by RaeLynn Blue
Brice turned to look Brooke dead in her eyes. “My name is Brice Middleton and I need to report an intruder at 1023…”
He couldn’t get the rest of the address out before Brooke swung her purse at him. She missed, but swung again, turning in a circle. It connected with his cell phone, sending it sailing across the room. He’d never hit a woman, but dammit, Brooke made it hard.
“The cops are on the way!”
“Damn you!” she screamed and kicked out at him. He blocked it and watched her run for the door. Before he could do anything about it, she pushed through it and into the morning.
Leaving him furious and feeling like he’d failed.
Again.
Aerial’s heart nearly drowned out the police car’s sirens. She bounced on the balls of her feet outside C.A.K.E’s entrance doors. Tawana stood beside her with her arms folded. Greensboro police officers kept her and most of the workers outside. Only Stephen Silver had been allowed to enter. When Tawana called this morning, and told her something had happened to Brice, Aerial’s stomach dropped to her feet. All she could think as she drove to the office building was no, no, please no.
Now stuck in the parking lot, Aerial tried to not rush the police or shriek for Brice to come out to show her he was okay. No ambulance, so she figured he was physically fine, but what had happened?
“I got the call around seven. Middleton gets the worm.” Kaiden grinned at Tawana, looking as unflappable as ever.
Her sister’s eyes narrowed, but remained locked on the office door. “Yes, he did.”
Aerial didn’t like the sound of that. “What does that mean?”
Kaiden only shrugged. “Only that because of his dedication to his job, he had intercepted a base, wiggly creature.”
Aerial shook her head.
“A thief,” Tawana translated.
When Mr. Silver walked out with two police officers a series of whispers and mutterings rose among the crowd. The cops got into their cruisers and pulled off. Silence fell and no one moved. Aerial wrung her hands, but she didn’t break out into a run either.
Once gone, Mr. Silver waved the others in. Funneling into the office, employees talked furiously, speculating about what had occurred. Aerial joined the throng. Breaking away from Tawana, she tried to get to Brice’s cubicle. Her lips twitched as his white-blond hair came into view. He stood beside the door to Tawana’s office.
“You’re okay?” Aerial asked. She put her hands in her pockets to keep from touching him.
Brice looked pissed beyond all levels. His lips were a flat line of anger. His tanned cheeks were flushed so red, she thought someone had applied blush to them. With his arms crossed over his chest, he didn’t answer her.
Looking by her, he said to Tawana, “Mr. Silver wants to see us in his office.”
Tawana paused in mid step. She turned to Kaiden. “Hu, Silver wants us in his office.”
Aerial’s throat tightened. She’d been worried sick. What happened?
“Brice,” Tawana called. “Wait a minute. My phone is buzzing…”
Her sister hurried to her office and unlocked the door. After a few minutes, she stepped back out of her office and looked at him and then Aerial.
With a softer tone, Tawana said, “Mr. Silver says for you to go home, Brice. Take the day off. He wants to see you first thing in the morning.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Brice replied.
She nodded at Aerial. “Buck up, munchkin. He’s fine.”
Tawana and Kaiden started toward the front, where the path veered to the right and directly to the center staircase.
As soon as both sales managers disappeared, Brice turned those honey hazel eyes to Aerial. “Sorry.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m okay.”
Aerial could tell he wasn’t. “Are you hurt?”
She inched closer to him, and he didn’t move away. Still something stood between them again. She reached for him, and he stiffened. Something had happened and it seemed to reset him to the emotionally distant place he resided before. Swallowing her nervousness and burning fear, she met his gaze.
“I understand, and I’m here for you. Whatever happened this morning, you don’t have to go through it alone.”
“I’m sorry, Aerial.” He took her hand and brushed her knuckles with his thumbs. “I didn’t mean to be rude. I’m just…”
She kissed his lips lightly. “You don’t have to explain.”
“Thank you.” Brice relaxed and kissed her on the cheek. “I’ll call you as soon as I’m done here.”
Fighting the urge to make him promise, Aerial merely nodded.
“I’m not flying to San Diego now, and I have the rest of the day off. We can go out for lunch, or are rehearsals tonight?” Brice said.
There. He managed to push that door open again and it made her swoon. She’d fallen in love with him and now, too deep to get out unscathed, Aerial decided to enjoy it no matter how long it lasted—four months, four years, or forever.
“Rehearsals are in the morning. I’ll make tacos.”
“Better,” he said, and lowering his head to her ear, whispered, “with you for dessert.”
“Oh we’ll, see how much room you have after lunch.
He straightened and smirked. “I always have room for you, Aerial.”
Chapter Eleven
Thirty minutes later, Brice sat on the edge of Aerial’s bed, listening to the sizzle of browning turkey meat and Aerial’s humming. Beside her bed, curled papers covered the tiny nightstand. Picking them up, he noted the highlighted speaking lines of Hamlet. Placing the pages back on the table, he collected his thoughts. Smirking bitterly, he wavered a bit. Just his luck. The moment Fate hands him another chance at a relationship, it brings this bitter reminder of the one that nearly destroyed him. A cold sweat broke out over him.
“Aerial—” He stopped himself.
“Yeah?” She flipped a spatula full of browned meat. “You want a beer or something?”
Aerial often asked him to be honest, to be open. Somehow, he felt he should heed her advice now. She deserved to know the truth. He saw how frightened she was for him. Although he hadn’t known her long, he couldn’t keep it to himself. Brooke was dangerous. If he and Aerial were meant to be together, and he seriously had become comfortable with that idea, he had to tell her.
It would be irresponsible not to do so.
“Where’s all that natural curiosity, Aerial?”
She quirked an eyebrow at him. “Still here, but is being actively blocked by hunger. Let’s eat and then talk.”
He laughed. Nodding in agreement, he went to the tiny two-person table. After what he had to tell her, he wouldn’t have much of an appetite. Once again, Aerial’s instincts proved accurate. Food first.
“Sour cream and salsa are in the fridge,” Aerial said, and went about scooping the taco meat into corn shells.
Brice retrieved the items from the fridge and together they made their tacos. As they ate Spanish rice, tacos, and fried beans, they made small talk about her play, about the going-ons at the café, and about her upstairs neighbor. Well, he didn’t really talk, but listened. Forever an actress, Aerial gestured and set each event into a miniature drama. He loved the lyrical quality of her voice and how animated she became when storytelling. Each character got their own voice in the story. For the rest of the meal, he shelved the issue of Brooke and relaxed, taking comfort in Aerial’s ability to make him feel whole and alive.
“So, that’s my yesterday evening. What happened today?” She leaned forward on the table, her elbows supporting her.
So matter-of-fact, Aerial’s tone implied indifference, but her eyes gave it all away.
He turned to face her. So beautiful, so honest, he had no reason to doubt her. For months, she’d been forthcoming and frank. Open and giving. Thoughtful in all things between them.
Now, it was his turn.
“I’ve got something to tell you. Something I should’v
e told you sooner.”
“You’re gay.”
“No.”
“You’re married?”
“No.”
“You’re secretly in love with my sister?” Aerial held her breath.
“Hell no,” Brice said.
When she opened her mouth again, he held a finger to her lips and hushed her. Aerial’s interest in him and his activities made him feel lighter. Still, he knew this day would come, where he’d have to explain. Blowing out a huge sigh, Brice focused on that and stepped back into the wretched agony of seven years ago…
“Several years ago, I dated a woman named Brooke for nearly two years prior to working at C.A.K.E. She started a few months before me. Everything went well, until I started here. Never before had a woman made me feel like this one. I let down all my guards, gave her my heart, my love, my money, all of me, but I suspected her of cheating, so I went to her apartment to confront her one night. She said she’d be working late, but I knew she’d be home. Her lies had piled up over the months and I intended to bind her in them...”
Pain twisted in Brice’s chest as if trying to wring out all the anguish buried in his heart. His voice broke and Aerial reached for his hand.
“You don’t have to tell me this.”
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Yes. I do. There can’t be secrets between us, and if we are going to build a life together—and we are—you must know this.”
“Okay.”
Swallowing again, he continued, “Brooke let me in but she was surprised. I guess the fact I knew she was at home, and not at work as she had said, startled her. But I didn’t wait. We were in the kitchen. I started with questions and it escalated. In a matter of minutes, Brooke was screaming at me. It was almost like the very fact that I questioned her at all set her off.”
He closed his eyes as the horrid images of that night flashed forward. Brooke’s scarlet nails clawing at him. Her throwing whatever she got her hands on at him. Dodging and ducking, his instincts had demanded he run.
But he couldn’t.
“Why didn’t you leave?” Aerial asked softly.
“I’ve asked myself that for the better part of six years.”
And the answer always came back simple and unmistakably true.
He loved her. And like a lovesick fool, he knew if he could just get her to calm down, to denounce her lover, they could go on, get married, and be happy. It had become a singular force in his mind back then, and running or leaving didn’t fit into that equation. Maybe it was because he’d already sacrificed so much to have her—friends, family, hobbies.
That night, he remembered thinking that Brooke was all he had.
And he couldn’t just walk away from that because she became upset.
Aerial wouldn’t act that way. Too sunny and perky to descend into the level of melancholy madness Brooke did. Aerial discussed things, but more importantly, she respected him. Direct and to the point, Aerial spoke to him—even when he didn’t want to listen—but she didn’t berate or disrespect him. He liked that about her.
“I can’t say how long we verbally argued, but she reached into the knife block. For some reason, I recall thinking it was an odd action, but before I could process the rest of the thought... I dodged the first blow by only mere inches. We wrestled, a lot is a blur, but I know I tripped over my own feet.” He pulled in a breath and let it out in a slow hiss. “Of course, I didn’t want to hurt her. She was a woman.”
“With a knife, trying to kill you,” Aerial gasped.
Brice sighed. How could he explain that he’d watched his dad use his mom—and later he and Lily, as sparring partners? He wouldn’t ever be like his father. So, when Brooke slashed at him, he tried to protect himself without grossly injuring her. It sounded fake, bogus, and stupid, but she didn’t grow up with William O. Middleton as a father.
“Right. So I tripped and fell. She pounced, blade drawn. That’s all I remember until I woke up in Moses Cone a week later.” He lifted his shirt and touched the twisted mass of scarred flesh. He had other scars on his back, older, more faded but there. He knew she’d noticed them, but hoped she didn’t ask about those today. Lowering his shirt he sighed. “This is a constant reminder.”
“Brice,” Aerial said.
“She used my love, my trust, and turned it against me. Her betrayal was the worse part—the lies, the pretend feelings, the mockery she made of me…I used to wish I had died on that operating table.”
“But you didn’t.”
Brice shook his head. He’d wanted to that very night.
“No, I didn’t,” Brice croaked through a throat burning with unshed tears. He rubbed at the scar again, trying to soothe the sensation of a thousand ants crawling over it.
“I’m glad I didn’t.”
“Why didn’t you go to the police? Why did you keep working with her for seven years?” Aerial rubbed her eyes.
“I was in and out of consciousness for a week. Here’s what I learned later. The neighbor had called 9-1-1 during the midst of our verbal argument. The cops on the scene found Brooke bruised with cuts on her hands, and injuries that were consistent with a fight, an attack. She confessed that the attacker tried to kill us because I tried to save her. To that end, she confessed to having picked up the knife after my heroic efforts—even as I bled to death—to protect herself. I think she expected me to die. By the time I tried to tell the cops my version, they dismissed it as unsubstantiated by physical evidence. They said all the physical CSI stuff pointed to an attacker.”
“You could’ve quit.”
“I-I could’ve but I wanted her to see me every day, knowing what she did. It was foolish pride. I refused to let her chase me off. Part of me wanted to see her hauled off in handcuffs by the police…”
Brice rubbed his face. He didn’t know why he had stayed, except he liked his job, rarely saw Brooke due to his busy travel schedule, and he refused to let her take yet another thing from him.
Perhaps seeing the exhaustion on his face or the exasperation on his face, Aerial got up and walked around to him. She cupped his cheek and bent down, kissing his mouth. “Leave her in the past. Don’t let her continue to haunt you.”
If only he could. “Brooke broke into C.A.K.E. today. I caught her.”
“What?” She put her hands on her hips.
“Yeah, so as you can imagine, it looks very suspicious.”
“I can see how people who don’t know you could think that. Clearly, they don’t know you.”
Brice sighed, falling into her shining eyes. How was Aerial able to remove his burden with only a curve of her lips and a suggestion? She kissed him again.
“Come to bed. You need to rest.”
“Yes, I do.”
Chapter Twelve
Tuesday
Close to nine o’clock Tuesday morning, Brice’s blood roared through him as he took the stairs up to the second floor. When he reached the top, he wavered a bit. Last night, he’d slept wonderfully in Aerial’s embrace and found peace engulfed in her soft snoring. A cold sweat broke out over him. He walked by Kevin O’Bryan’s desk and nodded at him. The red-haired assistant held up his hand.
“Morning, Middleton. The pow-wow is in conference room A.”
“Thanks.”
Brice power-walked around the corner and down the hall to the first conference room on the right. As he entered, he found Kaiden seated beside Stephen Silver. Tawana sat to his left, and the Human Resources director, Carol King, sat next to her. For a tiny bit, Brice felt like he’d been summoned to a disciplinary action meeting.
“Sit down, Brice,” Mr. Silver ordered. Like always, the president of C.A.K.E. was cool, calm, and calculating.
Brice sat across from them. He hadn’t done anything wrong, so why did they all look like he had? Perhaps Mr. Silver didn’t tell the others he’d caught Brooke.
“Thank you for your quick response yesterday,” Mr. Silver said. “Your fast thinking and early work ethic st
opped Brooke from getting whatever it was she wanted.”
“You’re welcome, sir,” Brice answered. His knuckles ached from gripping the armrest. Forcing himself to relax, he swallowed down the swirl of emotions in his throat. Aerial’s kiss still lingered on his lips. Taking courage from her love, he sat taller in the seat. Whatever they wanted, he knew that when he left, Aerial would be waiting for him.
“Brooke Haven is a dangerous woman. She was seven years ago, and I missed it,” Mr. Silver said.
Stephen Silver stood up and walked to the front of the conference room. Slipping his hands into his pockets, he nodded at Brice.
“I’ve never been one to forbid employees from dating. Carol and I discussed it and when an issue arose, we dealt with it. I always treated us as a family. Foolishly, I believe close working arrangements breeds love, nurtures it, but…”
“Not everyone is Brooke Haven,” Brice said, clearing his throat.
“What do you mean?” Tawana asked Brice.
“Brooke and Brice were dating, and the victims of an attack,” Mr. Silver explained. “Brice knows more about Brooke than anyone here. Tell us about that night you were attacked.”
“Just start at the beginning,” Carol added. She fiddled with her tablet, probably recording the entire meeting. Somehow, this made him feel better.
“I don’t know why I need to discuss my personal relationship.” Brice frowned. Why now? No one gave a damn seven years ago, but suddenly they wanted to know.
Carol smiled pleasantly. “Mr. Middleton, seven years ago, Brooke Haven—a battered and beaten—Brooke came to my office and begged for your job. She told us that a home intruder attacked you both. Now, the same woman breaks into C.A.K.E. and we believe she had inside help. You’re the only person here with a bond to her.”
Brice rubbed the scar because it seemed to burn. “I don’t have a bond to her.”
Carol’s quirked an eyebrow. “No?”
“No. I don’t know why Brooke begged for my job, but for years I tried to get the police to acknowledge that there wasn’t an intruder who attacked me.”
