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My anger ramped up another level.Just how much trouble was he causing?“What did he say?” I wasn’t sure I was ready to hear it, but I was going to anyway.
“That I’d gotten where I am on my back.”
“I’ll handle him.” And I wanted to right this instant.
“I already did.” She placed a hand on my chest and part of my anger evaporated at her touch. I bet she had.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know, didn’t see—”
“He’s your family.” It wasn’t a good excuse even if it was the truth. “Every single day I have to think about the moves I make, the words I say, and I’m not the best at filtering thoughts. If you or your father did something, no one would blink, but if I did the same thing, I would be crucified, all because I wear a skirt. That’s just the way things are. I couldn’t mix that with a relationship.”
I clasped her shoulders. “I get it.”
“You can’t without walking a mile in my shoes,” she argued.
I tried again. “I understand where you’re coming from. I can’t change people’s perceptions, but we can face them together. If they want to talk shit or keep their archaic way of thinking, that’s on them.”
“I’m going to need time to get used to that.” She heaved a sigh.
I gave her a satisfied nod. “We’ll get there.” I swallowed thickly, wondering if I’d be better off keeping my mouth shut.No. Total truth. “Since we’re hashing everything out, I . . .” I hesitated. What was the point of bringing up Drew’s accusations about the photo when I didn’t believe him?
“What is it?” she asked, her impatience overshadowed with worry.
“Drew sent me a photo of you with two men and a woman. He said they were prostitutes, and you—” I couldn’t say it out loud. It had been hard enough hearing the words when he’d spoken them.
“That I what?” she demanded, all concern gone. One corner of her mouth twitched.
“You were a client of theirs,” I finally settled on.
The color drained from her face. “What?”
“I never believed him.”
She held out her hand, palm up.
“Let me see.”
I handed her my phone.
She studied the photograph. “That son of a bitch. This is from a few weeks ago when I spoke at Paths of Purpose. They’re security experts and teach self-defense. I flew them up from Houston to talk to the lady who runs the place.”
She shoved my phone into my pocket as if she couldn’t stand to look at it a second longer. “The biggest issue at hand is Drew seems to know a lot of your private business.” My brother and I needed to have a long chat about all the lines he’d crossed.
“Like he was stirring up shit to undermine me,” she concluded bitterly. I didn’t disagree.
After all, it was Drew who claimed that Mulaney had offshore accounts with our dad and that they had been having an affair. As Mulaney said, Dad must have been looking at a different version of EXODUS to believe that I had been stealing from the company.
“I’m going to talk to Drew, Heartbreaker, because he was the one who suggested you were having an affair with Dad, and that you had been taking from the company.”
“What the fuck, Easton? Why is he doing this?”
“I don’t know, but I’ll find out.”
“You have to. He’s never liked me, but this is beyond that.”
“What is he up to?” I muttered, trying to get my temper in check. If I kept thinking about this, I’d lose my mind.
I reached for her, needing to touch her. We held each other for a while as we absorbed everything we’d talked about.
