Lag (The boys of RDA #2)(68)
Marissa is the first one to break the silence. “I didn’t know Trey had it in him, but that’s pretty sweet.”
“Yeah.” I stare dreamy eyed at the far wall lined with comic book character dolls in tall rectangular boxes. “But…" looking back to the group I use a few seconds to pick my words. “It’s weird. He so all ‘us' at full steam lately. He says the sweetest things, but he’s still…”
“A dickhead?” Marissa fills in the blank for me.
“Marissa!” Aspen yells and scowls at her friend, but Marissa doesn’t flinch.
I laugh a little. “Nooo. Maybe unemotional and bossy describes it best. He’s particular. I overlook it for the most part, but sometimes it’s hard."
“That’s what he said,” Amanda shouts into the group and then turns red when what she’s said registers. “Sorry, I couldn’t resist.”
“Well this has gone downhill.” Aspen throws her balled up napkin at Amanda. “The way I see it, you guys have experienced some lag and it's making you nervous to believe him.”
“Huh?” My question seems to be the one on the other ladies’ faces as well.
Aspen’s face reddens. “Come on. You know what lag is. When your game slows down,” she suddenly perks up and her voice becomes excited. "Or like when your Internet stops and you can’t get your tabs to load. It’s lag.”
Amanda shakes her head a little. “Not all of us try to open fifty tabs at once, Aspen, but yes I know what you mean.”
Marissa laughs at the exchange. “Finn is so turning you into a nerd, Pen.”
“Whatever.” Aspen does her own annoyed look and continues. “You and Trey should have become a couple when you met on vacation, but you lived too far apart. You definitely should have ended up together when you first moved to San Francisco, but because he’s a dipshit you two experienced some lag and you’re picking it up now. Emotionally you two are further ahead in your relationship than people just starting out."
“So our relationship had to buffer?”
She looks to the ceiling in thought. “Um, maybe. I don’t know, my nerdome isn’t that high yet, but kind of.”
We all turn our attention back to our brunch containers and I let Aspen’s words soak in. The longer I process them, the more they make sense. Trey and I are moving fast, but in a way we’ve been working our relationship out for months. If we had met in a bar or restaurant here in the city, everything would be different. We’ve had some setbacks, but maybe we’re both coming to terms with them in our own way. I’m ripped from my thoughts with a rustle of papers as Jason returns to our group and throws down a thick newspaper on the table between us.
“I’m assuming no one has read this yet. You need to call Trey.”
I look down to the paper he’s thrown on the table as Aspen gasps. The headline’s sideways, but the large bold print makes it easy to read even from my angle.
Local Millionaire Gaming Playboy Caught in a Cheating, Drug, and Embezzlement Scandal
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
A zoomed-in picture of Trey and me as we walk out of the RDA building holding hands is placed to the right of the headline. I immediately move down on the couch to read more of the article but don’t touch it. The secondary bi-line makes me hitch my breath. "Ex-girlfriend speaks out about the abuse suffered at the hands of Trey Good, Raven Digital Arts CEO.”
“Oh no, Simone. This isn’t good.”
My first reaction is to say “no shit,” but I bite my tongue. There are too many emotions for me to sort through first without anything I say sounding bitchy. We sit silently all reading the article at our own pace.
The picture isn’t the worst of it. Not by far. The story Mari shared with the Sunday edition of the local paper is so much worse. She starts with the cheating allegations, quoted as saying, “She can’t handle the numerous affairs any longer,” and while she doesn’t use my name, the piece goes on to mention the company secretary as his latest victim.
By the third paragraph they’ve moved on from his most recent torrid love affair with me to Mari’s newest claim that Trey’s a drug addict. She rounds it out with a story about Trey doing lines of coke in the bathroom of a party last year.
Marissa leans forward even more and I worry she might fall off the couch. “You have to read this shit.”
Annoyed at the interruption I wave her off. “I am.”
My stomach sinks with each new accusation Mari hurls at Trey. The two-page article paints Trey as a villain from some 1940s black and white horror movie standing in the corner as he cackles over his misdeeds. By the time we all reach the last few paragraphs, she’s made her most damning claim — embezzlement. From wild parties to all-inclusive vacations, even his bright red Miata, Apple is said to be purchased all on the company’s dime. There’s even a chart with his projected yearly income and the amount doesn’t come close to the estimates Mari claims Trey spends on drugs and parties.
I finish reading and lean back against the couch, worried my earlier meal might not stay in my stomach much longer. I’ve never seen anything from Trey to support her claims, well besides the vacation, but he admitted Finn paid for it. Of course, maybe Finn doesn’t know he paid for Trey's expensive vacation?