At just that moment Tricia came into the room–without knocking, of course–and she could tell at once something was very, very wrong. To her credit, though, she took it in stride, just like she did everything.
“Ah,” she said. “You found out about what Damian did, huh?”
Something broke inside of Mikey when he realized she’d known about the Damian situation, and she hadn’t said a word about it.
Before he could say that, however, she put her hands up.
“Don’t lash out at me, Mikey,” she said. “I just found out about this, too. But before you do anything rash, just remember Damian was just doing what he thought he needed to do to protect your career.”
It wasn’t often Mikey got really, truly angry, but hearing Tricia defend Damian–who’d not just betrayed Mikey’s trust but had also destroyed the genuinely good thing he had going with Luke–was just too much.
“Just get out, both of you,” he said through gritted teeth. “Damian, get back to California and don’t speak to me again. Tricia…I’ll talk to you later.”
Tricia did as he asked, thankfully, but Damian still had one last arrow in his quiver, and he was going to make sure it hit its mark.
“Just remember, Mikey,” he said, as he reached the door, “you were the one who told me about Luke. I’d always suspected there was something between the two of you and that he was gay, but you gave me the confirmation. So, blame me if you want, but you’re not innocent either.”
And then he was gone. Hopefully forever.
He immediately thought about calling Luke and telling him what had just happened, but he held back. He knew he needed some time to work through his own feelings about what Damian had told him, as well as about Tricia’s complicity. True, she might have just found out when he did, but it still pissed him off that she was willing to go to bat for Damian, even though he’d betrayed Mikey in the worst way possible. How was it possible two of the people he thought he knew best in the world could be so different from what he thought they were? Had they always been like this, and he’d just never allowed himself to see the truth?
You can contend with those questions later,he thought.In fact, there are quite a few things you’re going to have to contend with, including Luke.
Whatwashe going to tell Luke? On the one hand, he could just tell him the unvarnished truth about what had happened, and let it go at that. On the other hand, he wasn’t sure Luke would believe him, based on how he’d acted just a bit ago. Mikey could tell from the look on his eyes he’d already decided Mikey he was guilty, and his rapid-fire questions had made him panic. Maybe if he’d been just a bit more understanding, and maybe if he’d assumed Mikey was innocent, the whole situation might’ve gone down differently…
Maybe he hasn’t changed much at all,he thought.Maybe I shouldn’t have jumped into this whole thing so fast.
He lost track of how much time he sat in his room stewing. By the time an hour or two had passed he was no closer to feeling better than he had been at the beginning. In fact, he felt a great deal worse.
Just then, Tricia decided to make her return. At least she had the decency to knock.
“Can I help you?” he asked once she was inside.
For a second she didn’t say anything. She just continued to look at him. Finally, he couldn’t take it any more.
“What? Just come out and say what you have to say,” he snapped.
“Well, first, I want to tell you I think you made the right call when it comes to Damian. What he did was wrong, no question about it. I actually think you were pretty reasonable about the whole thing. I’m not sure I would have been as patient as you were.”
“That’s quite a change from a bit ago,” he said, unable to keep the snippiness out of his voice.
“Yes, well, I was caught off-guard, too,” she said with far more patience than he probably deserved. “This might be hard for you to believe, but Damian was my friend, too, and it was…well, it was a shock to find out he’d do something so terrible to you. I think you deserved better, and I think he’s a pretty shitty person for putting you in that position.”
“Well, thank you for the vindication,” he said. “I appreciate it.”
She went on.
“However, I have to admit you and I were both at fault, too. We let him get away with far too much, and I think if we’re both being honest with ourselves, we probably knew what he was capable of for a long time now. We just let ourselves believe he wasn’tthatbad, just as long as he was doing something we thought was okay.”
Mikey hated to admit it, but she was at least partly right.
“So,” he said. “What do we do now?”
“I think we’re safe from him trying to take his revenge. Whatever he might say, it’s amazing what an NDA will do. Damian is vengeful and he’s a bitch, but he’s a bit of a chickenshit, which means he’s almost certainly not going to do anything to hurt either of us.
“In answer to your question about what you should do now,” she went on. “I think you should go after Luke, tell him what happened, and hope he understands. I mean, you’re not really the one who orchestrated the implosion of his career, are you? He can’t realistically or reasonably stay mad at you.”
You clearly don’t know Luke Carter,he thought but didn’t say.
