Chapter Seven
The candle on the table between them illuminated her face, making her green eyes sparkle. “Okay, I know you’re going to hate to hear this,” Brooklyn began gently, without a trace of reluctance in her voice, “and honestly, I hate to bring you into this.”
JC laughed quietly. “Sure, New York. If you want me to believe that, I’ll tell you that I do, but the truth is...you suck at lying.”
“Okay, fine,” she said with a laugh. “I don’t hate to bring you into this, but I have to. We’ve got a major problem on our hands, Houston, and I need your help.”
“No.”
The flat out, plain answer made her roll her eyes. “Okay, may I remind you of something? Maybe like the fact that you’re my boyfriend? Not only that, but you promised me that you would never do anything to make me mad again, and you’re kind of bordering on pissing me off right now.” Her eyebrows went up. “What do you have to say to that, gorgeous?”
He pouted for a moment. “No fair using my nickname for you. Look, I don’t want to get involved. Besides, you knew that the promise I made wasn’t worth a thing. It’s too easy to break, and you said so yourself when I told you that.”
If they hadn’t been in the middle of a restaurant, she would have dropped her head down onto the table, groaning in frustration. She had been so happy to get away from the guys for a night and spend some quality time with JC, but at that very moment, she wished that she was back in the cabin, back home, so that she could do what she wanted. That wasn’t going to happen until the afternoon, though. “JC, really. Did you have to bring that up? We were perfectly fine just a moment ago, and now you’re going to have to make me get down and dirty with you. And we both know who wins all those grudge matches. Me. I have a memory like an elephant.”
“At least you don’t look like one,” he tried hopefully, smiling at her.
“You...you infuriate me sometimes, and yet I stick around. Explain that one to me.”
Shrugging, he reached for his wine glass. “You love me, plain and simple. I love the fact that I can use that against you. It’s just so much fun,” he said with a chuckle. “New York, if something is going to happen, it’s going to happen in its own time. It doesn’t need any help.”
She stared at him for a minute. “What in the world are you talking about?” she asked, looking very confused at the moment.
“What were you talking about, then.”
Again, that urge to drop her head and groan overcame her, but she resisted for the second time. One more, and she was going to embarrass herself in front of fifty or more people. That was all she needed. “Washing your socks. What the hell did you think I was talking about. Alexandra and Chris, of course.”
“Me, too, sweetheart. We’ve got our wires completely crossed here. Look, you want me to help you get them together, right?” She nodded, happy that he was finally getting the point. “I’m not going to. We didn’t need any help. It just happened.”
Leaning back in her high backed chair, she smirked. “Welcome to Refreshing Your Boyfriend’s Mind, 101. We had help. What do you call Lance, with his master plan, and Chris, Joey, and Justin? I do believe that would be called help.”
He shook his head. “Nope. I don’t consider that to be anything. I mean, I appreciate it, don’t get me wrong.”
“I would hope that you would,” the country singer muttered. “I was the one that started it all to begin with, thank you very much.”
JC had an amused smile on his face as he watched her pout to herself. “And you did a great job, honey. You deserve a gold star for that.” The smile dropped from his face the very second that he felt her high heeled shoe connect with his shin. “Ouch, I take back all the sarcastic comments that I made all week to you, if it makes you feel better and stops you from kicking me. How come you can kick me, but I can’t kick you.”
“Refreshing Your Boyfriend’s Mind, 102,” she said sarcastically. “When I kick you, it means that I’m teaching you a lesson. When you kick me, it means that you’re beating on a female and you’re going to share a small little jail cell with everyone’s favorite enemy, who isn’t going to be mentioned by name tonight. See, that’s the difference. How many times do we have to go over this?”
“That’s enough,” he told her, raising a hand in defeat while he struggled not to laugh. “I think I understand it now. Anyway, this was my point. We had help, we got together, and we broke up. Strike one.”
Her mouth dropped open for a fraction of a second, just enough for him to catch. “Oh, so we’re referring to our relationship in baseball talk, now? Let me guess, we’re going to start talking about the differences between second and third next, huh?”
He sucked in his breath quickly. “I take it that I’m not sliding into home tonight. Can I at least steal a base?” She shook her head. “Okay. So, back to what I was talking about before. After we broke up, we got together again, and can you guess what happened next?”
“No, tell me, Mister Rogers.”
“Your time with Chris is going to be lessened quite a bit when we get back. We broke up again, New York. Strike two, and I’ve already moved my legs so that you can’t kick me.” She scratched the side of her head with her middle finger, smiling brightly the entire time. “Wow, I’m impressed. Do you think it would be all right for me to call the Enquirer and tell them that my superstar girlfriend just gave me the finger in the middle of a crowded restaurant and no one noticed?”
Her eyes moved around the room. “Thanks, put me on a paranoia alert. They probably have their spies in here, too. Anyway, continue, and if you hit strike three, I’m going to strike you three times. Continue and make it quick. It’s almost time for dessert.”
He bit back the snappy comeback that he wanted so desperately to use, but his shins had taken enough punishment from two well placed kicks that evening. He wouldn’t have been surprised if he woke up the next morning with two bruises that were the exact same shape. “There was no strike three. For once, someone didn’t try to meddle in our lack of relationship, and we ended up together again.”
“Ooh, you’d like to think so. Joey helped me, remember? I almost had to get down on my hands and knees for his help, but I got it. Thankfully. So, there goes your theory. Besides, third time’s the charm, right?”
“Maybe in your mind. Look, they can’t stand each other. That’s been made very clear by both of them.”
Her head shook, causing her now curly hair to bounce. “So not true, JC. Chris has been surprisingly nice to her lately, which, quite frankly, I don’t understand. I thought he didn’t like her, either, but I was wrong, and so are you. It’s all about unresolved sexual tension. Trust me on this.”
Wine glass back in hand, he winked at her over the rim. “All right, smart ass. Explain how Alexandra has been acting around Chris. That’s what I’d like to hear.”
“I already did once. It’s the classic ‘pulling the pigtails’ syndrome, only the sexes are reversed this time. Maybe this would be more of a ‘kick and kiss’ thing, then. Anyway, she has the hots for him, too. I know these things. I can’t believe that you’re doubting my word. I am so disappointed in you,” she told him with a chuckle.
He sipped his drink and sighed. “New York, no offense, but I think you’re wrong this time.”
“I take very strong offense to that. Forget about sliding into home for tonight. You’re cut off for the next four weeks, baby. That’s a full month. Unless, of course, you’re going to make it up to me.” She smiled and almost immediately shook her head. “Nope, this is getting me off track. No more bases talk. Look, there’s something there, I know there is. We just have to bring it out to the surface.”
“Even if there was something there, and I’m saying IF, neither of them would admit to it. Well, Chris wouldn’t. We know him, but we know nothing about Alexandra.”
Frowning, she ran her finger around the rim of her own wine glass. “I know more than enough,” she mumbled under her breath, thinking back to that afternoon when she had eavesdropped. No, she told herself, she just listened. There was a big difference, if she wanted to justify her actions. “Take a look at us. We didn’t want to admit it, but it was there. We made it.”
“Just barely,” he said with a grin.
“Jerk,” she coughed lightly.
“Brat,” he told her, in the very same manner.
Her eyes rolled. “You only meet your soulmate once, JC. And when you do, you have to hold onto them. Luckily, you and I got two other chances. Chris and Alexandra might not be so lucky. Besides, it couldn’t hurt.”
“It almost turned us away from each other, don’t forget that.”
Her head shook sadly. “No, it was my stupidity and stubbornness that did that to us, not the fact that the guys tried to help us along. And it was your stupidity and stubbornness that did it to us the second time.”
He copied her almost patented move, raising his eyebrows. “Excuse me? You’re really digging into me, tonight. Do you get off on this sadomasochistic behavior or something?”
“Oh, you know you love me,” she giggled. “Just...think about it, all right? You know how I hate doing something devious when you’re not involved.”
“That’s because you’re usually devious to me.”
“Details, JC. That’s just details that don’t matter. Now, I think we should skip dessert and get back to the hotel. It’s time to teach you a thing or two about running those bases you’re so fond of talking about.”
She was crazy, she told herself. She was crazy, she was out of her MIND if she was even considering going over there. Alex promised herself that she wouldn’t put herself in that position ever again, but she was about to do it. She was about to walk down the driveway, climb the stairs, and knock on the door. And for what?
A damned bracelet. She was always losing the bracelet, and though she never wore much jewelry, it was one of the things from her father that she cherished...even if she was dropping it every single place she went. She had lost it once when she was there already, but luckily, it hadn’t been anywhere near Chris. She had found it later that day on her porch. But now...now she had to do what she didn’t want to.
Taking a deep breath, she started walking, wishing with every step that she didn’t have to do this. That she didn’t have to put up with Brooklyn’s bubbly attitude and knowing her luck, she would probably invite her to stay for awhile. That she didn’t have to put up with Chris and his suddenly sickeningly sweet attitude to her. That she didn’t have to put up with Brooklyn’s boyfriend and the looks that he sent towards his girlfriend. That she didn’t have to put up with the other three and their constant questions and almost badgering personalities.
That she didn’t have to put up with any of it.
As she walked, her eyes flicked curiously towards the parked vehicle. There was only one there, and that gave her a little hope. That meant that someone wasn’t there, and that was one less person that she didn’t have to deal with. If she was lucky, Chris was the one that had left and that would make things so much easier for her. And at the same time, she told herself that she had never been lucky.
But at least one person wasn’t there. If not more. That thought alone made it far easier to climb the stairs and look at the door in front of her. She could faintly hear music coming from somewhere in the house. Maybe they wouldn’t hear her knock. Maybe she could just walk in, find her bracelet, and then leave before anyone even noticed.
Again, luck wasn’t on her side. As soon as she lifted her fist and knocked on the door, it opened and she was faced with a smiling Chris. “Did you...Alexandra. How nice,” he said, keeping the smile on his face the whole time. In fact, it seemed to get brighter when he said her name. She grimaced and nodded. “What can I do for you?”
Be nice, she told herself. The least you can do is be nice. She knew that she wasn’t going to get any information if she wasn’t at least a little nice to him. “What you can do is open the door a little wider so that I can get in. In case you haven’t noticed, it’s below zero out here and I’m freezing my ass off. Oh, I’m sorry, you never learned how to read a thermometer, did you? Numbers get a little much when they hit double digits, don’t they?” Well, there went being nice.
Chris continued to smile as he opened the door so that she could get in. “Well, we wouldn’t want anything to happen to you. After all, we look out for all our friends.”
She shot him a look and unzipped her jacket. The last thing she wanted to do was look at him. “Wonderful,” she said sarcastically. “Is Brooke here? I’d like to talk to her about something.”
Shaking his head, he sighed. “No, she isn’t. Actually, her and J...Josh went off to the city for the night. Some sort of romantic getaway. Maybe I could help you, though.”
Rolling her eyes, she looked down at her feet, wishing that she could keep her mouth shut for once. “When I was here last time, I think I dropped my bracelet. I just wanted to know if it was here.”
“Is it gold?” She nodded her head, ignoring the image of her hands around his throat in her mind. Oh, how nice it would be to give into temptation. “With little stars all over it, I’m guessing. It’s here. Come on.” He gestured for her to follow him, but she stood her ground and shook her head. To walk into a room with him alone was the equivalent of walking into a dark alley with a serial killer, in her mind.
“No, thanks. I’ll just stand here and wait for you to get it, so that I can go on my merry way and leave you alone.” The words sounded sweet, but they were far from that. VERY far from sweet. But it worked, because he walked into the kitchen alone and came back quickly, dangling the bracelet from his fingers. “Thank you,” she ground out, putting it in her jacket pocket.
His eyes widened. “That was an improvement.” When she gave him a confused look, he grinned. “You know, you could benefit from being a little nicer every now and then. You never know what it’ll do for you.”
Her hand landed on the door knob and she turned it, opening the door. “I’ll try being nicer if you’ll try being a little smarter. How’s that?” she asked, practically spitting out the words as she stepped outside and slammed the door shut behind her. Her feet moved furiously down the stairs before she broke into a fast walk down the driveway. “The nerve of him,” she muttered. “Telling me to be nicer. Where the hell does he get off telling me that?”
She hurried over to her house and let herself in, taking the bracelet out of her pocket and throwing her coat across a chair. Alex stomped into the dining room and put the bracelet ontop of the microwave, going to fill up a kettle with water. So much for getting information, she told herself. “Why in the hell do I want information on him? I mean, yeah, it would be nice to see the bastard rot in hell, but this whole personal vendetta thing is a little tiring,” she said aloud, sighing as she plugged in the kettle and went to sit at the table.
Opening her lap top, she looked at the document that she had opened last, and felt her spirits falling. A blank page stared back at her as she rested her fingers lightly on the keys, wondering when her writing talent was going to come back to her. If it ever came back.
And almost immediately, her mind went back to just a few minutes ago, when Chris had told her to be nicer. Her eyes rolled as she thought about that. She was nice, yet the man felt like he had to tell her what to do. She hated people like that, she really did. And the way that he was looking at her...there hadn’t been a time that she hadn’t wanted to hit someone so bad in her life than that moment. The friend comment almost put her over the top, though.
He was completely infuriating, and no one seemed to notice. When she had been there for dinner, she had noticed how everyone had looked towards him at a time or two, clearly showing that he was the oldest. Not the one in charge, of course. Everyone seemed to line up for inspection at Brooklyn’s command without a complaint, but even SHE seemed to look up to him in a way.
“How can someone that’s so moronic be so popular and well-liked?” she asked herself, letting her eyes clear. She looked back at the computer screen and froze for a minute.
There was no way in hell that she had just done that, her mind screamed. Yet there it was. Rows of type, separated into words. Sentences. Paragraphs, for Christ’s sake. Every paragraph was followed by a blank line, just like always. The font and size was the same. Her breath caught in her throat as she looked closer.
There it was. Cort Demers. In plain Arial text, size nine. She hadn’t even noticed that she was typing, but there it was, right in front of her. The actual beginning to an actual novel that had Cort Demers in it.
Her elbow leaned on the table as she looked at it, reading it. All the ideas that she had were on that screen, starting up right at the end of her last book. The hotel room, the dead man sitting in the chair. The fan overhead that hypnotized him. It was all in front of her. She couldn’t believe it. She had written something, something other than a grocery list.
She had written the start to a new novel, and she just might have revived her career, she thought.
Her head shook slowly as she moved the cursor to the menu so that she could save it, and smiled, tapping her fingers on the table. Something had to have kicked it back in place. Something had to have had some sort of relation to this...and there was only one thing that was coming to mind.
Groaning, she leaned back in her chair and looked at the ceiling. “You have to be kidding me. Is this a sick joke or something, God? I know that I broke down once and actually asked you for help. But help in the form of Chris Kirkpatrick? That’s disgusting.”
It had to have been the fight, she thought. The fight and every fight before that had accumulated and had made her pissed off enough to forget who she was, what she did, and made her write. Just like she used to. Why him, though. Why couldn’t it have been the scenery, or a phone call from her mom. She fought with her mom all the time, but she never caused her to write anything.
“Forget about making you live up to the lies you’ve told already, Chris. I’m going to need you to stick around for a little while,” she whispered. “As much as I don’t want to say this, I’m going to need your help for this.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“Please?”
“No. Flat out, no. N-O. Read my lips.”
“I am, and I can say with the most sincerity in the world that it’s not really turning me on at this moment. Because you’re being a brat.” Brooklyn slammed her head back against the head rest of the passenger seat, closing her eyes behind a pair of blue lensed sunglasses. “Oh, come on, Josh, it’s not like it’s THAT big of a deal. Besides, Chris did us quite the favor when we were struggling with what was happening. I just don’t see why we can’t do the same.”
His hand reached out to turn down Garth Brooks singing his heart out on the stereo system. “I’ve noticed that you’ve been calling me that quite often now.”
Smiling, she moved her head to look at him, opening her eyes. “And I don’t hear you complaining, really. Anytime that we’re around Alexandra, I have to call you by that name, so it’s starting to stick. Besides, it’s your name.” The smile intensified on her face. “By the way, you’re as bad at changing the subject as me and Chris. I think we can officially say that all three of us suck at in that capacity.”
“Don’t say ‘suck’ to me. I’m getting images in my head, and they have a warning of at least R.”
Her eyes rolled. “I’m not doing too well if it’s only an R. Come on. Just put a little thought into what I’ve been saying.” She jumped when a knock sounded on her window, and she moved to roll it down. “Can I help you?”
Chris grinned. “You guys do realize that you’re sitting in there, talking and wasting gas, while it’s perfectly warm in the cabin.” Her eyebrows raised. “All right, I wanted to see if you picked up the paper for me or not.”
With a smile, she reached down between her feet and handed over the USA Today that they had taken from the lobby of the hotel they had stayed at. “Excuse the foot print on the front. Besides, I was hoping that this little bit of privacy that we had could have been extended a couple more minutes before we enter the disaster zone. Did you destroy the place last night? I’m amazed it’s still standing,” she continued as she released her seat belt and reached for the door handle, shooting JC a quick look. Chris pulled open the door for her and rolled up the window as she picked up her backpack from the floor.
“Oh, we didn’t do too much damage. Died the couch with Kool-Aid, spray painted a few things on the walls, nothing major.”
“You tagged my house without me around? Sure, leave me out of all the fun.” She grinned when he took her bag and put it over his shoulder. “Well, at least SOMEONE here likes to help me out, huh, JOSHUA?”
He shook his head. “Your pretty little head is about to be severed from your body if you keep this up,” he warned with a grin. “Chris, do you really have to try and upstage me? I mean, I spent all last night opening doors and pulling out her chair for her...I even stood up when she left the table! Now, you carry her bag for a whole twenty steps, and you’re suddenly a God to her.”
With a shrug, Chris opened the front door and let Brooklyn go ahead of him. “They go for age above looks.”
“And age is the only thing you have going for you,” she shot back with a smile, pushing off her boots and hanging her jacket up in the closet. “So, what really happened last night? Just to satisfy my curiosity.”
Putting her bag down, he started for the kitchen, where the aroma of fresh brewed coffee filled the air. “Not much. We didn’t sacrifice any animals or anything. Watched a couple of movies, annoyed the neighbors with the loud music...oh, and Alexandra came by to get her bracelet.”
With a smirk, Brooklyn elbowed her boyfriend and nodded. “Ow,” he complained. “I think your bony elbow just pierced a major organ. If it’s something important and I end up dying, you’re-”
“I know, I’m going to end up with every one of your possessions. Big deal. Besides, it’s better than you...” She trailed off and looked towards Chris before blushing. “Uh, never mind. You...probably don’t want to hear what I was going to say.”
Wrinkling his nose, he nodded. “Most likely. I’d like to keep the sex comments and reminiscing to a minimum this morning. But like I said, other than that, we didn’t do much.”
Brooklyn stood up to pour herself a cup of coffee, biding her time. She knew Chris very well, and she knew that she couldn’t just attack him with questions. If she did, they wouldn’t be answered and that was the last thing that she wanted. “What did Alexandra have to say last night? Anything interesting?”
He shook his head, completely missing the scathing look that JC sent his girlfriend. “Not really. Well, aside from the usual snide comments, nothing of importance. Se asked if you were here, and when I told her that you weren’t, she asked for her bracelet. After which, she told me to act smarter.”
She started to laugh. “Sounds like our normally friendly neighbor. The real question is, what did you say to her to make her say that to you?” Chris didn’t say a word, just shook his head. He really didn’t want to get into it with Brooklyn early in the morning. “I get the clue.” Taking time to drink a little of her coffee, she sighed. “You know, I really don’t know what to make of her. Alexandra, that is. What...what do you guys think about her?”
JC rolled his eyes. “I don’t think we should be having this discussion, New York. In fact, I think we should end it now.”
Chris couldn’t help laughing. “Wait, don’t tell me. I think I’ve seen this movie before. This is where you start to bitch him out for trying to shut you up, he bitches you out for being a bitch, and then it all ends with a romantic kiss to make all the women in the audience gush and cry, right? Damn, I’m good.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Just to get to the end of this little fight, then, I’d like to get the last word in, since we all know that I will anyway. I wasn’t born a bitch, despite what you may think, Josh. Men like you made me this way.”
“And I’m so proud in knowing that. Is this where we get to the kiss?”
Her head shook. “Nope. This is where you shut up, so that I can hear Chris’s answer to the question that I had asked both of you, but you tried to get out of. Not very creatively, anyway. And to think, you were so creative with the...again, never mind.”
The single man at the table started to chuckle before it turned into a full out laugh. Leaning his head against the table, he tried to control himself, but it just wasn’t working at the moment. “My God, if the magazines and newspapers could only see what you two are really like,” he managed to say when he had calmed down a little. “Sometimes, I can’t believe half of the things that come out of your mouthes...or what doesn’t come out, but tries to, Brooke.”
Her shoulders shrugged. “There’s a history of mental problems in my family. I started to show my true colors when I started dating him. Anyway, would you like to answer my question?” she asked sweetly.
His head shook slowly. “Three times, you’ve asked me the same thing. If you ask something three times, that means that there’s more to the question than what you’re telling me. Forget it, country girl. I think I’ll just sit here and read the paper, thank you.” Her mouth dropped open. “Oh, don’t worry. You might get your answer one day, but if you keep trying to push the point home, Brooke...you’re not going to have much luck with me.”
“I hate men. I really do.”
As soon as Alex had rolled over in bed that morning, she reached for the phone, punching the numbers blindly. She listened carefully as it started to ring, and smiled. Actually smiled a real smile. She almost forgot what it felt like. “Hello?”
“Kevin. It’s Alex. Look, I’m sorry that I’m interrupting your breakfast and all, but I have terrific news.”
“You’ve decided to disappear from the face of the Earth, and save me thousands of dollars in aspirin from here on in?”
Now the smile was replaced with a scowl. She should have known that it wasn’t going to last long. “Well, aren’t we in a chipper mood this morning. No, the terrific news that I have is that I started writing.”
There was a slight pause, no doubt Kevin eating something, before he answered. “That’s great. I’ll call Croft’s lawyer and let him know that you started already. I don’t know how you did it, but that’s great, Alex.”
Her mouth dropped open. “No, you idiot. Not the Croft book. I started to WRITE. As in the beginning of the new Demers novel. I wrote almost a full page. It’s incredible, too. I didn’t even-”
“Alex, as wonderful as that news is, do me a favor. Save the document and leave it alone until you finish with the Croft book.”
Something wasn’t right. She wasn’t INCREDIBLY egotistical, but she figured that if anyone was excited about her writing something that had to do with Demers, it would be her editor. Hell, he should be doing cartwheels and screaming for joy. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“You signed on to write a biography about one of the hottest topics in the news. You’re not supposed to be writing about army men that were given dishonorable discharges. You saw the newspaper article. The press are eating up the fact that you...YOU of all people, are writing Timothy Croft’s story. Therefore, you will write it and forget about Demers for the time being. All your energy has to go towards this book, not a fiction novel.”
Her eyes widened as she leaned back against her pillows. “I can’t believe you,” she practically roared, quite a feat for just waking up. “I haven’t written a word in a year and half, and all of a sudden, you’re against it? I figured out the secret to writing. How can you tell me to just forget about what I did for now? What if it doesn’t come back, Kevin. Have you ever thought of that? This might be the last book that I write, and you don’t want it finished for some reason.”
“If you’re going to be writing only one more book, Alexandra Colwell, you’re going to be writing Croft’s book. The non-fic. You signed a contract. You said that you were going to do this, and you are. Now, I suggest that you start looking over the notes that I sent you and get your mind off of anything to do with Demers. Good bye.”
She slammed the phone down after he hung up and crossed her arms, staring at the ceiling. “You bastard,” she whispered. “I’m going to write that book, if it’s the last thing that I do. I swear to God, I’m going to-” A sharp knock sounded on her door downstairs. “You know, in the movies, they always let the main characters get their little monologues out. Why am I any different?” she grumbled, reaching for her robe.
Putting it on and tying it around her waist as she ran down the stairs, she continued to fume over what her editor had said to her before unlocking the door and opening it. “Oh, as if this morning couldn’t get any better. What the hell do you want?”
Chris smiled innocently. “Oh, nothing. I just wanted to let you know that Brooke’s back, if you wanted to talk to her. I mean, you mentioned that you wanted to see her last night, so I figured-” With a growl, she slammed the door in his face. “Well, who lit the fuse on your tampon?” he called through the door with a laugh.
Her feet practically made the walls shake as she stomped towards her laptop. “Thanks, Chris. You gave me all the ammunition that I needed to write at least another page. Thanks, buddy. It’s going to be fun using you instead of destroying you.”
Chapter Eight
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