“Brooke…” I whisper.

“There was something about them being able to track her with her phone.”

Oh my, God. My Brooke’s scared, really scared. I have to get to her. But in the same moment I realize that without her phone, I have no way to reach her, to find her. She’s lost to me too. “Did she tell you where she’s going?” I ask.

“No, she said I couldn’t know, but that she would contact me on my cell phone as soon as she could.”

It’s not like Brooke to be paranoid. This is freaking me out. “Do you have any idea, where she would go?”

“Not really…” Morgan sniffs, then continues, “…because from the sound of it, she won’t go somewhere obvious like her friend, Jenn’s. It sounds like she doesn’t want to be found.”

It also doesn’t sound like she’s coming to me and that realization kills me. She knows I’d do anything for her, but I’m not the one she wants right now.

Still on the phone, I stand up and grab my car keys. I’m halfway to my car before I realize that I didn’t even close my front door. I force myself to sit on my front step, realizing that I have to calm down and focus. I can’t drive in this state or I’ll be unsafe to others. I take a deep breath.

“Okay, Morgan, let me think for a minute. Let’s go back a few steps. How long was she in HR?”

“Well, over an hour,” she says calming down once she hears I’m trying to stay calm.

“And then?”

“She came back here white as a ghost and really agitated. She told me to get that head lawyer from legal, Ruiz on the phone. Then she went in her office and closed the door.”

“Okay, so she talked to the lawyer…” I prompt.

“And then after a few minutes I see her extension’s light on my phone go off. So I wait a bit, and when she doesn’t come out I knock on the door. She doesn’t answer, so I crack the door to peek in.”

“And?” I ask anxiously.

“Damn, Nathan, she was curled over her desk with her face down, sobbing…just sobbing. Oh, God. It was awful. So I let myself in, closing the door behind me. I went to her, but I wasn’t sure what to say, what to do…so I just offered her a bunch of Kleenex.”

“Did she say anything?”

“She just kept chanting, ‘it’s my fault…because of me…he’s ruined.’”

“Ruined?” I feel like I just got punched in the stomach. I know she’s talking about me.

“I’m so sorry, Nathan. What did they do to you?”

“Arnold’s stolen my comic book and taken ownership.”

“Fuck…no! I knew it was something really bad. I knew he’d get revenge somehow for Brooke falling in love with you.”

“Yes, I knew he would too. I just never dreamed it would be this.”

“Well, that would explain what she said next. She told me to tell you that she was going to do everything she could to stop it. That she couldn’t face you again until she fixed this somehow.”

“Did she say how she was going to fix it?”

“No, I couldn’t even tell if she had a plan, or if she was just rambling in despair.”

“Did she say anything else?”

There’s a long pause.

“What, Morgan?”

“Shit, Nathan, I don’t want to tell you this…”

“I need to know everything. Please.”

“Then she told me that she knew all along she wasn’t good enough for you, and this just proves it. You’d be so much better off without her fucking up your life.”

“What?”

What?

I’m almost angry at her…furious. How can she say that after everything we’ve shared together? I need her right now more than ever.

“Maybe she was just being dramatic, Nathan. She was so distraught.”

“I’m going to go to her house, and see if she’s there. She would have to go get stuff if she’s leaving for a while.”

“Hurry then,” she warns. “I’m sure she won’t be there long. She’s been gone for at least an hour now. I couldn’t get away to call with all the computer stuff going on. And before that, Arnauld stormed over here and yelled, then interrogated me because I was supposed to call his office the moment she returned from HR”

“The fucker yelled at you?”

“Yeah, evidently he wasn’t done with her yet. And you know what? I don’t care if he fires me. Dealing with him just then was the last thing she needed.”

I feel a powerful surge of gratitude towards Morgan. “You did the right thing. Thanks for always looking out for Brooke,” I say reassuringly.

“Of course.”

“Okay, I better go. I’ll check in with you later.”

“All right. Hey, Nathan?”

“Yes?”

“I’m so sorry. I’m sorry for all of us.”

• • •

I put all my focus into driving since my mind and spirit are shot. I keep my cool until I get all the way around Lake Hollywood only to find that they have the road closed due to a movie location shoot. The location cop informs me that unless I can wait about forty-five minutes, the only thing I can do is retrace my steps and then come up from the front, through Hollywood. That alone will take almost thirty minutes or more because of traffic. And that’s when I lose my cool.

I turn my car around like an Indie 500 driver and gun it on the windy road around the lake. By the time I hit Barham Blvd. heading towards Hollywood, I’m completely amped up.

She can’t just fucking leave me when I need her most. She told me she loved me. She told me it was forever. It was one thing when I thought she was mad at me about B-Girl, but this is something else.

I’m mad at this weak Brooke who slinks away from me when things get rough. I want my strong Brooke, who will stand by me in battle. We could fight this together.

As soon as I pull up to her place I can tell she’s already gone. I let myself in the gate, then futilely ring the doorbell over and over and peer in the front windows. There’s no sign of her.

I’ve never felt more defeated. I sit on her doorstep with my head in my hands trying to figure out what to do next. “Don’t do this to me, Brooke,” I whisper. “Please don’t do this to me.”

I’m almost back to my house when my cell phone rings.

“Where are you?” Curtis asks, forgoing formalities.

“Driving home.”

“Come to Billie’s store. Dad called and told me what’s going on. We need to talk.”

“I don’t think I can, Curtis. I’m a wreck.”

“Brooke was here not long ago. Billie tore into her.”

“I’ll be right there.”

When I finally arrive at the Outer Limits, Billie has a worried expression as they approach me. Curtis nods an abbreviated greeting.

“Curtis says Brooke was here,” I say directly to Billie. “What happened?”

Billie stops right in front of me and rests her fists on her hips defensively. Her expression morphs from concern, to stormy, to fierce.

“I told her to get the fuck out of my store.”

I groan and pull my hands over my face.

“Why, Billie?”

“Curtis had just called me with the lowdown, how she didn’t come to your defense in the meeting…and then she showed up here. She was trying to buy a complete set of your comics and it pissed me off. What if she’s taking them to that asshole Arnauld guy?”

“I assure you. He already has a set.”

“And then she started to cry like a baby, and babble that it isn’t what I think. Plus, some bullshit that she wants to help you. “So I asked why she wasn’t with you when you needed her most. Didn’t she understand what it meant to be loved like that? Enough that you would create a character in her name and show her all the love in the world? I mean what the hell?”

“Oh, Billie,” I say defeated.

“She blubbered about not being good for you, that you would be better off without her.”

I shake my head in despair.

“So I told her that if she was that big of a wimp, that in my opinion, she’s right…but that you would never see it that way. If she abandons you, it’ll kill you.”

“What did she say to that?”

“She just cried harder. What an emo.”

“Billie!”

“So I told her to take the books and that I didn’t want her money. I just want her to do the right thing by you.”