"RJ," Bill said to his nephew with a nod as he sat down for breakfast. RJ looked up from the pancakes the cook had made and nodded back a greeting.
"They're chocolate chip," RJ told Bill, pointing at the pancakes with his fork. He didn't know what else to say. While Bill hadn't said or done anything to indicate otherwise, RJ got the sense that his uncle didn't want him around. He probably knew that RJ was the one who had ruined Caroline in the press. Thankfully, Bill was probably the only person alive who hated Ridge more than RJ himself, so there was a chance he didn't know.
"Okay." Bill grabbed the bottle of syrup, grumbled about it not being hot, and poured it over his pancakes. Then he looked back to RJ. "So, why are you in my house?"
"Bill!" Katie warned from her seat next to Will. RJ's cousin was being fussy and not wanting to eat his breakfast.
Setting down the syrup, Bill threw up his hands. "What? Am I not allowed to take an interest in my nephew?"
"You could be nice about it," Katie sighed, shaking her head and trying to get Will to eat.
"It's fine. He's just being Bill," RJ assured his aunt. He turned back to his uncle and took a deep breath. "Things are okay if you ignore the fact that Noah is cheating on me."
A look crossed Bill's face that RJ couldn't read, but he heard the sound of Katie dropping Will's fork.
"Oh, RJ, I'm so sorry. Do you want to talk about it?" Katie asked, picking the fork back up and resuming her quest to feed her son.
RJ looked at Bill and shook his head. "I think I'll wait until Bill goes to work, Aunt Katie. No offence meant."
"None taken. I really don't care." Bill shrugged and began digging into his pancakes. RJ looked at Katie, and she just looked back at him.
B&B
"Where were you yesterday, Rick? You vanished." Layla closed the door to his office and sat in the chair in front of his desk. "We need to talk."
"I was dealing with the Maya situation. I spent all night having her things removed from the mansion."
Layla didn't quite believe him. "And that's why you didn't answer the phone? Rick, have you seen the Eye on Fashion website?"
"I've been a little busy this morning. This company is dealing with not one, but two scandals. That's not quite what we had planned, but sales for Ridge and Caroline's last collection are falling well below what I had anticipated. And yours are holding steady. This is perfect."
"Rick, Listen to me. RJ has been outed as the source of the leak." Layla was bothered when Rick barely reacted.
He just shrugged and laughed. "Isn't that kind of what he wanted? It takes all the internal pressure off of me and you, and RJ can be the either the hero who outed a couple of racist bigots or the villain who tried to destroy his family's legacy. It all depends on what he says to the press.
"And just what did my little brother say?" Rick asked, playing with his pink and green sequined tie.
"Nothing, Rick. RJ hasn't spoken to the press. Or anybody. He's vanished, just like Maya. He won't answer his phone. Maya won't answer hers. I'm worried that we may have bitten off more than we can chew with this."
Then Rick laughed again. "Layla, look at us. Me and you? We're fine. Everyone else is rolling around in the shit like a bunch of flea-ridden dogs, but we're clean and clear and smell like roses. Nobody knows that we had anything to do with this. So, as far as I'm concerned, RJ got what he wanted and Maya got what she deserved. Now we just have to make sure we don't let this distract us from the reason any of this happened: Ridge and Caroline still haven't resigned."
"Is that really all you care about, Rick? You don't care about the people who were caught in the crossfire of this war between you and your brother?"
Rick stopped laughing and stared right at Layla. "Listen to me: there have been no innocents hurt in this. You and Maya brought my brother into this. In fact, you two were the ones who brought it to me. So if things aren't going how you wanted, then you only have yourself to blame."
B&B
"Do you know how hard it was to sit at the same table as him and not throttle the brat?" Bill asked Steffy. "He put my niece through hell, and then he thinks he can stay in my house? RJ is lucky Katie was there."
"So, that's where he's been hiding: he wasn't at his loft the other day. His boyfriend had no idea where he was. My brother has a nasty habit of wrecking things and then disappearing."
"No, Steffy, he showed up last night. Late last night. We don't know what he did yesterday. And then this morning, he's talking about Noah cheating on him."
Steffy laughed. "Seriously? I met Noah. He's an idiot. I don't even know why RJ wants him, let alone why anyone else would."
Then Bill chuckled. "You don't know about Eden, do you?"
"What is an Eden? Is that one of those gay clubs or something? Liam and I used to go to drag shows, but I don't remember any place called 'Eden'."
Shaking his head, Bill pulled out his phone. "Not a place. Eden is a person: she's Noah's ex-girlfriend. I guess they were serious. Serious enough that when Eden came to town, Noah felt the need to hide it from RJ."
"How do you know about Noah Newman's love life? Bill?" Steffy took his phone and looked at the picture he had pulled up. "Is this Eden? She's so... This is one plain woman."
"Eden is my intern. I didn't know she was connected to Noah until a couple weeks ago," Bill lied. He could tell Steffy didn't believe him. It didn't really matter. She would never be able to guess the truth. "RJ had me and Katie over for dinner not long ago. Eden had some contracts for me, so I had her deliver them to his place. And it came out Noah already knew she was in town, and Noah never told RJ. Your brother didn't take it well."
"So, Noah has secrets of his own, and he and RJ aren't as solid as I'd been led to believe." Steffy handed Bill back his phone and threw her hair over her shoulder. "I can use that."
"Steffy, what are you planning?"
"You concentrate on L&M, Bill. You ruin my brother professionally. I'll do it personally. Because if a nothing like this Eden can cause this much trouble for RJ, then imagine what I can do. Noah Newman is about to meet the woman of his dreams."
B&B
"Where were you?" Maya asked as Noah stumbled into the loft. He looked hungover, but she couldn't smell anything on him except failed antiperspirant. She quickly shut the door before anyone could see her and helped him to the sofa. "I'll go get you some coffee."
"Did RJ come back?" Noah asked, sounding very much like someone who felt guilty as hell. It was a feeling Maya knew well.
She answered him while pouring his coffee. "RJ never showed up."
"He did," Noah protested while taking the hot mug from Maya. She didn't join him on the sofa, instead opting to sit on the coffee table.
"When? I've been here all day. Where were you, Noah? What happened with you and RJ?"
"You did." Noah looked at Maya and she saw the pain in his eyes. That didn't change the fact that she had no idea what he was talking about. "Last night, when you were in the shower, RJ came back. He was a mess. Something is going on with him, all this stuff with his dad. He broke down the second he walked into the loft."
Nodding, Maya wondered just what she could have done to RJ. She didn't see the need to tell Noah that she had colluded with RJ on outing Ridge and Caroline. She didn't see the need to say anything because listening to Noah kept her mind off of her own problems.
"Do you know about Eden?" Noah asked, and Maya told him she didn't. "Of course you don't. Not a whole lot of people do. Or did. But Eden was my ex. And she's made RJ really insecure. Not without reason. But yesterday, you were in the shower and RJ came home and he saw your coat and your shoes and thought you were her.
"He was gone before I could explain anything."
"So you were out all night and all day looking for him? Liam called your cell. I don't know why, because I didn't answer. Nobody can know I'm here."
"And nobody does. I swear. Not even RJ. And I did leave to find him. I really did."
"But?" Maya knew something was coming. Something big.
Noah sighed and took a drink of his coffee, but his hands were shaking the entire time. Maya took the cup before he spilled it on himself.
"I woke up in Eden's bed. She has a place in this building. How, I don't know. She must have just moved in, but the last thing I remember is going out to get RJ and then waking up with her. And I slept with her, Maya. I slept with Eden and I don't remember it and everything my boyfriend was worried about came true."
"You're sure you had sex with her? Because you told me you don't remember anything. Or did you fuck this Eden after you woke up?" Maya really appreciated having something to do other than think about how much Rick must hate her.
"There are ways you can tell that stuff, Maya. Surely you remember," Noah told her. Then he slapped his hand over his mouth and his bloodshot eyes widened. "Oh my god. I'm so sorry."
She smiled even though his words had hurt. He didn't mean it. A lot of people were probably saying things that were a lot worse and not even thinking about apologizing.
"Thank you," she said quietly. Then Maya nodded. "But yes, I do remember some things. I wish I didn't, but I wish for a lot of things that won't come true."
Maya's manicured nails bit into her palm as she thought of Rick and the ring he had put on her finger. She had left that ring on his nightstand.
Noah groaned. "Why am I even talking about me? You're having it so much worse than I am. My god, I'm a selfish ass."
"You are," Maya agreed, laying a hand on Noah's knee, "but there's no point in talking about me. There's nothing anybody can do. But you and RJ may still have the chance that Rick and I don't."
"He took it that badly?" Noah asked, looking at Maya. The pity on his face made her hate herself: not because of who she was, but because she had thought hiding it would protect her.
"I don't know," she admitted. "I woke up before he did. I checked my work email on my phone while he was still in bed and I saw all kinds of things that I can't repeat. The last time I spoke to him, he didn't know."
"Maybe he's okay with it. I know you told me that you knew he wouldn't be, but maybe he's going out of his mind worried about you the same way I'm worried about RJ."
As much as she appreciated what Noah was trying to do, Maya knew better. Noah didn't know Rick. She doubted he had even met Rick: the only times she ever saw Noah was when he was visiting RJ at L&M.
"Yeah," she said with a nod, not believing a word she was about to say. "Maybe he is."
B&B
"You're certain Noah cheated on you?" Katie asked RJ after Will had been put down for his nap.
RJ nodded and sighed. "There was a woman's coat on our bed and the shower was running. He wasn't in it, so Eden had to be."
"Eden, from the dinner? Noah's ex-girlfriend?" Katie used one hand to squeeze her nephew's knee and the other to rub his arm. "Honey, I'm so sorry."
"The worst part of it? He acted like she wasn't even there," RJ said grimly, forcing out a single laugh that he didn't feel. "I walked in the door feeling like shit and he just held me and acted like he hadn't cheated, too."
When Katie let go of RJ's hand, he felt what was left of his already broken heart shatter. He had hoped she wouldn't judge him. His aunt was the only person who had never made him feel bad. She was the only person who was always in his corner. And he was afraid he was going to lose that.
"You... You cheated on Noah?" Katie asked, her voice as uncertain as his feelings. "Oh, RJ."
When he spoke, RJ was afraid he would devolve into unintelligible sobs, but his voice was so strong and smooth that neither the anger nor the despair he was feeling leaked out.
"I spent all of yesterday with another man. I had slept at his apartment, in his bed, the night before. And it felt good. It felt great, just being with someone where I didn't have to worry about lies or having him sneak around behind my back because we both wanted the same thing. All I feel when I'm around Noah anymore is angry."
"Are you mad at him or yourself?" Katie took RJ's hand again. She felt so warm, so comforting. He was glad that he hadn't lost her.
"Both? I'm definitely not proud of what I did, but I don't regret it, either. Because when I went home yesterday, before I came here, I was going to tell Noah to leave. I was going to tell him it was over and then I saw his face and it all changed.
"I just wanted him to forgive me for what I had done. For those few seconds, when he held me, I was afraid of losing him. And then I saw Eden's coat and I knew that I already had. Before he slept with her, before I cheated, he had already kissed her, Aunt Katie. It's all so messed up."
Katie used her free hand to pull her nephew into a hug. All RJ wanted to do was break down in her arms. He felt safe there, in her embrace, but he knew it wouldn't last forever. And while he tried to cry, nothing came out.
"Do you want to stay with Noah?" Katie kissed RJ's forehead and began rocking him as if he were a child. He didn't hate it. "I'm not asking if you deserve him or if he'll take you back or anything else. I just want to know if you still want him."
"I do," RJ whispered fearfully. "I still love him."
"Then you should go home to him, RJ. Try to work things out. If there's anything left to save, I believe you'll only find it together. And if there's not, you can always come back here."
RJ pulled out of his aunt's embrace. As much as he didn't want to admit it, she was wrong. There was no way for him to work things out with Noah. He knew how things would go: Noah would eventually leave him for Eden, just like he had in Paris. When they got back together, RJ knew he was the second choice. Loving Noah had never been enough to keep him.
Maya had once told him to forgive mistakes, but she also told him to remember his self-worth.
"I've been wearing the same thing for three days," RJ noted as he stood up and brushed invisible dust from his pants. "My hair is tragic and I need to shave."
"You're going to see him?" Katie asked, rising to her feet. "Do you want me to go with you?"
Shaking his head, RJ pulled out his phone. He knew what he was about to do would hurt a lot of people, but it needed to be done. It was all so tiresome.
"I need to do this alone. Can you have a driver take me to the Fenmore's on Rodeo and drop me off? I'll be fine from there."
"Sure thing, Honey. I hope everything works out."
"Me, too," RJ said as he unlocked his phone. He looked back up to his aunt and gave her the closest thing to a sincere smile that he could muster. "Goodbye, Aunt Katie."
"Bye, RJ." They hugged one final time, then she called for a driver while he walked into the foyer and scrolled through his contacts. The phone was already dialing as he strolled outside to wait for the car to be pulled around.
"RJ? Are you okay?" The man asked. "I've been worried about you. Things are crazy here like you wouldn't believe."
"Everything's fine," RJ answered after making sure the front door was closed. He closed his eyes and breathed out through his nose. "Thad, what time are you off today? I know things are nuts at L&M right now, but I think that us having a night out on the town will be the perfect fix for all of our problems."