by Krista Wolf
On screen, I saw the asshat Brooke once dated sprint into view. A giant hand grabbed him by the hood… and then Trey stepped in, picked the guy up, and slammed him right back down to the pavement.
“Oh man…” I chuckled. Although the whole thing was very serious, I couldn’t help but laugh. “He got him good.”
“Sure did,” said Tony. “But from this angle it looks entirely one sided. Like your friend is the aggressor, and the other guy was just trying to get away.”
I kept watching as Brooke ran into frame. She began pushing Trey away, pleading with him not to go further.
“Shit.”
“Yeah, that looks bad too,” Tony agreed. “This girl here… she’s your buddy’s girlfriend?”
Yes. And mine, too.
“Uh, yeah.”
“At least she can testify he was struck first. From there, it comes down to ‘he said, she said’. Word against word.”
Tony was a good friend, and he was sticking his neck out even getting the video for me. He hadn’t been on the police force very long, though. He didn’t have much in the way of contacts, either.
“Look, I wish I could help you more,” he said. “But this — and that asshole’s statement — is what they’ve got. It’ll be up to the judge, really. Unless you can somehow get this guy to drop the charges.”
That part of our little plan hadn’t gone well at all. Brooke had insisted on trying to reason with this shitstain, and we’d done everything we could to dissuade her. In the end all we could do was go with her, to keep her safe. And even then, after hearing his mocking laughter? We’d come within inches of tearing this guy to pieces with our own bare hands.
But the kicker came later, when she told us what he’d said.
The article would run, but this guy planned on outing us as well. As far as assholes went, he was cunning. Resourceful. He also worked for a widely-distributed magazine. If anyone could spread the word about who ‘Hannah’ was, and who her three lovers actually were? It would be him.
I could only imagine the backlash at work. This smug little shit, calling to spread the word about me. I had a strong but still tenuous hold on my position as it was. Three other guys with more seniority, gunning for the job I’d somehow ‘taken’ from them. It would only require one slip-up. One bad batch of publicity caused by something like this, and they’d swoop in and usurp my power.
It might not be so bad, if the CEO and founder wasn’t such an oldschool traditionalist. Jonas Wright was a sweet old man. Kind and caring. But who knows how he would react, to find his CFO outed as some sort of polygamist sharing the same woman with two of his friends?
And it would be especially awkward for me, since the man had taken me under his wing. Jonas had been an incredible mentor to me, ever since I’d arrived at the company. He recognized hard work, and rewarded me accordingly. He’d also acted as a sort of home away from home, even inviting me over for holidays and family functions when I had nowhere else to go.
It was unbelievable to me that some lowlife scumbag — the kind of coward who would blindside my friend with a police baton, then play the victim card — could undo an entire relationship with someone I admired and respected.
All because he couldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer.
I wanted to crush him. To show up on his doorstep and go totally medieval on him, consequences be damned. But that wouldn’t help our situation. It wouldn’t help me, or Brooke, and it certainly wouldn’t help Trey.
“So do you have any other ideas?” I asked Tony. “I mean about what Trey should do or shouldn’t do? Anything that could help his case at all?”
Tony removed his hat and scratched his head. “There were no other witnesses?” he asked.
“No. Just the man and the woman who were on their way into the building.”
“So they roomed there, with your friend? They were professors also?”
“Adjunct professors, yes. But they didn’t know Trey. They couldn’t vouch for him.”
My friend slowly shook his head. “And unfortunately, their statements corroborate the video evidence. That they saw a smaller guy running from a bigger guy, who ended up body-slamming him into a concrete walkway.”
Fuck, I thought to myself angrily. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.
All of a sudden, my backup plan of going medieval was starting to seem better and better.
“No other camera angles, eh?” asked Tony. “Showing the initial assault?”
“The only external camera was on the front of the building. It was trained on the entranceway.”
“That sucks,” Tony acknowledged. He put his hat back on and pulled it low. “If only there were other buildings with other cameras…”
Forty-Nine
BROOKE
“Any more Sicilian?”
Adam shoved one of the pizza boxes Trey’s way. It slid across the table just a little too easily, and he groaned as he lifted the lid to find it empty.
“Just wait until Dante comes home,” said Trey. “He’s gonna be pissed.”
He reached into the box, picking and eating the congealed remnants of what was once mozzarella cheese. I might’ve considered it gross if I hadn’t already done the same thing, ten minutes before.
“Dante hates Sicilian,” said Adam.
“Really?”
“Pretty sure.”
“Because I know he likes deep dish,” Trey argued. “And deep dish and Sicilian are pretty much—”
“Don’t even say it,” I warned. “Don’t even try to say those two pizza types are even similar, much less the same.”
Trey made a silly face at me. I stuck out my tongue. A split-second later, an empty pizza box came sailing at my head. Luckily, I ducked just in time.
“She’s got the reflexes of a hockey goalie,” Adam laughed.
“And the ass of a porn star,” winked Trey.
I blew each of them a kiss. It was a lot of fun, kidding around like this. But there was still an underlying tension at the table. Not between us… no, we’d worked that out already in more ways than one. The elephant in the room had to do more with our current situation, and how best to handle it.
This little rendezvous was supposed to be a brainstorm session. Partially to figure out how to get Trey out of hot water, and partially to come up with ideas on plausible deniability for when the article came out. So far though, all we’d done was eat pizza and throw the boxes at each other.
“Are you sure we can’t crush him?” Trey asked for the third time.
“No.”
“I mean, just a little bit?” asked Adam. “Smack him around enough so that he never even dreams of messing with us again?”
“Coming after him is exactly what he wants,” I said simply. “If there’s anything Chris is good at, it’s playing the victim card.”
Both men groaned and sank back in their seats. They meant well, at least. And when it came to Chris, I could share their frustration.
“Plus, it would lead to more legal problems,” I pointed out. “Which we definitely do not need.”
We. I loved the word. I loved even more that all four of us had started using it, when talking about our wants, our needs, our desires. Our overall relationship goals, for when this whole stupid article and Chris thing was finally over.
“I get what you’re saying,” said Adam. “But some people need to be scared. People like this guy Chris… he grows up without fear. He never gets the asskicking he so sorely deserves, so he grows up believing he can do whatever he wants to people.”
“Chris grew up with more fear than you might think,” I said off-handedly.
My two lovers stared back at me with incredulous looks. “You’re not defending him,” said Trey. “Are you?”
“Shit no. I’m just saying, Chris didn’t exactly have it easy. His parents split early, his father took off. His mom was physically there, but mentally and emotionally checked out for most of his childhood. And he had a stepfather who wasn’t exactly the
best role model. He showed Chris a lot of things he really shouldn’t have, and never taught him much in the way of respect for others.”
I knew these things because Chris had told me them, one way or another. Some he’d outright said. Others, I’d derived from my time together with him. I’d also had conversations with Chloe. At our more candid meetings, I’d learned a lot.
“You sound like you almost feel sorry for him,” said Adam.
“I do. Or rather, I did.” I shook my head. “Not anymore, though. Not after this.”
I’d gone easy on Chris for far too long. I’d let him down way too easy, and maybe that’s why he entertained such fantasies about getting me back. In a way, that part was my fault. I’d set Chris up for an even greater fall, once I did find someone new.
Or someones new, rather.
“I just wish I could talk some sense into Chloe,” I said. “Make her withdraw the article altogether. Get her to realize she’s losing a good writer—”
“Her best writer,” Trey corrected me.
“Yeah, that,” I giggled. “Get her to realize she’s losing her best writer, all for a possible crack at something bigger. I really don’t get it. She was always the logical one.”
“The whole thing just seems desperate,” said Adam.
“It is,” I agreed. “The more we talked about it, the more I realized she’d do anything to get what she wanted with this Cosmo thing.”
“Including sell you out.”
I nodded somberly. “Yeah. Sucks.”
It really did suck. Especially since I liked Chloe. At one time, anyway.
“It’s almost as if—”
BOOM.
We all looked up as the elevator gate slammed open hard. We were all so wrapped up in our conversation, we hadn’t even heard the car come up.
Dante came rushing in, flinging his coat off as he flew toward the kitchen table. Adam shook his head at his friend sadly.
“Sorry man, if you’re here for the Sicilian it’s all gone.”
But Dante’s smile still hadn’t faded. His enthusiasm was infectious, lighting up my own face as he grinned and held something up with one hand.
“Oh I’ve got something much better than Sicilian,” he said, shaking it at us.
Fifty
BROOKE
Chloe’s face was a mask of sarcasm as I pushed into her office for the third time in two weeks. She rolled her eyes, and tried as always to look ready for anything.
But she wasn’t ready for this.
“This is getting a little old, don’t you think?”
She was wearing her three-button skirt-suit. What I always referred to as her ‘power suit’, which meant she had a board meeting today.
“Don’t worry,” I said. “This won’t take long.”
She’d sidelined me after our last meeting. Given me a week of ‘mandatory paid leave’, with which I was supposed to mull things over while reflecting on my wrongdoings. I’d spent most of the last week in bed with three guys. Screwing myself silly, while celebrating certain recent events.
“You shouldn’t even be here, Brooke,” she sighed, trying her best to appear aggravated. “You’re defeating the very purpose of your punishment.”
“Ah, so this was a punishment?”
My boss shrugged. “I thought that was pretty clear.”
“Not to me,” I said innocently. “Actually, I think you referred to it as a ‘cooling off period’.”
“Whatever,” Chloe seethed. She folded her hands on her desk, a little gesture she used to try and convey that she was bored. “What is it that you want, anyway?”
“An apology for starters,” I said. “Not that I expect you’ll finally give one, but there’s always a first time.”
My boss laughed. Genuinely, truly laughed out loud, as I stood there facing her across her desk. When she’d finished smiling and overacting, and wiping tears from the corner of her eyes, she looked back at me once more.
“And what in the world makes you think—”
“This.”
I slid my phone across her desk, face up. The screen was fixed on a movie, frozen at the beginning. Chloe squinted down, acting stupid.
“Go on. Play it.”
She took so long, I almost reached down and did it for her.
With an exaggerated sigh, she finally mashed the button. The movie began playing. Figures began moving across the screen.
“What exactly am I looking at?” she asked, annoyed.
“Your idiot brother,” I said, pointing downward. “Right there, on the left.”
“I’ve seen this already,” Chloe said dismissively.
“Not this movie.”
She looked down again hesitantly, but with a little more interest. Chris stalked left and right, filling the screen, waiting on something in the darkness. Ten seconds went by. Fifteen.
“Brooke, I don’t understand what—”
“Watch.”
We got out of the car, Trey and I. Holding hands, we skipped up the walkway. Talking. Laughing…
Then Chris ran straight up behind Trey, and smashed him in the back of the head.
I watched Chloe’s face grow pale as she continued watching. Trey went down in a crumpled heap. Chris reached out and grabbed my wrist…
“H—How did you get this?”
“Hmm?” I asked nonchalantly.
Chloe swallowed hard. Whatever it was, she couldn’t quite get it down.
“I was told… that the building’s only camera was on the front entrance.”
“It was,” I said.
“So then—”
“This is footage from one of the library’s cameras, right next to the quad.” I placed my hands on her desk again. “It’s much better quality, too. They have a much newer system.”
The movie had stopped, but Chloe was still staring down at it. She didn’t know what to say.
“I have two other angles if you’d like to see them,” I said satisfactorily. “One from the north end, the other on the—”
“I can’t believe this…”
Chloe sank back in her chair, no longer talking to me. All of a sudden she looked so small. So frail.
“How could he just—”
“Because that’s who he is,” I told her sternly. “Your brother needs help, Chloe. I’ve said it before. I’ve said it numerous times, before and after we were dating, but you never, ever wanted to hear it.”
She was looking past me now. Staring at a place near the floor, where nothing existed.
“I just came from human resources,” I said. “They’ve seen the footage. They’re calling him down now.”
Her mouth opened, and I could barely hear her. I understood the words though.
“He’s finished, then.”
“Yes,” I said. “He sure is. And the police will be picking him up, if he doesn’t voluntarily turn himself in.”
She looked at me, and I could see the pleading in her eyes. “But what if he drops the charges?”
“A little late now, don’t you think?”
I could’ve told her that there wouldn’t be any charges. That Trey had already agreed not press them, if Chris dropped the ones on his end.
But I wanted her to learn something first. I needed this lesson to really sink in.
“I’ve got some other news too,” I said finally. “I went over your head, just like I said I would.”
The anger came back for a moment, but it was diluted. Chloe’s lip quivered as she spoke.
“You went to the board?” she snapped.
“No. I did one better. I went straight to Cosmopolitan.”
I saw her chest collapse, as all the air left her lungs. My boss looked like a woman deflated. All trace of sarcasm and defiance were now long since gone.
“They agreed to pull the article,” I said. “No questions asked. In fact, they were shocked and appalled that you’d even continue on with it, especially after I told you my privacy concerns.”
; “You told them you were Hannah?” she swore.
“Yes. And I also told them they could run the article, as long as they changed the names. They agreed immediately, of course. They love the piece, and said it was no big deal.”
I stopped and looked her right in the eye.
“They’re also reasonable.”
Chloe’s hand moved up to her head. She rubbed at her temples, as she always did whenever she felt a migraine coming on.
“So what happens now?” she asked.
“For you? Nothing,” I said. “Human resources was furious at you for placing me on leave. I vouched for you, though. Told them you’d always been professional with me, and were just trying to be loyal to your brother.”
Chloe’s hand slowly started massaging the sides of her head. With her palm in the way, I couldn’t see her face.
“They reinstated me immediately, by the way. But that’s no longer important.”
I saw her fingers go tight as she began squeezing her temples.
“Honestly Brooke, there’s so much between us now. The article, my brother, your boyfriends…” she sneered a little as she pluralized the last word. “I just don’t know if the two of us can continue to work together.”
“That’s not going to be a problem either,” I said. “While I was down there, I handed them my resignation letter. I work somewhere else now.”
Chloe’s head snapped up. Her face looked confused, angry, hopeful… all at the same time.
“Somewhere… else?”
“Yes,” I smiled, as sweetly as I could. “I got hired by Cosmo.”
Epilogue
BROOKE
I leaned even further forward, staring out over the balcony. Looking down into the teeming streets of Times Square, where a hundred tiny people milled around like insects, dozens of floors below.
It was late, but the electronics were all still lit. Signs blinked in every color of the rainbow, scrolling and flashing and creating an almost neon glow that lit up the infamous Manhattan intersection.
