Staying on Course (Finding our Way 2)

‘Her’ being Nicole Betts. I’ve been avoiding her calls for the last few weeks.

“Hit end.”

“No, I think it’s time we answer her. And I do mean ‘we’.”

I shrug, not really caring. I hit answer and speaker. “Hello.”

“Devon, don’t hang up. It’s Nicole.”

“I know who it is. What can I do for you?”

“Hear me out. I know you must think the worst of me. I even think the worst of me. You have to know the position I was in.”

“I’ll humor you. Tell me exactly what kind of position you were in.”

“Liza’s been a friend of the guys forever. She was very believable and convincing with her lies. I was played as much as you were.”

My anger spikes and blood boils. “You get one phone call, Nicole, one, and this is the direction you want to take. You want to play a victim here?” Hostility drips from my words. “You’ve been blowing up my fucking phone for weeks. The only reason I answered is because I’m sick of my voicemail being clogged up with your messages.”

“If you’ve gotten my messages, you know how messed up this is.” There’s a tint of aggravation in her voice.

“I didn’t say I listened to them, just that they clogged up my voicemail.”

“Really, Devon, that’s extremely immature. We need to talk this out, woman to woman. Friendships are at stake. You have no idea the way Tommy respects Bryce. It’s up to us to work through this.” Her sweet and pitiful demeanor changes quick. Now, her voice is filled with irritation.

What the fuck?

Apparently, Quinn feels the same way by her growl.

“Does Tommy beat you, Nicole?”

“No, of course not.”

“Does he threaten you, or do you fear for your or TJ’s safety?”

“Never.”

“Does he control you? Your actions, your responses, your ability to tell right from wrong?”

“You know he doesn’t. Why even ask?”

“So when he told you it was none of your business where Bryce slipped his dick, what was your first thought?”

“That it was none of my business.”

“Wrong answer. First and foremost, throwing down an air mattress to a drunk man who is being stalked by a co-worker is the WRONG thing to do.”

“You wait a minute. I’m not at fault here. If you listened to us that night, you heard that I felt sorry for you. I was sick about it—

“No!” I cut her off. “You fucked up in many ways, alcohol induced or not. Here’s the situation. I’m a forgiving person, but not this time. We may not have years of friendship like you do with the others, but you knew how I felt about Liza. You saw the signs yourself. I believed you were looking out for me and understood my insecurities. Yet you found yourself in the middle and then on the wrong side. How can I ever trust you? ”

“Are you blaming me for this? I’m not the one lying half naked with another woman in bed. You have misdirected resentment.”

Her words sting as the image pops into my head, but I don’t give her the satisfaction of knowing she’s hit a nerve

“Can you believe this?” Quinn scoffs, pointing to the phone. “Nicole, what exactly did you think you’d accomplish here?”

“I thought I’d be able to have a civil conversation with a friend to tie up a misunderstanding. Funny, I didn’t think I’d be back in high school on speaker phone.”