Covering Bases

twice...

She referred to Cory as a friend, not once, but twice. "Yes, I'm all ears, friend." he emphasized. Though he loved the idea of Bradley confiding in him, he felt a pang of disappointment. Sure, Cory had brought Bradley into the chess game to stir things up with the show. (Which she has done beautifully.) But he's gotten to know her and is intrigued by the spitfire attitude.

Now, he's sitting on the couch in Bradley's hotel room watching her pace as she explains Mitch's plan to take Fred Micklen down. Things would've been much easier if Bradley hadn't told Alex about Mitch contacting and meeting her. They don't have much time to execute their takeover after Alex blew up at Bradley less than 24 hours ago.
...
Cory couldn't keep his mind from wandering. Mitch wanted an interview to tell his side of the  misconduct. What Cory couldn't pin was why he reached out to Bradley specifically. Does he want to ruin her career by antagonizing her on live television? There's a play in Mitch's pocket and Cory was going to find out what it was.

Cory called his driver and was taken to Mitch's apartment. He knocked on the door and shortly saw Mitch on the other side. Anyone could see the toll that the whole situation took on Mitch.

"What the hell are you doing here, Cory?" Mitch asked as he narrowed his eyes. "I assume this is about the interview?"

"I'm doing well, thanks for asking pal!" Cory says laced with sarcasm. They walking into the middle of the room and Cory turns to look straight at Mitch. "What went through your head when you asked Ms. Bradley Jackson to interview you?"

"Well, I thought I'd give my old family the courtesy of giving them a chance to reflect on their actions... or lack there of."  Mitch calmly said.

Cory stayed silent for a moment and he eyed Mitch. "Do you know what happens when animals are wounded in the wild?"  he saw the other man's eyebrows knit together. "The pack turns on them. It becomes desperate and does anything it can to survive. It may pray on weaker animals in order to stay alive. And you, Mitch, you may as well have an open head wound." Cory said with a slight smirk.

Mitch knew it. He didn't want to admit it to himself because he truly believed he did nothing wrong. But his reputation will always be marred by the leak to the Times. Cory took a step forward.

"Tomorrow, the only thing you're going to talk about is how Fred enabled your... sexual behaviour towards the women. Don't even try denying the allegations, we know Twitter will have a hay day. You're not to turn any of this onto Bradley. Any expectation of you sitting in her chair beside your "bestie" , is a fucking joke. You will never work for UBA again, Mitch. That bridge is burned. So, if you plan on starting any shit on air, don't." They didn't take their eyes off each other until Cory turned and walked towards the door.

"Fuck you, Cory!" Mitch spat. "

***
Thank you for reading the first chapter of Covering Bases. Leave a comment and let me know what you think! I'd love feedback as to what I can improve on or what you'd like to see happen.

-nova w.