Up in Arms

The coverage was never ending. As the night wore on, several of Trevor’s team members were identified, found, and interviewed. All were completely surprised Trevor was gay. At least on air, his team stood up for him. They said either it couldn’t be true, or gave a ‘who cares’ shrug with no further comment. One of his buddies just kept asking the reporter questions on how well Trevor was doing in post recovery, not responding to anything said or asked to him. Trevor prayed those casual responses were true and just not what they were trained to do.

Reed brought Trevor a plate of food, but he didn’t stay to eat this time. Nor did he say much of anything after that first round they shared when Reed stood in the doorway. It didn’t matter he was starving, or how he’d worked his sore body hard today. He needed to eat and take his medicine, but instead he stayed obstinate, refusing to give into those delicious enchiladas, or take the medicine lying right beside the plate. He was just done with this whole mess.

By eight thirty pm, Reed’s public record tax returns were aired. Trevor didn’t take it well at all. It was much worse than initially reported. Reed made millions on his own, but family inheritance made his gross worth somewhere around forty five million dollars. By nine o’clock, the military put out a PR statement discussing the repeal of don’t ask don’t tell. That one move effectively buried their raid, making Reed’s sexual history and the treatment of gays in the military monumentally more important.

Randomly, throughout the night, Reed would come to stand in the doorway and quietly stare at Trevor. Trevor never acknowledged him, and kept his eyes glued to the television. After a few minutes, Reed would leave, solemn faced, his hands in his pockets.

Trevor couldn’t understand why Reed might be so dejected. He led a fascinating life. The coverage was unstoppable. There never seemed to be a shortage of past lovers willing to talk about Reed Kensington, or show the pictures of the two of them together. Finally, a video surfaced on TMZ of a camera hungry threesome. Two men talked openly to the cameras following them, but Reed stayed in the background, waiting for his dates to finish their session with the photographers. The whole video lasted about ten minutes as they readily discussed their plans with Monsieur Kensington and their eagerness to do his bidding. Trevor felt sick to his stomach; did he really believe for a moment he could have someone like Reed Kensington?

“Hey, man. You look a hundred percent better since the last time I saw you.” Rylie came through the bedroom door, a big grin across his face. Elise was close behind. She stepped forward, coming around Rylie to give Trevor a big hug.

“Oh Trevor, how are you?” Elise asked, wrapping her arms around him, kissing his cheek before she pulled away.

“I’m better, thank you. I heard you came by last night. I’m sorry I was sleeping,” Trevor said. He finally looked over at the door, wondering if Reed might be there listening, but there was no sign of him.

A stray thought clouded Trevor’s resolve as he turned back to Elise. Trevor hated bringing all this down on the people who helped him the most in life. He just couldn’t see how he could continue being a part of the Kensington family. Those thoughts caused a strong ache through his heart, settling in his gut. Rylie’s family was all he had in the world. He didn’t want to lose any of them.

“No, silly, you needed rest. I’m going to let you and Rylie talk. I just wanted to say hi.” Elise hugged Trevor again, then gave Rylie a quick kiss before leaving, shutting the door behind her.

“How are you really feeling?” Rylie asked. He pulled Trevor’s backpack off his shoulder, laying it on the floor by the night stand. Rylie grabbed the closest chair from the corner of the room, pulling it close to the bed before he sat down.

“I’m better, getting the use of my arm back,” Trevor said, turning his eyes back to the TV.

“Brody asked to be relocated. He doesn’t want to move here,” Rylie casually said.

“Since all this came out today?” Trevor whipped his head around, staring hard at Rylie.

“Nah, yesterday, way before all this.” Rylie looked up, making eye contact with Trevor. They sat there holding the look for a minute before Trevor turned away.

“Why?” he finally asked

“My guess is I think he knows what he lost, but he just said he needed to move on. He’ll call you soon. He told me to tell you not to be stubborn and do all your rehab.” Trevor just stayed quiet to that remark. He hadn’t really thought about Brody since he met Reed. It was odd to him; Trevor spent his entire adult life wanting Brody to pick him, and not really even understanding what that meant until he found Reed.

“What are you hearing on the inside? I can’t imagine they’ll let me stay with the team now.”

“Yeah, I can’t really see it either. Your cover’s blown out of the water. They’re worried about your security. We’ll all have to lay low for a while. They found us all for interviews. What swine! That reporter doing all this damage for just a simple story that doesn’t really matter anyway. Most of us will have to move around now, I bet.”

“I’m sorry. I should have thought through this better.” Trevor lowered his eyes to his lap, remorse edged his words.

“Don’t be. It’s life, Trevor. You aren’t the one to blame here. You did nothing wrong. And for the record, I’m glad you’re finally happy. I’ve talked to Reed several times a day since all this happened. He’s seriously happy, concerned, but really very happy. That’s what’s important. The rest of this doesn’t matter.” Silence ensued for several long minutes. Trevor could feel Rylie’s eyes on him, but he didn’t turn to look at him.