Tyed

chapter thirty eight

Tyler sits at Colby's feet, leaning against his knee. Colby gets fully dressed again, but Tyler almost doesn't want to. He knows he has to. This wasn't the purpose of his visit, as much as he wishes it was. He hopes to be able to make visits like this all the time in future, if things go right. Right for Tyler, that is, because he has a sneaking suspiscion that if things are they way they really are and any kind of justice is served he's the one who's going to end up shafted.

So he dresses again. He hears the knock on the door almost the second he does up his jeans; Colby was pressing a few last buttons on his computer, sending off an email Tyler presumes, when he looks at Tyler, still shirtless.

"One moment," Colby calls to the door as Tyler scrambles to get his shirt on. Colby checks himself, and then makes his way slowly to the door. Tyler's hair is probably a god damn mess, but the last time their guest saw him he also had just finished having sex with Colby, so she's probably just going to think it's normal.

Colby opens the door, and Tyler's surprised by what he sees, but it's hard to justify why. Scarlett's still wearing those long, fancy gloves- Tyler never figured out why- although these are black. Her dress is also black, although it has a few floral designs to make it look a little bit less like she just came from a funeral. Just a little bit less.

She takes off her sunglasses. Why she didn't do that in the lobby is beyond Tyler. "Colby," she says, and Tyler's hating her without really trying, although he doubts he would find her voice as grating if he wasn't fucking terrified of her. "Can I come in?"

It's then that she looks over Colby's shoulder and sees Tyler standing by the desk. Her expression doesn't change much, but there is a slight raising of her eyebrows, like she didn't expect him to be here. Tyler tries his best not to give anything away, simply setting his jaw. He doesn't have anything against Scarlett. Not technically. They're divorced and Colby doesn't really want her around.

Except he seems at least a little bit conflicted and that's enough to raise Tyler's hackles, to put him between her and any chance of being near Colby again. If he loses Colby, if he loses this chance... well, his biggest concern was once financial. Once.

"I invited you," Colby says dryly, "would you prefer to have this conversation in the hall?"

Scarlett sighs in exasperation. "Well, please step out of my way, then."

Colby simply does as she asks, shutting the door behind her just slightly, slightly too hard to be neutral. The coldness between them is clear, yet Scarlett seems to keep looking at Colby, like she's waiting for him to do something about the situation.

Tyler leans on the edge of the desk, like he's a disappointed parent about to discipline his child. His backpack sits at his feet, the fateful box inside it. Colby takes a seat at his desk, and Scarlett takes one of the chairs sitting for just this purpose.

"This is a bit of a hostile meeting spot," Scarlett says, hands crossed in her lap. "I was preparing something to tell you, and I'd have hoped I could talk to you in a more private place."

Colby looks at her for a moment. "Are you addressing the fact that we're meeting in my office and not my house, or the fact that Tyler is here?"

Tyler tries not to react when his name is spoken, even when Scarlett looks at him. She looks at him like he's an alien thing, an object that she dislikes but can't communicate with.

"Both," Scarlett says. "The thing I have to say is very private, and I would like to feel like you still consider me, at least, a friend."

"You treat me very coldly, for a friend," Colby says, before taking a moment and sighing. "Okay. That is specifically what we're going to address, but before anything else. There's something I need you to take a look at."