Baseball was the only thing keeping me from losing my mind. Between phone calls with my lawyer, family, agent and Sarah not responding, I wanted to break the damn phone and lock myself into my apartment.
No journalists. No questions. No unamused faces of people who don’t quite believe that I’m innocent.
My shoulders sagged as I carried my bags past Ferdinand, up the elevator and into my condo. The lack of control of my own life was stifling. I couldn’t tweet out my side during an ongoing investigation, I couldn’t demand to know how that falsified tape came to be and why people believed it. It was my voice, for sure, but my words had been strung together out of context.
Gideon’s words repeated in my mind.‘Who did you piss off, man, because someone is out to get you. That is for damn sure.’
I tossed my dirty clothes from the road trip into the washer and tried calling Sarah again. Something had happened. There was no reason for her to avoid my calls and only respond with one-word answers. Her goddamn voicemail met me again and my anger doubled.
We’d had a great time together.Fuck this behavior.If she wanted to stop being friends, then she needed to tell me why. My adrenaline coursed through my blood as I stormed from my place to hers, but right as I was about to pound on the door, it swung open and the innocent, adorable face of my temporary neighbor met mine.
“You,” she said, her voice above a whisper. “I heard you.”
I eyed the plate in her hands and the slight blush painting her face. “Did I do something to piss you off? Why have you been avoiding my calls?”
She gulped, looked at the ground and chewed on that very full lip that I wanted to bite into, despite my pissed-off feelings toward her. She took an audible breath before meeting my gaze. “Can we talk?”
“Yes,” I snapped, not caring that I was taking out my anger on her. “That is the entire point of why I tried calling you for the past five days.”
She flinched, like I wanted her to, and followed her into the condo. She was still carrying the damn plate and I plopped down onto the couch hard enough to make it shift a couple of inches back. She continued standing, and the longer she was quiet, the more frustrated I got.
“Just say it,” I demanded. My gut churned and the hesitant look in her eyes made me sick.She knows. She knows the truth.If that were the case, I wouldn’t make it easy for her. She’d be filed away witheveryone elseon those who chose to believe the bullshit being reported.
“Have you ever lied to me?”
“Not once.”
“Can I ask you a question?”
“Ask what you want to know, Sarah. Let’s get this over with,” I said, sighing and starting to accept that thisthingwith her would be over. Maybe she’d gotten bored and decided to google me, or she’d seen the latest accusation of bribing an officer. She set the plate down and interlocked her fingers so tightly that I swore one of them would break.
She’s nervous.
I didn’t have the heart to care or ease her mind. She’d made her decision about me and I wouldn’t try to change it, despite how much I enjoyed her company.
“When Mr. Alexandre’s brother came over that day we were on the phone, he mentioned a few unsavory things about you.”
My stomach tensed as every muscle in my body tightened. This was it.
She paused, either waiting for me to say something, which I wasn’t going to, or to gather her courage. She joined me on the couch and crossed one long bare leg over the other. “They were unsettling, and after talking to my best friend about them…she googled you.”
While I prepared myself for it, it still stung. “Okay then.” I stood, already planning on going for a long run to rid myself of the toxic thoughts, but Sarah reached out and wrapped her small fingers around my wrist. I glanced at the contact. It solidified that we were opposites in every way.
Innocent, ruined.
Small, large.
Pale, tan.
Hopeful, jaded.
“Don’t go, Brigham.”
The way she said my name sounded like there was hope. She said it with care, and that was the only reason I looked at her face and sat back down. “Why?”
“I’ll be honest. I’ve gone back and forth on what to do here. I live a boring life and yours is extraordinarily not boring.” She still held on to me and gripped tighter. “Are you okay?”
“What?” I asked, shocked.
