Silence.
Ansel looked at him for a long moment.
Then he said, "You're right."
Lance blinked.
"You're not asking for more than I've decided to give," Ansel continued, his voice unhurried and precise. "And what I've decided is that what happened today is a violation of the contract. Whatever story sits behind it." He stood up from the couch, straightening his jacket. "I don't deal in intentions, Lance. I deal in what happened. And what happened is that you kissed someone else."
"He kissed me—"
"Your lips were on his." Ansel's eyes met his directly. "I don't care whose idea it was."
The words hit Lance somewhere quiet and deep.
"So that's it," Lance said. "That's all you took from everything I just said."
Ansel looked at him evenly.
"Don't victimise it."
The room went completely silent.
Lance stared at him.
He wasn't sure how long he stood there.
Long enough for those three words to settle somewhere they couldn't be taken back from.
