Falling for the Fire

Chapter 28

*Brooklyn's POV

I watched Ariana carefully as we sat in her office. I didn't want to blatantly bring up that we'd both lost our dads within the past year, but I wanted her to know that was part of the reason why I felt for her.

It wasn't like me to do this type of shit for anyone really, but there was something about her. Even after she'd called me out for sleeping around right after we'd had sex.

I obviously didn't know exactly what had happened with her dad, and the same went for her with mine, but I knew that we could relate because of it.

I was assuming that her reaction to seeing her mom was somehow all related, but I didn't know for sure, and I wasn't going to ask. If she wanted to tell me, I'd listen, but I didn't want to push it.

Her brown eyes looked down at her coffee cup and then back up at me, and I didn't know if I should try to shift the topic back to work, or if she wanted to talk more.

It was obvious from the way that her eyes looked that she'd spent a lot of last night crying, and I didn't want to bring up anything that would upset her again.

"Are you uh, are you doing okay today though?" I finally asked, "after everything yesterday I mean."

"I don't really know," she shrugged, "I'm sure I'll be fine."

She looked like a sad puppy dog, and as much as I didn't want to, I knew I was developing a soft spot for her.

I wasn't even sure if it was because I was attracted to her, or just because I somewhat knew what she'd been going through. Either way, it wasn't good.

I didn't want to get too close with her for a number of reasons, but the fact that we were working together was probably top on the list.

We'd already butted heads quite a few times, and I was doing my best to not let it happen again.

"Do you think your mom will try to come and talk to you again?" I cautiously asked.

She shrugged again and looked like she was contemplating her answer.

"I'm not sure," she said, "she might, but I hope not."

I nodded at her before I leaned back in my chair.

"If she does, hopefully she doesn't decide to try and bombard you at work," I told her.

"No shit," she grumbled, "or just hopefully not at all."

"Right, that too," I said.

I dropped the subject after that, not wanting to push anything too far.

We stayed in her office for most of the day while we worked, and her mood seemed to improve a little bit.

Near the end of the day, we made our way back out to the conference room. We'd gotten done what we needed to, and Ariana wanted to check in with everyone else.

It seemed like things were moving along like they should be, but you never really knew with an event of this size.

"Okay," Ari said, "anyone need help with anything or are we all doing good?"

"We'd probably be doing better if we all got to wander off into a private office all day and do whatever the hell we wanted," Eliana said.

I rolled my eyes at her before glancing over at Ari. I'd known Elle for a while, and I obviously knew that she could be a bit much, but for some reason she was taking it to a whole new level lately.

"If you would have asked if there was an office available, you could've been doing that too," Ari said calmly.

I turned my head away and stifled a laugh, I didn't mind finally seeing someone put Elle in her place.

She rolled her eyes back at Ariana, but she stayed silent.

We left the building a few minutes later, and I was walking out to my car with Eliana.

"What's the deal with you two?" She asked.

"What? What are you talking about?" I asked in response.

"You and Ariana," she clarified, "what's your deal with her?"

She didn't know that we'd slept together...kind of twice, and I planned on keeping it that way.

"We don't have a deal," I laughed, "I'm still not sure what you mean."

"It seems like you hate each other one minute and you're best friends the next," she said.

"I never hated her," I responded, "we've disagreed on a lot of things yeah, but we're fine working together now."

"Well I'm not a fan," Eliana said.

"Yeah I had kind of gathered that," I said as I glanced over at her, "are you jealous that Owen still checks her out every time she's around, or what?"

I smirked as she looked over at me and narrowed her eyes.

"He doesn't do that," she scoffed.

"Whatever you say," I shrugged playfully, "I've seen it happen."

"You're full of shit," she told me, "but that's not why either way, she just seems bitchy."

"Yeah coming from you," I said, "you're the one who made a terrible comment about her dad."

"Oh whatever," Eliana said as she rolled her eyes, "she deserved that."

I stopped walking as I felt anger prickling through my body, and I grabbed on to her arm.

"No, we're not going to do that," I told her, "and no, she didn't."

Elle knew that I'd lost my dad too, and she should've known better than to say shit like that in front of me.

"See, this is what I mean," she responded as she jerked her arm away from me, "you sticking up for her like you're best friends."

"Eliana, you know damn well why that's a sensitive subject for me," I said, "obviously I'm going to stick up for her when it comes to something like that, it was shitty as hell that you said anything about it at all."

"Whatever," she grumbled, "she's still a bitch."

"Think what you want," I sighed, "just leave me out of it if you think I'm defending her so much."

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