Page 39 of Exposed

He sulked back over to the couch.

“Brooklyn’s death hurt me too,” James said. “You know that. And I wanted to call you right away. I didn’t even know at first. Scarlett and Brooklyn’s son hit it off at the zoo. Penny had no idea it was Brooklyn when she invited them over to our house for lunch. And as soon as I saw her…I actually did call you. But Brooklyn convinced me to hang up. To hear her out. Her dying hurt me too. It really messed me up.”

I knew that.

“I needed answers just as badly as you. And when I heard her story…I knew you needed to hear it from her. I didn’t want to go behind her back when she only just came back into our lives. We already lost her once.”

“It’s funny,” Rob said. “I invited you over here that day. It was hotdog day and I was coming for lunch. Remember?”

“Yeah, I remember.”

“This could have all been prevented if you had a more flexible work schedule like me. And you can’t be mad at me, Matt. They were already all sworn to secrecy when I walked in here and saw her. And why are we even fighting right now?” He smiled. “Sanders is back. Shouldn’t we be celebrating? Shouldn’t she be here for the game?”

They all stared at me, waiting for me to respond. I cleared my throat. “We had a fight.”

Tanner sighed. “What did you do?”

“What did I do? She got married. She has a kid. She broke all her promises to me.”

“But she thought you moved on,” Penny said. “She saw you.”

I knew that. I knew this was somehow all my fault. Because I didn’t mourn the way Brooklyn mourned. And that wasn’t fair. So what that I fucked Jen? It meant nothing. Brooklyn hadn’t given me a chance to tell her that. She just ran away. She left me to fucking drown.

“She had a kid with someone else,” I said again. Like saying it again might make me believe it. Might make the pain in my chest less intense.

“But you’re great with kids,” Penny said. “You just told me you want a big family.”

I didn’t know what to say to that. Because Penny wanted a big family too and she couldn’t have any more kids. And it didn’t really matter that Brooklyn’s son wasn’t my blood. Because he was her blood. I looked down at my shoes. I’d meant what I said to Mr. Pruitt. I was going to marry Brooklyn. And I was going to adopt her son. She just didn’t know any of that yet because I hadn’t gotten a chance to calm down.

“We both know what you said,” Tanner said calmly.

“How do you know what I said?”

“Because I spoke to Brooklyn right after…”

“Stop interfering in my life, Tanner! How many fucking times do I have to tell you that!”

“I kind of want to know what he said to her,” Rob said.

Tanner turned to him. “He told her that she broke all her promises. That she had Stockholm syndrome when she got married. And that her son’s father was a mobster.”

Penny looked so disappointed in me.

“And then she slapped him.”

“Well that’s good,” Rob said. “Sounds like he deserved that one.”

I glared at him.

“Oh it gets better,” Tanner said. “Then she said he didn’t keep his promises either. That he whored around New York.”

Rob laughed.

“Then she told him to go to hell. He told her to run away like she always does.”

Fuck, I did say that. Why the hell had I said that?

“And she told him to fuck away his pain, like he always does.”

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