Page 49 of Ethan & Grace

But those who have been following The Blackroom for a while know that sexual abuse is not the only crime Richard Darlington has been guilty of over the past decades. Bribery, economic espionage, and assault are hardly indicative of a clean record.

At the trial, Mrs. Darlington and Ethan Darlington were present, showing their support for Richard. Henry Darlington, however, stayed away from the court. The outcome of the trial will only become clear in a few weeks, but one thing is already certain: It will be significant not only for Darlington’s victims, but for society at large.

18

Richard Darlington: How False Accusations Damage Reputations

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Grace

“I have no decency, no dignity, and no self-respect,” I burst out as Rose returned to our table with a pitcher in hand. Kate had already been asleep when I’d crept into Henry’s penthouse after my adventures with Ethan last night. I hadn’t wanted to tell her in passing before work, so I’d waited until the three of us were sitting in our favourite pub that evening. Now I couldn’t keep my secret to myself a second longer.

Rose poured us drinks. “What?”

“I messed around with Ethan.”

“What?!” she exclaimed again, this time clearly outraged. She was so shocked, she missed my glass, spilling what seemed like half the pitcher onto the table. “Fuck!” she swore, eliciting a mix of curious and disapproving glances from the surrounding guests.

Kate jumped up from her seat and hurried to the bar to fetch a cloth, while Rose and I tried to stem the puddle with paper napkins so it wouldn’t drip onto the floor.

“You had sex with Ethan Darlington?” Rose hissed through clenched teeth.

I had suspected she would react like this. She knew I thought Ethan was hot, but she’d always trusted I would never go there. And honestly, that had always been the plan.

“We didn’t actually fuck,” I said, trying to soothe her. “He just fingered me.”

“Oh, that’s obviously completely different,” Rose said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Here!” Kate called, returning with two cloths. She hastily soaked up the spill with the dry one before wiping over the table with the damp one so the surface wouldn’t get sticky. She took the cloths back to the bar before returning to settle on her barstool. The other guests had turned away from us again now that the commotion was over.

“Start from the beginning,” Kate said. “What exactly do you mean by ‘messed around with Ethan’?”

“It means he finger-fucked her,” Rose said snidely.

Kate shook her head in confusion. Unlike Rose, she had no idea that I was physically attracted to Ethan. She only knew one side of the story: I couldn’t stand him. “How did that happen?”

I poured myself some beer and took a big gulp before recounting how Ethan had approached me on the rooftop terrace last night and how one thing had led to another—unplanned, but not unforeseeable. After all, there had been tension between us for a while.

“I felt pretty awful after the fight with my parents, and honestly, the last few months have been terrible. I just wanted to feel a bit better, and when the chance with Ethan came up, I took it.”

“Couldn’t you have felt better with another guy?” Rose asked.

“It wasn’t planned. It just happened,” I said, torn between apologising and defending myself.

I understood why Rose was disappointed, but I’d just explained—and shouldn’t she, as my friend, take my feelings into account too? Not just the other way around? I’d felt better last night than I had in weeks. Besides, Ethan wasn’t his dad. Rose shouldn’t judge him for something his father had done. And who else could I talk to about these things if not my two best friends?

“I thought you couldn’t stand Ethan,” Kate said, still looking puzzled.

“I don’t have to like him to have sex with him,” I said, although that was only half the truth. It was true that Ethan and I had spent most of our relationship at each other’s throats, constantly getting on each other’s nerves. Mostly, that had been thanks to the way we’d first met and Ethan’s outrageous behaviour back then. Since that day, he had more or less been on my blacklist. But people change, and so do opinions.

Until a few days ago, I would have bet that there wasn’t much beneath Ethan’s pretty exterior, but I was slowly starting to think I’d been wrong.

Kate nodded. “That makes sense.”

“Don’t encourage her!” Rose protested.

“Why not? They’re both adults, and they can do whatever they want. If it makes Grace feel better after everything that’s happened, then why not? Ethan’s attractive, and apparently, he’s fun.” Kate took a sip of her beer and looked at me curiously. “Right?”