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Post by Riley Tyler on Aug 19, 2015 3:05:48 GMT
Riley walked with her arms wrapped around herself as far from the campsite at possible. She knew that just past the sign-in booth for the charity event, shuttles were still running to take volunteers with the organization in and out of the city. She just needed to make it to one of those busses and convince them to take her home, then she could fall apart. She ran over everything that had just happened in her head. When she woke up, she'd been engaged and running a successful Congressional campaign. She hadn't been happy, but now she was unemployed and her reputation about to be ruined by a story in the paper.
As she passed the sign in booth, she finally registered that Adam was calling after her and she halted her steps - partially so that he could catch up and partially because she was having trouble catching her breath. Part of him wanted to ask if he knew, if Eliot had been telling the truth, but deep down she knew that Adam was a good man, that he wouldn't have betrayed her that way. She blinked at him, and thought maybe he might have been asking what was going on.
"I have to go home. I have to pack up my desk and the apartment," she said stiffly. "The papers are running a story tomorrow saying that I cheated on Garrett and that we ended our engagement. I have to go." As the shock started to wear off, she looked away and frowned. "I have to call my dad."
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Post by Adam Tyler on Aug 19, 2015 3:28:16 GMT
She finally stopped walking for long enough for him to catch up to her without having to resort to a complete jog. Adam wanted to say something to her that would take away whatever sense of pain, or fear, that she was feeling in the aftermath of what he was just beginning to fully put into place. After a couple of instances that she had to go, he sighed, stepping toward her and wrapping his arms around her small frame.
"Do you want me to go with you? I can help you with whatever you need."
Not wanting to cross the line with her he refrained from offering her his apartment to stay in until she figured out what he next step would be.
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Post by Riley Tyler on Aug 19, 2015 3:38:11 GMT
The moment his arms wrapped around her, Riley sighed, burying her face against his neck for a moment. Pulling back, she looked away. "I have to update my resume and find an apartment and..." she trailed off and bit her lip. "I promised myself when I was fourteen that I wouldn't ever let one of these people see me cry," she muttered to herself even as she sniffled. "And it's stupid, right? I mean I should be relieved that I don't have to lie anymore, right?"
Frowning, she pressed her face into his shoulder again and held onto him as tightly as she could. "Could you?" she asked gently. "Come back with me, I mean. I don't want to go alone," she muttered against him.
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Post by Adam Tyler on Aug 19, 2015 12:32:49 GMT
He couldn't imagine what she was going through at the moment. From the panic over finding a job to realizing that her entire life had changed in just seconds. Adam couldn't say that he was sorry about some of the losses she had experienced, namely that of her fiance, but he knew how hard she had worked to be involved in a career she truly seemed passionate about. "It's just me," he reassured her, taking himself out of the grouping of the rest of their former classmates. He had hoped that as they had gotten to know each other better that she would have removed him from that group as well.
"Eliot's an asshole," he told her, tightening his arms around her as well. "But I want to help you in any way that I can."
Though he wasn't sure that his intentions were completely noble now.
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Post by Riley Tyler on Aug 19, 2015 13:45:24 GMT
Despite the fact that it seemed like the world as she mostly knew it was falling apart around her, something about having Adam there to hold on to had a calming effect on her. For years, he had been a constant in her life – a person that she could look to and depend on. And she wasn’t sure exactly how that had happened when over ten years ago, the two of them walked the same halls of the same school and never spoke to one another and now she couldn’t imagine what she would do if he wasn’t there with her.
“I came in a car with Garrett,” she explained. “I was going to just see if I could take the volunteer shuttle back to the city.”
Taking a deep breath, she pulled back slightly. “You know that the more that we spend time together, once the story leaks, that someone is going to catch on…Eliot said that they weren’t including your name in the leak. But if you leave with me, someone in the press is going to figure out that Adam Tyler slept with his friend’s fiancé behind his back,” she warned. “I just wanted to remind you of that. That’s a hell of a lot of bad publicity to ask you to take on.”
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Post by Adam Tyler on Aug 19, 2015 14:06:04 GMT
Shaking his head he dismissed the idea. "I'll call a car." The idea of her getting on the shuttle back to the city wasn't one he was particularly fond of. Not because he thought that it would put her in a situation to become more involved or exposed to the drama that had unfortunately wracked their evening, but because he didn't want her to have to deal with the public any further. At this point, Adam wished that he had some place hidden away that he could take her to until all of this blew over. A tent in the woods, he realized, probably would have been perfect had it not already been occupied by swarms of people he wasn't in the mood to be around right now.
"What's the worst that could happen? Someone doesn't want my legal counsel any more because of it? To hell with them. If that's the type of person they are, and the type of business they run, they I don't want to work with them any way." If he had to choose between this woman and a few petty business people, the choice was simple.
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Post by Riley Tyler on Aug 19, 2015 15:40:50 GMT
Riley let out a soft breath when it seemed obvious that Adam was going to stick by her side, at least for the time being. She nodded, relieved that he was there but guilty for dragging him into this entirely. Given everything, she supposed she shouldn’t stand so close to him, in front of so many people that could see – all of whom would likely read the paper or watch the news and see the brief story about her infidelities.
But she didn’t step away. Instead, she took his hand in hers while she chewed on her lip nervously while he called for a car.
Due to the droves of people who’d arrived in town cars, it was fortunately not a very long wait for one to come to get them. She spent the first few minutes of the drive staring out the window, making a mental list of everything that she had to get done over the course of the next day.
“Adam?” she said after a moment. “I’m going to go after Eliot Quinn. Because of him, I have to call my father and tell him I’ve been lying to him for five months, that the newspaper stories are only going to be half-lies, and that I broke everyone’s trust. I don’t know how yet, but when I do go after him it’s going to be systematic. I’m going to exercise every legal avenue I have sweep his legs out from under him, go for the throat, and make sure that he knows he can’t come after me again. I’m telling you this because I know you work with him and you’re his friend. So I thought that you should have warning.”
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Post by Adam Tyler on Aug 19, 2015 15:58:12 GMT
For all of the laughs that he had heard from her, the intelligent quips and the witty banter, it was probably her threats that he knew he would remember the most. The way that she calmly explained to him exactly what her plans were for Eliot next made small goosebumps rise on the surface of his skin. Adam made a mental note to avoid ever being on her bad side, if possible. "You're terrifying. You know that right?"
He smiled at her and reached over for her hand, holding it in his own. "Thank you for the heads up, and just know that I'm not going to stop you from doing what you have to do."
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Post by Riley Tyler on Aug 19, 2015 16:43:11 GMT
Riley debated telling Adam everything that Eliot had said. The way that he’d implied that Adam had been part of the elaborate plan to ruin her life, the cheap quip about throwing some extra money on top of her ‘severance’ check on his behalf. But then she remembered that, hate him as much as she did, Eliot was still someone that Adam had to work with day in and day out. She didn’t want to drag Adam into the mess that her life had just turned into and start turning him against his friends. She wouldn’t do that to him.
“Terrifying?” she asked him, lifting an eyebrow. She scooted closer to him and tilted her head at him. “Do I scare you, Adam?” she asked, teasing him gently. She knew that when she was passionate about something, she was determined. And Eliot had crossed a line that she wouldn’t let him get away with. She didn’t like being weak and she certainly wouldn’t let the likes of Eliot Quinn make her feel that way.
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Post by Adam Tyler on Aug 19, 2015 17:42:02 GMT
He grinned, pulling her closer to him. "No, but you're not mad at me."
In all of the time that he had known her, he had never been in a situation where he had upset her enough to see her truly angry. Sure they had seen each other at some truly low points, where the stress of law school and exams caused them to snap at each other and say some things that they didn't mean, but they had always worked it out. The understanding that they had all once had between them had made it easy for their foursome to keep from hating each other at the end of the day.
But now? The look of determination on her face convinced him that Eliot should truly be worried.
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Post by Riley Tyler on Aug 19, 2015 17:57:14 GMT
Riley grinned at Adam. “That’s true, I’m not mad at you,” she nodded. Hesitating a moment she leaned up and pressed her lips against his. “Though, I imagine it would be hard for me to be angry with you anyway.”
Everything had changed in Riley’s life in the span of a few moments. She had no job, no apartment, she would have to explain to her friends and family why she’d lied. But a small part of her thought that if there was any sort of bright side, it was that maybe whatever was going on with Adam actually had a chance. She’d left his apartment after their first night together thinking that she would have at least one positive memory before she got married to someone she did not love and who could not love her. And while she wasn’t sure she could call what she had with Adam a relationship, now that there was no ring on her finger, she was open to see where things would go.
“Thank you for coming with me, Adam,” she nodded. “It means a lot.”
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Post by Adam Tyler on Aug 19, 2015 18:46:07 GMT
Instinctually he wanted to discard her thank you, to say that it was what friends were for; but somehow over the course of the evening, maybe even the course of the week, he realized that he had stopped thinking of her as it friend. Whatever they had become was something more than just that - she wasn't just someone he would call for a drink, or ask a favor from when he needed legal advice, she was someone he wanted to call just because. He wanted to sit in the back of cabs and hold her hand, to kiss her lips softly, and to know that at the end of the night he didn't care if she was in his bed or if they were just watching TV on the couch.
"You're welcome," he said, leaning down to press another kiss to her lips. "I'm glad that I came with you too."
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