Brooke & Ben: Before Fate Interrupted (7 page)

“Spiderlicious
punch,” Brooke explained.

Evy tipped her
head back and nodded. “Ah, that’ll do it. Member the first time I drank that?”

Brooke snorted.
“You ended up licking a railing at Burger King.”

Evy shuddered at
the thought. “Lucky I didn’t get TB.”

“Am I ugly?”

Their heads snapped
back to Tasha.

“What?” Brooke
said, taking her friend’s hand. “No, of course you’re not ugly, sweetie. You’re
beautiful.”

“Then how come
every penis I touch turns to Jell-O?”

Evy folded her
arms across her white v-neck. “Well, when you handle a million penises, you’re
bound to come across a few bad ones.”

Brooke shot Evy
a heated glower and turned back to Tasha. “Why would you go back to Craig’s in
the first place? Do you not remember the hell he put you through?”

Tasha wiped at her
eyes, smearing fake blood and grime across her cheeks. “Because I’m stupid. Is
that what you want to hear, Brooke?”

Brooke shrugged.
“It’s a start.”

“I’m cursed is
what I am!”

“You’re not
cursed,” Brooke replied softly. “You’re just picking the wrong guys.”

Tasha paused. “I
heard about Roger, or whatever-his-name-is,” she said faintly. A wistful sigh
escaped her. “Thank God I wasn’t the one who ended up in a closet with him last
night.”

“Wait, who’s
Roger
?” Evy asked.

The front door
burst open. They all jumped as a man stumbled down the hall in a torn suit and
tie, reaching for them with bloody hands.

Tasha screamed
so loud Brooke nearly fell off her stool.

“Dad!” Evy laughed.

“Braaaaaains,”
he moaned, staggering closer.

“If you want
brains, you came to the wrong house, buddy,” a lady with short brown hair said,
shutting the front door.

The zombie
stopped lurching and straightened up. “Well, dang it. I’m starving.” He nodded
at Tasha. “Hi Tasha.”

“Mr. Burnett?”

“Call me Will,”
he said, sinking his blood stained teeth into a Waffle Dog. “Mr. Burnett was my
dad.”

“Hi mom.”

“Hi Brooke.” Her
mom’s high heels clicked into the kitchen, her face pinched with as much
confusion as her tone. “You girls having a slumber party?”

“Just doing some
laundry,” Evy smiled innocently, hands clasped behind her back.

“Well, this is a
lovely little Halloween surprise!” Will’s gaze hopped from Evy to Brooke to
Tasha as he chewed. He swallowed, eyeballing Tasha. “And bless your heart, you
even dressed up.” He turned to his wife and gestured with the meat on a stick.
“See, honey, people do dress up on Halloween.”

“Not at church,
they don’t - especially not as a member of the living dead.”

Will ran a hand
through his disheveled salt and pepper hair. “I told you, Jesus came back from
the dead and so did I.” He turned back to Tasha and his two daughters, palms
out. “Why doesn’t anyone get that?”

“Because it’s blasphemy
and now we have to find a new church.”

“You’re over
thinking things again, Laura.”

Laura leaned
against the counter and crossed her arms, ignoring her husband’s evil eye. “Why
is there a box of your junk on the sofa table?”

Brooke’s insides
twisted into knots. “It’s not junk.”

“It’s all of her
precious belongings,” Evy said, unable to contain a shit-eating grin.

“
Belongings
?” Laura took her shades off to
examine Brooke closer. “What happened?”

“Hey, what is
this?” Will held the Waffle Dog up to the light coming in one window. “It’s
really good.”

“What happened?”
Laura repeated, her tone implying she didn’t want to know.

Brooke looked
over the faces staring back at her, wanting to flee. Flee so fast she wouldn’t
even have time to grab her stuff. She glanced at Evy. “Can we talk about this
later? I really need a nap.”

Laura and Will
exchanged glances as Tasha backpedalled toward the front door.

Chapter
Five

The peephole darkened.
Ben cleared his throat and tried to act cool as the door cracked open two
inches. A single bloodshot eye stared back at him, puffy and stained with
eyeliner.

“What’re you
doing here?”

“I just wanted
to apologize…for last night. I’m sorry that happened. I really am.”

Mandy’s single eye
thinned into a razor sharp slit. “You are such an asshole.”

Ben shifted in
his red Asics, his black jeans feeling too tight, his bladder suddenly on full.
The cool breeze offered little comfort.

“Come on in,”
she grumbled, opening the door all the way.

Ben furrowed his
brow and watched Mandy lumber into the living room and slump down onto the
couch with a heavy bounce. He carefully stepped inside, on the sharp lookout
for bear traps and spring-loaded knives lying in wait. His eyes scanned the
nest of wadded tissues and Dove Bar wrappers on the couch as he shut the door,
heart jack hammering in his chest. “You’re right, I am an asshole.” He craned
his neck to see into the dining room. “You didn’t deserve that.”

She laughed a
little and blew her nose before looking him in the eye. “How could you do that
to me, Ben? Why?”

Her tears made
her sad eyes look bigger, wrenching his heart.

His Adam’s apple
bobbed one time. “I – uh – had too much of that damn punch and wasn’t thinking
clearly. Somebody may have drugged my drink or something, I don’t know.” His
eyes flicked down the hallway to the bedrooms.

“That was one of
my best friends!”

His gaze jerked
back to her, wondering how long Brooke and Mandy had known each other and
praying it wasn’t one of those relationships that stretched all the way back to
their grade school days. “I didn’t know. I barely remember anything.” He
swallowed dryly. “I know that’s no excuse and I’m sorry, Mandy. You didn’t
deserve that.”

She twisted on
the couch to face him, examining him through a set of harsh eyes.

“That’s not who
I am,” he added, cringing as soon as he did. When it came to words, less was
more in a situation like this and he knew it. He shifted from foot to foot and
glanced back down the hallway.

She drew in a
deep breath that made her chest rise beneath a Drake University hoodie with a
chocolate stain on its front. Her silence made his legs feel heavy and he just
wanted to sit down. “I just want you to know, that if you ever do that again, I
will cut your dick off.”

The comment made
his face fold with his spirits. He unzipped his black leather jacket, already
missing that cool breeze. “I wish I could take it back.”

She stared hard at
him but it felt like she was staring through him, reading his mind. “Promise me
you will never do something like that again.”

He swallowed
against the lump in his throat, shovel in hand, ready to dig even deeper. “I
promise.”

She started
saying something else – one kind of ultimatum or another - and his eyes
nonchalantly gravitated back down the hallway. The closed door at the end
called to him like a light house on a stormy night at sea. She might be in
there. His brain scrambled for an excuse to get closer, anything to get him
closer to her. Then it hit him. The bathroom. He had to go anyway. It was
perfect.

Mandy’s voice
trailed off into silence. Her eyes followed his gaze down the hall. She sprang
from the couch like a spider had just waltzed across her lap. “Oh, hell no!”

“What’s wrong?”

She planted her
hands on her hips and abruptly shifted into an accusatory tone. “You didn’t
come here to get back together with me, did you?”

He cleared his
throat and tried not to stammer, subconsciously backpedalling toward the front
door. “I wanted to apologize to both of you,” he said, raising his voice just
in case Brooke was in her room. “I feel horrible! And don’t want either of you
thinking that’s who I am! Because it’s not!”

Mandy tightened
her glare. “Why are you yelling?”

He shook his
head, feigning disgust. “I’m just upset with myself. I didn’t sleep a wink last
night thinking about it!”

Mandy glanced
down the hallway where he kept looking and lowered her voice to a soft whisper.
“Maybe you’d like to tell her yourself?”

“What? No, I
just…”

“Go ahead,” she
said, nodding to Brooke’s room. “Go tell her how sorry you are for fucking her
brains out in my closet!”

Ben looked from
Mandy to Brooke’s bedroom door. He cleared his throat and tried to sound
sincere. “Maybe I’ll just apologize real quick and then go.”

She crossed her
arms. “Maybe you wanna fuck her again real quick while you’re here.”

Ben’s jaw came
unhinged.

“Maybe you wanna
fuck her in my bed this time!”

“I just want to
apologize and that’s it.”

Mandy’s
incredulous smile morphed into a heavy scowl. “Well, good-fuckin-luck,
dick-face! She doesn’t live here anymore!”

Ben licked his
dry lips and backed into the door, his eyes frantically sweeping the place for
clues. “She doesn’t? Where’d she go?”

“Who - fucking -
cares?”

Ben held up a finger
and braced himself for her response. “What was her last name again? Miller? Or
Jessup or something?”

She dropped her
arms to her sides and pressed her lips together until they turned white. Her
chest heaved, her fingers curling into tight fists. “How dare you.”

“Now listen,
Mandy, I think it’s only fair to…” He ducked just before a glass table lamp
smashed him in the face. It shattered against the door, raining shards of glass
down upon him. “Jesus Christ!”

“Get out!”

He popped the
door open she was pointing to without taking his eyes off the large Yankee Candle
she was loading into her right hand. “At least tell me where she works.”

“I’m not telling
you anything!” She threw the candle with everything she had, missing her mark
and smashing it against the wall. Mandy stared slack-jawed at the jagged hole in
the chocolate colored wall. “Shit!”

Using the door
as a shield, Ben poked his head around the edge. His eyes rummaged a small wooden
table, hitching on a stack of envelopes.
Mail!
His hand reached for the stack before he even knew what was happening. He cried
out in pain when a remote control struck him squarely in the back of the hand,
hitting bone.

Mandy charged
across the room. Lamps (the ones still in one piece) trembled beneath her
budding ire. “Get the hell out!” she yelled, slamming the door shut and nearly
taking off his fingers.

Ben stumbled
backwards on the front porch, examining his hand one second and then watching
the peephole darken the next. He checked the mailbox again and sighed. Only an
address on the front. No names. Just when he considered taking a quick peek
inside Mandy screamed again.

“Get off my
porch or I’ll call the police!” The deadbolt clicked. Then the chain.

Shit.

Chapter
Six

Silverware
clinked against plates in the tension-filled quiet blanketing the dining room.
Brooke chewed faster so she could finish and excuse herself but it was no use.
She wasn’t hungry and her mom’s famous pot roast tasted more like rubber given
the circumstances. Her jaw grinded on the same piece of meat for what seemed
like an eternity, getting nowhere fast. She could feel her mother’s eyes on her
but refused to make contact. One day she would have to look her in the eye
again, but not today.

A knife
clattered loudly to a plate. “If I ever see this guy, I’ll kill him.” Will
grinded his teeth harder than need be from the head of the table. “No one takes
advantage of my baby girl and lives to tell about it!”

“Can we just
keep this between us? Please?” Brooke pleaded, dabbing at a tear forming in the
corner of her eye. “I really don’t want the whole world knowing about this.”

Will pounded the
table with his fist, rattling the dishware. “That tattooed sonofabitch!”

“Stop,” Laura
warned, glaring at Will and then turning to Brooke. “All we’re saying, honey,
is this isn’t like you.”

“I know it’s not
like me, mom!” Brooke threw her napkin onto her plate of barely touched food.
“The guy lied to me and said he was single! I was just trying to take care of
my sick friend and the next thing I know, I’m…” Her voice turned weak. “I think
he drugged me.”

Will balled his
napkin into his fist and pounded the table again. The plates and glasses jumped
along with everyone else. “He probably did!”

A deep seeded
frown stole across Laura’s face. “Will you stop doing that?” She turned to
Brooke. “Did you leave your drink unattended?”

“No. Well, I’m
not sure, but…”

Laura turned to
Will. “We should call the police.”

“No, mom, I just
want to forget the whole thing ever happened and move on.” She blinked a tear
down her cheek, her eyes blurring everything into fuzzy blocks. “It was such a
horrible night and I should’ve never put myself in that position and now Mandy
will probably never talk to me again.”

Laura patted
Brooke’s leg as Will pulled his cell phone from his jeans.

“What’re you
doing, dad?”

“Calling the
police to report this piece of shit.”

“No, dad,
don’t!” Brooke blurted. “I don’t want to have to relive it again and I don’t
know for sure what happened. I just know that he tricked me into doing
something I didn’t want to do.”

Will stared at her,
thumbs hovering over the cell’s screen, face a burning shade of red.

Tears left glistening
tracks down Brooke’s face. “Please, dad. I don’t want anyone else to know about
any of this. I’m already mortified.”

Laura squeezed
her hand. “Everything is going to be okay. Things will get better. They always
do.”

“If I ever see
this guy I will break his face!”

Laura shot Will
an icy glare. “Stop. You are just making things worse.”

He angrily
pocketed the phone, picked up his fork and began pushing his food around his
plate. “I’m sorry.”

“No, I’m the one
who’s sorry, daddy.”

He looked up.
“Brooke, you’ve always been wise beyond your years and even you will sometimes
get yourself into sticky situations. But this isn’t your fault.”

Brooke grimaced
with the analogy and got up from the table. “I should get going.”

Laura looked up.
“Where are you going?”

“To meet Tasha,”
she replied, sliding her chair in and grabbing her plate and glass. “Have fun
with the trick-or-treaters tonight.” Brooke kissed her father on the cheek.
“Try not to make anyone pee their pants this year.”

“Won’t do,” he
replied, wiping his mouth. “Hey, do you really need to go out so late?”

“It’s not that
late.” She dropped her dishes off in the sink and looked to her mom. “Girl talk
stuff.”

Laura flashed a
knowing smile and then cut into her food.

“That’s what
phones are for, Brooke,” Will said.

“It’s not the
same.”

He stopped
chewing and swallowed, studying her from across the room. “Then at least go
downstairs and grab some pepper spray.”

Brooke’s head
tilted to one side. “Dad, I’ll be…”

“Do it!”

She sighed and
turned for the basement door, knowing it was her only way out. “Fine.”

“And grab a gun!”
he yelled after her, shaking his head at Laura and lowering his voice. “That
girl is going to give me an ulcer. Am I getting more gray hairs?”