Trust

...Not Alone

Alex throws the phone on the desk in front of her, outside she can hear people running, screaming about the next hours of the show and knocking on her door.

"Alex open the fucking door right now"

It's Fred, perfect, just what she needs right now. Even if it is the last thing she wants right now she goes and opens the door.

"What?"

Before she has the chance to do anything Fred pushes the door open and gets inside.

"Close the door" he says in a tone Alex has never heard, it's demanding, angry, and hateful.

"Excuse me?" Alex somehow finds her voice.

"Close the fucking door Alex Levy" this time his voice is low, but still demanding and full of hate.

Slowly, Alex closes the door and leans into it, she doesn't want to feel intimidated, she's tired of that, but she can't help the overwhelming feeling.

Fred takes a breath, "I thought we had an agreement... I thought the plan was to blame Chip, get rid of Bradley and just go on with our fucking lives"

"Well Fred, that wasn't going to work, and honestly I'm tired of you playing with us like we are your puppets. I'm tired of doing what everyone wants me to do, I'm fucking tired of pretending." By the time she's done, Alex is just feet away from Fred, not feeling intimidated anymore.

"Alex, I know a lot about you, more than you think"

"I don't think so"

"What about your affair with Mitch?"

Fuck. Alex wasn't expecting that. She doesn't know what to do, she just stares at Fred.

"Nobody will believe that after everything Mitch has done, actually people will feel sorry for me and that wouldn't be so bad, right?"

"Yeah, I guess people would pity you and they would see you as this woman who survived this silence culture and all that bullshit, but I guess that if people know that you slept with Mitch, even after he was fired, it wouldn't be good, right?" Fred smiles.

"What do you mean?" Alex asks surprised, she didn't sleep with Mitch after he was fired, this can't be good.

"This is what I mean" Fred takes out his phone and scrolls for a second before smiling. He raises his head and his eyes meet Alex's. Slowly he turns and raises the phone, until Alex is able to see the screen.

When Alex looks at it her blood runs cold, her skin turn pale and her eyes widen in surprise.

It's a picture, of her, and Mitch. They are in his car, kissing. It was that night after her fundraising event, they didn't have sex, she knows that, but she also knows people are going to think otherwise.

"There's no way you can prove we slept together after that, we didn't even do it." Alex says, probably giving too much detail, but she doesn't care, she needs to get rid of that picture.

"Who cares? People are going to think you did. That's going to look so bad Alex, so so bad. Just think about it... Alex Levy having an affair with co-host Mitch Kessler for years, and even after he was fired for sexual miss conduct. Terrible I may say."

"Fred, you gain nothing with this."

"I'm not going down alone." With that Fred storms out of her dressing room shutting the door behind him.