Bed Sheets II

26. Who Wears A Thong?

"Sir, you've been chosen for four Cassidy Wilfried Award," Sophie said, entered his office. He seemed stressed, sending trembling fingers through his hair as he glanced in her direction and grabbed the enveloppe, "Are you alright?"

Draven met her gaze for a moment, before his eyes returned to the enveloppe, "I'm fine."

"I wasn't the leak Draven," she sighed, "just tell me."

Draven gulped, scratching the side of his face before grabbing his laptop and showing her what he had been watching. It was Kyle with Gerry Runners, a famous talk-show host. He pressed play at the part where he had stopped.

Gerry had said, "Your allegations basically ruined Draven's career. He lost many fans, his followers count went down extremely, he's been getting ample amount of hate—"

"Abusers don't deserve to live a lavish life, wouldn't you agree?" Kyle had replied, leaning forward in his seat.

Gerry squinted his eyes, "But those are allegations—you're making people believe allegations."

"They're not allegations to me, they're real. If your loved one ever opened up to you about past physical abuse, you can't tell me you wouldn't believe it until the court says yes."

"Has Eric filed a police report?"

"At first he was scared. Now, it happened so long ago that all he wants to do is forget—"

"And let others who also have relationships with Draven face physical abuse? I mean, I believe that's quite selfish, don't you think—"

"But it's not about you though, is it?"

The screen paused, and Draven turned the laptop back to face him, "They keep doing this for about an hour. It's all just me and details of how I apparently abused him."

"What details do they say?"

Draven sighed, selected a time and turned the screen back to face Sophie.

Gerry had asked, "Do you want to go into details?"

"There's not much details to know. Every time he was angry, he would slam Eric into walls, put him in chokeholds long enough for Eric to pass out. Eric was hospitalized so many times, his wrist had been broken."

"Do you have any hospital documents even?"

"You didn't ask me for those before coming here."

Draven paused the screen, "Just more stuff like that."

Sophie watched as Draven sadly turned the screen back to him and glumly grabbed the enveloppe. She reached for his hands, "Draven, I promise it'll pass. I'll do anything to make you feel better."

Draven chuckled, "I appreciate that Sophie but all I want to do honestly is get drunk at a party."

Sophie pointed to the letter, "Then let's go to the award show. It's tomorrow, at Cassidy Wilfried's palace. You're nominated for four awards so we should spend some time there."

"I don't want to put myself in the public's eye again—"

"Sooner or later, you're going to have to. Let's just go to that Award show, alright? You and I, Hector, Rebecca, Miranda and Jason. We'll be there with you, please?" When Draven slowly nodded his head, she smirked, feeling a bit a warmth twirl in her stomach from the way his eyes filled with excitement. Before Sophie left the office, she said, "By the way, I'm going to find out who was that leak. And when I do, I want a raise."

Draven rolled his eyes, "Bye Sophie."

-&-

"I got nominated for a Cassidy Wilfried Award," Kyle waved his letter as he entered his home, finding Eric in the living room. Eric was seated on the couch, his arms folded and he did not glance towards Kyle. Kyle was confused as to why Eric was not responding to him, until he made his way around the couch and had view of the table.

"Congrats," Eric whispered, his voice coiling before he even had the chance to say what was on his mind.

He stood to his feet to storm off, and Kyle immediately leaped for him, "Eric, let me explain—"

"Yes, please do. I'd love to hear about why I found a neon thong in our bathroom. Gross, by the way." He pointed to Kyle, "Am I supposed to believe you wear those?"

"No," he scratched the side of his head; he had asked Rebecca to make sure none of her things stayed behind whenever she was present the nights Eric was at work, and it was unfortunate that she had left her thong, most likely by accident. He had no explanation for this, and simply shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know why they're there."

Eric scoffed, twirled on his heels and was moment from walking away again when Kyle reached for his arm, "Okay, fine I do. It was me, I had sex with a girl."

"Which girl?!"

"Just a random from work—"

"One of your co-workers?" Kyle nodded his head. "When?!"

He sighed, "A few nights ago—"

"Why?"

"I just..." Kyle seemed upset, "ever since you cheated on me with Draven, I felt this overwhelming desire to do the same thing to you and make you feel the pain I felt and I let myself go one day and I messed up."

"You wanted revenge."

"No, okay it did sound that way but that's not it. I just wanted to feel something—"

"Feel what?! A fucking vagina? You're not even straight, nor are you bisexual! That's like your first time with a girl ever since you came out! What are you doing?!"

"Eric," Kyle stepped forward, "calm down. You're shouting like a mad man."

"Yes because that upsets me; if I hadn't found the thong, you would have never told me."

"At least it was with a girl and not my ex-boyfriend," Kyle spat, raising his eyebrows challengingly. "I'm over trying to be your little sweetheart that forgives everything you do—I said I'm sorry and it's your decision to get over it or not."

"Thank you for your sorry, fiancé," Eric retorted, shaking his head incredulously. "I'm going to bed, you can use the guest bedroom."

"Gladly."

"And by the way, congrats on your nomination for the Cassidy Wilfried Award, I have fucking three."