Page 16 of Her Keeper
Istarted sobbing the moment Brooks opened the door.
Look, don’t judge me. I’d been threatened, held hostage, dragged, left, betrayed, and then followed so far today, and it was a lot. I’d also realized that the man I thought I might be falling for—and who I’d thought might be falling for me in exchange—was going to throw all of that emotion to the side in favor of trying to kill me because he thought I’d betrayed him.
I mean, I had betrayed him. Just not the way he thought I had. And I still thought that if he’d just let me tell him what had happened, he might rethink the whole killing thing. He might even understand why I’d done what I’d done and help me fix it.
I just wasn’t counting on him putting his anger down for long enough to hear what I had to say.
And now matter what you might think of love, I promise you that realizing the man you may or may not love actually wants to kill you does something to your soul.
I felt like someone had wrung me out and then filled me with panic and fear. Then stepped all over and and told me I didn’t have a home to go back to. And seeing a friendly face when Brooks opened the door made it all come rushing in. The moment I thought I might be a little bit safer, at least for a little while, the adrenaline that had been powering my escape ran out and deserted me.
I guess my body figured that Brooks could handle it from here on out.
The woman in question reached out and grabbed me, pulling me in for a bone-crushing hug. “Oh my God, what happened? Are you okay? Is it Michael? What did he do? I told you not to get involved with him, Penny, that man doesn’t have a heart.”
She pulled me out of the doorway and into her apartment, setting me gently on the couch and then kneeling in front of me so she could stare into my face. Her gentle fingers wiped away at my tears and cupped my cheek, nothing but concern and love in her eyes as she looked at me.
“Talk to me, woman. What’s going on? Let’s start at the beginning. Are you hurt?”
“Yes,” I moaned. Then I realized she meant physically and shook my head. “I mean no.”
Brooks frowned. “Okay, this is going to be easier if you can stick to only one answer. Are you… bleeding?”
“No.”
I hiccupped a half-laugh at the look on her face, and Brooks returned a half-smile.
“Okay that’s a good start. Are you in trouble?”
That one was easy. “Yes.”
Her expression went from worried to full of firm resolve. “Right. Then I’ll get some tea for you and we’ll figure out what we’re going to do about it. Sit tight.”
I watched her move for her kitchen, starting to feel impossibly better already. God, I loved the woman. Brooks was the most unstoppable force I’d ever known in my life. Come in here sobbing and saying you were in trouble and instead of lecturing you or giving you platitudes, she had only one answer.
Right. Well, we’ll figure it out. Hold on while I get some tea.
Brooks was unshakeable. I had no idea if she could actually fix the mess I’d gotten myself into, but if anyone could fix it, it was Brooks.
And for the first time since Alf had closed me out of Michael’s office this morning, I started to feel like I might just get out of this day alive after all.
* * *
Her resolve lasted until I told her that Monica Hart had been blackmailing me, and that was why I’d agreed to the whole scheme.
“What the fuck did she have on you that was worse than what the Rossis would do if they found you?” she asked, fighting hard to keep her voice even.
I mean so far, I’d told her that I’d been giving information to a reporter on Michael and that Michael had found out and threatened to kill me. I was surprised she wasn’t running around the massive apartment screaming about how stupid I’d been.
Though the look on her face told me she was getting there quickly.
I took a deep breath, but it was too late to start lying now. And Brooks couldn’t help me if she didn’t know the whole truth. “She knows I slept with Tony Caruso when I was in college. And she threatened to tell everyone about it if I didn’t help her.”
I glanced up, saw that Brooks was about to explode with questions, and quickly continued.
“It was only one time, Brooks, and I was really, really drunk. I also regretted it pretty much immediately. I have no idea how she found out or if she would actually have told anyone, but I couldn’t chance it. The moment the Rossis knew I’d slept with a Caruso they would have black-balled me, and the same with the Brennans. They would have cut me out entirely because I’d slept with the enemy.”
Brooks gave me a long, considering look, her lips pressed together and her bright blue eyes narrowed. “And so you did something that would guarantee that they’d kill you instead of just cutting you out,” she said quietly.
