Page 18 of Bi-Partisan

“And if you were photographed with a woman, this probably wouldn’t be as big a story. But—”

“But it was with a man,” I finish.

“It was with a man, and you haven’t come out.”

“I wasn’t even one hundred percent sure there was anything to come out about until last night,” I exclaim.

Wow, I may no longer be having an active panic attack, but I am still not really holding it together. I close my eyes for a moment and try to steady myself.

“Until last night, my bisexuality was more of a theory. I didn’t even really mean for last night to happen, it just… did. I don’t usually do things like that. Y’all know I don’t.”

“We know,” Mina says, squeezing my hand again.

“Is that the label you want to use? Bisexual?” Riley asks carefully.

I nod and run a hand through my hair. “Yeah. This ain’t exactly how I planned on coming out to y’all, but yeah. I’m bi.”

Riley rests a hand on my shoulder. “I’m sorry you didn’t get the chance to tell us on your own timeline, but thank you for telling us and trusting us.”

“What Mom said,” Daniel says with a hint of a grin, and I know exactly what he’s trying to do. He’s trying to diffuse the tension. Every workplace has the office jokester, and ours is Daniel.

And, it works because when Riley rolls her eyes and, without missing a beat, snaps, “I’m not even ten years older than you,” over her shoulder, I manage to crack a smile.

“Thank you, Riley.”

“You’re welcome,” she says, smiling. “Would you maybe want some tea?”

I nod, and she squeezes my shoulder before climbing off the floor and heading back into the kitchen. On her way, I think I catch her giving Ben a pointed look, and he nods minutely, but I can’t even begin to try to figure out what the exchange could possibly mean. The room is silent for a moment, the frenetic energy having dissipated after my minor meltdown, which might actually be a good thing. Our team has always worked better when there’s a calmer energy.

“We do appreciate you telling us, sir,” Ben says. “But we do need to get working on a plan to recover from this.”

I nod and gesture for him to take the lead before climbing to my feet and extending a hand to pull Mina to hers.

“Have you gotten in contact with your…”

“No. We didn’t really exchange information. It was kind of a one-time thing,” I admit, blushing slightly. God, I knew talking about this with my staff would be unavoidable, but I really hate this. I don’t want them to think differently of me—to think the things that everyone on social media are probably thinking about me right now.

“Daniel, from what you’ve found, has anyone had any luck tracking Jamie’s acquaintance?”

“Not that I know of,” he answers, his eyes going to his laptop. “His face isn’t really all that visible in any of the photos, and no one has come forward so far. But that means I haven’t been able to find him either.”

I breathe out a sigh of relief. I didn’t think that Adrian would be the type of person to want to take advantage of the spotlight. But I also don’t know anything about him, not really.

“But if I had a name and any other information, I may be able to find him,” he continues.

“His name is Adrian, but I didn’t get a last name.”

“Anything else? A job or something?”

“Uh, he’s a vet. At a clinic. He lives in Foggy Bottom so maybe the clinic is around there,” I guess. “Oh, and he said his dad was in the military and that he moved a lot.”

“Okay, give me a minute.” He hunches over his laptop even further and starts furiously typing.

“If you find him, let me take care of reaching out to him,” Mina says. I start to protest, but Mina holds up her hand. “I understand your desire to want to reach out yourself, however the last thing I want is for you to have to deal with this guy trying to blackmail you.”

“I don’t think he would,” I argue.

“I hope he won’t, but I think we need to brace ourselves for the worst.”

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