Grace. Do NOT go into the Facebook group. I’m serious. You don’t need this kind of worry right now. The girls and I are handling it.
I, of course, didn’t listen. I immediately opened it up. The top post told me everything I needed to know.
Brooke and Dean had kissed at the bar, and everyone was talking about it.
I could only stare at the words on the screen, trying to wrap my mind around Brooke and Dean, of all people, kissing. I read through all of the comments. A lot of the top ones were people saying never to trust a playboy, but some were asking more questions.
Iwas asking more questions.
Dean hated Brooke. There was no way to fake that kind of body language I’d seen when she was around. There was no way he’d suddenly kissed her.
Besides, he’d told me I was it for him. He’d shown me it a hundred times.
I trusted Dean. But did I trust Brooke?
I got out of bed, wondering if I should go down to the square to see what had happened. This had all gone down only half an hour ago.
When I got halfway down the hallway, I ran right into someone else.
“Grace,” Brooke said. “There you are. I really need to talk to you.”
She smelled awful. Like beer and alcohol. Her lip gloss was smeared and I knew exactly why.
“About what?” My voice was flat.
“You can’t trust Dean,” she said immediately, hands gripping my arms. “He?—”
The hallway lights flipped on and Virginia came out of Brooke’s room. My sister sneered the second she saw the other woman.
“What’s going on?” Virginia asked, her voice heavy with sleep. We must have woken her up.
“Of course there’s an audience.” Brooke rolled her eyes. “Let’s go to your room to talk.”
“Anything you need to say to me can be said in front of her.”
“No, it can’t. She’ll takehisside.”
“Not necessarily,” Virginia said. “What happened? Grace, why do you look upset?”
“Your son assaulted me.”
I flinched at the words.
“What?” Virginia asked. Her eyes grew wide and she crossed her arms. “That’s not like him.”
“Oh, I’m sure youthinkyou know him.”
“What did he do?” she asked slowly.
“He found me at the bar and forced me to kiss him.”
“He ...” Virginia blinked. I could tell she was trying to listen to Brooke, but she knew Dean just like I did. Neither of us could see him doing this.
“Brooke, what really happened?” I asked.
“I’m telling you what happened.”
“You’re drunk and angry,” I said. “Which means you’re gonna act out. Did Dean really kiss you, or did you do it to him?”