Page 36 of Brooke
“You would have a love beyond your wildest expectations,” Axel continued, gesturing to his heart. “But you would be maimed. Repugnant to some. Would you say yes?”
“Oh my gosh.” Thea held out her hands, studying them. “That might be the hardest question we’veeverhad. I’m a baker. I use my hands like a carpenter uses his tools. But I love Jean Luc—with everything I am. I’d have to say…I would. I’d have to find another way to bake bread, because I could not imagine a life without him.”
“Slayed by little sister.” Dean made a show of almost falling out of the chair. “You know, before I met Jacqueline, I would have said no freaking way. But now, I’m like, I could wear an eye patch like a pirate and disguise my arm with a sling. If I can still get it up—which the god didn’t mention taking away?—”
“No, you would be a man in the conventional sense.” Axel’s mouth twitched.
“Then, damn, I’m saying yes too.” He slumped in his chair like he’d run a marathon. “This feels like a big moment for me. That whole being in transition thing you mentioned earlier, Axel. It’s real.”
“Well, I would say yes too,” Sawyer broke in, a dazed look on his face. “Nothing is as great as love. I believe that. I hope I find it.”
“With that attitude, Sawyer, I cannot conceive of a realityin which you will not.” Axel gestured to Kyle. “What about you?”
He picked up his glass. “I drink on this one. Being a cynic. Right, Madison?”
She jolted and glanced at him sharply. For a moment, the living, breathing attraction between them was hot as an open stove. “Actually…I would say yes here.”
Brooke’s mouth dropped.
Madison jerked her shoulder up and jutted her chin out. “People already look at me like I’m a freak. Why not be a freak who gets the grand prize?”
Kyle suddenly started hacking on the gulp of alcohol he’d taken, prompting Dean to clap him on the back and Thea to grab up napkins and start cleaning up his mess. He turned to Madison after his coughing fit ended. “You’re kidding,right?”
She only shrugged. Kyle fell back against his seat, something Brooke felt like doing herself. Madison’s answer was so shocking it made her wonder if she truly knew her friend. Kyle stared at Madison with glazed eyes before reaching for his glass again. Brooke watched as he took another drink. And another. She wasn’t the only one who noticed.
“It’s to soothe my throat,” he said when everyone continued to stare, coughing again for good measure.
No one believed him. But Brooke couldn’t blame him.
Axel’s large body shifted on his barstool, facing her. “You’re the last to answer, Brooke. What do you say?”
She had so many thoughts, all at odds with each other. Like an Italian fashion show with themes of leather and chains with fairy tale crêpe de chine. She struggled to believe such a love could be out there for her, and why in the world did she need to be maimed in order to find it? There were too many unknowns, too many questions, but she knew the safe answer. So she went with it. “I’m drinking on this one, guys.”
A light in Axel’s eyes seemed to go out, and her heart gavea mild tremble in her chest. Surely there hadn’t been a right answer?
That wasn’t fair.
She could feel herself getting worked up. Why couldn’t she just be loved? Why all this talk of sacrifice and mutilation? As a child, all she’d wanted was her mother to love her. Not because she’d done anything or sacrificed anything.
Just because…
She smoothed her blouse to steady her hands. Her armor began to envelop her as she picked up her bottle, toasted her friends, all the while wishing this imaginary god being could be smote from the earth by some nicer god. One who believed love was possible without maiming. That a person could be worthy just by being themselves.
Part of her wanted to laugh at herself. Was this the cynical New Yorker, Brooke Adams? When had she started wishing for love just because? It was all those damn podcasts!
She heard Dean shove back his chair and watched him open his arms. “Speaking of true love, I find myself wanting to run back to my Jacqueline. Maimed. Thea, can you help me make a sling with one of your bread towels? Anyone got an idea about an eye patch? She’s going to love this new side of me.”
Brooke sputtered out a chuckle. “You would think that, Dean.”
“You can use one of Brooke’s eye pencils and darken your eye like a racoon,” Madison suggested as everyone started to rise. “Or I could just grab my cleaver and take care of it for real?”
He put his hand protectively over his right eye, grimacing. “Stay back. My girl loves these beautiful eyes of mine. Thea, the sling will have to do.”
Kyle was saying something to Axel. His massive back was to her as she drew herself up. “I have a sleep mask you can cut, Dean, but only if you replace it.”
“Doesn’t it have lace on it?” he asked as Thea tied two bread towels together for his sling.
“It’s black and hardly noticeable.” She started walking toward the stairs, grateful to have a respite from the earlier madness. “I’ll be right back.”
