Page 97 of Brooke
She flew across the room. Madison tried to make room for Thea as she told their friend no one was hurt or dead, but Brooke’s grip only tightened. She couldn’t let go of Madison. She didn’t want to let go. Thea scooted on the bed and wrapped her arms around Brooke from behind.
Kyle’s swear words filled the room.
“What the hell is it?” Madison shot out. “She’s totally wrecked.”
Over her crying, she heard Kyle’s mumbled words, onesshe didn’t want to hear again. She pressed her head into Madison’s shoulder, trying to stop her hysteria, but the pressure wouldn’t quit.
“Fuckers!” Madison grabbed Brooke by the shoulders, her golden eyes flaming with rage. “How dare they say that shit about you. We’ll torch them all, Brooke. I don’t know this Giulia person, but my cleaver has her name on it.”
She gave a watery cry. “She’s dangerous…she’d fight back,” she managed.
“Good. Makes it a fair fight. You close to being done crying? Because I think we should plan some people’s demises now. That always makes my tears stop.”
“Wait,” Sawyer said in a halting voice. “You cry?”
Madison’s look was blistering as Brooke blew out a breath, trying to calm herself back down from the ledge. “Yes, Doc. I’ve been known to do waterworks, although I hate it.”
“It makes you feel better,” Thea said by her ear. “Oh, Brooke, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what to say.”
“I do,” Kyle practically spat. “And I plan to say it to Axel first.”
“Get in line,” Madison gritted out. “This is unbelievable. You try and help the guy and he turns on you?”
She shook her head, scrubbing at her tears, mascara burning her eyes. “I screwed up. Maybe I should start from the beginning, but I wasn’t going to say anything. Today is Nanine’s reopening. Madison, I?—”
“Forget it, Brooke.” She shook her gently. “When shit happens, we deal. Doesn’t matter what day. I was coming to see if you’d like to power walk along the Seine or something with me since I was going nutso with nerves. Honestly, this is a good distraction.”
“Madison.”
“It’s okay, Sawyer.” Brooke wiped her nose with Sawyer’s handkerchief, feeling woozy. “God. I’m glad you came up here, Madison. I was trying to rev myself up to go downstairsand start a show about why Axel couldn’t be with us tonight. But then I got that text from my boss, and it was too much. I can’t believe she’d think that about me.”
“You had a good reason to go to pieces,” Thea said softly, Kyle making room for her to sit next to Brooke. “Your heart is broken.”
Tears started falling again as pain shot through her chest. “Dammit! It was. It is! I thought Axel understood me. He usually does.”
And she started to tell them what happened, her tears having unleashed all the confusion and anger and hurt she’d been trying to lock away.
“You were only being a smart female professional,” Madison concluded after she’d finished, her voice terse with anger. “Because your boss said they were pretty much calling you names behind your back for bringing him. Jesus, these are the moments when I wish I was a guy. I hate this shit. There’s no winning.”
Kyle heaved out a sigh and laid a comforting hand on Brooke’s arm. “We don’t need to continue with Axel. I’ve told you that from the beginning. But you have a lot to unpack here. We need to take a minute, I think.”
“Kyle’s right,” Sawyer said, squeezing her hand. “Your boss gave you an ultimatum. Ten years ago, my parents did the same thing and made me choose between being an artist or a college professor. I caved then. I let myself down. Brooke, only you can know what you truly want.”
His somber obsidian eyes shone with compassion behind his gold spectacles.
“My choice wasn’t as hard as yours, Brooke,” Thea said, resting her head against her shoulder. “Either way I’d be a baker, but if I’d gone home to run my own bakery, I would have been leaving Jean Luc and all of you.”
“You’ll make the right decision, Brooke.” Madison inclined her flinty chin toward her. “You’re Third Course. Youdon’t make wrong moves. You can dig your way out. We’ll grab our shovels and help. Whatever you need.”
“Maybe I can borrow your cleaver,” she joked, brushing aside more tears as their love and support shifted the numbness, hurt, and shock.
“It’s yours anytime,” Madison said with a rare pat to her shoulder.
Kyle rose from the bed, standing before her, his brow line a study in focus and intensity. “Sawyer and Thea are right. You have a life choice to make. Do you want to stay in fashion?”
“I don’t know,” she said after a moment, pain slashing at her temples. “It’s all I know. I’m good at it. I’m established. I’m not ready to do design.”
“Who says?” Madison asked tartly. “Look, I know you have a five-year plan, but sometimes you have to chuck the plan out and just go for it.”
