Pursuit by Jackie D

Author:Jackie D. [D., Jackie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781626399044
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Published: 2009-04-30T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Tyler was nervous. Brooke knew all the signs. She paced back and forth in their apartment. She had already been out for her run, which typically would have left her calm and together, but that wasn’t the Tyler she was dealing with. Brooke sipped her coffee and glanced at the clock. There was still two hours before she had her meeting with Martin. It couldn’t be that, Tyler didn’t worry about things like that. It had to be something else.

“Something bothering you?”

Tyler stopped her pacing and looked over at her, her eyes full of worry, her brow furrowed. She put her hand over her mouth and looked down at the ground. “I did something, and I think you are going to be very mad at me.”

Brooke laughed. “I seriously doubt that. Come over here and talk to me. What happened?”

There was a knock on the door. Brooke’s stomach dropped. A knock at this hour usually meant something happened. Something bad, to someone they cared about. She put down her coffee cup as Tyler approached the door. She looked at Brooke before opening it, giving her an apologetic smile.

Her father arrived a few moments later. Anger, surprise, and betrayal surged through Brooke’s body. Her fingertips felt like they were on fire, her body rigid. She felt like a child all over again, preparing for a reprimand. But in this instance, it was a reprimand she didn’t deserve and had no intention of entertaining.

Tyler walked over to Brooke, standing between her and the man that she shared a blood type with. The man who had carried her in his arms to the hospital when she was nine and had a fever so severe she needed the emergency room. The man who had teared up at her high school and college graduations. The man who had disowned her.

Brooke looked past Tyler; she would deal with her later. He stood there looking the most casual she could remember seeing him. He wore dark blue jeans with a United States Navy sweatshirt and held a baseball cap in his hands. “What are you doing here?” The sound of her own voice surprised her. It was husky and deep, as if her vocal cords had been dragged across sandpaper.

“I’d like to talk to you.”

“I think you said everything you needed to yesterday.” She crossed her arms, not wanting her hands to shake. “Or more accurately, Mom said everything and you agreed.”

“Brooke, honey, please try to understand—”

“There is nothing to understand.” She waved away his words. “You made it pretty clear how you feel about me, about Tyler, about my life.”

“I don’t expect you to understand. You aren’t a parent. But you have these ideas about what your children will grow up to be. These expectations—”

“Yes, Dad, I know. I don’t meet your expectations. You wanted me to grow up, marry a man, and have children. You wanted me to work in the corporate world. You wanted all these things for me that I never had any interest in.

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