by V. Hunter
Consequence
Reckless Killers Book 2
V. Hunter
737 BRASS BOOKS LLC
Copyright © 2019 by V. Hunter
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Published by 737 Brass Books LLC
www.737BrassBooks.com
Contents
1. Brooke
2. Brooke
3. Jairo
4. Jairo
5. Brooke
6. Jairo
7. Brooke
8. Jairo
9. Brooke
10. Brooke
11. Jairo
12. Brooke
13. Jairo
14. Brooke
15. Jairo
16. Brooke
17. Brooke
18. Jairo
19. Brooke
20. Jairo
21. Jairo
22. Brooke
23. Jairo
24. Jairo
25. Brooke
26. Brooke
27. Jairo
Epilogue
Also by V. Hunter
1
Brooke
"Happy last day, Brooke!" my co-workers shouted in unison.
Mae, our boss, stepped out from the kitchen with a cake box in her arms. She looked like she was already about to cry, which meant about half of us girls were probably about to be in tears, too.
Goodbyes were hard. Every time someone left Mae's Smokehouse it became a big production, and now it was my turn to be the center of the attention. My last shift would officially end in about five minutes.
"You all really didn't need to get me a cake," I insisted, even though it was tradition. The cake made everything feel more final.
"Don't be silly," Mae said. "Of course you needed a cake. It's tradition."
My lips stretched into a grin. I loved Mae like she was family. She took me under her wing my freshman year when my terrible dorm roommate kept locking me out of our room so she could get laid. Good for her and all, but I had classes to study for.
At first, the smokehouse became my study zone. Then, it became my first job. I probably spent as much time there as I did on campus. Now that I was graduating, that was all about to change.
"I can't believe you're graduating!" Emily gushed. She was going on her sixth year of college and I was pretty sure she still didn't have a major.
"It's your turn next. Eventually you're going to have so many credits that they make you graduate whether you want to or not," I joked.
She shrugged and laughed it off. I actually loved that about her. How many women at our age were that content to have no plans or expectations for the future? Emily was a rare breed.
Personally, I was obsessing over what came next. I was moving back home with my parents and older sister until I found a job, and I hoped the latter would happen sooner rather than later. I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted to do, but I knew I was ready to feel like my real life was starting. I couldn't exactly do that with my parents hovering over my shoulder all the time.
Speaking of parents... I glanced down at the time on my phone and frowned.
They should have been there by now. We were supposed to eat lunch together at the restaurant before I went home to get ready for my graduation ceremony. I wondered if Bridget held them up. My parents always showed up everywhere super early, but my sister was notorious for being late.
"Do you want to wait until your family gets here before we cut this?" Mae asked. It was like she could read my mind.
"Would that be okay?" I asked sheepishly. It seemed a little childish, but I was really close to my family and it would be nice to have them there to experience my final hurrah at work with me.
"Don't be silly, of course it's okay." She set the cake box down on the end of the bar and announced to everyone that we would cut the cake a little later.
As everyone else went back to work, I headed for the side doors. There was a perfect view of the parking lot from our patio and I figured that would be a good spot to wait for my parents.
The patio was my favorite part of Mae's Smokehouse. I loved the way you could stand out there and smell barbecue in the air. I also loved to stand out there and listen to Bobby, the resident pitmaster, whistling. He had a penchant for Dolly Parton, which made the whole experience even more quintessentially southern.
I grew up in the Florida suburbs, so I never got much of that back home.
God, I was really going to miss that place.
I perked up as my mom's blue sedan pulled into the gravel parking lot. She always demanded to drive because she was a little bit of a control freak.
I bounced on my toes as they parked, my excitement getting the best of me. I had only seen my parents once the whole semester because I had so much going on with school. I couldn't believe it had been so long. As soon as the car was in park, I bounded down the patio steps and ran to greet them.
My dad was the first one out of the car, and he laughed at my excitement as he gave me a tight hug. "Missed you, pumpkin," he said. Mom was close behind him.
"Where's Bridget?" I asked.
"She didn't ride with us," Mom answered.
That was strange. "Why? You were all coming to the same place."
"She actually came up at the beginning of the week. She's been seeing some boy from the school I think. She didn't tell you?" Mom frowned. It was weird that Bridget wouldn't have mentioned anything.
"No." I shook my head slowly. "Is she still coming for lunch?"
"Of course. She asked if it was okay for her to bring someone. I told her it was fine, I hope you don't mind."
"Yeah, I don't care." I was surprised Bridget asked. She dated a lot, but never seriously enough that she brought anyone around. They never really lasted long enough for that.
She was the polar opposite of me. I only ever had one boyfriend, and it was a serious relationship with my high school boyfriend. We dated for six years, spending most of our college years together, too, before the split. The break-up was pretty anti-climactic, we both knew our relationship had simply run its course. But I hadn't dated anyone since.
"I was thinking we could sit outside for lunch anyway, do you all wanna go ahead and sit down? We should be able to see when she gets here from there."
My parents both agreed, so I led them over to the patio and picked out a table big enough for five people. No one else was sitting on the patio at the moment, so I excused myself to go let Mae know we would be out there.
When I came back a few minutes later, the first thing I noticed was that Bridget had shown up.
The second thing I noticed made my feet freeze in place.
"Alex?" I choked out.
Alex Baker—the man I spent six years of my life with. What was he doing there?
Everyone turned to stare at me as I took everything in. My parents both looked grim, Alex looked embarrassed and Bridget just looked… impatient.
“What’s going on?” I asked hesitantly.
“Mom said I could bring my boyfriend for lunch,” Bridget answered, her voice defensive as she reached out to take Alex’s hand.
I stared at her, dumbfounded by her words and their joined hands.
“This is the boyfriend Mom was talking about?” I turned on my mom. “Did you know about this?”
“No,” she admitted.
“Just sit down, please. We can talk about it later,” Bridget suggested.
“What? No!”
; Like hell was I going to sit down across from her and my ex-boyfriend and act like it didn’t bother me that the two of them were there together. I couldn’t even make sense of it. When would they have even started talking, much less dating?
The clouds in the sky parted to let the sun shine through for the first time all day. It seemed ironic considering my sudden change in mood. It also happened to cause the rock of my sister’s ring finger to sparkle, temporarily blinding me.
My mouth went dry. “Is that an engagement ring?” I asked, my voice rising several octaves higher than normal.
“Surprise,” Bridget said half-heartedly. She turned her hand so the rest of us could all get a better look. I recognized it immediately. It was his grandmother’s ring, the one his mother always wore.
I couldn't breathe. Someone was going to have to call an ambulance because I literally could not breathe. I stumbled backward a few steps and then turned to flee completely. I could hear my family calling after me but I didn't stop running until I was safely tucked away in the employee lounge. I leaned back against the door, trying to get a deep breath in.
I felt completely blindsided.
I thought Bridget and I hadn't been talking much lately because we were both busy. Now, I wondered if the thing keeping her busy wasn't a new job but rather my boyfriend.
Ex-boyfriend, I corrected myself.
I didn't usually curse much, but I found myself whispering, "What the fuck?" under my breath over and over again.
Someone knocked on the door.
“Yeah?” I called, my voice hoarse.
“It’s me,” my mom answered, her voice muffled through the door. “Let me in please, Brooke.”
I pulled the door open and stood there pitifully as she walked inside to join me. I thought she'd come looking for me to comfort me, but I quickly realized I was sorely mistaken with that assumption.
“Bridget’s been really happy lately,” were the first words out of her mouth.
I just stared at her, bewildered about why that mattered at the moment.
She continued, “I haven’t seen her so happy since high school. I know it’s a lot to ask, but don’t you think maybe we could just not make a big deal out of this right now and see how it goes? I mean, you weren’t exactly heartbroken after you and Alex broke up.”
“Are you kidding? That was the worst thing that had ever happened to me. Just because I knew it was the right thing didn’t mean I wasn’t still heartbroken, Mom.” My voice was cracking something awful.
“I’m sure your sister didn’t mean to hurt you.” I could tell my mom was hoping all of this would be smoothed over so we could all go back to normal. She was crazy if she thought that was a real possibility right now.
“If that was the case, she should have mentioned she was seeing him well before now. She obviously only kept it a secret because she knew she was doing something wrong!” Anything would be better than the blindside I was experiencing now.
“Oh, honey.” My mom tried to hug me but I stepped out of her reach. “One day you’ll fall so desperately in love that you won’t be able to help yourself, then I’m sure you’ll understand.”
“Thanks a lot for the support, Mom,” I said, “But if you’ll excuse me, I don’t really feel like doing lunch anymore.”
She called after me as I walked away, but I kept moving. I couldn’t stay. What Bridget had done was blatantly inappropriate, yet somehow I was the one getting lectured.
How was I going to survive moving home now?
2
Brooke
The darkened football stadium loomed ahead of me like a bad omen. Both of my roommates had been home and I needed some quiet time to myself, so I got to the stadium well before anyone else was due to show up.
I slung my graduation gown over my arms and headed towards the stadium, hoping that I could find an open door so I wouldn’t be stuck waiting outside. A light breeze made my blue dress swirl around my legs.
I dropped my graduation cap as I slapped my hands down to keep my dress from flying up enough to expose my underwear.
“I’ve got it,” a familiar voice said behind me.
I turned in time to see Alex swooping down to grab my cap before the wind could carry it away.
“Thanks,” I muttered when he handed it back to me.
"Brooke." He paused to rub the back of his neck, a nervous habit he'd had since we were kids. His face was a portrait of stress, enough so that I didn’t think the situation with Bridget was the only thing going on with him.
He continued, “I swear I didn't know that was gonna happen like that. Bridget said she told you months ago. I thought you knew I was coming, otherwise I never would have—"
“Don’t, Alex. There’s no way for you to finish that sentence that’s going to change anything.” I paused, thinking over my next question before I asked it. “Do you really love my sister?”
“Yeah,” he answered earnestly. He didn’t try to tack on anything extra, which only made his answer more sincere.
“Why did it have to be her?” I couldn’t help but ask.
“Bridget and I—” he began, but I cut him off.
“No, don’t tell me. I’m not ready to talk about it. Not today.”
I was relieved when—unlike my mother—he didn’t try to pressure me into acting like everything was okay. Maybe a day would come when I could look at either of them again without feeling the sting of betrayal, but not today.
"I'm sorry," he said instead, and I could tell he really meant it. It didn’t make me feel any better.
My only response was a tight smile because I didn't trust myself to speak without saying something I would only regret later. I turned to start towards the stadium again and Alex fell into step beside me.
As we walked, I suddenly remembered that his dad was our graduation speaker. I glanced over at Alex, realizing that some of his stress was probably coming from having to face his dad. They barely tolerated each other. In fact, Alex was seventeen before his dad had even acknowledged him as a son. And only then because his political advisor didn't think it would look good for a man running for governor to have an illegitimate son he didn't acknowledge.
The worst part was that when he did reach out to Alex, he'd been clear that was the only reason. He otherwise had no interest in the son he'd fathered through infidelity.
"I could go with you if you want," I offered before I could think to stop myself.
"Hm?"
"I assume you're here early because you're expected to see your dad, right?" There was a fleet of black vehicles lining the side of the stadium, so I knew Governor Duffey must already be somewhere inside.
He winced. "Oh, you don't have to do that."
"I know," I said, "but I'm offering."
In spite of everything, I couldn't in good conscience let Alex face the firing squad alone. I'd accompanied him to a couple dozen events with his dad over the years, and each time seemed worse than the last. But, Alex once pointed out the man was a thousand times worse when it was just them.
"I know I should do the noble thing and tell you not to worry about it, but it would be great to not go alone. He's been more malicious than usual lately. The last time he made me meet him for dinner I thought he was going to hit me when I asked him about work.”
"I'm willing to call a temporary truce," I promised.
"You're a lifesaver," he said with a huge sigh of relief.
We didn't say anything else as we walked into the stadium, one of the members of his dad's security team waiting there to open the door for us. The guy looked surprised to see me, but he'd been part of the team for long enough to know who I was so he didn't object to me coming in with Alex. I briefly wondered if that didn't constitute some kind of security breach or something, but I figured it wasn't any of my business.
The same guy led us around the concourse until we reached a row of private offices at the far end. He knocked four times in what seemed like some kind of secret code be
fore someone opened the door to us.
"Hello, sir," Alex greeted, then cleared his throat when his dad's attention didn't automatically go to him.
We both stood there waiting for some sort of acknowledgment. His dad made a big show of checking his watch, the same one he always wore. The face of it was designed with a family crest thing painted in a faded gold that made it look antique even though I knew for a fact it wasn’t. Alex had one, too. His dad gave it to him their first Christmas after being forced to reunite, but Alex refused to wear it. “Gaudy,” he’d called it.
Slowly, on his own time, the governor turned our way. “It's a shame we couldn't get security in place for Dana and the girls to be here. Today would have been a great photo opportunity for us.” It never ceased to amaze me how much of a jerk his dad was to him. Everything was about image, and he seemed to go out of his way to make sure Alex knew it.
"Don't you think that might've been uncomfortable anyway since my mother will be here?" Alex asked.
His dad ignored him, already turning back to me instead. “You're graduating today, too, aren't you? What's your degree in, Brooke? Something you can actually make use of I hope.”
"Psychology," I answered curtly.
He scoffed. "Completely useless, of course. Though, I could put in a good word for you if you wanted to come work for my team. You've always been a good girl. We could use more of those around here." He winked and I barely held back a gagging sound.
What a creep.
It actually seemed like he'd gotten worse since I last interacted with him. Or maybe he was just emboldened because we lacked an audience.