Rory froze. Was he really that obvious? If both Mallorie and Ben could pick up on this, who was to say that other people wouldn’t? Other people like Lexie. Or, worse, Eisen himself. The smallest of shudders rippled through Rory’s body at the very thought, and he turned his eyes away from Ben. Guilt was obviously not the best reaction to have in this situation, but Rory couldn’t help it, at least for a moment. When he turned his eyes back toward Ben, however, they were... harder. More difficult to read. It had taken himself an instant to steel himself for this part of the conversation, but now that he had no choice, the nicer Rory, the one that kept the bitter, angry one in check, was starting to slip away.
“No.” Rory said coldly. It was the first outright lie he’d told over the course of the whole conversation, but at least he managed to say it convincingly. Very convincingly. “Sorry, Ben. That information irrelevant to the conversation. But now you know what you need to know. And I completely understand why you’re angry at me, and why you’ll continue to be. I’d probably have the same reaction if this was happening to one of my brothers. But I appreciate your taking the time to hear my side of the story, even if it doesn’t change your opinion on the circumstances. Hell, it doesn’t really change mine either. It was a nasty, stupid thing to do and I wish I could take it back. But I can’t. So all I ask of you now is that you let me talk to Fiona about it first, so she can smack me and then be on her merry way.”
Despite the genuinely apologetic sentiments expressed in Rory’s words, his tone was both businesslike and dismissive, a far cry from the indecisive one he’d used earlier in the conversation. Rory’s eyes focused on Ben, then flitted toward the door. All that mattered now was getting Ben the hell out of his room before he had the chance to guess again.