“I didn’t,” Tyler shot back at me, but his voice gave him away. His eyes filled with guilt gave him away.
“You goddamned liar,” I snarled at him. “You set me up, didn’t you? You were the last one to see me before Emma arrived. You knew she was coming in a matter of hours. You put that girl in my bed to drive Emma away, didn’t you?”
“That’s ridiculous,” he sneered at me.
“You hated the fact I was into her,” I shot out, continuing my accusations. “You hated that she had my ear and held influence over me, even though she never once tried to exert it. You couldn’t stand not getting your way, and so you tried to remove what you thought was the obstacle.”
“You can’t prove it,” Tyler shot right back, and I found it very telling he didn’t try to deny it. Merely said I couldn’t prove it.
“Doesn’t matter,” I said as I pulled out of Red’s grasp, but I didn’t make a move toward Tyler. I jerked my head over my shoulder at the bus. “Get your shit off that bus. You’re fired.”
“You can’t fire me,” Tyler cried out. “You need me, Evan. We’re friends.”
“Your brand of friendship sucks,” I muttered as I started to walk away.
“You can’t—” I heard him call out again, but then I heard Red’s voice. “You heard the man. Get your shit off the bus.”
“I’m your boss,” I heard Tyler sneer, but I didn’t turn around to watch the exchange. “You can’t tell me what to do.”
“Jesus Christ,” Red muttered. “How many times do I have to say it… the tour company hired me, not you, you little piss ant.”
I smiled to myself, but the victory was not long lived. None of that solved my dilemma with Emma. I may have figured out what happened, but it didn’t do a damn thing to help me because it was clear Emma probably wasn’t going to believe a damn thing I had to say as an excuse.
My phone starts ringing again, and my eyes blink as I pull out of the memories, but remain focused on the wall.
Midge.
Again.
With a sigh, I lean sideways on the couch and grab the phone from the side table, answering it before the voice mail can pick up.
“It’s about damn time you answered,” Midge snaps at me as soon as the phone gets to my ear.
“Hello to you too, Midge,” I say dryly.
“It’s a good thing you picked up as I was getting ready to hop a flight to meet you in Detroit,” she says.
I ignore that, because while I have no doubt she’d do it, it’s a moot point since I answered. “What can I do for you?”
“Seriously, Evan,” she says in exasperation. “You’ve been radio silent for four damn days, I’m going out of my mind with worry about you, and that’s all you have to say?”
“What do you want me to say?” I challenge her. “I lost the girl I love because my so-called ‘best friend’ set me up, I haven’t done a damn thing wrong, and there’s no way out of this. So what the fuck do you want me to say?”
“I want you to tell me you’ve got a plan figured out,” she says in a matter-of-fact tone. “Emma’s completely shut down. She won’t talk to her father or me. The only one she’ll talk to is that goddamned furry beast of hers.”
“She’s still with Cary?” I ask curiously.
“No,” Midge says in resignation. “She went back to her house yesterday. Won’t return our calls. Hasn’t come into work.”
“You need to go over there and make sure she’s okay,” I growl at Midge.
“We have,” she assures me. “She was polite, opened the door, and told us to go away. That she just wanted some time alone.”
“Fuck,” I mutter as I scrub my hand through my hair.
“So what are you going to do?” she persists.
“I have no clue,” I tell Midge with brutal honesty. “She won’t answer the phone or return any texts to me. But I did figure out what happened.”
“What?” she asks hesitantly.
So I tell her the whole gory truth. About what I’d been able to piece together about that night. Told her everything Rick recounted to me, including my refusal to go to a strip club. How I got blind, stinking drunk off bourbon that Tyler practically poured down my throat, and how ultimately, I could do nothing but assume Tyler set me up since he lied to my face about not knowing Emma was coming in to surprise me.
“He probably drugged you,” Midge says speculatively.
“Don’t think I haven’t thought that,” I tell her. “But I can’t prove it, and it doesn’t matter… I fired him. He’s long gone.”
“Good,” she says. “Now all you have to do is tell Emma all of this. I’m sure she’ll listen.”
“Not if she won’t answer my calls,” I point out.
“I swear,” Midge says with a sigh. “Sometimes, I wonder about that brain in your skull. How about sending her an email? You know she’ll read it.”
Well, fuck.
I am apparently a dumb motherfucker.
“Gotta go,” I tell Midge, and I don’t even let her say another word.
I disconnect and then run to the bedroom where I keep my personal laptop.
CHAPTER 26
Emma