Him, and the demand he was making. Or, more accurately, the threat.
She hugged herself, replaying the scene in her head. "The meeting's in a couple of hours, and I still honestly don't know what to do," she told Amanda. "He hates me."
"Well, you did leave him at the altar. That's not exactly a recipe for lasting devotion."
Brooke pressed her fingertips to her temples. "Thanks for your insight." They were in Amanda's downtown condo having breakfast on her balcony that overlooked Lady Bird Lake, which wasn't really a lake at all, but a river that ran through downtown Austin. "How can I work with a man who hates me?"
Brooke hadn't told Amanda about Spencer's very specific--very intense--demand. All she'd said was that Spencer had cornered her in The Fix and made it very clear that he didn't appreciate being strong-armed into the show, and that he intended to take out his displeasure on Brooke.
"Professional actors work together all the time, and some of them hate each other," Amanda pointed out. "And you said you walked because of cold feet, right? Have you explained that to him? I mean, it's not ideal, but at least it's understandable."
That had been the story she'd told Spencer on that horrible day. That it was all happening so fast, and that they needed time apart, to think and to grow. She'd thought she could outsmart her father that way. That she and Spencer could put the brakes on. And then, once Richie was safe and there was no going back, she'd explain the deception to Spencer. They'd get back together, and her father would be shit out of luck.
Needless to say, it hadn't worked out that way. Her father knew her well, and he'd told her flat out that if she tried to backdoor the wedding by reconciling with Spencer after the governor granted clemency, then he, her father, would leak Spencer's juvenile record, his gang affiliations, and any other dirt that Mr. Hamlin could dig up on Spencer.
"And then see how that precious show of his fares. No little girl of mine is getting involved with scum. And that's the way it's going to be."
He'd played her like a puppet, and she'd danced for him. Just like she'd done her whole life. And in the end, she'd walked away from the man she'd loved, her only consolation being that she'd saved his brother.
After the wedding was cancelled, she'd gone to Dallas for medical school. Not because she wanted to, but because her father had insisted. And she didn't argue because Spencer wasn't there to give her strength.
She'd been alone. So damnably, horribly alone.
She'd been twenty-three, but she'd felt so much younger. Lost and scared. Lonely and desperate. And angry. Dear God, she'd been furious. With herself. With her father. With the whole goddamn world.
Hell, she'd even been furious with Spencer for believing that she'd willingly betray him. He should have known. He should have realized that someone was pulling her strings.
But he hadn't, and she'd moved like a zombie through her first year, only poking her head up at the end of the year when she finally found the strength to drop out. Spencer's show was on the air by then, though she'd only caught a few minutes of the first episode before realizing that it was far too painful to watch.
Still, she heard about the show. She knew that it was a runaway hit. That Spencer Dean had become a household name, with endorsements and a magazine and a book deal. She'd been so damn happy for him, and when Brian had called to say that he was in town, Brooke had immediately invited him to her apartment for drinks, eager for even that small bit of connection to the past--and to Spencer.
"Honestly, I haven't seen him in ages," Brian said when she asked about Spencer. "I've been working my ass off--I'm doing financial management now--and he's been so busy with the show." He shrugged. "You get it."
She'd agreed that she did, then offered him a drink while they caught up. They'd hung in her apartment, then gone to dinner, then returned for another drink. And maybe she should have shut it down sooner, but this was Brian. A constant presence in her life for as long as she'd known Spencer.
Maybe she shouldn
't have invited him over.
Maybe she shouldn't have had that first drink.
Maybe if she'd done things differently, it never would have happened.
But it did.
She shuddered, blocking the hateful memory.
No. Dammit, it happened. It. Happened.
He'd slipped something into her drink. He'd ripped her choices away. He'd taken her control.
She would never--ever--forgive him for that.
But at the same time, she had to thank him, too. That one, horrible, awful night had changed her life. Shifted her perspective. And she'd ended up quitting medical school because fuck her parents and their puppet strings.
It had been her best decision ever. Now she had a business she loved. One that she ran. That operated based on her vision and her choices.
A business that Spencer was threatening.