Shattered Hart (19 page)

Dante shouts, “No!
Don’t
hang up with her. Please Brooke!"  But
it's
too late, and we watch as she puts her cell phone back on the table.

Brooke eyes Dante
before giving an angry
shrug of her shoulders.  "I'm sorry Dante.  She
doesn't
want to speak to
you
. 
You
need to back off and let her have this time.
  I don’t really know why you’re upset, considering the fact that you pushed her away.
"

I can see that my brother is struggling to control himself as he stares at Brooke, the frustration on his face
very
clear to everyone in the room.

Crossing the room to Brooke, Dante lays his hands on her shoulders.  "Brooke, I've never been so scared.  I need to talk to Sabrina.  I need to know that
she's
okay.  Please."

Shaking her head, Brooke stands her ground.  "Dante, I love
you
. 
But
I love my sister more. 
Aside from when our parents died, I've never seen Sabrina so broken.
She's
never run from anything in her life, so the fact that
she's
taken off says a lot about how upset she is. 
You
need to let her work this out."

Shaking his head, Dante gives her a look of utter horror.  "Oh Brooke, please believe me.  I'd never have intentionally done anything to hurt Sabrina. 
She's
not just my best friend
,
she's
my
everyth
….
she
means so much to me.
You
know that."

Brooke stares at him for a moment before standing on her toes and wrapping her arms around him. Hugging him tightly to her, she leans forward toward his ear and starts speaking. 
She speaks so quietly that I'm fairly sure that no one else in the room can hear exactly what she says, but I do.

"Dante, how
you
feel right now, is what
you're
going to feel like every day for the rest of your life if you
don't
wake up. 
You're
in love with her.  Even
if
you
can't
admit it to yourself,
it's
written all over your face.  Ask yourself this; How would
you
feel if she married someone else, had children with another man?
  My sister is a family girl, and someday she’s going to have one of her own.  Do you really want her to do that with someone else?
"

I watch as Dante pulls back from her in shock, his face a mask of horror. 
He's actually green, and I wonder if he's going to be sick.
  Score one for Brooke
,
saying exactly what needed to be said to break through to him.

Brooke seems to know that he's taken too much tonight, and that he really can't handle anymore.
  Pulling him back to her, she kisses his cheek.   "I was
really
angry at
you
, but now that
I see you, I feel much better. I know
you
aren't
going to blow this because I have faith in you Dante.  Now have some in yourself."

Pulling back from Brooke, Dante says goodbye to all of us and beats a hasty retreat. 

The door
is barely closed
before my sisters
and
Spencer descend on Brooke and me, demanding explanations for what they just saw.

There is no way to avoid bringing them in to the loop, and Brooke and I spend the next half hour filling them in on everything we know about what's going on with Dante and Sabrina.

Once
that's
all out of the way, we decide to order pizza and wings and chill out.  Once the pizza arrives, we all grab paper plates and sodas and spread out on Delilah's small sectional to watch "Pulp Fiction."

It's
a movie we all love, but I'm not following it at all because Brooke is right next to me.  Delilah's sectional is small, and we're all sitting
very
close together.
We
haven’t been
this close since the night in
Vegas
when I
lost my damn mind
and ate her like a starving man at a banquet
.

Brooke is shoulder to shoulder with me, and my heart is pounding from even this small amount of contact. 
It's a physical buzz, and I actually feel a tingle when her lower leg brushes against mine, skin to skin since we are both wearing shorts.

Li
ke a fool,
I breathe in her scent over and over. 
I love this smell that is hers and her alone,
a heady
mix of raspberries and
her natural scent. Part of me wants to find an excuse to leave the room, but the masochistic side of me refuses to move, breathing her in and enjoying the feeling of her body touching mine. I'm both disappointed and relieved when the move ends
and
we have to separate from each other.

After the movie Spencer, Dominique and Delilah all decide to head out to the local watering hole to have a few drinks before closing time.  Brooke is too shit kicked to go
,
so I offer to drive her home, partly because I could care less about the bar scene
but mostly
because I just want to be with her some more.

Pulling up outside of Brooke's apartment, we see at least a dozen people on her balcony.  Apparently her roommates are
having
a party.  Talk about
bad
timing.  Turning to Brooke, I can clearly see that this is not something she wants to deal with right now.

Before I can really consider what I'm doing I blurt out, "Brooke, why don't we go in, grab some clothes for you, and then
you can
come spend the night at my house."

She shakes her head at me in the negative before speaking.  "Thank
you
so much Damien, but I've been enough of a burden to you tonight.  I
can't
impose any more than I already have."

I stare at her for a moment, shocked. How can she possibly think
she's
imposed on me, or that
she's
a burden? 
It's
quite the opposite.  Spending time with Brooke is like being in the sun.  I'm the one that struggles not to burden her with my ever growing list of desires for her and her time.

"Brooke. 
You
could never, ever be a burden to me, and tonight was no imposition.  I was right where I wanted to be, where I needed to be. 
You
know I love you and Sa
brina. 
You've
both become
family to all
of us
.  I
wouldn't
have been anywhere else.  Now stop thinking such ridiculous thoughts and let's go pack a bag. 
There is no way I'm leaving you here with a party going on.
 
You're
in no condition for this."

I'm relieved when she
doesn't
argue, and we make
our
way upstairs.  The apartment
is packed
with people
,
the music pulse pounding and lively.  I spot two kegs, a bar full of alcohol and a dozen obviously inebriated people in the living room.

Making
our
way down the hall, Brooke uses her key to unlock her bedroom door. 
Looking at me over her shoulder she says, "It's really the only way to ensure that when my roommates have parties no one ends up in here.
  I hate having people I
don't
know in my bedroom."

Plopping down on to her bed, I watch in silence as she grabs a bag from her closet and starts packing, first a silky camisole type nightgown, then a pair of shorts and a t shirt, and finally, a pair of underwear and a bra. 

At the sight of her champagne colored thong and matching bra, my pulse spikes to infinity. 
She's hard enough to be around
when I don’t know for sure
what kind of lingerie is under her clothes.
  This makes it that much worse.

My hands clench and unclench as I try to get my breathing under control, praying that she
doesn't
notice how close to the edge I am.  Fortunately she needs to go in to her bathroom to gather her toiletries, and I use that time to calm down.

Once
she's
all packed, she lays her bag by the door before coming back toward me. 
I watch in silence as she hems and haws before she finally opens her bedside drawer and takes out what I realize is a birth control packet.

My heart is back to thundering in my chest.  I'm jealous
and irrational and angry.  Who wa
s she having sex with that she needs to worry about birth control?
Is she having sex with someone now?
I want to plant my fist in the face of whomever it is that Brooke deemed worthy of
being allowed
inside her body.  There is no one on earth
good
enough for her, and I hate this nameless, faceless fucker with a passion for touching her.
  Is it possible that she’s already
moved on and is seeing someone else?  I pushed her away pretty damn hard in Vegas… is this what the cost of that was?

Christ, I didn't know I had it in me to be so jealous.
 
I try to calm myself down, but it isn’t fucking working.  Of course there are guys after her!
Brooke is far too kind, smart, funny and gorgeous to be without an army of admirers.  My irrationa
lity cares about none of that, and my mind continues to rage. 

Grabbing her bag, I all but stomp out of the room.  Once outside her bedroom door, I literally jog from the apartment to the car.  I need the air and
the space
.  Throwing her bag in to my Escalade, I climb in to the driver's seat and wait for her to come down.

She's
right on my heels, settling in to the passenger seat less than a minute later.  "Dame, you okay?"

Turning the engine out and backing out of the parking space I nod.  "Yeah, that music combined with the smell of smoke was just awful.  I had to get out of there."

It's
the lamest excuse ever, but she accepts it.

"I'm sorry about that.  I had no idea that Cara and Lydia were going to have people over. 
It's
getting harder and harder to live there. 
I like Cara, but Lydia's actually a real asshole."

I nod in agreement.  Lydia is a real asshole.  I disliked her slutty ass on sight, and I hate that Brooke lives with her. 
Cara is definitely the nicer of the two roommates, but she's too easily led by Lydia.
  I can’t wait for this semester to be over so that Brooke can live somewhere safe.  I never feel good about her living here.

Turning on the radio, I hit the classic rock channel and turn it up just loud enough that we
won't
need to speak until we get to my house.  I'm
being assailed
by thoughts of Brooke on a bed underneath some gu
y as she cries out her pleasure.  I know what her cries sound like, what her cream tastes like, and the idea that someone else is probably enjoying both has me rigid with rage.
I'm on the edge
and I’m dangling by a thread
. 
It's
fucking torture to think about this, but damn if I can stop it.

It's
a relief when we finally get to my house.  I need a beer and a little room to breathe, immediately. 
Hustling to the other side of the car, I open the door for Brooke, then grab her overnight bag before heading to the front door and letting us in.

After I've dropped Brooke's bag in the guest room, I head in to the kitchen and grab us both a beer before heading out to meet her on the back deck.

Smiling at me, she reaches up a hand to grab the beer I've brought out for her.  "Thanks Dame,
you're
the best."

Taking my place on the recliner beside her, I smile. 
"I figured if there was ever a time that we needed a cold one, tonight is the night.
 
It's
been a rough day."

Shaking her head, Brooke groans.  "I feel like such an idiot for freaking out like that. 
I really have no excuse for my behavior."

Leaning forward, I grab her hand in mine.  "Stop that.  In case
you
didn't
notice, the rest of us were freaking out too.
You
aren't
a drama queen Brooke. We were all right there with you."