In Bed With The Boss Page 0,70
office knew anything about it. The bosses said Brad was out that week with a severe head cold. The only reason Toby knew all this was because Rosemary had been the emergency room doctor when they’d brought Brad in on a stretcher. And his dazed wife had been rambling about what had happened to Rosemary in the hospital until her father arrived and took her away. There were no charges pressed and none of this would ever reach the newspapers. But from what Rosemary told Toby, Brad would be out of commission for quite a while.
Richie plopped down on the sofa and processed what he’d just been told. A minute later, he looked up at Toby and said, “I don’t understand. He told me I was the only one. He said he was going to divorce his wife so he could be withme. There must be some kind of a mistake.”
Toby sat down in the arm chair and sighed. He wished he’d been able to take one swing with the baseball bat at Brad, too. “I’m sorry. I wish I hadn’t been the one to tell you.”
“Are you absolutely sure there hasn’t been some kind of a mistake,” Richie said, glancing at the gift on the table. “We were going to exchange gifts tonight. And why was he out cruising the park? Maybe he was raped. I hear that can happen.”
Toby sent him a long, serious glance. “He wasn’t raped. Do I have to spell it out for you? He was screwing around in the bushes in a public park.” He hated to be the one to tell Richie all this, but now he felt it was his duty to finally be honest. He only wished he’d done this sooner. “And I’m sure this wasn’t the first time either.”
Richie sent him a glare. “What do you mean?”
“Brad has been seeing more than one guy for as long as I’ve known him,” Toby said. “He’s been using my apartment four and five nights a week to fool around. He’s probably slept with half the guys in New York by now.”
“You’re lying,” Richie said. “I would have known. I know Brad’s no saint and he flirts all the time, but this is ridiculous.”
Toby frowned. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to be the one to tell you.”
Richie hesitated, then said, “Wait a minute. You knew he was fooling around all this time and you never said anything to me?”
Toby shrugged. “How could I?He’s my boss. I didn’t want to lose my job. And just so you know, this hasn’t been easy for me either. I wanted to tell you. I wanted to put a stop to all of this. Do you think I liked Brad using my apartment this way? I didn’t have a choice. I couldn’t afford to quit my job. And I didn’t want to be the one to hurt you.”
Richie stood up and started to pace the room. “I can’t believe what I’m hearing. He’s been lying to me all this time and you never said anything. And here I am thinking he’s going to leave his wife. How fucking stupid could I be?” He smacked his forehead with the heel of his palm and kicked a chair.
Toby stood up and walked over to him. He grabbed him by the arms and said, “I’m sorry. I was going to tell you after the New Year. I swear I was. I wasn’t going to let it continue. I got a new job and I’m leaving the agency next month. I hate fucking advertising and all that goes with it. I was going to put a stop to the arrangement I had with Brad and I was going to tell him to go fuck himself. I swear I was. I wouldn’t lie about that to you.”
Richie shrugged his shoulders and exhaled. He wasn’t crying; he didn’t seem angry. “I guess I can’t blame you. I should have known better. It’s not like I haven’t been through this before. I just thought this time was different. I thought I had a real chance with Brad. I guess I was just fooling myself into believing there might be a happy ending for people like us. I tend to be delusional that way and I’m a sucker for a guy with a great line of bullshit.”
Toby didn’t know what to say. He knew Richie wouldn’t go to the hospital to see Brad; this sort of thing wasn’t done; it would have been too risky. Toby