8. Edward #2
He listened for the next half an hour as she spoke openly about her journey, transitioning at eighteen years old, the support of her family, and the community she was part of, as well as the challenges she faced day-to-day.
There wasn’t a single moment when she brought up Edward’s comment from when he was younger, or even what Hargreaves had done, and he knew that was deliberate.
She wasn’t here to argue with him. She just wanted to share her story, and it was up to him what he did with that.
By the time she’d finished, he was completely in awe of her.
Not in admiring her bravery, which was a given, but just what an incredibly positive and inspiring young woman she was.
Edward also shared the context of what had happened at university.
She found it funny. Edward wasn’t ready to laugh about it yet.
“Thank you for listening to me, Edward.”
“Thank you for speaking so openly with me.”
“Pass it on to whoever needs to hear it, but I’d appreciate my name being kept out of it.”
“Of course, and thank you again.”
There was a slight hesitation as she went to shake his hand, but he opened his arms, and she hugged him. It wasn’t the first time he’d hugged a constituent, although sometimes he got little choice in the matter. She gave him one last smile before she left.
Her story had moved him, but it also made him even angrier about what Hargreaves had done.
He considered calling Olivia, but her silence had pissed him off as well.
Sometimes it was easier to ask for forgiveness than to beg for permission.
Before he could overthink things, he decided to take Derek’s advice, and made the call.
“Edward. This is a surprise.”
“How are you, Sally?”
“Same crap, different day. Now that the formalities are out of the way, what have you got for me?”
He chuckled. Sally was his favourite journalist, and who he would ask to speak to if he had a choice in the matter. Unfortunately, as a member of the government, he couldn’t show favouritism. This was an exception.
“What’s your front page looking like tomorrow?”
“I’m sure I could make space for you, especially if it’s to fuck over that cunt, Hargreaves.”
He had to hold back his laughter. “You know I couldn’t possibly comment about my colleagues in such a way.”
She laughed. “Usual place, in an hour?”
“Perfect. I’ll see you then.”
She hung up. Edward looked at his phone, wondering if he was doing the right thing, or if he was just going to piss Hargreaves off even more. Then he thought back to what Lexie had shared with him. There was no way he was backing out of this. For once, he was going to do the right thing.
“What the fuck do you think you’re playing at?” shouted Hargreaves, bursting into Edward’s office uninvited.
“Good morning to you too, William.”
“Have you any idea what you’ve done? Three quarters of the fucking cabinet have come out to support you.”
“Isn’t everyone allowed free will, William?”
“How the fuck can you get away with saying something like that, and I get vilified?”
“They’re not the same, William. Mine was a stupid moment in university, which was an insensitive joke I made to fit in with the crowd, and I regretted it immediately.
You were on national TV, and didn’t have a slip of the tongue.
You repeatedly made derogatory comments throughout the entire programme. ”
“This is fucking favouritism. Oh, they look after their own, don’t they?”
“What are you going on about?”
“You lot always stick together. It’s a fucking conspiracy.”
“An allegation was made against me, and I had every right to give my side.”
“You didn’t have to do it on the Sunday front page. And why did you have to say anything about me? It brought it all back again. My family was hounded on the way to church yesterday morning. Does that make you happy, my kids being terrorised by the press?”
“Of course not, but from what I saw, their attention was focussed on you. And given there was a large crowd of press outside your house when you left, you had to know they’d follow you. You chose to expose your children to the press in that way.”
“Why should we have to miss going to church?”
“Why should people have their experiences diminished by people who do not understand the reality?”
“That’s completely different. I’m allowed an opinion on matters that affect the public. It’s my duty as a member of parliament.”
“And my duty is to call out uneducated bigots.”
Hargreaves looked like he wanted to punch him, which would be good for a follow-up interview with Sally, but Edward would prefer not to be hit.
“You need to fix this mess. It’s the least you can do.”
Edward couldn’t help laughing.
“What’s so funny?”
“Why would I want to fix anything? This is of your own doing. Nobody forced you to say anything on that TV programme. What do you expect me to do?”
“Do something, and I’ll keep your secret from the press.”
Edward had to school his reaction and look indifferent. “And what secret is that?”
“That you spend a lot of time in the back room.”
Edward felt his heart speed up. What the fuck did he know?
“That got your attention, didn’t it? Now get the press off my back, or the entire world is going to know what you get up to. Nobody’s going to want a pervert for their PM.”
William gave a smug smile before spinning on his heel and walking out.
Edward exhaled, not realising he’d been holding his breath.
What the fuck was he going to do now? Had Hargreaves been watching him?
Or paying somebody to do it? He needed to speak to someone, but he had a cabinet meeting in twenty minutes, so he couldn’t go anywhere, and those things could go on for hours.
That evening, he still wasn’t sure what to do.
His cabinet colleagues had given him a round of applause at the meeting, and the PM had said she was proud of him and apologised for not coming back to him.
One of her kids had been sick, and she might be PM, but she was a mum first. She wasn’t even pissed at him for going to the press by himself, but then she liked Sally as well.
The press office was less pleased with him, but the response had been mostly positive, so they’d not pushed it too much.
He’d not heard from Derek all day, and didn’t want to hassle him about getting the contact details for Milo.
He was still blocked on the app, not that he’d checked an unhealthy number of times over the weekend.
Had Milo seen his interview? Edward had no regrets about what he’d done.
He’d apologised for his stupid mistake, and made his feelings known about what he felt about anyone who attacked the trans community, Hargreaves included.
Edward couldn’t be arsed to cook dinner, so he pulled up one of the delivery apps and chose something that was mid-healthy.
It said delivery would be at least half an hour, so that would give him time to have a shower.
Once he was under the hot water, he couldn’t help but push on the bruises and bite marks on his skin, which were fading fast. It had been over a week since he’d last seen Milo, and he missed him.
What would he think when Edward contacted him?
Would he be pleased? Freaked out? He wasn’t sure, but there was no way he could leave things as they were.
He had to know if Milo had ghosted him because of what was in the press.
If there was another reason that was beyond Edward’s control, then he’d accept it and walk away, but he had to know.
Once he was clean and dry, he put on some grey sweatpants and a T-shirt, padding into his kitchen to get a drink.
The delivery app said his driver was less than five minutes away, so he grabbed some cutlery and a plate.
He’d be eating in the lounge with his latest binge series on.
Takeaway food was not meant to be consumed at the dining table.
The doorbell rang, and his stomach growled in excitement. He headed for the door and opened it. His jaw dropped, and he was certain his heart stopped beating.
“Hello, Eddie. Can I come in?”