for your super-secret organization that I’m not supposed to know about?”
“That would be the one.”
“And?”
Hope squeezes my hand as she breezes past me, whispering, “I’ll go pack,” and disappears into the house.
“And I have been doing some digging on Joely Baxter, and I found out enough to get the charges dropped and her arrested. Don’t thank me or anything?”
“The charges have been dropped?” The feeling of elation only lasts for a brief moment, crashing down when I remember the reason why Jake and I are having this conversation.
“That’s the reason I wanted to see you tonight, to let you know in person.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Thank you, Jake, would be a start. You are the most handsome guy that I’ve ever laid eyes on would, naturally, be the next thing that I’d expect you to say.”
“Cut the crap, Jake. If what you say is true…”
“Have you known me ever to lie to you?” he cuts in.
“If what you say is true, and the charges have been dropped, then Hope and I are free to go. Am I right?” He nods his head in response. “Then I want to get out of here as fast as humanly possible.”
“You need to speak to Brody first.”
“Why are you concerned about him all of a sudden? I know what I saw, Jake. I walked in on him and Joely…kissing. God knows what would have happened if I hadn’t walked in on them at that moment. I know you’re trying to help, but I’m a little heartsore right now,” I say, rubbing my temples. “I know that I should probably talk to Brody, I also know he’s probably innocent.”
“Then why…”
“I can’t live my life looking over my shoulder, worrying that he’ll get bored or that some other woman will turn his head. The day he told me that he wanted out was one of the worst days in my life, it was also the day I discovered that the person who I loved and trusted above all else, didn’t feel the same way about me. Finding that out didn’t just hurt my heart…it shattered it. I don’t want to go through that again.”
“I thought you loved him.”
“I do.” I sigh. “With all my heart.”
“I don’t get it.”
“It’s complicated…and it’s late. Brody will be here any minute.”
“I still think you should talk to him.”
“There’s nothing left to say. It’s over.”
“He loves you and you love him. Hell, I’d give my right nut to have someone look at me the way dickhead looks at you.” A soft smile spreads across his face. Who knew that the big, bad boy, former marine that we know and love is a secret romantic. “You know he looks at you like you are the moon and stars to his world. Don’t give up on him, Brooke. Don’t make the mistake of throwing your chance at true happiness away because of some manipulative bitch. You two have a forever kind of love.”
“Do you need to give up your man card?”
“This isn’t a joke, Brooke. I’m trying to make you see some sense here.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“I wouldn’t be your friend if I didn’t try to get it into your thick skull that I think you’re making a mistake.”
“It’s not your life to live though, is it?” I snap. “It’s mine, and if I want to break up with the only man I’ve ever loved, then I will.”
“Okay. Okay.” Jake raises his hands in an effort to placate me. “The plane is on standby to leave. Get your shit and get in the car.”
“Thank you,” I say quietly.
“Don’t thank me for helping you make a massive fuck up.” Jake shakes his head in disgust, brushing past me to take the porch steps two at a time.
“Some help here, please…” Hope yells, nudging the door open with her shoulder. “Oh, you’re there.” She blinks in surprise when she sees Jake’s angry face looming up out of the darkness. “Could you be a doll and take these to the car? Then you can tell us all about what happened with Skanky Panties and the law.”
Without a word, Jake snatches up our two suitcases, and stomps toward the car. Hope shakes her head as she locks the door, mumbling under her breath as she reaches me.
“What did you do?”
“He thinks I should talk to Brody before we go back to Arizona.”
“Hmmm.”
“Hmmm?”
“I think he’s right, Brooke. I think you need to give Brody a proper chance to explain.”
“I can’t believe this.” I throw my hands up in the air. “Out of everyone, you’re supposed to be on my side.”
“I am.”
“You and Jake are ganging up on me.”
“We’re not ganging up on you. We’re trying to make you see the truth. Seriously, B, you’re in danger of cutting off your nose to spite your face. Stop acting like a child. Act like an adult. Do you really want to lose Brody?” She glares at me. “Can you, hand on heart, tell me that you’re happy to let him move on with another woman?”
The loud squeal of tires draws my gaze away from Hope. A large truck roars down the street at a great speed, almost tipping over on to its side as it turns into the driveway, and comes to a sudden halt a few feet in front of me. The door is flung wide open as a familiar, tall man jumps down from the cab, running to where I’m standing, his face a mask of anguish and pain.