Brad winced. Amanda was horrified.
“That’s enough!” Stephan’s voice boomed through the room, and Amanda stepped away, bumping into Brad. He pulled her away from both angry men.
“That’s my son you’re talking about,” Stephan informed him. “I don’t give a damn what your views are, when you speak of my family, you will do so with respect.”
Despite the fact that neither man was focused on Brad himself, Amanda was, and she felt the tremor go through his body at his father’s heartfelt words.
The senator and Mitchell continued to argue about the effect of Brad’s orientation and the senator’s plan for both the campaign and the political party he served.
“We should go,” Brad said, interrupting when it became clear the other two men were going to be engaged in a long, hard battle.
Stephan nodded. “I’ll be in touch with the date and time of the interview,” he said, ignoring Mitchell for now. “Until that day comes, I can expect you two to carry on? Show up at any event and continue your parts?” He asked as if it were a foregone conclusion. It was.
Amanda knew she’d never turn her back on Brad or his family.
“Of course,” Brad said.
Amanda managed a nod.
With Mitchell glaring at them, she turned and followed Brad out of the room, her mind spinning with all that had transpired inside. In the end, Brad had won a major battle and would probably come out with Keith by his side.
She didn’t know if she could say the same of herself and Decklan.
SEVENTEEN
Due to a bout of the summer flu that had gone around the precinct, Decklan worked extended hours during the week. He was grateful for the distraction of patrol, but that didn’t mean he could completely keep his mind off Amanda. And he couldn’t stop replaying their confrontation over and over in his head.
She’d obviously come straight to his apartment after the senator’s announcement, wanting to explain. Instead of just listening, he’d humiliated her—and he couldn’t get her stricken look out of his mind. Although he wasn’t the one who’d lied, he sure as hell had f**ked up how he’d handled her.
His family kept calling to check in and see what had happened with Amanda, and he couldn’t bring himself to admit the whole sordid mess. He could barely deal with it himself. But he wasn’t ready to forgive and forget any more than he could imagine walking away for good and never seeing her again.
After his last day on patrol before a stretch of time off, he pulled back into the station lot. He parked, locked up his car, and walked inside. He had some paperwork to finish, and then he could head home. With a little luck, he was finally tired enough to sleep instead of tossing, turning, and replaying every moment in his tortured brain.
A dark-haired man sat in the chair beside his desk. He took a quick look at the man’s profile and realized he had a visitor. Bradley Ritter. Although they’d never met in person and his current outfit, jeans and a tee-shirt with windmills and the words “Clean Energy,” were nothing like the suit and tie he’d worn on TV, Decklan still recognized Amanda’s best friend.
Drawing a deep breath, Decklan stepped behind his desk, seeking the comfort of his own space before dealing with his guest.
The other man quickly rose to his feet.
“Sit down, Ritter.” Decklan followed his own instruction and lowered himself into his chair.
“So no introductions are necessary,” Brad said, easing back down.
Decklan shook his head. “I recognize my girlfriend’s almost-fiancé.” He deliberately made the first hit.
Ritter shrugged the words off. “At least you’re still calling her your girlfriend.”
Decklan groaned. He wasn’t in the mood to spar with the man. “What do you want?”
Brad met his gaze. “So Amanda is right. You are pissed.”
At the mention of her name, Decklan straightened his shoulders. He didn’t like hearing that she’d discussed them with another man. Even if it was her g*y best friend.
“I’m a lot of things, none of which I intend to discuss with you. But since you’re here, I think I’ll tell you a few things about you.”
“Go for it,” Brad said.
“Fine.” Decklan hadn’t realized how badly he wanted this chance until now, when he was faced with the opportunity. “You may be brilliant with coding, Ritter, but I’m not sure you really understand human nature. I get that you were there for Amanda when she needed you, and that she loves you.” Just a friend or not, it hurt Decklan to even say those words.
He leaned forward in his seat, now on a roll. “But you took advantage of her personal issues with her parents and her desire to be loved and needed, and instead of helping her get out of her own head and meet people, you made it easy for her to hide. Because it suited you. Because she gave you a cover you desperately needed.” Satisfied, Decklan sat back in his hard chair before finishing up with, “And that, my friend, is selfish. And cowardly.”
Brad shrugged off the insult. “So is not coming out to your own family. Yeah, I get it.”
Decklan blinked. Brad had just agreed with him. Decklan hadn’t expected that, and it frustrated the hell out of him. How could he expend his anger at the man if he wasn’t going to fight back? “What can I do for you, Ritter?” he asked again.
“I wanted to talk to you myself. And I wanted to see the man Amanda’s fallen so hard for. Hell, I want to make sure you’re worthy of her.”
“Seriously? You’re here to judge me?” he asked, offended since he’d been the one screwed over.
Ritter met his gaze without flinching. “As Amanda’s best friend, I think I have the right. So yeah. I am. She’s home crying her eyes out. She hasn’t been coming into work regularly, which isn’t like her. And I want to know if you’re worth it.”
That information wounded Decklan worse than being butted in the head with a gun. Hurting Amanda was the last thing he’d wanted. But what had he expected when he’d made her strip down, then turned her away and let her walk out the door?
He’d been so busy feeling sorry for himself he hadn’t given a thought to her feelings. Nice. He needed to get his head on straight, whatever that meant.
“That wasn’t my intention,” Decklan muttered.
“Well, for someone who claims to know her weaknesses so well, it seems to me you played on them yourself. She put herself out there for you, and where have you been?”