Virginia's POV "I have no idea what I'm supposed to wear most days, let alone to a country club..." I whined into the video call while Aimee was grinning at the sight of my effort. For years she tried to give me a 'makeover' of the tennis skirts and sweater vests as she said it fit my 'vibe', but I was more comfortable in what had the cheapest price tag. "As long as you aren't dressing up for him..." She eyed me with a friendly skepticism. "I'm dressing up so they let me in." We both shared a chuckle before I pulled a dress for her to view. It was only one of two dresses I owned, this one was cut just above my knees by a faded pea green skirt with an off-white square neckline made up of a woven fabric that made it look almost h

Brooks’ POV I kissed her.  After refraining from acting on anger or pure lust, I broke through all of my qualms after she'd asked a simple question. Are you okay? But in hindsight, I knew it was more than this. It was the way she'd been magnetized to Landon all night when his own mother couldn't even bother with a two minute conversation. It was how she stood her ground despite the fact I was purposely cruel to her. More than this, it was how she still put her compassion above her own emotions as she joined me at the water's edge to make sure I didn't drown myself in the liquor or the Atlantic. And for one moment of fractured strength, I pulled her into me and she abdicated all the same.  For however l

Brooks’ POV I'd lost high profile cases. Been cheated on. Embarrassed and divorced. And still nothing hurt like seeing Damien come from that hallway with a shit-eating grin with Virginia soon to follow behind. But she wasn't alone and she wasn't as fresh faced as she had been with me after I nearly made her come a few months prior. Instead, she was almost...mourning. It had to have been the guilt as she wrapped her fingers between Landon's as Aimee pulled my attention back to the beach through the living room window. I tried to think about anything but how bold Virginia could be with her best friend's boyfriend. In my house. After we shared that moment on the beach. After the interaction at the pool. After it changed, fell apart, and changed again. Maybe she was a glutton for pain. Maybe I was, because I started to see things that weren't really there. Like pain in her eyes when it was really guilt for wh

Brooks' POV It had been four hours since the final police officer finally drove off of my property and yet Virginia was not any closer to coming out of her catatonia. When the detectives asked her about her involvement with Damien prior to tonight, she just stared forward with her fingers flexing as if reaching for something. Although a risk of setting off a trigger, I laced our fingers and she clung tight.  This is where I remained for the majority of the night. When she did manage to fall asleep, she would jolt awake when I attempted to pull away to get ice for my knuckles, only finding solace from her screams when I replaced my fingers from her loss. She didn't speak a word or even meet my eyes but I knew it was the only thing keeping her tethered to reality. Ten seconds later than I would have been and who knows the state she might have been in. So i

Virginia's POV Words seemed to dull into paste on my tongue for the better part of two weeks and the ones that finally came to the surface were so heavy with confession that I wish I'd choked on them. I told him I loved him. It wasn't a truth I was even aware of until it left my lips and broke through to understandable English. And yet it felt right. Just not how I'd imagined telling somebody I loved them for the first time would end up. I thought I'd be kissed or at least given some form of reciprocation. Instead, Brooks let me sprint down the stairs, almost breaking my ankle, and into Aimee's apartment. We had texted since New York but this was the first time seeing each other in person and once we had, we both broke down into tears. An hour later and I was tipsy on expensive wine and cheap stories, we were falling asleep to reruns of The Vampire Diaries. Pulling one of her plush afghans over her, I moved into the bathroom to use the toothbrush she kept for