The Rampage MC #4: Max and Briony

Chapter 23 (Briony): Distract Rie

Copyright © 2024 by GroveltoHEA

Almost like we were part of a synchronized dance team, Genny, Joy and I surged to our feet at the exact same time to flank Rie. Solidarity against stupidity. We stood strong -- well, Genny might have been wobbling a bit -- but the important thing was that she was mostly upright in protest with all of us, supporting Rie.

You have options?" Rie shouted at him? "Really, Darren? You're going to tell me we're going out and then, because I'm pushing back at your caveman tactics and your overall bad behavior lately, you're going to tell me you have options?"

I really hoped my windows weren't going to start shattering with that last note she hit. Darren, to give him some credit, looked as if he realized he stepped in it in a big, huge way even before Rie started in on him. His eyes were wide, his face appalled, his body locked, his hands out in front of him. Like that would stop her. Or us.

"Well, feel free to go explore your options, Darren, but word of advice? Don't tell them how slutty they're dressed or suggest they go change or tell them they're going out with you instead of asking. OK? Because that is not attractive behavior. That is not how you let a woman know you're interested."

"I'm sorry, Rie. I'm sorry!"

"You should be!" Joy jumped in. "You were there the night I got rid of Trixie, so I know you heard my TED Talk on treating people decently. And yet here you are, acting like you don't have two brain cells to rub together. And even if you aren't blessed with two, break the one brain cell you do have in half and rub those two halves together to try to spark some sort of flame!"

"I really liked that visual," I whispered to Joy.

"Thank you. I think it's been building for a while."

"Darren, tell me what you're sorry about," Rie challenged him. "Let's hear it. Let's hear why you're sorry."

Genny wagged her index finger at him. "This needs to be good," she said seriously. "This is your chance. Don't disappoint any of us. Now is the time to step the fuck up to the plate."

Darren swallowed. "I wasn't treating you with respect."

When we didn't jump on him and kill him, he continued. "I was acting like you should be grateful I noticed you. Max already talked to me about my comments about the way you were dressing."

"What did he say?" Genny demanded, and I was glad she did because I wanted to know. I'd never had a chance to wear any of my night-on-the-town outfits in front of Max, so I always wondered how he'd react to the more daring ones.

"He said that you never interfere with what a woman wants to wear when she's going out. Your only job as a man is to make your woman feel good about her outfit and how she looks and to run off the assholes if they approach her disrespectfully. So I'm sorry I said what I did that night I crashed your date. I shouldn't have said anything." He paused. "Well, nothing except how hot you looked."

I could see Darren searching Rie's face for any sign of softening. There wasn't.

"And this is actually something you needed to be instructed on? Do you have basic, common, everyday decency stored in a box on your closet shelf, to be brought out only when you're around your brothers? Because we know how respectful you can be toward them. It's just the addition of tits that changes things up because they don't require decency, is that it?"

"No, Rie. No."

"Then tell me one incident where you treated me with respect."

He hesitated and Rie pounced. "Your inability to provide an answer right away tells me everything I need to know. You could've even come up with something from when we were friends. But maybe even our friendship was one sided."

"Rie, you were always my friend. Maybe that was the problem, what took me so long to figure things out. We were good friends. You were my best friend. That's how I saw you. Didn't think about going there with you because our friendship was so good, and I liked what we had between us as friends. Then when I found out you wanted more, I started thinking, and I realized I wanted more, too. And that's when I really started to lose control because I felt like I lost your friendship and then I felt like I was going to lose you completely."

"Let me get this straight: you were afraid of losing me, so your brain decided that treating me like shit was an appropriate response?"

Now Darren looked frozen, as if hearing Rie summarize his behavior was really hitting home, and he was realizing he was in deep shit.

"You better figure your life out, Darren, and I'm not going to be your thirty-day trial period to see if you want to cancel your subscription or not. But whatever you decide to do, don't ever threaten me with going to all of those options you have who don't require effort because it's only a threat if I care. As far as I'm concerned, you can go to your options or go to hell, but right now, you can just go out the door."

"Rie, please talk to me."

"Not tonight. Maybe not ever. But honestly, Darren, I also have options who require a lot less effort than you do so your future with me isn't looking so bright. Now, I asked you to leave, so it's time to go."

His jaw worked for a minute, then he nodded. "I'll go. But I hope you want to talk because I'll show you I can do better. A lot better, Rie."

He looked at the rest of us, said good bye and left.

We looked at each other, and then we all jumped when there was a crash on my front porch.

"I'll go check that out," I said. "Maybe break out the ice cream while I see to things?"

I hurried outside and saw Darren looking at broken flowerpot by the little round table on my porch.

"Didn't mean to, Briony," he said dully. "I wasn't paying attention and knocked into the table it was on."

"No worries, Darren. I'll clean it up."

He looked at me. "You think I blew it with her? Like forever?"

"I don't know, Darren. She's angry and has every right to be with the shit you've pulled."

"Tell Genny I'm going to stop by tomorrow."

I nodded, but before Darren could leave, another voice joined the conversation.

"Everything OK?" Max asked from my driveway. Must be time for the night shift. 

"Fucking perfect," Darren said, then stomped off past Max, got on his bike and took off.

"You good?" Max asked after studying me for a minute.

"Well, Rie definitely isn't. Darren was a total dick to her tonight, and he has been for a while. Why do you guys mess up so badly?"

"I don't know what to tell you, Bri," Max said. "We do shit we regret, and then we live with the consequences while the remorse eats us up inside. I wish we could get it right the first time, and there's no excuse for not being able to. Saying we're stupid or dicks or unthinking assholes is just a cop out. The truth is, there's no excuse for us treating the women we love like shit and then hoping we can get you to forgive us. We should have done right by you the first time."

"Yeah. I wish you had."

"Go back inside and I'll clean this up. Say hi to the ladies for me."

"You sure?"

"I got it. You go distract Rie."

For once, I did what I was told. I went in, and the three of us distracted Rie until we all finally fell asleep in the middle of the night.

Copyright © 2024 by GroveltoHEA