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“Leah, have you got a minute?”
“Sure,” I answered. “Do you want to come into the office?”
He’d never attempted to talk to me alone before. From the seriousness in his tone, I figured he wasn't about to ask me for a morning of debauchery, so really, it could only be about one thing.
We stepped into my office and closed the door, both of us standing awkwardly, unsure where to begin.
“You know, don't you?”
Bryce nodded and I let out a groan, burying my face in my hands.
“It's okay,” he said. “I won’t tell anyone. But … I think you need to tell Richard.”
“I know.” I sighed. “How much do you know?”
“Everything. The party, the sleeping arrangements. Including how they changed in the middle of the night.”
If Radleigh had told Bryce everything, I knew that would include details. Whether Bryce wanted to hear them or not, Radleigh wouldn't have been able to stop himself telling him … Oh God.
Quickly steering the conversation in a different direction to save me from complete embarrassment he said, “It might not be so bad. You don't need to tell Richard the full story. It’s fine if you exclude the sex.”
I hadn't really considered that as an option. Not a serious one, anyway. Faced with Richard's unfaltering stare, I’d cave in and confess everything.
“Why did Radleigh lie about it?” I asked. “Why didn't he tell Richard he was with me? He could easily have told him everything apart from us sleeping together. The fact that he didn't makes it look even more suspicious.”
I raised my head, waiting for Bryce's response.
“Simple,” he answered. “He didn't want to get you into trouble.”
“Oh come on! He’s already reported me for things I haven’t done. Are you telling me he's grown a conscience?”
“He didn’t know you then, and I know that’s no excuse, but maybe this is his way of making up for it.”
He didn’t know me then, and he doesn’t know me now. Was I really supposed to believe that he’d leave his career hanging in the balance for me?
“He’s not as bad as you think,” Bryce said. “It's obvious now that Taylor made the whole thing up and if you're on his side-”
“On his side?” I repeated. “But-”
“You don't still believe her?”
In all honesty, I hadn't even thought about Taylor's original accusation. I’d been too caught up in recent events. Of course the story she told over the weekend threw doubt over her, but I couldn't quite bring myself to believe she’d lied from the start.
“I don't know.” I sighed. “I wouldn't put it past him.”
“He didn't do it, Leah. I admit he can be a sleaze but if he’d done it, he would’ve told me.” I gave him a look loaded with scepticism and he went on, “I've known him a long time. He can't lie to me.”
“So, you're saying he always tells you when he's done something stupid?”
“No. I'm saying that if he told me he didn't do it, he didn't do it.”
Not knowing Bryce particularly well, it would have been easy to assume that he was covering up for his friend, but there was something about him I trusted.
Not good news for you.
If Taylor made up the whole story, I’d been well and truly fooled. All of her tears and conflict over doing the right thing was a con.
“Okay,” I said. “I’ll talk to Richard, but I need to speak to Miguel first. I can’t lie to him.”
