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. What the hell happened? he demanded.Tommy winced. What in the hell happened to waiting for the fucking lawyer? Huh? Tommy smiled mirthlessly. Hi. Brett had the grace to be embarrassed. Hi.I m sorry. Hesighed. Oh, Tommy.I know why you& did what you did in there.Ijust 146 M.King You had nothin to do with it.I couldn t let them treat you likeyou did. But what s gonna happen? How are ya? Is everything& I mean,can you ? What s going on? Cause they wouldn t tell me anything.No one would tell me anythin at all and&. Brett stopped.He heard himself, the words just pouring out withno control.Not what Tommy needed right now. I m all right, Tommy said.He reached up and tucked his hairbehind his ear. I got, uh, arraigned on second degree.They set bailpretty high, though, so I m here til the trial, I guess.Lawyer says so,anyway. Collins? Brett snorted. I spoke to him.Man s an ass.Kepttalking about how you oughta be preparing yourself for a guilty plea,hope for leniency? Tommy opened his mouth as if to say something, but Brettplowed on.The thought that they d been caught before Tommy hadactually told him what happened that night passed across his mindonly very briefly.He stomped on it, hard. No.You need to get a new defense.Woulda been better to havea new lawyer before the arraignment, but you can still do it.I got somenumbers for you. Tommy frowned. Wh His name s Michael Ribideaux.Works out of Helena.He sreally good.He says you could have a shot at voluntarymanslaughter& maybe even an acquittal with a sympathetic jury, ifthey could prove sustained, uh, abuse. Brett bit his lip.He knew Tommy wouldn t take kindly to thatword; he never had.Brett remembered him flying off the handle whenhe d used it once before.He s not like that it s never been like that!Eyes wild, voice sharp& the strength of his denial had only scaredBrett more.Only, Tommy barely reacted at all.His frown just deepened. I don t know.Where d you find him? I-I thought the legal-aidguy Internet, Brett explained shortly, praying Tommy wouldn tkeep asking questions like that. I did some research. Breaking Faith 147He d spent hours reading up, searching directories and databases,learning a hundred and one things he d never thought he d need toknow. But Tommy switched the phone to his other ear and cradledit against his shoulder. He has a great reputation.He s worked a lot of domestic abuh, a lot of cases he s gotten acquittals and lighter sentences on.Hecould really help.I ve spoken to him on the phone.I got all thenumbers.He says he d be happy to take the case, and I really, reallythink you oughta Brett&. Please.I don t wanna see you go to trial with a legal-aiddefender. Brett, I can t afford It s handled.Okay? Just call the guy.Sign off on it.That s allyou need to do.Just say you ll do it, yeah? I don t have the m Tommy, please! A short, hot silence flared between them.Slowly, horrifiedrealization spread over Tommy s face. Oh, you don t mean& ? You wanna pay? No, Brett.No.Ican t Brett hunched over the phone and leaned closer to the glass. Baby, listen.You need a good lawyer.This guy s good.So just let mehelp. No! How are you gonna& ? I got a loan, Brett lied, meeting Tommy s eyes, willing him tojust damn well accept it, whether he believed him or not. I can pay.Let me help. The air seemed to creak as they looked at each other through thecold glass. But it s your college money, Tommy said after a long moment. Isn t it? In a way, it made Brett feel proud.Like it showed how wellTommy knew him, or what kind of kickass lovers telepathy they had. 148 M.King Your ears go pink when you lie, Tommy explained. I won ttake it.I don t wanna&.I mean, you gotta go to Washington. Brett deflated.He blushed, hating the heat that rushed to hischeeks. You can.I want you to. But&. Take it.Take the damn money, Tommy.Please. I Look. Brett sighed.Stubborn bastard. It s not just for you,okay? It s for me, too.I can take a couple years out.Keep working,keep savin up&.You re only gonna get one shot at your defense.You know what could happen.You did so much for me already.Letme do this? TOMMY hung his head.The raw wash of humiliation, the fear, theguilt, and the pain& everything riled up in him.It had become so hardto think right, so hard to make sense even of the simple things.And Brett never made anything simple. Also, um, I called the lady at the tribal council in FortBelknap&. He glanced up, exhausted and bewildered. What? Brett licked his lips nervously.Looking at him burned like itnever had before: so much blind faith, hope, and yeah, even love in hisface.Tommy knew just how badly he d hurt him.He wouldn t haveblamed Brett if he d never wanted to see him again.But there he sat allthe same, and he didn t look like he wanted to go anywhere. If they ll, uh&. Brett cleared his throat. If they allow you tomake an application just so you got the tribal enrollment number,right? there s all kinds of programs that could help.It s not justgrants for college; there s special stuff for people in the penal system,so& y know, it could take time, but it d help. You re just a one-man defense team, aren t you? Hey, I m tryin to help. Breaking Faith 149Tommy sighed.He knew that.But it wasn t the point, and hecouldn t bear to look at that pissed-off, wounded face Brett had onnow.He knew he was being an ass, but there wasn t much he could doabout it; there s only so much charity a body can take.Tommy rubbedhis face, then moved to touch the glass with his hand but somehowdidn t quite get there.His fingers flexed on the bench.He couldn t have seen this coming.Not for a minute.Couldn t have ever thought he d stay. I can t take the money.You re supposed to go to Washington, he said hoarsely. We talked about it.I thought Shh.Washington can wait.Anyhow, I talked about you comin too.And you never even thought about that, did ya? Tommy blinked.That sounded like recrimination, however calmBrett kept his tone. I& , he began, because it wasn t true.He d thought about Washington so much.But he d known hecouldn t leave.Known that it wasn t for him, that life.Accepted it,because they weren t his dreams.They shone too bright, bloomed toobig for him.No.You had to accept your limits.Live with them.Withinthem.Brett in fact, the whole summer had been the last gasp of hisrebellion.One thing to call his own, to keep sacred.Tommy hadn tgone looking for it, and he hadn t expected it to last or to be soimportant.You couldn t put a river in a glass; all the dazzling water,the sound and the light and the whirling eddies& all parts ofsomething else.He realized he d fallen silent.His mouth grew dry, andFresno filled his head. I thought you d move on, he said quietly, looking away
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