Falling for the Fire

Chapter 7

I went back to my office and tried to focus on the work that I needed to do for the rest of the day, but I couldn't stop thinking about Brooklyn.

How had she been so casual about everything?

Apparently this was nothing out of the ordinary for her, she had made that much clear.

She was one of the best in our business, and I knew that having her to help with this huge event was going to be a good thing. I just had to get over the initial shock.

Hopefully she wasn't as difficult to work with as I'd heard, but I guess only time would tell.

I texted Avery on my way out of the office for the day to see if I could stop by. I needed to fill her in on this fun little surprise.

"You home? Going to stop by if you are," I sent.

By the time I got out to my car, she had responded.

"Yup, I'll be here."

My office was only a few minutes away from her house, so it wasn't long before I pulled up in the driveway.

I walked in to find her sitting on the couch, looking like she was waiting for me.

"What's up?" She asked.

"So," I sighed as I sat down next to her, "I know why the woman from this weekend looked familiar now."

"You do?" She questioned as she sat up a little straighter.

"Yup," I nodded, "it's Brooklyn Beal, and how I didn't realize that sooner is fucking beyond me."

"Brooklyn Beal??" Avery repeated as her eyes widened, "like the same Brooklyn Beal that runs that huge event planning agency?"

"That would be the one," I confirmed as I put my face in my hands.

"Shit," Avery mumbled.

"How do you know about her?" I asked as I leaned my head back.

"Well first of all," she said, "I've seen stuff about her with all of the big things she's planned around the city, but um..."

Her voice trailed off as she looked over at me cautiously.

"But what?" I asked, urging her to continue.

"Well she kind of has a...reputation," she said, "with women I mean."

"A reputation," I slowly echoed back, "what is that supposed to mean?"

"Um..." Avery started.

I could tell that she didn't want to explain, but I needed to know.

"Just tell me Avery," I sighed.

"Okay well don't get mad," she said, "I'm just telling what I've heard."

"I won't," I insisted.

"She just um, let's just say that what she did with you is kind of a common occurrence for her," she said, "like very common from my understanding, and with a lot of different women."

"Great," I said, letting out an exasperated sigh, "that's fantastic."

"Well hey at least you know you're not the only one, right?" Avery asked.

"Not making me feel any better here Ave," I said.

"You know what I mean," she responded, "she apparently does this a lot so she knows how to get what she wants."

"She sure as hell does," I mumbled.

I looked up at Avery and she was holding back a laugh, and I rolled my eyes at her.

"Not funny," I said.

"Oh come on, it's a little funny," she grinned.

"It would be funnier if I didn't have to work with her for like a year now," I said.

"A year?" Avery questioned.

"Yes a year," I nodded, "not quite that long...but this is a huge project, we start the planning almost a full year out."

"Did you talk to her at all today?" She asked.

"I tried to," I told her, "she basically acted like nothing had happened and it was no big deal."

"Well it's probably not for her," Avery shrugged.

"Not helping," I quickly shot back.

"I know, I know," she said, "sorry, I just meant that's probably why she wasn't really phased by the whole situation."

"That makes one of us," I responded, "I did ask her to keep this all between us too, so hopefully she actually does."

"I think she will," Avery said, "it doesn't seem like she'd have any reason not to."

"I hope not," I told her, "especially since we're working together, and because you know, no one else knows about this and I need to figure my shit out."

"The sad thing is that I'm not even sure if seeing her was the worst part of my day," I continued.

"How did it get worse than that?" Avery asked with a laugh.

"That bitch Eliana that I've had to work with before," I said, "she's helping with this too...she actually works for Brooklyn."

"Yikes," she said, "but is she really worse than seeing the girl that you hooked up with for the first time?"

She took a sip of her water that she had next to her as she gave me a questioning look.

"Well she fucked my boyfriend and then made some comment about us 'sharing' things during our meeting today, so yeah, I'd say that was worse," I said as I let out a deep exhale.

Avery's eyes widened and she spit her drink of water out, nearly getting it all over me.

"What the hell are you doing?" I asked.

"So Owen - you never said - okay what?" She stammered.

"Oh," I said as I looked down, "yeah I um, I forgot that I hadn't told you that part yet."

"Well, there you go," I continued, "now you know what happened."

I shrugged before I let my hands fall down to my lap. That wasn't exactly how I imagined that conversation going, but at least she knew.

"What the fuck," Avery mumbled, "that bastard was cheating on you?"

"He sure was," I said as I leaned my head back against the couch, "I'm not even sure how long it had been going on for, I didn't want the details."

"Did he - did he know that you knew the other girl he was fucking?" She asked.

"Oh yeah," I nodded, "I'm pretty sure that he did."

"Jesus," she grumbled.

"Mhm," I said as I looked down at my lap, "I - I saw them together, which obviously lead to a fight, and now here we are."

"Shit you saw them?" Avery asked.

"Yup," I sighed, "went over to see him and when I went in the house I saw her with her tongue down his throat."

"What an ass," she said.

"Not going to disagree with you there," I told her.

"You seem to have quite the crew that you have to work with now," Avery said as she glanced over at me.

I nodded silently, not wanting to think about all of the shit that I had to deal with.

"So, what now?" She asked.

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