Chapter 1 #3
“I don’t want to hear about cruelty. Helping someone fall off the wagon when they want to be sober is far crueler than what you’re accusing me of,” I said, shaking my head.
“And clearly you don’t remember what Mitchell is like; he has been fighting like hell to keep his sobriety for the sake of his little girl.
And when his head isn’t clouded by drugs, that is his sole mission.
So yes, right now he’s resolute, but that resolution will fall apart the minute he sobers up and realizes what’s happened.
See, I know this because I’ve spoken to him, gotten to know him, and not just so I can throw pills his way.
Maybe you should have tried it, then perhaps you wouldn’t have done this. ”
“You can’t prove shit,” Brendan said, jutting his chin out stubbornly.
“We’ll see about that, won’t we?” I asked, looking at Marc.
Marc cleared his throat and nodded. “You’ll remain in your room while we sort through everything.
If we’re wrong, then you’ll have our full apology, and I’m sure we can come up with some sort of compensation.
If, however, we determine it was you, then we will bring the authorities in.
I’ll give you a few hours to think about it. ”
“So, tell you I did it and get fired, or don’t tell you and I get fired and arrested?” he asked.
“I’m sure being arrested will do wonders for your future job prospects.
Oh, and if you leave, we’ll skip everything and let the cops handle things.
Message me if you feel like talking with genuine honesty,” I told him as I stepped out of the room, knowing Marc’s farewell was a better ending than anything I could come up with.
Marc followed me out, and I tapped the pad.
The room was put into administrative privacy mode so no one could get in.
If he tried to exit, I would be informed and, well, my first call would be to the police.
It wasn’t as if he could get far even if he got out of the resort.
We were miles from town, and most of our employees, Brendan included, lived here full-time or used arranged transportation to get to and from the resort between seasons.
“I will never understand the point of trying to double down when the evidence is mounting up so high you’re lost in its shadow,” I muttered as we continued walking.
A few early risers were around, giving us curious looks.
It wasn’t as if any of them had heard the conversation we’d had with Brendan.
The private rooms were all built so you could have a concert in them without disturbing your next-door neighbors.
Some called that a safety risk considering we brought in men who were, at times, troubled, but it had been important to me that everyone who stayed here felt they had one place in the building that was solely their own, a refuge where they could do as they pleased.
“Some people can’t accept reality…though I think in this case, we caught him with his pants down and no ready defense,” he said and then snorted. “Literally.”
“That was the point,” I said with a shrug as we made our way back to the elevator. “I’ll be honest, I was not ready for this to be on my list for the day.”
“Nor was I,” he chuckled as he hit the button. “I suppose we should have expected something would break the peace we’ve managed up to this point.”
I sighed, leaning back against the wall of the elevator. “I would joke that this place is never really peaceful, that comes with running a resort full of men who aren’t doing their best in life, but it wouldn’t be very funny.”
“Strange,” Marc said as the car came to a stop and the doors slid open. “You’ve shown no awareness of how unfunny your jokes are before; this must have been a blow.”
“I’m the funniest person you know,” I told him with a snort.
“Considering I deal with lawyers, politicians, police, and CEOs, it wouldn’t exactly be a feat worthy of mention to be funnier than them,” he said with a shake of his head, staring at the door where we had left Rowan and Luka to talk things through. “Think they’re doing alright?”
“I imagine that will depend on how pissed off Luka is with him for lying to him for the past few months,” I said with a sigh. “Don’t even know what I’m going to do about Luka though.”
Marc looked at me in surprise. “Do with him? I didn’t know anything needed to be done about him.”
“Not like…punish him,” I said quickly. “But once he calms down, I’m afraid he’ll retreat into that nervous, self-conscious mode he was in when I first assigned him as a Guide.
Why did it have to be Rowan I assigned him to?
Why not someone well-established who just needed a new Guide? What was I thinking?”
“You thought he was more ready than he believed he was,” Marc said with a smile and a shake of his head.
“And one incident doesn’t make the entire thing a failure; you should know that better than anyone.
Treat yourself as you would any of the men here whenever they run into a problem or don’t meet their standards.
You wouldn’t let them beat themselves up for…
what? A situation we couldn’t have predicted? ”
I glanced at the door. “You’re off to talk to Rowan, then?”
“Yes,” he said with a sigh. “I wasn’t expecting someone to be sent to check on us without so much as a warning.”
“Seriously, is this sort of espionage common?” I wondered with a frown.
“When you invest in something, you like to know it’s an investment worth having. Undoubtedly, the people he’s been representing want to make sure they’re not throwing their money into a hole,” Marc said with a shrug.
“Then what was the point of investing in the first place?” I demanded, gesturing around us. “Did we not make our case good enough the first time?”
“I’ve said this to you before and I’ll keep saying it, it’s just business,” he said and then sighed when I opened my mouth.
“Some of our investors believe in what we’re doing here and will throw money our way as often as possible because of that.
But the majority? It’s optics. We were already operating on shaky ground, creating a space that was exclusively male; you had a few battles of your own over that. ”
“We skated by the discrimination clauses because you made a couple of calls,” I grumbled. “There was next to nothing I could do about it, even though I tried.”
“You did, and you fought like hell. Some of these investors want to make sure that where financial activity can be traced, they’re not risking throwing money at something that could look bad on them.”
“I still don’t understand what could be so bad about this place that they have to send a spy, I mean…a spy?”
“An auditor,” he said, but smiled when I scowled at him. “Semantics aside, I’m sure they’re just being cautious. I won’t fault them for that.”
“Please tell me you’ll at least give them a bit of hell?”
“Oh, don’t get me wrong, I’m not happy that they went this route, and it is uncommon for them to do it so quietly,” he said with a frown.
“That said, I can’t raise too much of a fuss, but I’ll figure out a way to let them know I’m not happy about it.
How much I let them know will, of course, depend on what I pull from Rowan. ”
“Wait, what?”
“His report. If it’s going to be favorable, then I’ll have more weight to swing around. If it’s neutral, it’s less weight. And if it’s negative…well, I’ll be left to beg and barter.”
“Wonderful,” I said with a sigh. “Let me know how that goes.”
“Look,” Marc said, catching me by the wrist before I could get too far and pulling me back.
I wasn’t so lost in my own stress that I didn’t feel my heart lurch at the sudden, familiar touch.
“I know I’m talking to a wall, but don’t beat yourself up over this, Reggie.
Some people don’t understand how much you’ve put into this place, how much has your blood, sweat, and tears in it, but I’m not one of those people.
I know what this place means to you, so don’t go thinking you’ve somehow failed it just because we’ve hit a roadblock that may just be a speed bump instead, alright? ”
“I’ll try,” I told him, wanting to pull away but not wanting to be obvious about it.
I’d worked hard to make sure Marc never understood my fondness for him, and our bond had changed for me over the past couple of years.
I’d thought he was handsome the first time Malcolm had introduced us years ago, but I’d never thought about it more than that, not when the love of my life was there keeping stars in my eyes.
That had changed at some point, and now I was working my ass off to make sure that Marc, of all people, never realized that.
“By which I mean I’m going to throw myself into digging up all the evidence, and when I get a call from the medical ward, I’ll visit Mitchell to see how he’s doing. ”
“Throwing yourself into work is one way to keep the demons at bay, I suppose,” he said, as if he wasn’t the sort to bury his brain in work rather than deal with whatever was going on.
I’d watched him deal with the cheating of, separation from, and then divorce from his wife.
That year, Arete had never seen more financing and bureaucratic boosts as Marc had buried himself in work, but I had also noticed that he hadn’t been sleeping and his private liquor store was frequently touched.
“I’ll be good,” I told him, relieved and disappointed when his hand slipped from my wrist and he stepped away to deal with the other two.
Marc wasn’t a touchy-feely person, even with those he was comfortable with.
I rarely had to brace for him touching me, so on the odd occasions when it happened, I was always taken off guard.