by Onley James
Shep didn’t understand. Elijah could see it in his eyes. But he nodded anyway. Before either of them could speak, a fist pounded on the door and Lucifer was screeching from the other side. “Open this door before I kick it down.”
Elijah shook his head at Shep who nodded and walked back to the front door. He swung it open in time to see Calder squaring his shoulders, using himself as a barrier between her and the door. “Does Elijah wish to speak with his manager?” Calder drawled, the words dripping slowly from his tongue like molasses.
“No, he does not.” Shep confirmed.
Lucifer’s face flushed to an unflattering purple color, fury making her face contort until she looked like the monster. She locked eyes with Elijah who stared back at her, immune to her tantrums. “You are ruining everything. Everything! I won’t let you do this. You will do that movie, Eli. Do you hear me? You will. Get your hands off me before I pepper spray you, you grimy hippie.” She ranted, yanking her arm from Calder’s grip. “I’ll be back, Eli. Don’t think I won’t.”
Shep closed the door in her face. He returned to Elijah, gently pulling him to his feet and taking him into the bedroom. He undressed the two of them and lay on the bed, spooning him. “Is this good?” he asked.
Elijah turned in his arms until they faced each other. “This is perfect. I’m sorry I’m like this. I know I’m a lot to take.”
Shep caressed Elijah’s cheek. “Nah, you’re a dream. You’re perfect.”
Elijah snorted. “Yeah, right. I can’t even tell you the name of the guy who hurt me. I wish you could force it out of me. You know, like you did with those insurgents.”
“You don’t know what you’re saying,” Shep said, shaking his head.
Elijah knew. He knew exactly what he was saying. The more he thought about it, the more sense it made. Shep forced people to give up information they didn’t want to tell. He made them say it. “No, it’s perfect. You can interrogate me… make me tell you.”
“Rabbit, no.”
Something withered inside Elijah. “Please, Sam. This guy… this name. It’s like a splinter under my skin. You can’t see it, but it’s there, infecting me, and until I get it out, it’s just going to keep festering.”
Shep brushed Elijah’s hair from his face. “You’re asking me to hurt you. I will never hurt you.”
Elijah wiggled closer, pressing his lips to Shep’s before saying, “No. You said your job wasn’t about pain, it was about pressure… applying the right pressure. Surely, you could think of some way to make me talk without hurting me. Right?”
Shep searched Elijah’s face like he was looking for some hidden truth written on his skin. “Rabbit… I…”
“Please, Sam. Please. I want the splinter out. Make me say it. Make me tell you his name.”
Elijah could see the moment he’d won. Shep gave a heavy sigh. “Fuck. Okay, rabbit. But not today. Not now.”
Relief bloomed behind Elijah’s ribs. “Okay, Sam. But soon. It has to be soon.”
Shep kissed Elijah’s forehead. “Soon. I promise.”
Elijah wiggled himself closer still, until their bodies pressed together, slipping his leg between Shep’s knees, and resting his head on Shep’s bicep. His eyelids were heavy. “I love you,” he whispered almost to himself, pressing a kiss to his chest.
“You say that now…” Shep murmured, but Elijah was already drifting off to sleep.
Shep’s promise to Elijah became his own kind of splinter, wedging itself beneath his ribcage and piercing his heart. He wouldn’t hurt him. He wouldn’t emotionally manipulate him either. Shep supposed he could threaten those that Elijah loved, but he knew Shep would never hurt the people Elijah loved and if Elijah didn’t believe the threat, it was worthless.
He would have to think on it. Do his research. In the meantime, he had no choice but to move ahead with the information at hand. Whoever had hurt Elijah, was close enough to this Leonard Medford guy to send Elijah into a blind panic, to have him sacrifice a deal worth millions of dollars. Since he was no longer Elijah’s bodyguard, he now lacked the resources provided to him by Elite, namely Webster’s hacking skills.
Shep considered calling Linc and explaining everything, but there was too much of a risk of Linc reassigning or firing him and Shep wasn’t ready to burn that bridge. With Elijah sleeping in the bedroom, he slipped out of bed and crossed the suite to the other bedroom.
Calder was posted up in what had once been Shep’s room. Now that the world knew Shep and Elijah were a couple, there was nothing to keep Shep from sleeping in Elijah’s bed. It seemed ridiculous to Shep to have Calder there at all, but Linc had insisted. Something about appearances.
How much longer would the studio continue to pay for Elijah’s security now that he’d pulled out of the deal? Was he really out or was there still time for him to mend this? If Shep could find some dirt on this Medford character, maybe the studio would oust him from the film and Elijah would feel safe enough to return. Except Medford hadn’t harmed Elijah… not physically anyway. But he’d clearly shielded Elijah’s assailant. It made little sense. Elijah said that the man had been his acting coach. Why would a director protect an acting coach? They had to have a history. Maybe blood ties?
Shep wrapped his knuckles on Calder’s bedroom door, then waited.
“Come on in,” Calder drawled.
Calder lay on the bed in jeans and a black t-shirt with the name of a bar on it, his feet crossed at the ankles, his fingers laced behind his head.
“Hope I’m not interrupting,” Shep said, not really caring if he was or not.
Calder scoffed. “Interrupting what, man. I don’t even know why I’m here.”
Shep walked to the high-backed Queen Anne chair in the corner, but didn’t sit, just leaned against the wall. Arms folded across his chest. “I told Linc not to bother. I’m with Elijah twenty-four hours a day. I can protect him better than anyone.”
Calder launched himself up into a sitting position, hands on his knees. “I hear ya, but I do what the boss says. Besides, I think I’m just here to make sure you don’t let Elijah do something stupid to further damage his career.”
Shep frowned. “Like?”
“Like take his giant ginger boyfriend on a date in the middle of the gayborhood when he’s supposed to be dating the adorable twink down the hall crying into his boyfriend pillow with Elijah’s face stitched on it.”
Robby. “It’s better this way. Now the boy can move on. Elijah was always too self-centered for him. He couldn’t even see that the kid had actual feelings for him. They never would have worked as a real couple.”
Calder shook his head. “I agree with you, brother. But I don’t think that will bring him any real comfort.”
Shep arched a brow at Calder. “Do you know him?”
Calder snorted, his face flushing. “What? No. Why?”
Shep shrugged. “You just seem awfully invested in his happiness. Just thought maybe you knew him.”
“No. I don’t know him. I just feel for the kid. He’s just been humiliated on an international scale. He seems a bit… fragile.”
Shep nodded. “Exactly my point. Elijah needs to be the center of attention. He needs all of my time and focus. Robby appears to need the same. They never would have worked out. The kid will see that in time. He’s good looking and famous. It won’t take long before he finds somebody who will give him what he needs. That will never be Elijah. Ever.”
Calder smirked at the edge in Shep’s voice, but he didn’t care. Elijah belonged to Shep. He was off the market. Robby would have to be some other man’s problem.
Calder raised his hands, palm up. “I wasn’t suggesting we play matchmaker and get them back together.” Calder seemed to lose himself in his own thoughts for a long moment before he finally asked, “Why are you here, man?”
Shep frowned. “I told you, I’m not leaving Elijah.”
Calder rolled his eyes. “Why are you here,” he pointed downward. “In my bedroom?�
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Oh. Right. “I need your help with something.”
Calder nodded. “Does it have anything to do with your new beau’s meltdown in that meeting yesterday?”
Maybe Calder was sharper than Shep previously imagined. “Yeah. I need you to find out everything you can about this guy Leonard Medford. Who he’s close to. What he’s known for. Rumors about shady dealings.”
“I’m already ahead of you. The surface stuff is just what everybody in the world knows. Oscar winner. Kingmaker. Hollywood royalty. Much like your boy, he was raised in Hollywood, the son of two old-time actors. He has two brothers and a much younger sister. There’s been rumors in the tabloids and online that he’s been paying off actresses left and right to keep their mouths shut about some less than savory behavior regarding how they earned their parts since the MeToo movement started sweeping Hollywood, but if it’s true, I can’t find it in his financials. I have Webster doing a deep dive into a charitable foundation he created to see if he is somehow using it to pay off his victims.”
Actresses, not children. How did this man tie into Elijah’s attacker? “Send me what you have and let me know what you find out. Also, look into his siblings and any other people he’s in bed with personally or professionally, pay close attention to anybody who has worked as an acting teacher or acting coach.”
Calder gave a slow nod. “You think this dude hurt your boy?”
Shep shook his head. “No. But I think he knows who did. I think he’s covering for him and if I’m right, they’re probably still doing it.”
“Fuck, man. Your boy won’t give up a name?”
His boy. Shep warmed at the words. Elijah was his boy. “He’s too afraid. Wants me to force it out of him.”
Shep realized he had overshared something private when Calder’s eyes went wide, but it was too late. Calder gave a dark chuckle. “How does he want you to do that?”
Shep scrubbed his hands over his face. What did it matter now? He’d already said it out loud. Besides, Elijah’s friends knew all about their sex life. “He wants me to interrogate it out of him.”
Calder frowned, lines around his eyes and across his forehead hinting he was older than Shep originally thought. “Yeah, Linc and Jackson said you were ninety-seven-echo before you started doing wet work for PLL.” Shep just grunted. It didn’t seem like it needed to be acknowledged verbally. “So your boy wants you to force him to give up the name? Like a sex game? Sounds like he’s been friends with Wyatt too long,” Calder said.
Shep felt his brows run for his hairline. “What do you mean by that?”
Calder laughed. “You clearly haven’t spent any time with Linc and Wyatt. They get real… physical with each other, you know, that rough freaky sex shit. That boy’s always got bruises. He’s real into it though and he’s not afraid to tell anybody willing to listen… or even those unwilling to listen. He makes Webster blush like a schoolgirl.”
Shep blinked rapidly, trying to wrap his mind around the idea that the stoic man who was his boss liked to rough up the curly-haired boy with the huge grin and the bedroom eyes. He knew people were into all kinds of kinks. Especially now that he and Elijah had watched those videos together, but Shep wouldn’t hurt Elijah. “I don’t think Elijah would like that and even if he did, I’m not sure I could do it.”
The idea of hurting Elijah left a weird hollow feeling in Shep’s chest, like somebody had carved his heart out. Every single day Elijah made Shep feel something new, something more, just for him. Shep was becoming addicted to the sensation.
“Is he supposed to like it?” Calder quipped with a laugh, though his look was one of pity. “I don’t think you can tickle the information out of him… well, maybe. I suppose tickling could be torture to some people.”
“I don’t know how to extract information from a person without damaging them physically or emotionally. It’s not like they taught us that in Enhanced Interrogation Techniques.”
Calder gave another laugh then rubbed his beard in a way that made him look like a villain. “I don’t think you want to rely on your military training for this one. I think the kind of torture you’re looking for might be of a more… sensual variety?”
Shep dropped into the high-backed chair in the corner, leaning forward. “What do you mean?”
“I’m saying if you don’t want to make him feel bad, the only option is to make him feel good. Really good. So good he might burst. But don’t let him have what he wants until you get what you want. The key isn’t causing pain, it’s denying pleasure.”
Shep deflated against the uncomfortable chair. That had never occurred to him. He could do that. He could make Elijah feel good. So good he wanted to cry. But how did he keep Elijah on the edge without sending him over? He needed to research. He needed more information. He needed the Internet.
“Thanks, man. Send me that info and keep me in the loop about anything Webster digs up. I’ll let you know as soon as I’ve extracted a name.”
Calder smirked at Shep before returning to his reclined position, legs crossed. “Happy extracting.”
Elijah tapped his foot, staring out the window of the SUV at the Atlanta traffic, ignoring Calder and whoever was on the other end of his phone call. He missed Shep. He realized how stupid and high school it was to miss somebody who he’d seen just fourteen hours before, but it was true. After weeks and weeks of spending every moment together, both sleeping and awake, Elijah couldn’t wait to get back to the hotel, back to Shep, back to their version of a life together. Without Shep, it was like he was missing a limb and with each mile that crept by, the more he longed to be with him.
A week had passed since Elijah’s meeting with the studio, but they were no closer to coming to any resolution. They couldn’t understand Elijah’s resistance to working with one of the biggest directors in Hollywood and Elijah was in no position to explain it to them when he couldn’t even tell those he was closest to. Even Demi had grilled him about it in between takes. She couldn’t imagine any circumstance bad enough to give up that kind of opportunity. Tobi had chimed in saying Elijah had to do the movie because then he’d be a god like Shep and his mom. Elijah had dropped the subject as fast as he could manage without saying something rude.
His phone vibrated, and he looked down to see a message in his group chat with Wyatt and Charlie. He felt a tiny twinge. He missed them too. He’d had little time to talk since he’d started filming in Atlanta. While everything was a mess with his superhero status, his current film was moving along at breakneck speed and despite everything, he enjoyed throwing himself into the role. Even if it meant pretending to kill Demi three or four times a day.
Wyatt: I don’t know what you did to Robby, but he’s gone full Britney 2007 and is heading straight into 2015 Miley.
Elijah frowned at the message.
Elijah: What?
Charlie: Oh, yeah. He got three *three* new tattoos, and he pierced his eyebrow and his frenulum.
Elijah: Frenulum? Is that a sex thing?
Charlie: No it’s that weird piece of skin just in front of your top two front teeth.
Wyatt: And also, the skin at the head of your dick, but we’ll have to wait and see if he got that pierced too. Oh and he also got drunk and started stripping at Topaz before some giant bouncer carried him out over his shoulder.
That was definitely not what their publicists had agreed upon. Robby was supposed to be going around town as the heartbroken victim, playing up his boy-next-door status. What the fuck?
Charlie: They are saying you cheating on him with the last highlander has really done a number on him. You broke his little baby heart and now he’s gone rogue.
Elijah: We were never even a real couple. This is not my fault.
Wyatt: Whatever you say, heartbreaker. Hope that dick was worth it. LOL.
Charlie: Yeah, you monster. You’ve ruined the preacher’s kid.
Elijah: I hate you both. Goodbye.
Elijah put his phone on silent and did his
best to put Robby out of his head. They were never really dating. Why didn’t people get that? Sigh. Outside, rain started to fall, and Elijah watched the beads gather and slide down the window, pressing his forehead to the cold glass as the brake lights ahead blurred into red swerving lines.
The forty-minute drive had seemed to take hours and now that they were in the elevator, with Shep just a few hundred yards away, time moved even slower, the elevator car moving at a glacial pace. When the doors finally opened, Elijah had to force himself not to run to the suite. Beside him, Calder wore a smirk that would have infuriated Elijah on anybody else, but it was hard to dislike Calder even if he was never in a hurry.
Once Calder unlocked the door, he let Elijah enter, but then had him stand by the wall as he cleared the space. Elijah rolled his eyes. This all seemed so ridiculous and over the top. Things had been quiet since the death threat all those months ago. There was no horse head in his bed, no more concrete smoothies thrown in his face. His stomach curdled as he thought of the flowers that seemed to show up out of nowhere and the couple of crank phone calls, but he shook it away. It was nothing. An unnerving coincidence and a stupid prankster who probably had no idea Elijah was famous. Nobody was after him.
As Calder did his sweep, Shep walked from the bedroom, barefoot and shirtless, his gray sweatpants riding low on his hips. Elijah’s heart flip-flopped and something unknotted deep within him. Everything seemed okay again. Calder holstered his weapon and gave a salute before heading towards the front door. Elijah frowned. “Your room’s over there. You aren’t staying?”