B.R.O.N.X

I need you now.

"You're going to wish I had killed you today."

Justin

"What the hell was your girlfriend doing with my boyfriend?"

The last thing—or rather person—I expected to find when the doorbell rang a bit over an hour after Brooklyn left was Alejandra. She was perched on my threshold, lips pursed and eyebrows raised.

I felt the urge to laugh. "Excuse me?"

"I said what why was your girlfriend coming out of my boyfriend's apartment," she repeated, only she added extra information this time.

Any trace of amusement left me. "That was not what you said before," I said slowly.

Alejandra made a big show of rolling her eyes. "Whatever. That's what I saw."

I shook my head determinedly. "That's not possible. Brooklyn would never go near Tyler."

Alejandra eyed me with what seemed like pity, a look I highly despised. "Look, Justin. I know you think that chick is daddy's perfect little girl, but I can play that role too if I want to. Besides, haven't you two been fighting lately?" She smirked.

I snorted loudly, glancing over my back to check my family was still in the living room, paying attention to the TV and not me. Jazmyn wrinkled her forehead, but I only mouthed "It's nothing," at her.

"What is it that you really want, Alejandra? I don't have time for your bullshit right now," I asked impatiently. I was tired and pissed and worried. I didn't need any more lying games in my life. It was impossible that Brooklyn had so much as looked Tyler's way. She must have been home by now, thinking about how much she deservingly hated me.

"You think I'm making this up?" Alejandra raised her voice, a sign that made me question whether she was indeed being honest and what that meant. "Damn it, Justin. I don't have any reason to waste my time in that stupid bitch. I just wanna know what she was doing with him."

"Watch it," I warned her. The last thing I was going to allow was for her to call Brooklyn names, much less in my home. "You're going to need to explain this better because, at the moment, I'm one second away from closing the door in your face," I said, fisting my hand next to the doorframe.

"Can I at least come in?" she asked, aiming to take a step inside.

"No."

Alejandra rolled her eyes again because that's something she loves to do. "God, Justin, I don't even know what they were doing together. I just saw her coming out of his building and then running after a cab. Was I supposed to go after her like a stalker?" She looked down at her heeled-boots for emphasis.

I huffed out a long breath. This made absolutely no sense. At all. The idea of my girlfriend and my mortal enemy (okay that's dramatic) together was just inconceivable. But what else could've Brooklyn been doing over there? It's not like she knew anyone around.

"Call her if you want. Make her explain," Alejandra suggested with a hint of malice in her voice.

I grabbed my coat and put it on before I decided to unleash my growing anger while I was still home. No need to scare my mom even more.

"I think we're going to pay a visit to your dear lovebird," I said, popping my head in the living room. "I'll be back in a while," I told my mom, who was very keen on a new episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians—which she claimed she only watched because it was a break from the complications of real life.

"Where are you going?" she inquired, her eyes leaving the screen for a moment. The dark circles under her eyes from sleepless nights were still visible.