“Heard you had a run-in with Terrence.”
I tap ash off the end of my cigarette. A quick grin. Of course she knows, nothing stays quiet around here.
“Yeah. He’s great company,” I say dryly.
“Ignore him. He’s a dick.”
“That’s exactly what I plan to do. I’m packing up. I’m done here.”
She exhales a plume of smoke, eyes fixed on the dark ocean. “Why do you want to leave?”
“Why do you think? Because you’re all two-faced.”
That catches her attention. “What makes you say that?”
I light another cigarette.
“Terrence says there’s some shark fight over a management position, and you handed me off to Yosh to boost his odds. Turns out I’m just another number in this fake-ass resort. A golden one.”
Erin lets out the most cynically amused laugh I’ve ever heard.
“Tom, you’re smarter than this. Terrence is playing you, and you’re falling for it, eyes wide open.”
“Maybe,” I say. “But it doesn’t mean he’s wrong.”
Erin’s gaze sharpens. “Who says he’s right?”
I open my mouth, searching for how best to bring this up.
She shakes her head. “Let me guess. You confronted Yosh, he shut down, and you took that as confirmation?”
I shrug, fucking irritated because she’s feeding me the answer I already know.
“What else was I supposed to think?”
She stares at me for a second, then drops her cigarette.
“Alright, Tom. You want the truth? Yeah, I passed you on to Yosh, but not for the reason Terrence wants you to believe. Yosh didn’t even want to take you at first, because he prefers to earn his position in a fair way. But I convinced him, because I knew he could provide adequately for your needs. He’s good at this, Tom. Damn good.”
I don’t respond, and she goes on,
“If you want to be angry, fine, but don’t blame Yosh. He had nothing to do with this.”
I take another deep drag, exhaling slowly, regret seeping through my chest in return.
From the moment I’d slammed that door, I already knew I’d messed up. Hearing Erin confirm it only makes it worse.
She must see it on my face, because she goes for the kill.
“And if you really believed he was using you, then you haven’t been paying attention, Tom”
Frustration pulses in my temples. My nails dig into the heel of my palm.
She’s right. Yosh is probably the most genuine person I’ve ever met. In my world, people smile while they stab you. They offer you the world, then steal it back twice as fast, with a lot of other things you didn’t sign up for.
But Yosh never asked for anything. He also never pretended to be someone different around me. He lets me be angry, fucked up, scared, in pain, and somehow, he’d stayed and opened the door for me to pass beyond that. He held my hand when I was afraid to… actually live. Have fun. Laugh. Feel some kind of peace.
He’s the most beautiful person in the world, but Erin is a totally different story.
