The Photoshoot
Part Three
"Come on kitten, back to the meeting. Not long now, I promise."
Val took a quick look around before stealing another quick kiss. "Do
we HAVE to go back?" He asked playfully.
"Yes, we do. You've got a job to finish then we must get you to bed."
"You'll be coming with me, right?" Val said as he wandered back
inside.
"We'll see." Was all Luke said.
Luke again melted into the wallpaper as Val finished up business. The
record executives were making plans to wrap up business at the bar,
inviting Val to join them.
Luke stepped in. "Val, you need to be fresh for your pictures
tomorrow, lets say we get you upstairs, shall we?"
Val looked gratefully up at Luke. "Yes, I am tired. Another time
gentlemen?" Val got up and shook hands all around, before finally
getting out the door and upstairs, Luke trailing behind.
Halfway up the stairs, Val caught another glimpse of a face watching
from the dining room. He touched Luke's sleeve.
"Luke? I've left my watch in the lounge, I won't be a moment."
Luke shrugged and went on upstairs. Val slipped across to the
reception desk.
"Excuse me? That gentleman in the dining room- with the tweed jacket?
He looks like an old friend of mine but I don't want to bother him
while he's eating-" the charm slipped out without effort. "Is he
resident in the hotel?"
The receptionist glanced through the open door and smiled. "Yes sir."
"Wonderful. I'll catch him later- would you mind giving him this?"
Val tore a sheet off the hotel writing pad and picked up a pen. The
note was short and to the point and would certainly get Price's
attention. Val straightened his jacket and ran upstairs after Luke.
The next morning found Val in torn jean shorts, a skin tight white
t-shirt practically painted on, and flip flops. He was in a big
sandbox, complete with umbrella and lounge chair. They were taking
shots for summer ads today.
Luke again stepped back fading into the background as everyone fussed
over Val, making sure his makeup was right, the hair right, and that
he ALWAYS had one of their drinks in his hands. Luke watched to make
certain that Val wasn't drinking them and that he always had a steady
supply of water on hand.
After three hours, they took a thirty minute break for lunch. Val
looked around for Luke to join him, but Luke shook his head no. Val
started to voice a complaint, but shut up at the sternness with which
Luke mouthed "no".
After lunch, round two and three more hours of pictures. Val was
becoming increasingly bored and frustrated and let his displeasure
start to show. And he began to take several sips of the drink he
seemed to have glued to his hand.
Luke scowled, but Val was deliberately evading his eye and there
wasn't much he could do apart from storm across to Val and rip the
glass out of his hand. Which was an attractive idea but not feasible.
Instead he found Max and tapped his elbow. Not gently.
"He's getting tired, I think you should call it a day."
"Do you realise how much all this costs per hour?" Max demanded
indignantly. "There are people earning thousands on this lot-"
"You can replace everyone but Val, Max. And I'm pretty sure I could
talk him into replacing you if I tried hard enough."
Max glowered. Luke nodded at the sandbox.
"Three days? And that almighty London gig at the end of it? Don't
push him Max. Not at the moment."
Max stalked across to the director, muttering. Luke found himself
wondering if Max had scheduled this shoot deliberately. The publicity
was huge when stars pulled out of shows at the last minute-
especially under stress or illness. Positive or negative publicity,
it made little difference to Max or Orion, either way translated as
money to them. Val was replaceable at a cost. Luke looked serious
dislike at the agent's back and heard Max's booming voice as he swept
across to Val, sounding downright maternal.
"Now I said that's enough! He looks exhausted, I insist we stop here-"
Val so far was keeping his mouth shut and Luke looked at him with
affection for how well he was behaving in a situation which would
have snapped far more controlled tempers than his. His arms were
folded, he looked white and fed up and the explosion was not far
away, but he said nothing as Max drew him inside. Luke followed,
aware of Max feeding Val several more drinks while the management
team discussed retakes and schedules for the following day. It was
nearly an hour before Luke managed to extract Val, get him into the
coolness of the air conditioned interior and out of sight. There, Val
stalked across the hall and kicked the nearest door frame, hard.
"I don't BELIEVE the time these damn things take! I've got another
two days of THAT?"
"Why don't you change," Luke said softly, "We'll get out of here for
a few hours and you can let off some steam? Its finished for today."
Oh that was tempting. Val looked at his watch and only just managed
to hang on to the illusion enough to be convincing.
"I'm sorry Luke, I'm just really tired. I could do with a few hours
on my own to sleep."
"Fine, I'll come with you."
Val spun on him, stressed enough that he didn't have to try to make
himself sound convincing.
"LUKE! Damnit I've had people all over me all day, talking and pawing
and carrying on, I just want a few hours to be on my own! Alone! Is
that TOO much to ask?"
Inside, Luke's mouth dropped open in complete surprise, and hurt
feelings bubbled up. But on the outside, he looked the same as he
managed to say "No, not too much to ask. Sleep well, kitten." and
turned on his heel and headed to the bar.
Val felt bad for his outburst, and almost went after Luke to
apologize. But he held back as he realized that he HAD to take care
of Mr. Price tonight if he were to have ANY hope of a relationship
with Luke. He'd make it up to him later. He bounded up the stairs and
to his room to change.
About 20 minutes later he slowly made his way downstairs. He looked
around for any signs of Luke and found none. He headed over to the
hallway of guest suites and conference rooms that were located there
on the main floor for entertainment purposes. One suite was open, it
looked to Val to be a wedding party in full swing. He made his way
past that, two doors down to Suite 103. He still wasn't quite sure
what he was going to do. He thought if he gave a scream that at least
he'd be heard without too much trouble,
and that was the only thing that mattered right now. He went in, sat
down, and waited for Mr. Price to arrive.
The bastard made him wait. Price excelled in getting his victims in
the right frame of mind to spill their guts for cheap journalism. Val
looked up at him with open dislike when the reporter finally wandered
into the room and gave him a friendly smile.
"Val. What can I do for you?"
Val ran a finger slowly across the top of the desk he was sitting at.
"If I talk to you- give you the exclusive you want- will that buy you
off?"
"Oh for now, certainly. The story would be worth - well." Price
winked. "About the same as they pay you for an hour posing in front
of cameras. Do you want to talk business?"
"I'll talk." Val said flatly. "But not here."
"Where then?" Price's eyes narrowed. "I'm not messing about Val. This
is a business transaction, I've got a living to make."
"This way." Val indicated the door that opened onto the garden. Price
shrugged and moved ahead of him, pulling his jacket off as they moved
towards the heat of the patio.
"You have to understand kid. You're public property and there's
nothing you can do about it."
"Isn't there?" Val said coldly. Something in his tone made Price stop
and look around. Val looked right back.
"There is something I can do Mr. Price."
Quite deliberately, Val reached and pushed over a table and a chair.
Price's eyes widened with shock.
"What the hell-"
"You're going to learn not to mess with me, Mr. Price. Or with my
lawyers."
Price suddenly caught on as Val put his own hands to his shirt collar
and tore. "Quentin! For God's sake, you wouldn't!"
That sunk any last qualm Val had. "Oh wouldn't I?" he said grimly,
and let loose a scream that shook the windows. It was followed by
shriek upon shriek, loud enough that there was no hope of it going
unheard. Price's immediate and instinctive response was to grab Val,
who flailed at him, tearing at his clothes, Price's fumbling hands
crushing his sleeves and bruising his wrists as Val yanked against
his grasp, struggling as though he was terrified.
"For God's sake!" Price was imploring, scared stiff, "Val PLEASE be
quiet-"
The door burst inwards. The hotel, for all it's discretion, kept a
well stocked security staff. The scene the staff rushed in on was so
self explanatory that there was no hesitation. One terrified, slight
and distraught young man was helplessly struggling against the
onslaught of a much larger, much older man who was trying hard to
intimidate him to silence. Val collapsed to the floor in a limp heap,
sobbing breathlessly as two guards grabbed Price and wrestled him to
the floor. The third man, a junior manager, grabbed Val's shoulders,
near panic.
"Mr. Quentin? Dear God what happened? What did he do?"
Val buried his head in his hands and sobbed in rising hysteria.
Just then Luke burst in upon the scene, having heard the screams and
thinking he could be of some assistance. When he recognized Val's
small form curled in a ball on the floor his heart rushed upwards,
nearly choking him. He ran to Val, falling on his knees as soon as he
got close. He took Val's hands from his face and brought the tear
stained face up to his. "Val, what happened? Are you alright?"
Val's face flooded with relief at the sight of Luke. He had managed
to work himself into a true state of near hysteria and knowing Luke
was near helped him to calm down somewhat. "Th...that man, Mr....Mr.
Price....he at...attacked me." He said, hiccuping.
Luke's face darkened considerably as he rose to his feet. He hadn't
had time to think of anyone but Val but now his hard and cold as
steel gaze sought out Mr. Price.
Mr. Price was stuttering in frustration as the two security guards
hoisted him to his feet, his hands securely handcuffed. When he
looked up, he completely lost his voice, and almost his bladder as he
spied Luke. Luke looked every inch of his six foot six frame, and
just about as broad in muscle. And the look on his face was murderous.
Luke stormed towards Price his voice starting at a menacing grumble
and rising rapidly "What have you done TO VAL YOU BASTARD!"
One security guard let go of Mr. Price to catch and hold Luke, who
looked like he was about to murder the man. "HOLD IT! STOP!" Luke
struggled against the grip of the guard, but sanity returned and he
stopped the struggle.
Mr. Price's eyes were about to bug out of his pudgy face and sweat
was dripping onto his shirt. "N..n...nothing! He set me up!
I've...I've done nothing, you've got to believe me!"
"Pigs will fly before I believe that shit! What did you do?!?"
The manager helped Val to his feet. Val was still sobbing, but he had
settled down enough to have seen Luke almost go berserk. He saw the
muscles rippling in Luke's arms as Luke flexed them. He looked to Val
to be a bulldog ready to kill.
Somewhere between frightened at what he'd unleashed, at the raw
emotion in Luke's face and a little excitement at the sheer drama of
it, Val looked at Price, swallowing on a little satisfaction. This
should teach the little wretch to go threatening celebrities and
wrecking their private lives.
Luke's fists were still clenching and unclenching. Finally he spun
away from Price.
"Call the police."
"Luke.." Val said pitifully. Luke pushed past the manager and put an
arm tight around his shoulders.
"It's okay kitten, it's all over. Lets get you out of here."
That suited Val fine. He clung to Luke, letting him steer them both
in a wide circle around Price and up the broad stairs. In his room
upstairs, Val curled up in the corner of the couch where Luke put him
and released the last of the hysteria in several minutes far calmer
crying. He was aware of Luke pacing by the window, apparently
admiring the view.
Luke was actually fighting the urge to go back downstairs and kill
Price. Every sob, every soft sound from the sofa tore at his heart
and raised his sense of rage still higher. Val was only a kid- a
slight, small kid with no real worldly knowledge and no means of
fighting off a man like Price. Anger turned over into self blame.
Luke had no other option. He had left Val alone. He had been the one
supposed to - paid to- watch and protect him from attacks like this.
Few attacks could have been more distressing or damaging for him.
Luke shut his eyes, pressed his hands to them and tried to calm down.
So much was hammering in his brain he had no idea what to do first,
and the hardest task was the one that most needed doing. He steeled
himself and sat down on the sofa, making his voice sound calm and
reassuring, making his hands gentle when he wanted to grip and
clutch. "Alright Val, it's okay. Everything's okay. Listen to me.
Come on baby, you've got to tell me. Are you hurt? Are you sure?"
"No.." Val sat up, sniffing. Luke gently peeled his sleeves back and
found the bruises, red and purple on his upper arms. "Is this all?
Think, love. You were scared as hell, you might not have felt it."
"I don't think so."
Luke pulled his head down and pressed his lips hard to Val's forehead.
"Alright. I want you to get out of those clothes- don't do anything
with them, just leave them- have a shower if you want, check yourself
over. I'll come and help in just a minute, I've got some calls to
make?"
"Who?" Val said shakily. Luke's intensity was starting to scare him.
Luke sighed but didn't try to bluff.
"Orion. Max. The hotel manager. There's a lot of balls I've got to
set rolling here. Don't you worry about it kitten, leave it with me.
The important thing is that you're alright."
"But Lu-"
"The shower kitten, now. Please?"
Val could tell that Luke was already planning his next moves and
little that he could say would change things. He got up and slowly
walked to the bathroom, wondering exactly what was going to be said,
how it was going to be handled. Now that he had time to calm down
from the anger and sadness, he began to worry if he had done the
right thing. He hadn't thought beyond the immediacy of trying to shut
Price up. He hadn't thought about anything really happening other
than Price disappearing. He slowly peeled the clothes from his body
and jumped in the shower.
Luke thought about all the calls he needed to make. Then he thought
of Val in the shower. He was more interested in making sure Val was
taken care of now than in the phone calls that would just start a
nightmare of more phone calls, inquiries, press, police, and
everything else that would accompany that first call. He decided to
put off that first phone call until he put Val in bed, make sure he
really WAS alright. He headed into the bathroom.
Luke decided he as well could use a shower, and what better way to
check Val out. He stripped and entered the oversized shower with Val.
Val looked up in surprise as the curtain opened and in waltzed Luke.
"Hey, I thin-" was all he got out before Luke was locked onto his
lower lip, nibbling slowly, sucking the moisture from the soft skin.
Val almost melted down the drain, as Luke's hands massaged his body,
the lips worrying his own.
Luke pulled himself away, not wanting to go any farther. He grabbed
the soap and began washing Val from head to toe. Val stood in an
almost comatose state, enjoying every bit of the ministrations of
Luke. All too soon Luke finished, satisfied and reassured Val was at
least unmarked and not too distressed.
"Kitten, put a robe on and go and sit down. Call room service, get
yourself a drink or something. Can you do that?"
"Come with me?" Val pleaded. There was something in that tone that
made Luke look at him. It implied Mr. Quentin had several ways in mind
of spending the rest of this day and it wasn't exactly the tone of
someone distraught from fighting off an attacker. Val had been
jostled plenty of times, he'd been assaulted a time or two when a
crowd got out of control, he'd even been shot at- but this seemed
blase even for him. Luke wondered just how badly he was in shock. He
pulled a robe off the rail and pulled it around Val,
toweled himself off and got a pair of jeans on before he steered Val
into the sitting room and put him down on the couch once more. Room
service responded rapidly with promises of hot tea and a meal. Luke
pushed his wet hair out of his eyes with both hands and willed
himself to find the right words for this as he sat down beside Val.
"Alright Kitten, listen to me. I need you to tell me what happened.
Take your time, you don't have to talk to anyone but me right now,
but I need to know exactly what went on between you and Price."
Val looked down at his hands. Luke waited, wanting to touch him and
not sure whether that would make things worse. Val drew a few deep
breaths.
"Who AM I going to have to talk to, Luke?"
"Certainly someone from Orion." Luke said honestly. "Probably the
police too, but Orion's got the legal forces to stand in with you and
I'm not going anywhere. It's going to be okay, just talk to me first."
Val hesitated, then took another deep breath and swallowed.
"I - I couldn't sleep up here. It was too hot. I was coming down to
look for you and I saw Price in the hallway- he called me over and
said he wanted to talk to me- he had a business proposition."
Luke looked at him. Val shrugged. "He's a bastard, Luke! I know him.
He's written some terrible things about people I know and he
crucified me once before when he caught me drunk somewhere. I thought
I could handle him. I thought I could shut him up."
"Why didn't you call me?" Luke said softly. Val shook his head, eyes
down on the floor.
"I needed to handle it myself."
"So where did he take you?"
"Into that room- I think it was a conference suite? He started
talking- I don't remember much of what he said- and then he grabbed
me. I think I started screaming then."
"Val?" Luke tried to catch Val's eyes. "What was he trying to do? Was
it a fight?"
Val shook his head mutely. Luke waited.
"Kitten? I need to know, it's going to be something the police want
to know. Was he trying to take you somewhere?"
"He was coming onto me." Val looked up defiantly. "All those bloody
press are rapists, he was coming on to me Luke!"
He saw with no small sense of satisfaction that he'd made a serious
impact. Luke's eyes were once more blazing and there was a kind of
exultation in the sheer power and rage Val knew he'd called up. The
temptation was too much. Val was a performer, a craftsman of drama
and stage presentation and he was starting to convince himself with
every word he said, as though he was performing one of his own songs.
"Look at me! I'm small, I'm not exactly heavily built- you know what
the press think of me anyway! That's the way Price always tries to
paint me- some sort of empty headed, easy whore. That's how he thinks
of me and you know it. It's probably true."
Luke swallowed some of the rage upon hearing that last comment from
Val. He willed his body to relax, then gently took Val's hands in his
own.
"Kitten, there is nothing to what Price said. You are not, and never
have been an empty headed anything, much less a whore. You know you
can't believe anything the press says. And Price, the swine, has
probably never said anything truthful in his life. Don't believe
them, kitten, believe me, and believe in yourself."
Val threw his arms around the shirtless Luke and hugged him tight.
Just then a soft knock on the door heralded the arrival of room
service. Luke got up and opened the door, allowing the server to
bring the cart in and set it up for Val on the couch. The server
left, Luke shutting the door behind him.
"Join me? Looks like enough food for an army."
Luke walked back over to Val, ruffling the hair on his head. "No
kitten, you eat what you can. I've got some phone calls to make which
I'll take care of in the other room."
"Luuuuuuukke."
"Eat." Luke said as he walked into his adjoining bedroom.
Val huffed in frustration, but he was hungry so he quickly began
eating. He heard Luke move about in the other room.
As soon as Luke cleared the doorframe and shut it, the rage that he
had hidden so well from Val started to bubble over. He paced a couple
of times willing himself to calm down, but the rage just kept
climbing. He exploded, one quick, violent punch to the wall coupled
with a grumble from deep within. The wallboard shattered inward,
plaster falling to the floor in a small cloud of dust.
Val heard the impact, and again felt a sort of pride in knowing how
upset Luke was. Just thinking of him being that angry because Price
had tried to destroy their relationship made him smile, thinking in
the back of his head
"You messed with the WRONG bodyguard, swine."
Luke's hand hurt from the impact, though not badly. It hurt just
enough to snap him out of his rage. He sat down in the chair, his
head in his hands, letting the last of the fury drain away before he
made the first phone call to the police.
Orion were not impressed. Neither was Max, whom Luke narrowly managed
to keep from racing up to their room. Nor, finally, was Storm
Quentin. His message was short and succinct, but Luke put the phone
down far from happy. He glanced through to next door where Val was
still curled up in the chair, head against the arm, no doubt still
too shaky to be paying him much attention.
With a deep breath and more distress than he could handle with Val in
sight,
Luke retreated to the desk, sat down and began to draft his
resignation. It took him 10 minutes to properly put his thoughts down
on paper. As soon as he signed his name, he heard a pitiful voice
call for him.
"Luke?"
He got up slowly, steeled his nerves and headed into the sitting
room.
"What is it kitten?"
"I'm tired, Luke. Will you lay down with me? Rub my back? Please?"
Luke could hardly refuse Val when he was in this state. "Come on."
Luke helped Val to stand and let him into the bedroom. He pulled the
covers down took the robe from Val.
Val crawled under the covers and patted the bed. "Luke?"
Luke sat down, gently rubbing Val's back in slow circular motions. It
hurt him beyond belief that this would be the last night he'd spend
with the boy.
Val was aware that Luke was not in a good frame of mind. He captured
Luke's hands in his and pulled him down on the bed. He snuggled into
Luke's strong shoulder, his body pressing tight against Luke.
Luke let Val cuddle, and hugged him back. Luke was exhausted with the
mental struggle going on in his mind, and didn't want to unload on
Val right now, not when Val needed the reassurance. Without meaning
to, Luke fell asleep.
Val remained snuggled up to Luke for about thirty minutes. He wasn't
really tired, just wanted the closeness of Luke. He raised himself up
on his elbows and gazed into the face of his sleeping bodyguard. Luke
still had a strong face, even when sleeping, but at least now it was
unlined and unworried. Val gently nibbled on Luke's lower lip, but
his bodyguard remained firmly in dreamland. Val slowly crawled out of
bed, making certain
he didn't disturb Luke at all. He grabbed his robe and wandered into
the sitting room, then into Luke's bedroom. He was wondering if Luke
had taken any notes on his phone calls giving Val any idea of what
was upcoming. The first thing he spotted on the desk was Luke's
resignation.
The first line jumped out and hit Val between the eyes. He dropped
into the chair and read it through at maniac speed, then again more
slowly, aware of his hands beginning to tremble.
Luke was awakened by a hurricane hitting him, nearly knocking him off
the bed.
"Luke you can't!"
There was no need to see the piece of paper to understand what Val
Quentin's problem was. Luke cursed himself for having left the letter
in sight and rolled over, capturing Val's hands.
"Kitten listen to me."
"You can't, I won't let you!"
"Val. I've got no choice, you've got to understand-"
"I don't understand anything!" Val wrenched free and hit the floor,
voice spiraling up in a way Luke knew well and felt in no fit state
to deal with. He leaned over and turned the light on, trying to find
the words to avert the storm approaching.
"Sit down, calm down and listen."
"Listen to what! You're going to leave! You think I'm going to sit
down and listen to that?" Val was trembling, somewhere between tears
and rage. Luke started to get out of bed, fixing Val with a look he
knew.
"There's no good working yourself up into a fit, kiddo, I can't talk
to you while you're screaming."
Val held the look, his chin lifted in outright defiance and he leaned
over and swept everything he could reach off the dressing table and
onto the floor. Knowing that was Val's equivalent of the yellow card
and a clear indication that he'd better come up with something better
than that fast, Luke pulled himself to his feet and stopped trying to
be reasonable.
"Val SIT. NOW. Break one more thing and you'll be sorry."
"What do you care, you're going anyway!" Val spat back. He looked
around, snatched up the first thing that came to hand- a water jug-
raised it high in the air and let it go, looking Luke right in the
eyes.
There was no point in trying to sweet talk Val in this sort of mood:
it just wound him up to more and more dramatic gestures. Luke grabbed
his wrist and cut straight to the chase. Val kicked out at him,
struggled, sank his teeth deep into Luke's hand like a terrier and
hung on as Luke manhandled him across to the bed. Luke stood still,
kept his hand still, refusing to yank away, and was well aware that
the sharp teeth were making no real attempt to hurt or to tighten.
After ten seconds of waiting, Val slowly released his hand. Luke
pulled the boy down across his knees, jerked the robe out of his way
and swatted the small, tight behind sharply, eight or ten times. Val
burst into tears way out of proportion to the spanking, but that was
not the issue and they were both well aware of it. Luke let him go
and Val hit him in the chest like an express train, arms strangling
around his neck.
"You can't go!"
"Val it doesn't mean I could stop caring about you or wanting to be
with you." Luke said quietly, trying to hold his voice together. "You
have to understand, kitten. I had a professional responsibility
towards you today. I failed and I failed badly. Inexcusably."
"It wasn't that bad!" Val pleaded. Luke shook his head.
"It was something no one should ever have to go through- if you
hadn't had the courage to scream and fight, it could have been FAR
worse. And I wasn't there, I didn't protect you from that, not
because I made a mistake but because I let my personal feelings get
in the way of my job. I was in the bar and I was sulking, Val. And
you could have been raped. Your father's ready to go for my throat,
and I'd stand there and let him bite right now. Orion have already
notified me they want an investigation. I'd rather jump than be
pushed, kitten- and I have a responsibility to do the honourable
thing here and show I'm aware of my own culpability. I know this is
hard for you to understand but there's so much more to this than just
you and me."
"I'M the one who was attacked!" Val said furiously. "I'M the one who
needs a damn bodyguard and I'LL say who it damn well is!"
"Not everyone is quite as forgiving as you, kitten." Luke said gently.
"And you don't see the bigger picture here."
"The big picture? The fucking big picture is you're leaving!! You
can't leave!" Val tried to get up having worked himself back into a
rage, wanting to tear the room apart. He flailed in vain as Luke held
him tight against him. Val's voice started to break. "You can't
leave....you can't. It wasn't your fault. Price is winning, you're
letting Price win. You can't...." Val buried his head into the strong
neck and hugged with every bit of strength he had. "You can't leave
me...."
"Kitten, I must. You deserve a better bodyguard, one who can protect
you from the lunatics. I didn't and I can't in good conscience keep a
job I've failed at. You have to understand, it's something that I
must do." Luke held Val, stroking his head and neck, holding him
tight.
Val continued to pitifully talk into Luke's neck. "No, you simply
can't go. It's not your fault. You weren't there, I didn't tell you I
was there, but you came, you came to me when it counted. When I
yelled, you were right there."
"It was my fault, kitten, for letting you go alone. My fault."
"Nooooooooooo, you don't understand. It's not your fault. What will
change your mind? What?"
"Nothing, kitten. It IS my fault. I should not have left you
unattended."
Val started to cry. "Nooooooo Luke. Nooooooo it's not your fault. You
don't understand. It's Price's fault. Not you, him. He tried to get
the story. The story of us from me. He was going to tell the whole
world, Luke. I had to shut him up. I had to do it. He couldn't tell
them about us, I can't lose you. So I shut him up, he's in jail now,
he's not a problem. He's gone Luke, now you have to stay. You HAVE to
stay. I shut Price up so you'd stay."
"What are you saying?" Luke tried gently to pull Val off him. "Val?
Did he threaten you? What do you mean you shut him up?"
"He was going to sell the story! I had to get rid of him, it was the
only way-"
"Get rid of him?" Luke's hands gathered strength and peeled Val away
from him, his eyes suddenly frowning. "Val what do you mean? What
happened in that room? Did you provoke him into attacking you?"
"He told me he was after the story." Val was still sobbing, barely
able to talk between breaths, "He was following us, he saw us in the
garden- you said you'd leave if anyone made it known to Orion about
us!"
Light started to dawn. Luke took a deep, slow breath, a horrible
suspicion starting to form in his mind.
"Val? What did you do?"
"I sent him a message- I said to meet me in the conference room-"
"You set that meeting up? To do what?" Luke said sharply.
"To get rid of him!" Val ran hand over his eyes, sweeping tears and
hair out of them. "Who's going to take his word over mine! Orion's
got more lawyers than any half bit freelance!"
"Who attacked who?" Luke demanded. "Val answer me! What did you do!"
"I screamed blue murder what do you think I did! How else was I going
to get rid of him!" Val snapped back.
"But the bruises on your arms, kitten. Answer carefully, did Price
attack you?"
"No! I started screaming just to get the police to take him away. He
grabbed me then, I tried to back up and he wouldn't let go! He
wouldn't let go." Val ended that sentence with a little uncertainty,
slowly realizing that Luke's demeanor was changing.
Luke set Val down in front of him before slowly getting up off the
bed. He took Val's face in his hands and brought the tear stained
face up to meet his very stern one. "Quentin, I want ONE clear and
concise answer. Yes or No. Did Price do ANYTHING to you downstairs in
that conference room that he could be arrested for." Luke said that
slowly and clearly.
Val tried to lower his head, he couldn't stand the stern look he was
getting, but Luke's hands made that impossible.
"Quentin, YES OR NO."
There were so many things that Val wanted to say. Yes, so that Price
would be locked away and not bother them. No, because that would mean
Luke would leave. Yes, because that would mean Luke would go back to
holding him. No, because... because that was the truth.
"No."