Page 25 of Fight
I watched his face turn purple, his anger growing exponentially."You're sleeping with him.I can smell it on you."I think he was trying to shock me by being blunt.
"I don't see how that's any of your business, Brandon."I struggled to remain calm."I think it would be best if you left now."
"Fine, I'll go.But I'll be back."
I turned by back on him and went back to my chair.Devon watched him leave, and waited until he was gone, to say anything.
"What did he say that finally pissed you off?"
"He was nasty about you and me.He insulted you repeatedly, and then said he knew I'm sleeping with you, that he could smell it on me."I snorted, "I don't care if it's true, it's tacky to say so."
He nodded."Think he'll take the hint, and leave you alone?"
"I don't think so."Shaking my head, I continued."I'm going to have to go to Bill about him again.I don't want to, but he's not leaving me any other choice."
"That pretty much how I see it, but I was hoping you'd come to the conclusion on your own."
"As much as I might want to deny it, I have to face facts.I miss what our friendship used to be, but I really can't use that to justify putting up with what he's doing now."
"I'm sorry you have to go through this."
"It's not your fault."
"It kind of is.He's being shitty over me."
"If it wasn't you, he would have found something to get shitty over.Remember, he started this long before you and I were anything more than old friends getting reacquainted.No.This is all on him."
"Still, I don't like that it's hurting you."Devon took my hand."It's not my doing and I have no way to keep it from hurting you, but I don't have to like it."
"No, you don't."I smiled wryly."I like that about you.You don't feel like you have to stand in front of me, and protect me, from anything I might find unpleasant.You let me stand on my own.Deal with my own problems."
"If I stood in front of you and protected you, from everything it would be like trying to stop you, from being you."He said simply."You've always been fiercely independent, even when we were kids.I always admired that about you, and I loved that your folks were so good about not trying to crush it, and you, in the process."
"Here I spent all this time, thinking that you thought of me as the bratty little sister, who wouldn't leave the older kids alone."
"While I won't deny your ability to be bratty when you want to be, that's not at all what I thought about you.Then, now, or at any time in between."
"You thought about me while you were gone?"I was both surprised and touched.
"Sometimes.There were times when I would get particularly homesick, and I would think about you, wonder what you were doing with your life.After a while, the mood would pass and I'd engross myself in my life again."
"I never knew."
"You weren't supposed to.I had no intention of ever coming back for more than a day or two, brief visits to my parents.Leaving the area, and the people here, was part of how I dealt with not being able to shift.Somehow, I think even then, I understood your need to be near your family, no matter how independent you might be."He squeezed my hand.
"I can't say I'm sorry you came back.Though I am sorry you had to get hurt and lose a career you loved, in order to do it.If you hadn't, I don't know where I'd be.I'd like to think I wouldn't be spending time with Brandon, but if you hadn't come back when you did, he might not have revealed who he really is and I could have been."
"I'm glad I came back too, that I reconnected with you.Not because you've given me the ability to shift, though I do appreciate that, but because I wouldn't give up what we're building together, even to go back to my old life."
I pulled him toward me, meeting him in the middle, and kissed him.
"I'm ready to go inside, how about you?"
"More than ready" He kissed me softly, before gathering our things.Impatient for privacy, we headed for his apartment.
Sunday afternoon, after thinking about it for the last twenty-four hours, I called Bill.I knew I needed to tell him about Brandon's attitude, and his refusal to leave me alone.
"Brandon came by again yesterday."I said once I had Bill on the line.
