I suddenly felt my mouth fill with saliva, a sure sign my stomach was about to rebel. I opened the car door and leaned out just in time to throw up. Mom saw me and started to come over, but I gave her a tight headshake and held up my hand. Leaning back into the car, I turned to Megan, who looked frightened.
“I’m sorry, but he raped my best friend. I need to know why.”
“Brandon said you needed to be unmasked as the fraud you are. He said no one could be as good as you were; that he stuck it to you. They both thought it was funny that the hometown hero couldn’t figure out he’d slept with your girl. They were joking about how he could so easily destroy your friendship with your other best friend.”
Unmasked? What Brandon didn’t know was that I just might kill him for this. I felt an inner fury I didn’t even know existed. Unmasked? We would see who would be unmasked.
My expression must have been deadly. Megan looked at me and shrank back against the door.
I caught myself and tried to calm down. I spoke softly to her, even though it took everything I had to control my rage.
“Please don’t tell anyone you told me. If you ever need anything, I’m in your debt. I’m sure it was hard for you, and I appreciate you having the courage to share that.”
“Don’t do anything stupid. Brandon’s not worth it,” Megan said.
That was precisely what I wanted to do, but she was right. I needed to be careful, or I’d be doing time.
“Do me a favor. Send me everything you found out about him.”
“What do you plan to do?” she asked.
“Not sure yet, but I agree, I can’t go off half-cocked. I’ll have to be smart about whatever I do.”
She nodded and then gave me a tight-lipped smile, which confused me because this was no laughing matter.
“I was scared to tell you. Thank you for not shooting the messenger.”
I just nodded, and she got out of the car. My mom came and sat in the front seat.
“Are you okay? Are you getting sick?” she asked and felt my forehead.
“No, I’m fine. Megan just told me something that upset me. Can you do me a huge favor and not force me to tell you right now? I want to think about what she said,” I begged.
“My first instinct is to make you tell me. I can tell it’s something bad. All I ask is that before you do something, you come and talk to me.”
I was relieved when she said that, so I just nodded and changed the subject.
“Do you think we’ll get it for what I’m asking?”
“Maybe once or twice a year I find a deal like this where I have a buyer ready to pull the trigger and a seller impatient to get out. I believe you have a chance of him accepting. His realtor sounded desperate when I talked to him. I think the owner’s about to go bankrupt.”
“I trust you and Caryn to do the right thing. If you need to negotiate, do what you have to,” I said.
“Don’t trust me too much!” Mom teased.
“Thanks,” I said. “I’m going to take a drive and think. I’ll get something to eat, so don’t expect me for dinner.”
“You sure you don’t want to talk?” she asked.
“Not now, Mom. You know I will when I’m ready.”
“All right, but remember your dad and I are here for you.”
I just nodded again as my mom gave me one of her soul-searching looks. She started to say something, but decided against it and got out of the car.
“I love you,” she said as she closed the door.
That was what I was counting on.
◊◊◊
Chapter 3 – Liars Monday January 25
Last night had been an emotional roller coaster. The Alpha Male in me wanted to simply find Brandon and end his miserable life, and it had been a close call whether I would. I finally had to force myself to come home because the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to beat the living snot out of him.
What finally stopped me was the thought of what would happen if I were caught. The fallout could lose me my upcoming movies, and I’d already started spending my signing bonus from the next two
Something else that kept me from moving forward with my plan was that both Brandon’s uncle and, if memory served, his dad, were well connected. His uncle was already unhappy with me. I imagined they might make my life difficult in more ways than I was willing to deal with. I’d just gone through a mess for something I hadn’t done and had no need to do it again for something I really did do.
When I arrived home and checked my email, I found that Megan had sent me all her research. The fraternity in question was suspected of inappropriate behavior with their female guests. There had been three complaints lodged by girls over the preceding two years. But there was never any physical evidence, so it became a ‘he said/she said’ thing. Many of the men in the fraternity were well connected, just like Brandon was.
