Reluctantly

It was an odd scene. You say on the couch and she sat in your lap, looking down. This was not the woman who had just tried seducing you earlier in the day. "I don't know how she heard about it. Someone probably blabbed about it... Shortly after you guys left and Jake was somehow put in charge of this town, things went to shit. I doubt there's a woman in this town who hasn't been fucked by Jake once."

Surely not, right? That had to be a figure of speech. "I guess he thinks he's a king. His security and backing make it seem like he is. So he acted like one. Really stupid ordinances, vain city projects, but most of all, his 'acquiring of women.' If you couldn't figure it out, I was one of the women he acquired. Shit got back for those of us not exactly as privileged as your cunt of a wife. In order to keep our houses and families together, we had to put in a lot of work and do some stuff we were proud of. So, I sold my body to the guy. It wasn't great, but it kept me in good favor with him."

The thought of Jake touching Brenna seemed wrong. It seemed like she was breaking down her persona right in front of you. "You don't have to go any further if you don't want to. I think I get it." The last thing you wanted was for this to break her even more.

"Thing is, he gets bored fast. What was worth a month's rent originally became worth a meal. If you wanted to stay in his good graces, you had to do more with him. A lot of us girls did stuff we'd never want to do thinking that it could keep us and our families taken care of, but he eventually just gets bored of you altogether and then you're fucking." Her chest rose as she took a deep breath. "And then you're back at square one and you feel like a whore. A lot of those upperclass cunts act like we were doing it because we're all just some Jake-loving sluts, but we did— I did what I needed to do."

You sat with that for a moment. Yes, Jake had made like difficult for you while you were growing up. But this sounded like hell. If anyone has a right to take him down, it would be Brenna.

"And the reason you couldn't do anything about it was because the cops are under his payroll, too, right? Goddamn, Brenna, I'm so sorry. No one should have had to deal with that." It's not like you could say 'if only I'd been there' either. What would you have done? Besides, focusing on the past wouldn't change anything.

Her eyes widened as your arms reached around her waist and pulled her tight. "You've gone through so much. And you've had to do so much. You're heart is so heavy... Brenna, I don't exactly know where the future is heading here, but let me carry you. You don't even need to walk; you tell me what to do and I'll be your legs."

She knew what you were offering. You were reiterating what you'd said earlier: she would tell you where to go and what to do and you would do it. Only, you wanted her to know that you weren't doing it out of submission, but rather out of care for her. Trust for her.

She didn't turn around to face you. Her hair was still covering her vision as he had hung low. "I hate Tegan, too. And I kind of hate you. Both of you had great lives and great families and then went to great colleges with no problem. I had to claw my way here. I had so many people and so many things trying to stop me..."

"Is all of this just to spite Tegan, then? Honestly, I get the Jake stuff. He deserves the worst for that. But why rope me into it? He definitely fucked people over way more and way worse than he did to me." If anything, you figured she would have wanted to burn the whole town down for what it did to her.

Brenna hesitated. There was obviously something she wanted to say, but couldn't. "Give me a little bit. I need to cool down." She stood up and grabbed her purse before walking into another room. Your curiousity was burning, but you wanted to respect her feelings. She'd just opened up to you about something and needed time to process it and think through what to say next."

You waited five... ten... fifteen minutes and then heard a knock at the front door. "This is literally the worst time for Tegan to come back to fight." You opened the door to see— Sophie. "Mom? What are you doing here? Listen, if Tegan called to complain or whatever, it's way more complicated than she's making it sound."

"Tegan didn't call me, hon. Brenna did." Sophie stepped in and walked back to the living room. This was becoming a bit too much for you. If only you'd been prepared for it to get worse.

Once Brenna came back in, her face red and freshly wiped down with water, Sophie opened up. She told you about how she'd ended up in the same spot as Brenna. Jake had pulled some very shady bullshit, but managed to hold the house over her head if she didn't do what he wanted. Eventually, like with everyone else, he just got tired of her and began to leave her alone. She guessed it just wasn't 'fun' for him anyone.

Through this, she'd met Brenna. They talked a lot about their situation with another few women in the town, mostly as a support group, but Sophie always believed that you'd come back to save her and everyone else. She'd built you into a sort of folk-hero.

So Brenna started observing your cases when she could. She studied what you did and said, but also as you said it. For someone so 'lucky,' as she put it, you seemed to care far more than anyone else she knew. You seemed to speak genuinely in court and it made her admire you. She figured that if there was anyone who could do this, it would be you.

You wanted to ask Sophie more, but knew it was also very difficult for her. She'd only stopped by for the brief chat, but you would definitely check up on her later.

There was an awkward ilence in the living room as the two of you sat opposite each other. Finally, you asked your question once more: "So Jake, and then me, I get now. But you were the one who would always bully Tegan. Hell, you even said you were superior to her. Sounds like bullying."

"I don't say I'm superior to her because I like the sound of it; I say it because it's true. Tegan doesn't have any drives and she's never had to struggle or fight or anything like that. We didn't have a lot of money, so whatever I was wearing, I wore because it was all I had. Not good enough for her and those rich girls, right? Tegan even asked me once why I didn't 'just ask my mom to buy me a new clothes?' I couldn't stand her and the snooty way she talked down to people like me, so, ya, I bullied her. And she fucking deserved it. " That, unfortunately, sounded like Tegan. She had a very privileged perspective of the world and seemed unable to look beyond it.

You could understand the frustration, but even then... "Let's put a pin in that for now. I know you want **** against her, but it sounds like it would take a lot of time and energy and I just don't think it's worth it. If our target is Jake, then you can't be wasting your time with Tegan."

Brenna definitely wanted to fight back on that one. You saw her begin to form the words before stopping herself. "Great, so I guess that means you should call your wife and get her back home. I'll grab my bags."

"Nope. You're not leaving. We need to completely destroy Jake for what he's done to you, my mom, and everyone in this town. I am going to become the mayor and I'm going to make sure he suffers once he's not in charge of the law anymore. I need you for that. I need you to be at my side so I can make sure I know what I'm doing, but also know that you're safe."