Naked Hero - The Journey Away

there to be exploited. There was a role he could play in Lewis’s life, and a fortune to be made in the process - for both of them. The role of friend might not be such a bad thing after all - Lee could take and give in true symbiotic fashion - something to consider if Scott Taylor bottled out.
    But self-gain wasn’t the initial impetus behind Lee’s change of tact. He had cost Lewis a deal, and Lewis accepted it as the price of their friendship. Lee had undertaken the current work to make amends – to show that his friendship was worth it. He doubted if Lewis would see it that way now, and he doubted if Lewis would ask him to the final. How could he pretend after this slap in the face that Lee Porter was the perfect man?
    “Did he read it, Fiona?” Lee asked as soon as he entered the house, leaving a blaze of photography behind as the door was closed.
    Fiona led him to the table where a brew was waiting. She subscribed to the old Scottish saying that there was nothing that couldn’t be sorted out over a cup of tea, but feared she might be pushing it on this one. “No. He didn’t want to, but I had to tell him about it, you do understand that. Someone needed to, before he was cornered about it in public. He had to be prepared.”
    Lee joined her at the table and accepted his cup that Fiona poured for him, a splash of milk first just the way he liked it. “Of course I understand. You did the right thing. I knew I would bring trouble, but I didn’t think it would get this bad. Do you think I should go now?”
    “I would drink your tea first,” answered Fiona with a wry smile.
    Lee smiled back, appreciating her attempt at levity. “Thanks... But seriously – what’s he saying?”
    Fiona took a sip from her cup and pushed the plate of shortbread she’d laid out in Lee’s direction. He took a piece without a second’s hesitation – a man in desperate need of a sugar rush at present. “He says he’s not bothered... about the article that is,” Fiona replied. “You’re a free agent, so you can do what you like. A brave face if you ask me... but I don’t think he wants you to go.”
    “People are laughing at him because they think there’s something going on between us, and I’m making a fool out of him.”
    “He won’t be too worried about what other people think, not now. But it would bother him if they were right. Are they?”
    There was no malice in her voice. She didn’t want to punish him, though a part of him wished that she would: make him pay for what he had done, even though it had been no crime. No hurt was intended, at least not by that disappointing encounter, but Lee knew that hurt was being felt, and he knew that a crime had existed in the game he had set out to play. It was for that that he wanted his punishment: to make amends; to make these feelings of guilt go away.
    “I’m not denying what’s been written, Fiona,” he replied. “I regret it. Meaningless to me at the time, but when it affects someone else, someone you care about - then you wish you could undo it. But I can’t.”
    She heard honesty and looked for more. “Are there any other incidents that are going to hit the papers: incidents from Melbourne, since you came here to see him?”
    ‘Still no malice,’ Lee thought, ‘just the mother in her, wanting to protect her son, even though he’s not.’
    “No,” he replied. “I admit to this, and there was something else after this in Sydney, but not anything here. I don’t think I could at the moment. That’s a first.”
    Was he being honest? Or was this all part of some game? Fiona was convinced of the first, and still suspicious of the second. But there was an admission of vulnerability that took them both by surprise - Lee perhaps more than her. She wondered how much further he would go.
    “How long do you think that could be kept up then, if Lewis was in your life?”
    “He won’t be, neither of us would allow it, for the same reason. We both know I would hurt him… again!”
    “You’re avoiding the question,” said Fiona in conclusion. “Perhaps it’s something you should think about. Have another piece of shortbread, and I’ll make us a fresh pot of tea as you sort it out in your head.”
    When Lewis arrived, he put the issue to bed immediately, going over to Lee and slapping him on the back. “I hear you’re in the papers again today. They seem to be getting a bit nasty towards you now, are you okay?”
    “I’m fine, Lewis. It’s you