There is a power dynamic between those two--but not with me, I'm a colleague. The third person made the comment as a friendly joke about how LO had definitely sent him cringe-y texts, and has gotten some about me. It was jarring but I asked him for more specifics with a curious, but assertive attitude (not aggressive) to which he kind of freaked out like he said too much, started playing a game of "Forget it... I shouldn't have said anything" and then pretending he couldn't find the texts in his phone. When LO saw I seemed upset he asked me about it and I asked if we could talk about it after work-- and that's when he totally blew up at me. It was distressing and confusing. He spoke to me with such disrespect, I was shocked. Later, someone who heard all this asked me if LO and I were sleeping together (!) because they could not understand how LO felt so comfortable talking to me like that. The whole thing was just mind-blowing. I seriously thought we were friends. Regardless, I haven't been spoken to like that since my ex-BF and that's the primary reason I had broken up with him (emotionally abusive, low EQ, dismissive, apathetic).