Page 20 of Resolving Rumors

By the time Devin got it charged, I had already sent a message to my brother with picture proof that I made it home safely. I knew he would have come back for me. I knew he never wanted to leave and if I hadn’t lied to him, he would have explained everything to Dallas then and there. Part of me wanted that, but the other part of me wanted to be sure that we weren’t in for a lifetime of complications dealing with Justice first. I glanced down at my phone again and pulled up the text he left for me the night before.

Devin: Something happened. I wanted to explain, but keep getting sent to voicemail. I have to go out on a date with Justice tomorrow, in public. I am going to cause a scene with her, so everyone - who isn’t our families - will know we are headed for Splitsville. I want us to tell our families everything. I love you. Don’t forget that.

Victoria: Sorry. Fell asleep last night with phone off. Let me know how the dinner goes. I am going to catch up with Jordan today. She seemed upset with my brother yesterday.

Devin: Yeah, he told us that she was very upset with him about five minutes before he rolled up on us at the gas station. You lied. Do not ever put yourself in danger again to keep our secret.

I hadn’t expected an immediate response to my text, but Devin was right. I had gone to bed angry with him for leaving me there. Even though I knew it was stupid to feel that way. It was my own damn fault. I just felt so out of control whenever other people were around us. It’s like fight or flight responses kicked in every time and I let my panic make the decisions, even when I knew it wouldn’t turn out for the best.

Not for the first time, I thought it might be worthwhile to go get some therapy. If things were going to work out between Devin and me, I had to come to grips with everything that scared me about our relationship, starting with the age difference and moving on to how to not care about other people’s judgements.

Victoria: I know. It won’t happen again.

I sent the last text to Devin and then got ready for my day. I wasn’t sure what to do with myself. It was Sunday. I could always go to my family’s house for brunch, but I hadn’t made it a habit of going there over the past two years because of all the questions about my supposed lack of a dating life. Every time I was around my family, they had questions for me that there were no honest answers to. Thinking back on it, I realized I destroyed a little bit of my relationship with the family for the sake of my secret relationship with Devin and that was one more point that should probably be talked through with a therapist.

Why had I been so willing to throw my family to the wayside and keep Devin hidden? The whole point in the secret relationship was because I thought my family might disown me for dating a younger man - my little brother’s best friend. I ended up basically disowning them instead. I had no clue what was going on in my brother’s lives. Devin had mentioned something about Houston being in a serious relationship, something my sister had informed me of as well. I still hadn’t met the girl. Then there was the Jordan and Becs drama going on with Austin.

Victoria: Are you free at all today?

I sent the text out to Jordan because I knew what it was like to have to watch the man you loved give his time to another woman. She would need a good friend to talk to because in all honesty, Austin had never claimed her as a girlfriend for a reason. I knew all about their on and off again fuck buddy situation. I knew she hoped he would come around eventually and make it more. Considering they worked together and spentan inordinate amount of time together outside of work, I thought they were finally headed in that direction too.

Like a coward, I hadn’t bothered to contact my brother because meddling in his business meant he could meddle right back in mine. While he might have been oblivious to what was going on in his own personal life, I didn’t think he was that blind to what had been going on in mine.

Thankfully, he hadn’t butted in and I wanted to give him the same grace, although it felt as though someone needed to step in for Jordan’s sake because she was like family to all of us. It wasn’t okay for my brother to keep her dangling on his hook while he waited around to see if a bigger, better fish caught the line too.

Jordan: How about dinner tonight? I could really use a friend.

Victoria: You got it. Pick your poison and let me know. We can meet up here or whatever restaurant you choose.

Jordan: We can meet at the restaurant. How about Fredrick’s? I get off work at five, since I’m doing inventory, and can walk right over.

Victoria: See you at 5.

The minutewe walked into Frederick’s, I knew it was the wrong place to be. I couldn’t leave though because that would make a scene we weren’t ready for.

“I’m so sorry,” Jordan whispered. “Do you want to leave? I don’t think they’ve seen us yet.”

I shook my head. “Trust me, the bitch noticed the minute I walked through the door. If I leave now, people will wonder why.”

“You are a braver bitch than I am. Not sure I could sit through watching your brother on a date with his whore.”

I turned to see the absolute hatred that flashed across Jordan’s face as she mentioned Becs. I wish I knew the whole story there. I wasn’t naive enough to think that Jordan’s story was the full picture. If I hadn’t kept myself so estranged from my family, I might know more. That was something I would have to rectify later, but it couldn’t happen before we sat down to dinner. In the meantime, I would be there for Jordan while I tried to distance myself from the fact that our table would have a perfect view of the love of my life on a date with his fucking wife.

“So, what’s going on with you and Austin?”

Jordan’s face turned turned sour as she set the menu aside. “I think I messed up.”

“Yeah, you did, when you put up with just being a convenience to my brother.”

Jordan scowled at me for a minute and then shook her head, as if she had to bite off whatever retort she had for me. I didn’t miss the way her eyes traveled the distance to where my man sat with another woman, though. She made her point quietly. The Mercer siblings seemed to have a problem with diving into to straight forward relationships. We oozed into muddied waters and then bemoaned the drama our situations caused instead.

“I really need you to be here for me, Vic. The rest of your family is so angry with me.”

That caught my attention. “What do you mean?”

“I screwed up.”

“What did you do?”

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