"Hey, Brooklyn, I'm gonna go check on that Hunter douchebag before we head to bed, okay. See if he's comfortable enough on my floor," Asher said to her as they were walking through the foyer to the flight of stairs.
"Yeah, sure," she nodded, heading for the opposite direction. "Don't be too long, I need you to sleep."
"Yes, your highness," he mocked a bow that sent her into fits of giggles. She lightly brushed her lips over his cheeks before making her exit.
Turning down the hallway, her fingers skimmed a trail on the side of the wall as she moved forward, creating an invisible line that only she knew was there. She smiled when she thought of Asher, how he was so attentive and he seemed to want to know everything there is to know about her. From her childhood to how she ended up here, even though he already knew most of it, having been together for a few weeks now.
She entered their room and immediately went to their walk-in closet, where she picked out a conservative but comfortable nightie to sleep in, in case he tries something funny, but she doubt he's going to do anything like that.
Going into the shower, she stripped her clothes and her muscles calmed when the hot water hit them, earning a moan from her. She cleaned herself up but when she was washing her hair, her thoughts went to Asher again, where he once helped massage the shampoo into her hair, patient and gentle, afraid that he would tug too hard and accidentally hurt her scalp.
A small smile etched itself across her face as she finished washing herself. She took a fresh towel to dry up, pulled the nightie on, and went to bed, counting the minutes until Asher comes back.
Which was odd, because he should've been back by now. Brooklyn takes quite a long time in the shower and if usual circumstances were applied, he'd be joining her in the middle of it. She grew curious, face scrunched in thought, where is he?
Pushing the duvet aside, she slipped on a robe and some slippers, and headed in the direction of his office. The turns seemed endless and when she finally reached, she saw that once again, the door was open. That can only mean one thing, he's still in there.
Curiously, she peeked in, only seeing Asher sitting on his desk with a thunderous expression on his face. "Brooklyn speaks so highly of you, and you stabbed her in the back," he all but growled, glaring at someone beyond the view of the small gap.
Speaks highly of who? Hunter?, was her conflicted thoughts. Or was there another person.
She internally chastised herself to shut the hell up and listen. There was a cackle, a female cackle. Who. She searched her memory but realized she didn't have to, because she already knew.
Jessica.
What is she doing in there, she asked herself, needing more explanation now than ever. She was very confused, and so conflicted that she cannot for the life of her understand what was happening.
"I know," Jessica said, confirming her suspicion once and for all, "that stupid, naïve girl thought I'd actually want to be friends with her again. That was actually why this was so easy. What a fool."
It went straight to her heart and she felt tears prickling the corners. Her breath became short and she hard a hard time getting enough oxygen, it was like someone blocked her throat. She listened.
"Don't talk about Brooklyn like that!" Asher yelled, banging his fist on the table, and she saw how tight he was clenching it.
"Oh right, you're smitten with that bitch, how can I forget," came her snarky voice that only fueled the slap that Brooklyn was itching to give. "Why don't you call her down and we can all have a proper chat."
"N-" Asher was about to say but Brooklyn already made up her mind. Before he finished his word she was already pushing the door open, and immediately his eyes landed on hers, noticing the red in them.
She didn't hold it, and they darted to the two figures standing side by side behind the door, landing on her so called friend. "Where did it go wrong," she asked softly, weakly.
"Speak of the bitch and she shall come," she sneered, walking towards Brooklyn but she gave her a shove that took her by surprise.
"Answer my question, Jessica," Brooklyn hissed, her sadness dissipated and it overcomes with aching betrayal, causing her to ball her fist and stared her down.
She spat, "when you left high school, bitch," her eyes flared with fire. "You think when you left, all your bullies would just be complacent that there was one less person on their list? If your answer is yes, you really are an idiot. One guess who was your replacement, you ungrateful bitch."
Brooklyn was in a stunned silence. Never did she know that Jessica was bullied as well, all she knew was that she shielded her from them when she needed it and as far as she knows, they backed off.
"I was there for you, but where were you when I needed you the most," her voice cracked. "You dropped out of school because you needed money to keep a roof over your head and food on your table, didn't you at least think of asking me first if I can help. I would've done anything to keep you," she sniffed, rubbing her eyes that turned hard again. "But you left anyway," glaring at her, she said coldly.
"Jess-"
"Shut the fuck up! I hate you and I'll never forgive you for what you did to me. You left me alone to take care of myself and not even a single call to show that you at least cared to ask me how I'm doing. Leaving, that's all you're good at," she scoffed. "Asher, you better take note, you know, leave before you get left, because sooner or later she going to get tired of you too."
"Don't bring him into this," she changed her stance into an attacking one, but Asher grabbed her arm to hold her back. "He hasn't done anything to provoke you, so if you have anything bad to say, I'm your girl."
"Fine by me, you excuse of a best friend, kiss ass, ladder climber, gold digger."
She gotta admit it, that hurts. "What made you come back, pretending to be my friend and all the bullshit I can't wrap my head around it that I believed you."
"Good question," Jess snarled, curling her lips, "after you made your oh-so-graceful exit, I found my passion in acting, which I decided to chase after. Just so you know but you probably don't care. Topped the class, sicker for acting, and here I am, totally kicked your flat ass for it too, you gullible piece of nothing."
"I'll give you credit, you definitely fooled me," Brooklyn had enough of her insults. "I take you your dear dad didn't actually kick you out?"
"Bravo, bitch, you finally got something right. Daddy supported my plans to get you back, actually." Again, Asher held her back from another charge. Jessica looked satisfied that Brooklyn was on edge because of her. "You ever wonder who Hunter is? Probably not, but I'll tell you. He's my cousin, the one I talk so much about but you never even bothered to ask for his name."
Brooklyn briefly remembered the times when the both of them were in Jessica's room and she would go on and on about her awesome cousin and their wonderful relationship. That time, she was mesmerized as well as envious that Jessica had a close family relative that she talks to, because she doesn't. She had nothing to say this time because she knew what Jessica said was true, and it hit the nail right on.
"You told me he lives very far away, and there was probably no way I would ever meet him. I didn't think it was important," explained Brooklyn, feeling the need to reduce her own guilt that was slowly building in her.
"It's called showing that you care, best friend," she mocked, lips curling as if saying that was unpleasant itself. "But what you didn't do was good, since it gave me free reign to use him when you appeared on the news, and to top it off apparently he just recently met you at that time. He was interested. Ever wonder how I got your number, bitch? The one that was clearly not your old one but you were somehow so blur to not notice an obvious mistake."
Now that she mentioned it, Brooklyn finally thought about it. She was so excited to have heard from Jessica that she never even grow suspiciously that she indeed called on her new number, the one she changed to a few months after she dropped out of school.
Brooklyn was silent as she knew that she was indeed the fool.
"That's enough," Asher voiced, wrapping his arms around her waist when he saw that her head was down shamefully. He looked down at her, "Brooklyn, look at me," saying it softly, she slowly glanced up and he saw her glazed eyes, "baby, do you want to go back up. We can continue this good chat with them tomorrow."
She nodded and he tighten his arms. Looking at the duo, he gave them a warning glare, daring them to do or say another stupid thing, and guided his girl out the room.
___________________
The cat is out of the bag, the cat is out of the bag. I repeat, the cat is out of the bag!
P.s. I know the storyline is lame but I'll be editing it after I'm done with the book and hopefully it'll be better then.
What do you think of it?