Lie To Yourself

37

I guided Brooke down to the sofa and made us a cup of tea, handing it to her carefully, I sat us down and pulled up the blanket over her seemingly small frame.

"Baby you have to talk to me, what's up" I looked at her and she just looked blank. She had no expression in her face whatsoever.

"what erm do you know about my uncle and their lawyers?" oh fuck, I was hoping I would have more time to explain this.

"Why?"

"Katie just tells me what you know?"

"I know that Tony is suing Tim's company for loss of earnings" Brooke shifted as I spoke, as if I had said something uncomfortable.

"Shit, that fucker."

"How do you know?" if she knew everything she wouldn't be asking me, surely?

"Katie, I do the accounts. Uncle Tony asked me to pay an invoice to a random person. The amount of money he had me pay them didn't sit right with me, so I did some research, and I found their company and the sorts of claims they sought."

"Oh I see." I didn't want to betray Tim and tell Brooke everything but also this affected Brooke and she was on our side with it, I think? "I don't know what to say, I trust Tim that we will be fine standing up against Tony. I don't want you to stress about this Brooke"

"How can I not stress about it?!" She snapped back at me, and it scared me slightly. "Sorry baby, I'm really sorry I shouldn't have snapped. I just feel really shit about it. How can I continue to work for Tony knowing this, but this job is all I have. My mum would kick me out if i left and I can deal with her telling me how much of a failure I am every day." I forgave Brooke instantly. I can't imagine the fear she's living in.

"It's okay, listen to me. You don't need to leave your job. I will deal with things from Tim and you just need to go to work and pretend you never found out about it."

"Baby, I love that you are trying to calm me down but there is absolutely not a chance in hell that I will be going to work for that narcissistic bastard! I have no idea what he's done; I still think you know more than you're telling me by the way." Brooke said more softly than she probably wanted to whilst looking at her intertwined hands.

Fuck.

"He's trying to sue us." Fuck

"What the fuck. Why?"

"Brooke. I promised Tim I wouldn't talk about this."

"Please Katie. Please I'm literally begging you" Brooke's eyes were puffy, tear stained and I could see her pleading with me.

"For loss of earnings. He's pissed off that Tim ended the deal and he's now trying to sue us for taking you and training you." When I finished talking I just looked into Brooke's eyes. She was broken. Everyone that she had ever trusted had fucked her over. It made so much sense to me as to why she would do the same to me.

Without saying another word Brooke took out of her phone and walked into the bathroom. I decided that in every crisis, a cup of tea was best.

Pulling out the custard creams for our cuppa, Brooke walked back into the living room.

With clear caution she approached me and grabbed me into the most aggressive embrace I have ever experienced, her head was tucked into my neck and I responded by stroking her hair, allowing her to get everything she needed from me, like her life support.

"I quit." She mumbled nonchalantly into me.

I pulled her away so I could see her face. "What?! Why? What are you gonna to do?"

"I don't know. But how can I pretend everything is fine when I know that it's not. That Tony is using me, to try and tear down another company. A company you work for." A single tear fell from Brooke's eye and in that moment all I wanted to do was look after her for the rest of our lives.

"It's okay, we will figure it out baby." I pulled her back into our hug, a place she felt safe, we felt safe, I felt safe; with her. She'd given up the last thing she had for me.