Ben shifted in his seat. “A few things. First is, I called some of those contacts you gave me a while back and set up some interviews for assistant coaching jobs.”
Roper couldn’t believe his ears. “That’s great!” He didn’t want to ask what changed Ben’s mind because he didn’t want to ruin this step in the right direction.
“I’ve done some thinking and I’ve been an ass,” Ben said. “Blaming you because my life didn’t work out the way I wanted.” He glanced down, not even chugging his beer the way he usually did. “A couple of the guys said if things work out and I prove myself, the head coaching position might become available. I know it’s because of you but I’ll take the opportunity and try.”
“What’s going on, Ben?” Roper had never seen his brother so subdued.
“There’s something that’s going to hit the news and you need to hear it from me first.”
“Can’t be any worse than doctored porn shots of me and Amy on the Internet,” Roper muttered.
“No, but it relates to it. Turns out my friend Dave, who’d been letting me bunk there until I convinced you to fund the gym, was behind those photographs.”
“What the hell? Why? I don’t even know the guy.”
Ben swallowed hard. “Yeah, well, thanks to me, he thought he knew you. My old, skewed perspective of you.”
“I don’t know what I want to know first. Why your view of me changed or more about Dave and the pictures,” Roper muttered. “I do know I’m going over there and kill him for what he put Amy through.” He flexed and unflexed his hands, anger coursing through his veins.
Ben rose and began pacing the room. “Hear me out first, then you can decide what to do. You know I was jealous of you. You know I thought fate gave me a raw deal and Dave knew it, too. Not only was he my friend, he’s a Renegades season ticket holder, too, and last season’s World Series disaster pissed him off big-time.”
“He wouldn’t be the only one,” Roper said, acknowledging the truth.
“But he was more out of control than I realized. You know those packages you’ve been getting?
The letters? The media coverage of you lately, excessive even by New York standards?”
“Yes…” Roper knew where this was going and his head felt full enough to explode. “He’s been behind it all?”
“Anything I heard about you, things I griped about to him, he used against you, bro.” Ben strode to him. “I had no idea. You have to believe me. I was whiny and self-centered, but you’re my brother. I’d never do anything to hurt you. As soon as he told me, it was like this huge lightbulb went off in my head and I realized how messed up my own thinking has been.” Ben pleaded with Roper to understand.
And he tried. Man, Roper tried. Because this was his baby brother and he wanted to believe he’d changed. “Go on.”
“I moved out. Well, he kicked me out, so I moved into Mom’s hotel until she goes back to L.A. But as soon as those photos surfaced, I knew it was Dave.” Ben picked up his beer and took a long swig, then placed the bottle back on the table. “I hadn’t given him back my key, so I let myself into his place while he was at work and checked the laptop. And bingo.”
“He wasn’t bright enough to delete the evidence?” Roper asked in disbelief.
“He’s cocky enough to think he wouldn’t get caught. But he’s wrong.” Ben shoved his hands into his back pockets. “Before I came here, I turned the laptop over to the police. Then I called Buckley and gave him a tip.”
Roper shook his head hard. “You did that for me?”
Ben shrugged. “Maybe I also did it for me. A little redemption, you know? So maybe I could look at myself in the mirror and not hate what I see.”
Roper tried not to wince. For all Ben’s faults, he obviously had a good heart. And Roper knew what it was like to hate yourself at least a little bit. “Ben, it’s okay. I don’t hold what Dave did against you. I appreciate you stepping up to the plate for me. I do.”
“Don’t thank me, at least not yet. There’s one more thing you need to know,” Ben said, looking down as he spoke. He drew a deep breath. “You know how Buckley’s known a lot about you lately? Where you’ve been and who you’ve been with?”
“Yes,” Roper said warily.
“It was me. Mom would mention things in casual conversation and I’d tip off Buckley or gawkerstalker.com,” he said, self-loathing in his voice.
“I’ll be damned.” Amy had been right. It had been someone close to him. He shook his head in disbelief. “Why the hell would you do it? Do you hate me that much?”
His brother shook his head. “No. I thought it was funny at first. And things always seemed to go your way. I thought it would be a lark to see you twist in the wind a little. But I realize now how pathetic that is.”
Roper could have bashed his brother for what he’d done, not just to him, but to Amy. Obviously, though, Ben was doing enough bashing to himself. Roper couldn’t bring himself to tell his brother all was okay, but he wasn’t going to add to his misery.
“What did the police say about the laptop?” he asked, bringing the subject back to Dave and what mattered at the moment.