Chapter Thirty
“So, you wanna explain yourself?” Brent asked Tom, who was sitting across the kitchen table from him.
He knew he’d have to confront him eventually, and sooner was better than later, but the whole thing was still making his stomach cramp up. Having Riley beside him was the only thing that made all of this seem possible.
“What is there to explain?” Tom asked. “I liked Rose, and I always wanted her. We were together for months—months, right under your nose, and you never once noticed.”
Rose’s story had been different to that—she’d said Tom hadn’t approached her until the night before the wedding, but he’d been so convincing that she’d gone with him, because she was terrified of getting married to someone she wasn’t in love with.
Brent wasn’t sure who to believe, but he wasn’t inclined to believe Tom as a matter of principle.
It was a mess, but he was determined to fix it.
“I knew marrying her would help me out of a tight spot… or I thought it would, anyway. I figured… why not solve two problems at once?”
“Wow,” Riley said. “You’re an asshole.”
Tom blinked at him.
Brent agreed, but he wasn’t sure name-calling was the way forward here. He knew Riley was trying to help, and he would never have stopped Riley from speaking his mind, but still.
“Dude, professionalism.”
“My entire life has been worked around never having to show professionalism to people I don’t like,” Riley pointed out. “But I will behave. For you.”
Brent smiled at that, taking Riley’s hand under the table.
“He’s right. I am an asshole. I’m not ashamed of it, I’m just mad it didn’t work.”
“But why? Rose said you were in debt… why wouldn’t you tell me? I would’ve helped. You’re supposed to be my friend.”
Of all the things that had hurt Brent about this, Tom’s betrayal felt like the worst. They’d been working together for years. They might not have been best friends or anything, but they’d always had a good working relationship, and between them, they’d built something good.
“How was I supposed to tell Saint Brent that I screwed up?” Tom raised an eyebrow. “I made some bad investments. How the hell would that look when I’m supposed to be helping other people make good ones?”
“No one would have had to know,” Brent said.
“Because you could have put your friends and clients at risk like that?” Tom asked. “I’m not from here, and you are. I know where your loyalties lie.”
Brent swallowed. “We could have figured something out. You don’t have to compound a mistake by making more of them.”
“Yeah, well… here we are. You wanna lecture me, or you wanna make a deal?”
“I’d like to slap you,” Riley said. “And you can ask anyone how dedicated to nonviolence I usually am.”
Brent squeezed Riley’s hand, but he was secretly glad for the support.
“Does he need to be here?” Tom asked. “He doesn’t have a stake in this.”
“Actually, he does,” Brent said. “And I don’t really care whether or not you want him here. You’re the one in the shit. You don’t get to decide who comes to the table.”
“I want out of the business,” Tom said. “I put in startup capital in the beginning, and I want you to buy me out.”
Brent sighed. He’d known this was coming.
“How much?” Riley asked.
Tom didn’t even look at him.
“Hey, asshole,” Riley spoke again, raising his voice just a tiny bit.
Riley didn’t raise his voice. Brent had never seen him this quietly pissed in his entire life.
That got Tom’s attention.
“You wanna look at me while I’m talking to you?” Riley asked. “How much?”
“Twenty.”
“Grand?” Riley asked.
That was a lot of money. It was more than he’d put in initially, and more than Brent had been expecting to pay, but by now… yeah, that was probably the value of Tom’s half of the business.
Brent couldn’t even shut it down without him, so Tom kind of had him over a barrel. Anything other than an amicable resolution would mean months in court, and Brent couldn’t afford to be out of work for that long.
Not to mention all the goodwill he’d lose, and the cost of going through it, and the risk that he’d end up having to pay Tom anyway.
Besides, he wanted Tom out of his hair.
He just didn’t have twenty grand, and he had no idea where to get it.
“No, twenty popsicle sticks. What are you, an idiot?”
“Don’t talk to him like that,” Brent said, his heart pounding in his chest. He wasn’t good at standing up for himself, and he wasn’t great at standing up for Riley, either.
Riley pushed his chair away from the table, giving Brent’s hand one last squeeze before standing.
He went to the spare change bowl on the kitchen counter and grabbed the keys to the RV.
Then, to Brent’s surprise, he tossed them at Tom. “That RV outside has been well maintained and it’s not all that old. It should easily be worth that, and you can walk away with it right now if you sign all the papers Brent needs you to.”
“Seriously?” Tom asked. “Is this a joke?”
“What, are you suddenly afraid of placing classified ads?” Riley raised an eyebrow. “That’s the offer. Otherwise, we take this to court and all the gritty details get out. As it stands, your cooperation buys our silence.”
Tom sat back, looking between Riley and Brent, first incredulously, and then thoughtfully. Brent could practically hear the gears turning in his head.
“What am I signing?” he asked after a few long moments, turning the RV keys over in his hand.
“You’re selling me your half of the business, all ties severed. You’ll have no claim on any part of it. And, you’re signing divorce papers,” Brent said, recovering from the surprise of Riley offering up his RV.
He owed that much to Rose. They’d both been stupid, and maybe if she hadn’t felt trapped into a relationship with him, this would never have happened. The least he could do was make sure she got out of it without too much suffering.
“And this would be for a settlement where I get nothing, right?”
Brent took the wedding ring Rose had given him out of his pocket. “No, you get this. Since I’m pretty sure it’s fake, you’re welcome to it.”
That was Tom’s punishment for all this. His scheme hadn’t worked, and he wasn’t going to be welcome in town anymore. For Brent, that was enough. He didn’t want revenge, but he didn’t want Tom getting away with all the hurt he’d caused without any consequences, either.
This felt fair. It felt like justice, or as close to it as they could get.
“Bear in mind that Rose’s family can afford the kind of lawyers who’ll rip you a new one,” Riley said.
Brent didn’t laugh, but he only barely managed to stop himself. Riley wasn’t in the habit of being gentle with people he didn’t like.
There weren’t a lot of people in that category, but once someone got on Riley’s bad side, he was merciless about it.
They usually ended up there because of something they’d done to Brent. Riley had always been his defender.
Brent probably should have realized sooner that Riley was in love with him, looking back. All the signs had been there. He just hadn’t been ready to see them.
He was ready now, though.
Tom picked the ring up, closing his fist around it and the RV keys. “Fine. Where do I sign?”
Brent pushed the papers over. “I’ve marked all the places with flags.”
Tom sighed, but took the pen sitting in the middle of the table and started reading through the papers, signing where he needed to as he went.
Brent sat back, the adrenaline rush he’d been running on fading away now that things were going the way he’d hoped they would. He knew he’d crash later, but he also knew Riley would be there with cuddles and hot chocolate to help him through it.
He was still reeling from Riley handing over the keys to his RV, but he didn’t want to argue in front of Tom. Maybe he thought it was time for an upgrade. They could talk about it once Tom was gone.
Riley sat back down next to Brent while Tom signed the papers he’d been given, taking Brent’s hand again and playing idly with his fingers. He didn’t say anything the entire time, just focused on Brent, on gentle, soothing touches that were so subtle Tom probably didn’t even notice them.
Not that Brent cared if he did. Riley was what he wanted, what he’d wanted all his life, and he was okay with the entire world knowing that.
For the first time, he was starting to feel like things really were going to be okay. Like it was all over, and he was coming out the other side of it happier and better off than before.
The moment he shut the door behind Tom, Brent’s knees gave out.
Riley caught him as he stumbled, guiding him into the living room and onto the couch, where he flopped back and sank into the cushions, sighing happily as it took his weight.
Tom was gone. Gone for good. Rose had what she needed.
Brent had Riley.
He was easily getting the best deal out of all of them.
As he settled on the couch, Riley climbed on top of him, wrapping his arms around him and resting his head on Brent’s shoulder.
“You were so brave,” Riley said, playing with the hair at the back of Brent’s neck. “I’m so proud of you.”
“Why’d you give him the RV?” Brent asked. The question had been burning in his mind since Riley had first picked up the keys, and he needed an answer.
“It seemed like a neat solution,” Riley said. “I don’t need it anymore. I’m staying. And I wanted you to be sure of that, and giving it to Tom saved me having to sell it. Besides, maybe it’ll encourage him to leave quickly.”
“You’re not gonna miss it?” Brent asked. “What about all your stuff?”
“I cleared it out yesterday while you were in town,” Riley murmured. “I was always planning on getting rid of it. And yeah, I’ll miss it. I miss it already. But I love you, and you have every reason to be afraid that I’ll get up and leave, because that’s what I’ve always done. Now it’d be a lot harder for me to do that.”
“You didn’t have to,” Brent said, though knowing that Riley wasn’t just going to drive off one day was comforting. He believed Riley when he said he wanted to be with Brent now, that he was ready to make a home here, but… Riley ran away. It was what he did.
The gesture meant a lot.
“I wanted to,” Riley said. “You deserve commitment, and I’m giving it to you.”
“I don’t deserve you,” Brent said, settling his hands on Riley’s hips.
Riley wriggled closer, turning his head to press a kiss to Brent’s neck. “No. You deserve a much better person.”
“There is no better person,” Brent murmured. “Not that I’ve ever met, anyway.”
Riley laughed at that. “I’ll work on being better for you before you do meet someone like that.”
“You’re the best I could ask for,” Brent said. “I love you. You don’t give yourself enough credit.”
Riley hummed softly. “Maybe neither of us gives ourselves enough credit.”
“Maybe,” Brent agreed. Riley had told him that often enough. “Maybe we’ll learn to.”
Riley sat back, reaching out to brush Brent’s hair back. “I’ll make you love yourself if it’s the last thing I ever do.”
“Okay,” Brent said. “Is it cool if I love you in the meantime?”
Riley smiled the brightest, most sincere smile Brent had ever seen on him. “I can live with that.”