“That’s what Lexi said.” I turned my face away from him.
Marius sighed.
“What happened?” I asked him softly.
Marius snorted. “HR made everyone delete the videos, and then McKenna suggested bribing people with a free lunch as an apology for the disturbance. As a distraction, she launched a contest for people to send in a cute picture. Then she seeded a flame war, as she called it, on the company message app about whether it was fair to allow baby pictures in the contest since that’s all anyone was going to vote for and people without small children don’t have a fair shot. She wants a promotion, by the way.”
“I guess she deserves it.”
“Message boards got ugly though.” Marius knocked back his glass. “The complaints about the rigged contest filtered their way to Reddit, and now the whole internet is ablaze. A contact of mine says that the evening news is doing a bit on it. Brittany Dawn said she’s shutting the whole thing down and is sending out a nasty email.”
“Jesus Christ.”
“Brittany Dawn was pissed. She grilled McKenna hard. She cracked and admitted that she texted Lexi, and that’s what was suggested.”
“God help me.”
“I think people have already forgotten the events from this morning, though. So I’m trying to look on the bright side. It could be worse right?” He poured us more whiskey.
“No,” I said, “I don’t think so. I ruined the best thing that ever happened to me.” I picked up the glass and took a drink.
“Grayson’s first heartbreak.” Marius squeezed my shoulder.
I raised my head.
“I’ve had my heart broken before.”
“You didn’t seem upset when Sam ended it.” Marius’s eyes were curious.
“Not Sam,” I said, looking out to the horizon. The storm was breaking, heading south.
“No, my first heartbreak was when my mom refused to see me after the rescue. I kept begging the social worker and my foster parents, the FBI agents, the police, everyone. They kept stalling, saying just give her time. I finally ran away from the foster home and showed up at her parents’ house. Her dad screamed and threw a ceramic frog at me that was sitting on their porch. She was watching from her bedroom window. She didn’t come down.”
I drained my glass.
“This doesn’t hurt as much as that, so I’ll be fine. I’ll survive.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah,” I lied.
Actually the whole thing was a lie. Lexi’s leaving hurt so much more.
I spun the empty glass around in my hand.
Marius refilled it.
“So is this the part where you read me the riot act as my lawyer?”
“Yes, as your lawyer, please do not so much as google Lexi’s name. I’ll handle it from here.”
“I won’t,” I promised. “Thanks for your help today.” I shifted my weight to stand up. “I guess you have plans tonight and want to leave.”
“Don’t do that, Grayson,” Marius said, grabbing me by the collar of my shirt and pulling me back down. “Don’t push me away.”
“You already have been working overtime.”
“Dude.” He shook me. “I’m your friend, Grayson. There’s no overtime hours. It’s a twenty-four, seven, three-sixty-five gig.”
