by Day, Desiree
Brooke sighed, relieved that the awkward moment had passed. She grabbed his hand. “Come on let’s go.”
Chapter 11
Brooke sorted the last of her clothes and dropped a pile into the washing machine. A couple hours ago, she had just gotten off the plane from Belize, it was everything she thought it would be and more. Addison had brought her a new wardrobe, not because what she had wasn’t good enough, but because he wanted to spoil her, and she let him.
Their mornings were spent making love, then having breakfast by the pool. Afternoons were spent either frolicking on the beach or shopping. The hotel had a decent club where they spent most evenings, but if they were feeling a little adventurous, they’d go to a local bar. She stepped into the new year in a drug and alcohol induced haze and she loved it. She hadn’t felt so carefree in years.
There were no more declarations of love, she enjoyed the trip tremendously.
Right before she left, she had called her mom and told her that she was going to pick her son up at the end of February and bring him back home. Brooke had told her that she had gotten a short-term assignment that paid really well, and her mom had believed her.
Her phone rang and she hurried to answer it.
“We got him,” Officer Ferguson said excitedly.
“What? How?” Brooke asked.
“We caught him on New Year’s Eve. I called you but you weren’t home, and I didn’t want to leave the news on your answering machine.”
“Yeah thanks,” Brooke mumbled. She didn’t want to tell him that she was in Belize, she knew that would generate a question from him and she didn’t want to tell him that she was in Belize with another man.
“He was stopped for speeding, and when they ran his plates, his warrant popped up. He’s locked up as we speak.”
Brooke started crying. “That’s wonderful, I feel like I owe you something.”
“You don’t. I’m just doing my job.”
“Yes, but if it wasn’t for you he wouldn’t have been arrested. You’re the only one who cared enough to come back to take a second look, and you talked to my neighbors, nobody else put in that much work.”
“I just hate to see crappy things happen to nice people.”
“At least let me buy you a drink,” Brooke insisted.
“Okay a drink it is,” Officer Ferguson relented. “Let’s shoot for Friday, that should work unless an emergency comes up. How’s that for you?”
“I’ll make it work,” Brooke said.
Brooke sipped on her club soda and peeked at Avery, as he had invited her to call him, over the rim of her glass. Ever since he had stepped into the sports bar, she couldn’t take her eyes off him. While he looked good in his police uniform, he was scorching hot in a pair of jeans, sweater over a button down and a pair of Tims.
Even though it was crowded, she was able to snag two stools at the bar. Fortunately, he had arrived right after her, so she didn’t have to fight off too many people for the empty stool. “How long have you been a policeman?”
“About eight years, right after I graduated from Kennesaw State.”
“Cool. You like it?”
“It has its good and bad days. But it gives me an opportunity to meet beautiful women like yourself,” he said with a grin and Brooke stared, mesmerized by his sexy mouth. “You okay?” he asked.
“Um sure,” Brooke answered, a little flustered. “I have a lot of things on my mind.”
“Like what?” Avery leaned in.
“Finding a job, having my son move back here with me.” She shrugged. “Just stuff.”
Avery rested his hand over hers. “That’s a lot of heavy stuff. Sometimes people carrying those things end up doing things that they wind up regretting. Let me know if you want to talk.”
Brooke took a gulp of her club soda. I wonder if he knows what I’m doing and is going to arrest me on prostitution charges. She stared fearfully at him.
Chapter 12
Brooke glanced down at the jewelry box sitting next to her plate. Addison had given her a Burberry rose gold ring necklace for Valentine’s Day. When he had asked her if she wanted to go out or stay in, she opted for the latter. She had something to tell him and she didn’t want an audience. He had a chef come in to cook them a romantic dinner and dessert. He had just cleaned up and left.
“This was really nice, thanks Addison,” she said. “Everything was so nice.” And it was. The chef had brought along a waiter who catered to their every need, she had never felt so pampered in her life.
“You deserve it,” he said. “I wish I could’ve spent the real day with you.”
“Oh, that’s okay,” she said. He had spent Valentine’s Day with his wife and family in Savannah. They were actually celebrating it a week later, which was fine with her, because it gave her time to rehearse what she wanted to say.
“Let’s sit on the couch.” He got up and Brooke followed him.
“I have something to tell you,” Brooke announced as soon as they were settled.
“Sure what’s wrong? You look worried.”
Brooke lifted her eyes to his. “I’m pregnant,” she announced softly.
After a painfully long silence, Addison blurted, “Is it mine?”
“Of course it is,” she snapped at him.
Addison raked his hand through his blond hair. “You can’t have it,” he decided.
“I thought you cared about me,” Brooke cried and Addison averted his eyes. “So you care about me when I’m fucking you or when I’m sucking your dick, but other than that you could care less about me.”
“I already have a family,” Addison said quietly. “They won’t be happy to learn that they have another sibling.”
Brooke frowned at the lame excuse. “They don’t have to know. I’ll be okay with keeping it a secret.”
Addison shook his head. “I don’t want another child.”
“But you knew that it was a possibility when we had unprotected sex.”
“I know, I just didn’t think that it would happen. I got caught up in the emotions, I’m sorry,” he offered weakly. “I’ll pay for you to get rid of it.”
Brooke clamped her hand over her mouth in shock. How dare he suggest an abortion! She shook her head as tears raced down her face. “I can’t do that,” she said, even though it was muffled, Addison understood her.
Addison stood up and went into his kitchen, allowing Brooke time to compose herself. When he returned he had a glass of wine and a bottle of water. He handed her the water. “You can’t have it,” he said firmly.
“But—”
“You don’t want to have another child whose father isn’t involved in its life do you?” he asked. Even though his voice was reasonable, it didn’t diminish the gut wrenching pain his words caused.
Brooke threw the bottle of water at him, gathered up her things and dashed out his apartment.
“So what are you going to do?” Ebony asked.
“I’m going to have the abortion.” Brooke answered, sadly. She had spent the day crying. “I don’t want to deal with another man who doesn’t want to acknowledge his child.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, even if I wanted to have it, it wouldn’t be the responsible thing to do. It wouldn’t have a father and I don’t ever want to do that to another child.”
“I feel you. So Santa had stuck something extra in your stocking?” Ebony joked, trying to lighten the mood, but her cousin wasn’t feeling it.
Brooke groaned, then nodded. “Yeah, when he brought over my Christmas gifts, he left something unexpected. And I didn’t even know I was pregnant. I drank so much alcohol, popped so many pills and smoked so much weed in Belize, that if I did have this baby, I wouldn’t even know if it would be healthy.”
Ebony put her arms around her cousin. “Hey, like you said, you didn’t know you were pregnant, don’t hate yourself. So are you going to keep seeing Addison?” Ebony asked softly.
Brooke shook her head. “He
wanted to, but I couldn’t, I was starting to really care for him and I knew that he wasn’t going to leave his wife and him wanting me to have the abortion just confirmed everything for me. He gave me a very nice chunk of change though. I guess it’s a combination of hush money, which he didn’t have to, because I wasn’t going to say anything, and something to ease his guilty conscious.”
“I’m sure.”
“Aren’t you going to ask me how much?” Brooke asked teasingly.
“Nope.”
“Why not? You always do.”
“I guess it’s too personal…considering how everything went down.”
“You’re itching to know.”
“Well spill it, cause you’re burning to tell me.”
“A hundred thousand dollars,” she said in a hushed voice. When she had gotten the money she was beyond shocked.
“Wow!” Even Ebony was impressed.
“Yeah, my days of being a jump off have ended. I’m officially retired.”
“You’ve earned it girl.”
“Would you like me to stay with you?” Ebony asked.
Brooke shook her head, but smiled weakly at her cousin. “Thanks, but I need some time by myself.”
“Cool. I understand.” Ebony hugged her cousin tightly.
“Did you, um, ever have one?” Brooke asked, when they pulled apart.
Sadness flashed across Ebony’s face. “No, after I was raped, I had my tubes tied, so that I’ll never get pregnant.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Brooke murmured.
“It’s fine. I’ll be waiting for you. Everything is gonna be okay.”
“See you in a while.” Brooke watched her cousin walk away.
The room had very detailed pictures of different abortion procedures. She was sure whoever hung them believed they were informative and helpful to the patients, but they scared the hell out of her. Even though the nurse had given her a blow-by-blow on what to expect, the pictures still made her sick to her stomach.
She closed her eyes and prayed, “Dear God, I’m not looking for a sign that I made the right decision. I know that many will judge me for my decision and I will have to deal with it every second, every minute and every day for the rest of my life. I am so sorry for I am killing one of your children, because you are the Creator, the giver of life. I don’t want to spend an eternity in Hell, as I will be living in my own personal hell. Dear Lord, I would like to ask for your forgiveness. And God, when my baby’s spirit get there, please let her know that I love her. Amen.”
Shortly after that, the nurse came in and gave her the abortion pill. She watched while Brooke swallowed it. The nurse handed her a second pill, Misoprostol.
“You have between twenty-four and seventy-two hours to take this. It’ll make your uterus contract and expel the tissue. You might experience some bleeding, diarrhea, cramping and nausea. I want you to listen to your body, if something doesn’t feel right, I want you to go to the emergency room as soon as possible.”
The nurse was nice, she reminded her of her grandmother, under normal circumstances, Brooke would have enjoyed a spirited conversation with her, but not today…not now.
“And be sure to make a follow-up appointment for next week,” she said kindly. “And do you have someone to drive you home?” Even though the type of abortion Brooke was having wasn’t as painful as the other procedures, it was an abortion, nonetheless and experience had shown her that driving safely was the last thing on a woman’s mind after an abortion and many accidents were caused.
“Yeah, I have my cousin waiting for me.”
A few minutes later she walked out to Ebony. Her cousin escorted her to her truck where Brooke reclined the seat and silently cried all the way home.
Chapter 13
Brooke checked her voice mail, Addison had called her over fifteen times begging her to call him. She deleted every one.
For once she was grateful for her lack of a job and that Jaden wasn’t with her. She had her plane ticket and planned on flying up to Buffalo to pick him up in another couple of weeks. With the money she had gotten from Addison she’d be fine for a long time.
She heard a knock on her door, then the ringing of her doorbell. She peeped through the hole. There was a delivery man delivering another bouquet of roses. They were from Addison. He had sent her a bouquet of flowers every day for the last week.
She was going to ignore him, but decided against it. She signed for the flowers, closed the door and carried them to the kitchen where she was going to break them apart and put a bunch in the guest bedrooms.
While she was rifling around for vases, there was another knock on her door. “Who is it now?” She wondered as she meandered toward the front door. She peeked out, Avery was on the other side. They hadn’t spoken since they had gone out for drinks. Although he was a nice guy, she wasn’t in the mood, after ending things with Addison and especially after her abortion. For the past month and a half, she had ignored all his texts and calls.
She pulled open the door and Avery grinned at her. “Hey, just stopping by to check up on you. I haven’t heard from you in a while.”
“Oh, come on in. I’m sorry, I never called you back, I’ve been busy,” she offered lamely.
Avery handed her a gift bag.
“You didn’t have to do this.”
“It’s something small. It’s not much. I saw it and immediately thought about you.”
“Come on.” They walked into the living room. “May I open it now?”
Avery gave his consent. She reached in and pulled out a book by the Dalai Lama.
“I practice Buddhism and it really helps me. I just thought that you could use it after everything you went through last year.”
“Thanks,” she said touched by the gift. “So how long have you been practicing Buddhism?”
“I’ve been one since college but after being on the force for such a long time, I needed to strengthen my spirituality. After seeing all the crap that I see every day, I need something to keep me from going ape shit on people,” he said with a laugh. “But seriously, I do need something to remind me about the basic goodness in men.”
“Yeah, I definitely need to crack this. Would you like something to drink?”
“Do I look thirsty?” Avery joked.
Brooke laughed. “No, why?”
“Because every time I’m over here, you’re offering me water.”
“Oh, I’m just trying to be a good hostess. That’s all.”
“I guess I can have some water.”
Brooke stood. “I’ll be right back.”
She opened the refrigerator and reached into it for his bottle of water. Suddenly she felt something behind her and she screeched.
“Hey, it’s just me.”
“Avery! Pull back. You almost gave me a heart attack. Why you all up on me?”
“Because I want to do this before I lose my nerve.” He pulled her to him and lowered his mouth to hers. The kiss deepened and the water dropped from her hand, she slipped her hands around Avery’s neck.
Brooke pulled away. “Avery,” she said breathlessly. “What just happened?”
“I’ve always been feeling you. I’ve been wanting to do that since the first time I saw you. Why do you think I kept coming over?”
“I thought you were coming over because you were doing your job.”
“I was.”
“But tell the truth, I got special treatment, normally, my case probably wouldn’t have been solved so quickly.”
Avery grinned. “If I’m on the case, trust that it’s going to get solved. But seeing you was an extra bonus.” He grinned and Brooke’s knees weakened. She leaned against the kitchen counter.
“That’s sweet.”
“If you can’t already tell,” Avery pressed on. “I would like to get to know you better.”
“I have to tell you something about me. Let’s sit in the living room.”
They strolled into the living room and as soon as they
sat down, she told him what she had been doing for the last few months, she left out her abortion. She even told him about how scared she was at the sports bar, thinking that he was on to her and was going to arrest her. “So you’re ready to date a single mom who used to date men for their money?” she asked, once she was finished.
“Hey, like I told you before, I’m just a policeman. I’ve seen some messed up shit and compared to a lot of people, you’re Mary Poppins.”
“But I—”
Avery placed two fingers over her lips. “Hey, you did what you had to do to survive.”
“But what will your family and friends say about my past?”
“Whose gonna tell ‘em?” he challenged.
Brooke grinned. “Not me.”
“Me either. Kiss me!” And she did. Avery pulled away. “I can kiss these lips forever,” he murmured against her mouth. And he did.
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J’Twan, J.T. for short, Morrison, quarterback for the Atlanta Jaguars, sat across from Marcella Narozzi, his publicist. “This is fucked up. You know that don’t you?” she barked not pulling any punches.
J.T. nodded. “I know.”
“This is a public relations nightmare.” She sighed, then strolled over to the window and looked out over the skyline. The sun was just setting, casting a honeyed glow over the city. After twenty years in the business she had seen it all and had cleaned up more messes than a cleaning lady. No scandal or soon-to-be scandal was too big. Her biggest coup was creating a campaign that convinced the residents of a small town to drink the water after traces of pharmaceutical drugs were found in it. She polished tarnished images, she was the Spin Doctor. Marcella was the lady to go to when people needed things fixed and they paid her handsomely for it. She clasped her hands behind her back. “You know that I respect you?”
“I do.”